Two Months Or A Year- a narrative by Chris Jericho based on true events.
"And Jericho locks the Walls of Jericho on Steve Austin!" JR commentates.
"Could Stone Cold tap?" King asks as he reaches for the far off ropes.
"The rattlesnake can cost himself and Triple H the tag team titles!" JR cries.
"Wait, here comes The Game!" King points out and the crowd cheers loudly.
Triple H's face appears on the other side of the apron. He dives in and tackles me from behind. I let go of Steve's legs and fall forward as does Hunter. I roll out of the ring as planned and laid there waiting for Triple H. But as I hear the fighting in the ring between Austin and my partner Chris Benoit, I have yet to wait to see Triple H. Where is he, did I forget a part or is something wrong? Finally I see his legs going under the lower rope and he strangely hobbles on one leg and leans against the announce table to catch his breath. I can tell something is wrong so I pretend to take Triple H down to talk to him.
"What's wrong?" I whisper once we both lay on the floor outside the ring.
"I'm hurt, my leg." Triple H replies as he pulls down his left knee pad.
"You shouldn't keep going, you can't do the next scene." I say, the next part was for him to land a pedigree on me atop the announce table. He couldn't do that now.
"No, let's keep going. I'll set it up but you lock me in the walls." He says.
"What?" I gasp. The walls puts pressure on your lower back and legs, and if Hunter has a hurt leg, won't that just make it worse. But we really had no choice.
"Do it!" He says as we get up. He throws my head onto the side of the table.
"Ok." I nod and we climb the table, fighting for control on the top.
"Stop, hey!" King grabs his crown and jumps aside as I throw the papers off.
"Oh my god, no, don't do it!" JR cries as Triple H pulls out the little lights.
Triple H sets me up for the pedigree. I reverse it and reluctantly lock him in the walls. The crowd is loving it, but doesn't see the cold hard truth. I try to pull up in order to put the pressure on myself, I don't want to make Hunter's injury any worse than it really is. Back in the ring, Austin is beating up Benoit. I finally release the hold and roll off the table, a little tired from the modified submission move. Triple H slowly continues on with the act. He manages to get up and crawl to the other side of the ring, go under the apron and get his sledgehammer. He climbs into the ring and as Benoit goes for a cover on Austin he prepares the final blow. Like planned, Chris rolls aside and the hammer is sent strait into the gut of Stone Cold. That did it. Triple H was shot of his energy. I watched as he stepped over Austin and rolled out of the ring and curled up on the other side. Benoit went on, he landed the flying head but and went for the cover. 1, 2, 3, ding, ding.
"The winners, and new tag team champions, Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho." The announcer said and the crowd cheered loudly and stood up to applaud.
"What's wrong?" The ref finally noticed Triple H was acting strangely.
"I think I tore my quad." Triple H said as the ref went over to him.
"Your quad?" The ref was surprised at the assumption, Triple H was probably exaggerating from the pain.
But Triple H is one smart guy and he did turn out to be right. I think he knows enough about the body to know when and where something is wrong, unlike myself. Seeing that something was really wrong, help soon arrived. Benoit and I had received our tag team titles and though we were worried about our good friend's status, we were told to leave the stage in order to not mess up storylines. We went back to the gorilla position to wait. But as we watched on the screen, our hearts sank. Triple H was being aided back by the ref, other officials, Austin and Stephanie. Nobody would really know what this injury would do to him or how long it would take for him to even come back here.
"Are you ok man?" I ask as they come in, everyone's a buzz now.
"No, I'm not." Triple H says through clenched teeth. I'm taken, usually he's too proud to admit he's hurt. That's a bad sign, he must really be injured badly. "Just get me to the back room." He shakes his head from the pain and we all help him to the trainer's room where he asks Triple H what's the matter. "I think I tore my quad out there!"
"You know I think you might be right." The trainer sighs sadly as he takes off his left knee pad and takes a look at the swollen knee. "Get the ambulance over here, now."
"You should've stopped fighting the match." Austin said as the ambulance came.
"To tell you the truth, I never even thought of that." Triple H admitted.
We watch as the ambulance backs up to the hall in the parking lot in the San Jose arena, a place Triple H would never forget, as we all probably would. The paramedics aided Triple H into the back of the ambulance and they sped off to a San Jose hospital.
"Ok come on, show's over. Get it together." Vince shoes us off. We all go to our rooms to change, shower and get our stuff and we all drudge back to the hotel, worried.
"Hello, is this Vince McMahon?" A voice asks on the phone later that night.
"Yes it is, who is this?" Vince asks into his cell phone, we all get very eager.
"I'm here with Triple H at the San Jose hospital and I'm sorry to say that he has torn his left quadriceps." The doctor informs. "He must be operated on right away."
"I understand. We'll take care of everything doctor." Vince replies. They both hang up and Vince informs us all of the situation. "Triple H has torn his left quad and he's going to be operated on in about a day or two once he gets to his doctor."
"Can I go see him?" She asks, very upset. All of us are decimated, but Stephanie McMahon is the most. And hey who can blame her, their TV relation made them close.
"No honey, I'm sorry." Vince shakes his head at his daughter. We all head back to our rooms, but I decided not to, as does Stephanie. I want to help her, she looks so sad.
"Uh, hey Steph?" I get her attention. "I can take you to see him if you wanna."
"Thanks Chris." She smiles under her tears. The limo driver takes us to the hospital and we get his room at the front desk. I hate hospitals, too many bad experiences.
"Can we go in?" I ask the nurse outside the door, she says we can so we do.
"Hello, are you ok?" Stephanie slowly opens the door. He's awake but has a drugged expression from the painkillers. I smile as they hug. "I was so afraid."
"Hey, how you doing?" I ask as I go over, Stephanie refuses to let go of him.
"I honestly have no idea." Triple H tries to laugh as he pushes her off finally.
"Come on, take it easy." I say. To tell you the truth, I'm really scared about this.
"Excuse me, McMahon?" A doctor knocks on the open door and comes in.
"Yes?" Stephanie looks up and I tense, I really dislike doctors, really.
"We need you to sign a few papers here." He says, I sigh with relief.
"Sure." She gets up. "I'll be back later, try to rest some ok?"
"Alright." Triple H nods and we watch them go. I can't make eye contact with Hunter, I just have that nauseating feeling in my stomach. Finally I sit down, the whole time Hunter is watching me strangely. I can feel his eyes poking the back of my head.
"I'm sorry." I finally say, my voice choking a bit. "I'm so sorry, really bro."
"What?" Triple H is confused, he sits up in his bed as I try not to cry.
"It's my fault." I shake my head, still attempting to hold back any tears.
"What?" Triple H is still unsure of what I mean. "What is, and why Chris?"
"I shouldn't have locked Steve in the walls." I put my hand over my eyes.
"I was the one to hit you, I was the one who stepped wrong. It's my fault, don't put any of the blame on yourself." Triple H says. "I tore my quad on my own ok?"
"No, you're drugged, you can't see clearly. I can, and it's my fault." I reply. Triple H opens his mouth to speak but doesn't. "I can't tell you how sorry I am man."
"I'm sorry but visiting hours are over." A lady doctor says to me. I stand up and start to leave. I stop to rub my eyes and turn back to Hunter who's watching me.
"We all get hurt, I've been hurt before." Triple H assures me. "I'll be fine. Ok?"
"Alright." I sigh and leave, I don't want to argue with an injured friend so I go. Stephanie and I meet up and we go back to the hotel, the whole time we're unnoticed.
The next day we all leave, Stephanie goes to the operation with Triple H but the rest of us have to go to tape SmackDown, though we all can't shake Triple H from our mind. Well, how can we? We go on and perform and after the show we get to hear from the doctor.
"I'm happy to say that Triple H's surgery was a complete success." He says. We all cheer at the news. "But there's bad news too." As soon as we heard those words we all felt our gut tighten with fear. "He'll be out for a year with rehabilitation and all, sorry."
"Well, thank you for the update doctor." Vince hangs up and we all are in shock.
"Vince, what about Stephanie?" Stone Cold asks. "She's gotta be in a bad way."
"Well Steve, she's with him but she's gonna have to get the show back on the road." Vince replies. "She has to come back, but I know it'll be hard for her."
"Vince, it's hard on us all. This is a really bad thing." I say and everyone agrees.
"Then Chris, you go get her since you volunteered so nicely." Vince turns to me.
"Ok." I shrug. Alone, I go on the plane, it's something I've never really done before, it's a little weird. But we soon arrive and a taxi takes me to the hospital. I quickly find the room Triple H is in, the lady at the desk is a fan of Stone Cold. "Hello?" I knock on the door to find Stephanie asleep on the small sofa in the corner, but Hunter is awake.
"Hey." He tries to smile but he's still depressed at the news. I bet he felt horrible.
"How are you doing?" I ask, trying to start conversation to break the silence.
"I can't complain." He mutters, his head lowered so I can barely hear.
"What do you mean you can't complain?" I'm socked. This is a bad injury.
"Others are worse off." He shrugs. I start to speak but close my mouth, it's true.
"Well. uh," I begin. "I guess I kinda know how it is to be like this."
"What?" Triple H tried to laugh and it made me look up. "In the whole time you've been here you've never gotten a serious injury. You were out one day with what, a cold, a sprained ankle, a bruised arm? Come on Chris, nobody can understand me!"
"That's not true, I worked a whole 8 1/2 years before I came here you know!" I yell and Triple H is shocked at my voice, to tell you the truth, so was I. "I, I'm sorry..."
"What happened Chris?" Triple H squints at me, I can tell he's sorry too.
"It happened when I was still working solo, I wasn't even in a corporation yet. It was rough being in the independents. I've been out of action too you know." I say and Triple H listens as I begin my story:
"The longest time was when I was in the Smokey Mountain Wrestling company as I recall. I believe it was in the Knoxville Coliseum about two hours before the show. Lance Storm and I were going to take on The Heavenly Bodies, I think. Well anyway, we were practicing and I was going for a shooting star press. So I made the full rotation and landed chest first, but on my arm and I knew right away I had done something wrong. It didn't hurt but there was this indent in it, it was broken. I didn't want to go to some doctor so I decided to take it under my own power to get better. I started to take a whole bunch of these calcium pills and some way it worked and the bone healed. My boss still made me go to a doctor after I got the injury. He said 'I can't believe how quickly the bone healed.' I told him about the calcium pills and he was all 'Whoa, I wouldn't have thought of that.' I thought 'Well that's great to know!'. I've never been a fan of doctors and that ignorant remark just added to my reluctance of this quack, I was smarter than him and I got a D in science and health! I hate chemistry and such. Well, anywho, when I first showed him my arm, he moved it around and stuff but it didn't hurt. He told me 'It can't be broken, you're not screaming in pain.' But the x-rays proved him wrong, again, it was broken in two. But for whatever reason it didn't hurt I don't know, maybe I have no nerves in my arm or something. I never had to take a pain pill or anything, I don't know why the hell that was but I was glad. I hate medicine. So he said 'You need surgery on your arm right now.' But I said 'Well I have to go to a wrestling show, I won't wrestle though, I'll just be ringside.' He put a soft cast on my arm and I went to the arena. My boss was flipped out at me but I told him 'Don't worry I'm gonna still wrestle.' And like a total idiot I worked the match with a soft cast on my arm. That's something you can only do when you're young though. But I made it through and the next day I had the operation and was about two months. I know it's not the same as you now, but."
"Wow, that's pretty amazing." Triple H said and looked at me. I stared back as he went on. "To think you would wrestling in a soft cast with a broken arm? I tell ya Chris, I knew you were an idiot, but sometimes you amaze me." He began to snicker to himself.
"Is that good or bad." I pout. Granted I make my share of mistakes, but still.
"Both actually." He grins and I look at him. "In a bad way meaning you did some pretty stupid stunt, but you do many. You're a really jackass sometimes." He laughs and I begin to growl but he continues. "But, in a good way because you proved a doctor wrong, you, a D student in health, outsmarted a phd. And you're a really good person. You help people and do things for them without ever thinking about yourself. That's a good thing."
"Oh. Really?" I grin, I never thought about it that way before. "Well, I rushed back to my return. I guess that's something not too smart either, but then again, you know me." I smirk and Triple H smiles and nods as I finish my story:
"There was more pressure working in the independents. You had to come back quickly because you were paying for your own expenses and you need to make money. Now, like in your case, the bills are paid for you and it's all taken care of. If I got my broken arm now I could do what I had to do in order to get well, and not worry about speeding back. Before I didn't have that luxury and had to come back as soon as I could. Because, if I didn't work, I didn't get paid, and I couldn't eat. Plus there are hundreds of other guys just waiting to take your spot, and I couldn't risk it. You see what I mean?"
"Yea Chris, I do. I guess I never saw you in that way before." Triple H looked at me. I don't think he ever knew that about me. I think he's one of the few who knows that actually. "So that's." He pointed to my right arm with the elbow pad on it.
"Yup." I smirked with a nod. "So Hunter, I don't want you to do what I did. I feel enough blame now as it is, so I don't want more." Hunter starts to talk but I continue. "You have the luxury to get well, you have no worries about bills, you don't have to worry about loosing the spotlight. So get well Hunter and don't do what I did, don't make my same mistake. You only live once, but don't do something so stupid that you blow it all." I finish what I wanted to say and wait for Triple H to say what he was going to say, but he never did. I have said enough so I stay quiet. We look at Stephanie, still asleep.
"It's time to go." A hospital attendant says and I turn back to Hunter.
"Come on Steph." I go wake her up. "Gotta leave now." I start to shake her.
"No." She says sleepily and I help her up. "I don't wanna." She groans.
"I guess I'll see ya later man." I turn around as I approach the doorway.
"Yea, see ya around." He nods. "Don't worry Steph, I'll be ok." He grins at me and I smile back. We leave and take another taxi to the airport and head to the next live show. Vince and the others are eager to hear about Hunter but we're all still really sad.
You know, now that I said that to Hunter, I turn around and think about my position and my place in this business and see how lucky I am compared to so many others. Never before have I taken my job for grantite and I never would trade my life's past with any others. But now that I stop and think about my past I realize all that happened and how it needed to or else I wouldn't be where I would be today. And Hunter is right about me, I do help others without even thinking about myself. I guess that's how I end up in so many rough situations. But if I helped somebody, that's all that matters. Now that I look at my past I realize something. People like Hunter are worse off than me and I do things for others to help them. But I never come to realize that what if I was in their place, what would I do if my career went down the drain. Then I remind myself, you can't worry yourself by thinking that way. If that bridge comes up you cross it at that place and time. I doubt Hunter ever thought he'd be here, and I never thought about my arm being broken. You can't worry yourself with questions about the future, especially bad ones like what if I get hurt or something. You only live once and you have to live that way.
"Finally, what we've been waiting for, the return of The Game!" JR says, as the date that's been promoted for a long time is here at last. As Raw goes to commercial, the fans star to chant for Triple H. He grins in the gorilla position, though he's been here for a long time, he's got butterflies in him. 'It's all about the game, and how you play it..'
His music hits and the crowd in MSG goes nuts as they give a welcome so great it'll bring tears to even the greatest of men's eyes. We all watch proudly as he comes to the ring after eight months of being out, almost a year. Fans and superstars alike have waited for this day and now as the music silences and the crowd finally starts to settle, he speaks.
"Just in case you don't remember who I am, I am The Game!" He does his promo and after it's all said and done and Raw is off the air, he comes back to a crowd of enthusiasm and exasperation. "I tell you what guys, I wouldn't have traded that for anything." The emotion from the crowd really got to him, it got to us all. And it just goes to remind me, we wouldn't have come to realize how lucky we all are to be here if we don't watch what other people will do just to be in the same place we are right now. We all saw how dedicated Triple H was and I bet he learned a lot about himself on his road to recovery, as we all did, superstars and fans. You can do anything you put your mind to.
And so, the shows go on...
"And Jericho locks the Walls of Jericho on Steve Austin!" JR commentates.
"Could Stone Cold tap?" King asks as he reaches for the far off ropes.
"The rattlesnake can cost himself and Triple H the tag team titles!" JR cries.
"Wait, here comes The Game!" King points out and the crowd cheers loudly.
Triple H's face appears on the other side of the apron. He dives in and tackles me from behind. I let go of Steve's legs and fall forward as does Hunter. I roll out of the ring as planned and laid there waiting for Triple H. But as I hear the fighting in the ring between Austin and my partner Chris Benoit, I have yet to wait to see Triple H. Where is he, did I forget a part or is something wrong? Finally I see his legs going under the lower rope and he strangely hobbles on one leg and leans against the announce table to catch his breath. I can tell something is wrong so I pretend to take Triple H down to talk to him.
"What's wrong?" I whisper once we both lay on the floor outside the ring.
"I'm hurt, my leg." Triple H replies as he pulls down his left knee pad.
"You shouldn't keep going, you can't do the next scene." I say, the next part was for him to land a pedigree on me atop the announce table. He couldn't do that now.
"No, let's keep going. I'll set it up but you lock me in the walls." He says.
"What?" I gasp. The walls puts pressure on your lower back and legs, and if Hunter has a hurt leg, won't that just make it worse. But we really had no choice.
"Do it!" He says as we get up. He throws my head onto the side of the table.
"Ok." I nod and we climb the table, fighting for control on the top.
"Stop, hey!" King grabs his crown and jumps aside as I throw the papers off.
"Oh my god, no, don't do it!" JR cries as Triple H pulls out the little lights.
Triple H sets me up for the pedigree. I reverse it and reluctantly lock him in the walls. The crowd is loving it, but doesn't see the cold hard truth. I try to pull up in order to put the pressure on myself, I don't want to make Hunter's injury any worse than it really is. Back in the ring, Austin is beating up Benoit. I finally release the hold and roll off the table, a little tired from the modified submission move. Triple H slowly continues on with the act. He manages to get up and crawl to the other side of the ring, go under the apron and get his sledgehammer. He climbs into the ring and as Benoit goes for a cover on Austin he prepares the final blow. Like planned, Chris rolls aside and the hammer is sent strait into the gut of Stone Cold. That did it. Triple H was shot of his energy. I watched as he stepped over Austin and rolled out of the ring and curled up on the other side. Benoit went on, he landed the flying head but and went for the cover. 1, 2, 3, ding, ding.
"The winners, and new tag team champions, Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho." The announcer said and the crowd cheered loudly and stood up to applaud.
"What's wrong?" The ref finally noticed Triple H was acting strangely.
"I think I tore my quad." Triple H said as the ref went over to him.
"Your quad?" The ref was surprised at the assumption, Triple H was probably exaggerating from the pain.
But Triple H is one smart guy and he did turn out to be right. I think he knows enough about the body to know when and where something is wrong, unlike myself. Seeing that something was really wrong, help soon arrived. Benoit and I had received our tag team titles and though we were worried about our good friend's status, we were told to leave the stage in order to not mess up storylines. We went back to the gorilla position to wait. But as we watched on the screen, our hearts sank. Triple H was being aided back by the ref, other officials, Austin and Stephanie. Nobody would really know what this injury would do to him or how long it would take for him to even come back here.
"Are you ok man?" I ask as they come in, everyone's a buzz now.
"No, I'm not." Triple H says through clenched teeth. I'm taken, usually he's too proud to admit he's hurt. That's a bad sign, he must really be injured badly. "Just get me to the back room." He shakes his head from the pain and we all help him to the trainer's room where he asks Triple H what's the matter. "I think I tore my quad out there!"
"You know I think you might be right." The trainer sighs sadly as he takes off his left knee pad and takes a look at the swollen knee. "Get the ambulance over here, now."
"You should've stopped fighting the match." Austin said as the ambulance came.
"To tell you the truth, I never even thought of that." Triple H admitted.
We watch as the ambulance backs up to the hall in the parking lot in the San Jose arena, a place Triple H would never forget, as we all probably would. The paramedics aided Triple H into the back of the ambulance and they sped off to a San Jose hospital.
"Ok come on, show's over. Get it together." Vince shoes us off. We all go to our rooms to change, shower and get our stuff and we all drudge back to the hotel, worried.
"Hello, is this Vince McMahon?" A voice asks on the phone later that night.
"Yes it is, who is this?" Vince asks into his cell phone, we all get very eager.
"I'm here with Triple H at the San Jose hospital and I'm sorry to say that he has torn his left quadriceps." The doctor informs. "He must be operated on right away."
"I understand. We'll take care of everything doctor." Vince replies. They both hang up and Vince informs us all of the situation. "Triple H has torn his left quad and he's going to be operated on in about a day or two once he gets to his doctor."
"Can I go see him?" She asks, very upset. All of us are decimated, but Stephanie McMahon is the most. And hey who can blame her, their TV relation made them close.
"No honey, I'm sorry." Vince shakes his head at his daughter. We all head back to our rooms, but I decided not to, as does Stephanie. I want to help her, she looks so sad.
"Uh, hey Steph?" I get her attention. "I can take you to see him if you wanna."
"Thanks Chris." She smiles under her tears. The limo driver takes us to the hospital and we get his room at the front desk. I hate hospitals, too many bad experiences.
"Can we go in?" I ask the nurse outside the door, she says we can so we do.
"Hello, are you ok?" Stephanie slowly opens the door. He's awake but has a drugged expression from the painkillers. I smile as they hug. "I was so afraid."
"Hey, how you doing?" I ask as I go over, Stephanie refuses to let go of him.
"I honestly have no idea." Triple H tries to laugh as he pushes her off finally.
"Come on, take it easy." I say. To tell you the truth, I'm really scared about this.
"Excuse me, McMahon?" A doctor knocks on the open door and comes in.
"Yes?" Stephanie looks up and I tense, I really dislike doctors, really.
"We need you to sign a few papers here." He says, I sigh with relief.
"Sure." She gets up. "I'll be back later, try to rest some ok?"
"Alright." Triple H nods and we watch them go. I can't make eye contact with Hunter, I just have that nauseating feeling in my stomach. Finally I sit down, the whole time Hunter is watching me strangely. I can feel his eyes poking the back of my head.
"I'm sorry." I finally say, my voice choking a bit. "I'm so sorry, really bro."
"What?" Triple H is confused, he sits up in his bed as I try not to cry.
"It's my fault." I shake my head, still attempting to hold back any tears.
"What?" Triple H is still unsure of what I mean. "What is, and why Chris?"
"I shouldn't have locked Steve in the walls." I put my hand over my eyes.
"I was the one to hit you, I was the one who stepped wrong. It's my fault, don't put any of the blame on yourself." Triple H says. "I tore my quad on my own ok?"
"No, you're drugged, you can't see clearly. I can, and it's my fault." I reply. Triple H opens his mouth to speak but doesn't. "I can't tell you how sorry I am man."
"I'm sorry but visiting hours are over." A lady doctor says to me. I stand up and start to leave. I stop to rub my eyes and turn back to Hunter who's watching me.
"We all get hurt, I've been hurt before." Triple H assures me. "I'll be fine. Ok?"
"Alright." I sigh and leave, I don't want to argue with an injured friend so I go. Stephanie and I meet up and we go back to the hotel, the whole time we're unnoticed.
The next day we all leave, Stephanie goes to the operation with Triple H but the rest of us have to go to tape SmackDown, though we all can't shake Triple H from our mind. Well, how can we? We go on and perform and after the show we get to hear from the doctor.
"I'm happy to say that Triple H's surgery was a complete success." He says. We all cheer at the news. "But there's bad news too." As soon as we heard those words we all felt our gut tighten with fear. "He'll be out for a year with rehabilitation and all, sorry."
"Well, thank you for the update doctor." Vince hangs up and we all are in shock.
"Vince, what about Stephanie?" Stone Cold asks. "She's gotta be in a bad way."
"Well Steve, she's with him but she's gonna have to get the show back on the road." Vince replies. "She has to come back, but I know it'll be hard for her."
"Vince, it's hard on us all. This is a really bad thing." I say and everyone agrees.
"Then Chris, you go get her since you volunteered so nicely." Vince turns to me.
"Ok." I shrug. Alone, I go on the plane, it's something I've never really done before, it's a little weird. But we soon arrive and a taxi takes me to the hospital. I quickly find the room Triple H is in, the lady at the desk is a fan of Stone Cold. "Hello?" I knock on the door to find Stephanie asleep on the small sofa in the corner, but Hunter is awake.
"Hey." He tries to smile but he's still depressed at the news. I bet he felt horrible.
"How are you doing?" I ask, trying to start conversation to break the silence.
"I can't complain." He mutters, his head lowered so I can barely hear.
"What do you mean you can't complain?" I'm socked. This is a bad injury.
"Others are worse off." He shrugs. I start to speak but close my mouth, it's true.
"Well. uh," I begin. "I guess I kinda know how it is to be like this."
"What?" Triple H tried to laugh and it made me look up. "In the whole time you've been here you've never gotten a serious injury. You were out one day with what, a cold, a sprained ankle, a bruised arm? Come on Chris, nobody can understand me!"
"That's not true, I worked a whole 8 1/2 years before I came here you know!" I yell and Triple H is shocked at my voice, to tell you the truth, so was I. "I, I'm sorry..."
"What happened Chris?" Triple H squints at me, I can tell he's sorry too.
"It happened when I was still working solo, I wasn't even in a corporation yet. It was rough being in the independents. I've been out of action too you know." I say and Triple H listens as I begin my story:
"The longest time was when I was in the Smokey Mountain Wrestling company as I recall. I believe it was in the Knoxville Coliseum about two hours before the show. Lance Storm and I were going to take on The Heavenly Bodies, I think. Well anyway, we were practicing and I was going for a shooting star press. So I made the full rotation and landed chest first, but on my arm and I knew right away I had done something wrong. It didn't hurt but there was this indent in it, it was broken. I didn't want to go to some doctor so I decided to take it under my own power to get better. I started to take a whole bunch of these calcium pills and some way it worked and the bone healed. My boss still made me go to a doctor after I got the injury. He said 'I can't believe how quickly the bone healed.' I told him about the calcium pills and he was all 'Whoa, I wouldn't have thought of that.' I thought 'Well that's great to know!'. I've never been a fan of doctors and that ignorant remark just added to my reluctance of this quack, I was smarter than him and I got a D in science and health! I hate chemistry and such. Well, anywho, when I first showed him my arm, he moved it around and stuff but it didn't hurt. He told me 'It can't be broken, you're not screaming in pain.' But the x-rays proved him wrong, again, it was broken in two. But for whatever reason it didn't hurt I don't know, maybe I have no nerves in my arm or something. I never had to take a pain pill or anything, I don't know why the hell that was but I was glad. I hate medicine. So he said 'You need surgery on your arm right now.' But I said 'Well I have to go to a wrestling show, I won't wrestle though, I'll just be ringside.' He put a soft cast on my arm and I went to the arena. My boss was flipped out at me but I told him 'Don't worry I'm gonna still wrestle.' And like a total idiot I worked the match with a soft cast on my arm. That's something you can only do when you're young though. But I made it through and the next day I had the operation and was about two months. I know it's not the same as you now, but."
"Wow, that's pretty amazing." Triple H said and looked at me. I stared back as he went on. "To think you would wrestling in a soft cast with a broken arm? I tell ya Chris, I knew you were an idiot, but sometimes you amaze me." He began to snicker to himself.
"Is that good or bad." I pout. Granted I make my share of mistakes, but still.
"Both actually." He grins and I look at him. "In a bad way meaning you did some pretty stupid stunt, but you do many. You're a really jackass sometimes." He laughs and I begin to growl but he continues. "But, in a good way because you proved a doctor wrong, you, a D student in health, outsmarted a phd. And you're a really good person. You help people and do things for them without ever thinking about yourself. That's a good thing."
"Oh. Really?" I grin, I never thought about it that way before. "Well, I rushed back to my return. I guess that's something not too smart either, but then again, you know me." I smirk and Triple H smiles and nods as I finish my story:
"There was more pressure working in the independents. You had to come back quickly because you were paying for your own expenses and you need to make money. Now, like in your case, the bills are paid for you and it's all taken care of. If I got my broken arm now I could do what I had to do in order to get well, and not worry about speeding back. Before I didn't have that luxury and had to come back as soon as I could. Because, if I didn't work, I didn't get paid, and I couldn't eat. Plus there are hundreds of other guys just waiting to take your spot, and I couldn't risk it. You see what I mean?"
"Yea Chris, I do. I guess I never saw you in that way before." Triple H looked at me. I don't think he ever knew that about me. I think he's one of the few who knows that actually. "So that's." He pointed to my right arm with the elbow pad on it.
"Yup." I smirked with a nod. "So Hunter, I don't want you to do what I did. I feel enough blame now as it is, so I don't want more." Hunter starts to talk but I continue. "You have the luxury to get well, you have no worries about bills, you don't have to worry about loosing the spotlight. So get well Hunter and don't do what I did, don't make my same mistake. You only live once, but don't do something so stupid that you blow it all." I finish what I wanted to say and wait for Triple H to say what he was going to say, but he never did. I have said enough so I stay quiet. We look at Stephanie, still asleep.
"It's time to go." A hospital attendant says and I turn back to Hunter.
"Come on Steph." I go wake her up. "Gotta leave now." I start to shake her.
"No." She says sleepily and I help her up. "I don't wanna." She groans.
"I guess I'll see ya later man." I turn around as I approach the doorway.
"Yea, see ya around." He nods. "Don't worry Steph, I'll be ok." He grins at me and I smile back. We leave and take another taxi to the airport and head to the next live show. Vince and the others are eager to hear about Hunter but we're all still really sad.
You know, now that I said that to Hunter, I turn around and think about my position and my place in this business and see how lucky I am compared to so many others. Never before have I taken my job for grantite and I never would trade my life's past with any others. But now that I stop and think about my past I realize all that happened and how it needed to or else I wouldn't be where I would be today. And Hunter is right about me, I do help others without even thinking about myself. I guess that's how I end up in so many rough situations. But if I helped somebody, that's all that matters. Now that I look at my past I realize something. People like Hunter are worse off than me and I do things for others to help them. But I never come to realize that what if I was in their place, what would I do if my career went down the drain. Then I remind myself, you can't worry yourself by thinking that way. If that bridge comes up you cross it at that place and time. I doubt Hunter ever thought he'd be here, and I never thought about my arm being broken. You can't worry yourself with questions about the future, especially bad ones like what if I get hurt or something. You only live once and you have to live that way.
"Finally, what we've been waiting for, the return of The Game!" JR says, as the date that's been promoted for a long time is here at last. As Raw goes to commercial, the fans star to chant for Triple H. He grins in the gorilla position, though he's been here for a long time, he's got butterflies in him. 'It's all about the game, and how you play it..'
His music hits and the crowd in MSG goes nuts as they give a welcome so great it'll bring tears to even the greatest of men's eyes. We all watch proudly as he comes to the ring after eight months of being out, almost a year. Fans and superstars alike have waited for this day and now as the music silences and the crowd finally starts to settle, he speaks.
"Just in case you don't remember who I am, I am The Game!" He does his promo and after it's all said and done and Raw is off the air, he comes back to a crowd of enthusiasm and exasperation. "I tell you what guys, I wouldn't have traded that for anything." The emotion from the crowd really got to him, it got to us all. And it just goes to remind me, we wouldn't have come to realize how lucky we all are to be here if we don't watch what other people will do just to be in the same place we are right now. We all saw how dedicated Triple H was and I bet he learned a lot about himself on his road to recovery, as we all did, superstars and fans. You can do anything you put your mind to.
And so, the shows go on...