YMMV / The Miz

• Awesome Music:
  • Puns notwithstanding, his current theme, "I Came To Play", is... pretty cool. That being said, it could change to "Hate Me Now" (a song so appropriate for Miz, it's not even funny) and nobody would really complain.
  • Miz, after his 2021 WWE championship win, has "Hate Me Now" playing on this Instagram post celebrating the victory.
• Alternative Character Interpretation: Max Landis posted a cryptic tweet saying that the Miz has PTSD. He later elaborates on a Reddit thread that Miz the character was bullied and an actual underdog who's treated like a bad guy. "He beat Cena at Wrestlemania. And it meant nothing."
• Badass Decay. So, so much since losing the WWE Championship. It looked for a while that he would come out of it during his time with R-Truth, but after their split, R-Truth is the hotter one of the two. It took winning the IC title and face turn to become bad ass again. Then in his Hollywood heel turn it took Maryse, the IC title, draft split SmackDown Live and a Talking Smack Worked Shoot meltdown against Daniel Bryan in order to get it back even stronger. However, ever since moving to Raw the next year, he suffered again despite winning the IC championship. Nowadays, the Miz couldn't win a match without any kind of interference.
• Base-Breaking Character: Once he won the WWE Championship, the IWC, and to an extent casual fans, promptly split in half, especially considering the nature of how he won it. It doesn't help the fact that those who don't like the fact he's champion are split over those thinking he got his push too early into his serious singles run (he's been employed since mid-2006 but took three years to become a guy to take seriously on his own), and those who view it as a personal insult to the wrestling business as a whole. Despite his improvements in the ring and penchant for memorable promos creating several awesome moments since then, the same type of reception met Miz when he won the championship again in 2021—largely due to being surrounded by superior workers with far more credible characters than the comedic work he was doing with John Morrison at the time.
• Creator's Pet:
  • He had his own personal pet on the 2015 Tough Enough in Amanda Rose Saccomanno (today known as Mandy Rose), whom he saved from elimination even though she placed dead last in fan polls, leading to fan favorite Mada getting eliminated instead.
  • It's therefore Hilarious in Hindsight that Miz and Mandy Rose are now mixed tag teaming on the Mixed Tag Challenge. Perhaps it's also an instance of Vindicated by History according to the eyes of some, with Mada getting quietly released from WWE in 2017 and Mandy Rose still working for the company in 2019.
• Draco in Leather Pants: Seriously. Smarks have a good deal of affection for him, as he's one of the funniest Heels on WWE programming, and his theme is pretty badass too. Like many other heels that have gotten this treatment, this was eventually paid off with a Heel–Face Turn for Miz.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: As are all charismatic Heels.
• Evil Is Cool: Like many bad guys before him, Miz has managed to get over with fans despite playing a Dirty Coward.
• Growing the Beard:
  • Even during his WWE Title run, he still wasn't seen as a main eventer. It wasn't until he honed his "Hollywood Sellout" gimmick, took to having his wife Maryse as his valet that he really took off. He played a big part in revitalizing the long-tarnished Intercontinental Title in the process.
  • Even his in-ring flaws have improved as of late first by him having consistently okay matches on SmackDown and Raw, followed by 4-star matches in triple threats and fatal fourways with good workers, followed by him getting decent singles matches with good workers, then finally culminating to him having 4-star matches with the likes of Seth Rollins and Jeff Hardy. Sure, he still has the fewest singles 4-star matches in the roster for someone who's been in the company for 12 years, but his work rate progress cannot be denied.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Remember Miz's epic promo as the US champ? It's mostly based on his actual experiences of being hazed by the locker room veterans during his rookie years. It's worth noting though that it wasn't Bradshaw's wrath he directly acquired (although as the locker room bully he had) through his chicken eating escapades. It was Chris Benoit.
  • In 2009 it was noted how his feud with Cena didn't result in him looking good at all. Two years later the same thing happens, and only on a grander stage, marking Miz's fall from grace. Six years after that, despite his reinvention as a big-money superstar with a hot wife, it happens yet again, with he and his wife used as a stepping stone for Cena getting engaged.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: Him hosting the 2006 edition of the WWE Diva Search. The one where his future wife, Maryse, was introduced to the WWE universe. Little did they know back then that they would end up together...
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Look at the quote on the main entry for The Miz. Then look at the results of Super Bowl XLV. Chances are The Miz took a bath on the locker room football pool.
  • Also, his Take That! at The Rock right before WrestleMania XXVII for his role as the host of said show. He was recently announced as the host of SummerSlam 2013. Also doubles as Hypocritical Humor, as Miz got his start on the main roster as the host of Smackdown and of the widely-disliked WWE Diva Search.
  • In an online interview, the interviewer mistakenly said that you could see The Miz on TV every Monday, Tuesday^note When ECW was still airing and Wednesday — to which Miz responded "Wednesday? What are we doing Wednesday?". Fast forward to 2012 where Miz would become a regular commentator on Main Event — which airs on Wednesdays.
  • By his own recollection on Chris Jericho's Talk is Jericho podcast, after his time on The Real World, people recognised Miz as, well... Miz rather than Mike, despite the Miz persona only appearing in one episode of the show. Of course, being that he wrestled for the WWE & became WWE champion as The Miz, people are more likely to recognise him as Miz rather than Mike.
  • 2009 had him getting manipulated by Maryse into doing her dirty work to antagonize Mickie James. The Miz finally had enough and gave her a "Reason You Suck" Speech that is hilarious to watch with the news that they are now Happily Married.
    The Miz: You had your chance with me and you butchered it. Just like you butcher the English language every time you open your mouth.
  • Nikki Bella claims that at her Diva Search audition, she got into a huge argument during a promo-off with The Miz. Who would have thought that in 2017 the two of them would be feuding in a WrestleMania match? What's more is that when the Bellas split up on ECW, it was Nikki who sided with Miz and Morrison.
  • On the lead up to their WrestleMania 33 match, The Miz and Maryse taunted John Cena and Nikki Bella, calling their relationship a sham and pointing out that Cena never wanted to marry Nikki, whereas Cena would call Maryse a "waste of space" for not being a wrestler and once asked Miz if he's "shooting blanks" with Maryse because they haven't had a baby despite being together for so long. Fast forward through the next year, and Miz and Maryse have announced that they're having a baby, and shortly after that baby was born in 2018, John and Nikki broke up. John and Nikki may have won the match at WrestleMania but Miz and Maryse won the feud.
  • It can be funny looking back at the Miz and Morrison team and realising that at the time Miz was the Chick Magnet and Morrison was the fake Hollywood star, but now they've entirely switched.
• Ho Yay: With Alex Riley and Michael Cole.
  • Also with John Morrison during their time together as a tag team, even describing their relationship as a bromance.
  • And Big Show, to a lesser extent, since he effectively got dragged into The Big Show & Chris Jericho's own break-up, which saw Jericho acting like the jealous third party.
  • In January 2024, he ends up gaining some with R-Truth as he tries to pull Truth away from The Judgment Day due to how he knows that the group is just going to beat up Truth in the future. His words ring true on 1/29/24, when JD beats up Truth and rips his Judgment Day shirt off before Finn, Dominic, and Damian Priest join in and Miz immediately races to save Truth. Two weeks later, Miz asked DIY to save Truth from another Judgment Day beatdown (he couldn't make it to the show due to some real life issues at the time)
• Hollywood Pudgy: John Morrison has called him fat multiple times, for a while he was very sensitive about his weight. Lampshaded by Dolph Ziggler in the Raw before Royal Rumble 2011.
• Hype Backlash: This comes in cycles. Fans first hate Miz for his inability to wrestle topnotch 5-star matches, bringing him down to the midcard. Then they begin to like him because he's so entertaining at promos and manipulating his enemies despite his mediocre wrestling skills. This results in him being pushed higher in the card as he gets cheered more. However, this eventually results in backlash from his overexposure that exposes all his previous weaknesses to more people. He's then pushed back down on the card as fans lose interest in him, where he's hated initially but again newer fans gradually begin to warm up to him due to his entertainment factor and antics. Rinse and repeat.
• Jerkass Woobie: There's really just one time he fit this trope, but it's worth mentioning: the night he cut this promo. Despite the fact that he's delivering it in character as a Heel, a lot of it's a shoot, and JBL would later admit flat out in an interview that he hazed the hell out of Miz back in the day and wasn't the least bit sorry for doing it - because he wanted to see if Miz had what it took to be a part of the locker room. Nowadays on commentary Bradshaw openly admits that he once hated the Miz but now respects him for what he's endured and accomplished.
• Love to Hate: Miz is one of the few heels on the roster that can still draw heel heat — the "good" kind. Even people who are huge fans of his love seeing him get beat up.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • This crowd reaction shot of an angry little girl◊ after Miz won the WWE Championship quickly became one. The Miz pointed her out the next week as one of the highlights of his reign, and she then went on to appear in his "Hate Me Now" promo video at WrestleMania 27. She then won a Slammy for best fan reaction. Then Miz came out and taunted her, stealing her Slammy award in the process.
  • At one point the dirt sheets reported that The Miz was getting heat backstage and being blamed for things that probably weren't his fault. Wrestling fans have responded to this by jokingly blaming everything bad that happens on The Miz.
  • After his return in the summer of 2014, many fans noted that his new jacket and sunglasses look is suspiciously similar to Johnny Cage.
  • The Miz persona itself was a meme among Real World fans before he ever got in the ring. Despite Miz only appearing once during Mike's time on the show, people called him Miz more often than Mike.
  • Ever since Miz came out with his new entrance ensemble consisting of fancy red and gold jacket and Martial Arts Headband, people have jokingly speculated that Miz is auditioning for a Naruto live action film, complete with faux-references such as "Mizjutsu".
  • Miz's father, George Mizanin or "Miz Dad" became a meme himself during his I Am Your Opponent face-off against Shane McMahon at WrestleMania 35 in a bid to protect his son from harm.
  • Jokes about the size of Miz's testicles. Around the time of his 2022 heel run with Maryse, one of his opponents made a crack about Miz having tiny balls. It took off immediately and has stuck around ever since. This has evolved to crowds chanting "ti-ny balls" at Miz during matches to piss him off. Maryse has been shown on screen at points defending her husband's endowments (while carrying a bifurcated, spherical handbag that has to be seen to be believed.) There was even merch referencing this - including Miz wearing wrestling briefs that read "HELLO! My Balls Are Massive." Right there on the crotch. Subtle.
• Meta Guy: From bringing in members of the Spirit Squad during a feud with Dolph Ziggler, to calling Seth Rollins "Tyler Black", Miz has a habit of Leaning on the Fourth Wall.
• Mis-blamed: He was apparently blamed and punished in early 2012 for the low Survivor Series buyrate despite being only one of four men involved in the main event. The other three participants? John Cena, The Rock, and R-Truth. Also keep in mind that the match was set up through Cena being overwhelmed by Awesome Truth and asking Rock for help, only for the next few weeks on Raw to see Cena overcoming them by himself, killing off all sense of unpredictability this match could have beforehand.
• Never Live It Down:
  • Him being part of The Real World and being a reality star before becoming a wrestler. Miz isn't fazed by it though.
  • The Internet Wrestling Community will never forgive Miz for botching the dive sequence with R-Truth. They're under the impression that Miz never catches any dives because of it even though the only other major incident with Miz and dives was him missing a dive from one of the Usos. He's even called one of the safest workers on the roster.
• Nightmare Retardant: Despite the MANY Levels in Badass he took, it's just hard for some people to take The Miz seriously as an intimidating Heel with the way he carries himself.
• Older Than They Think: Mike Awesome was using "Because I'm AWESOME" as a Catchphrase years before the Miz, except that he was a 6'7", 294 lbs. Lightning Bruiser who made people believe it.
• Replacement Scrappy: The Miz was fairly popular during the "Million Dollar" Tough Enough , but was far behind the winner and was audibly booed, even back then. He didn't become really hated until that Tough Enough winner, Daniel Puder (a legit competitor strong enough to easily beat both Miz and Ryback at arm wrestling, skilled enough to nearly out shoot Kurt Angle, and then beat Miz again in a boxing match), was unceremoniously released and The Miz was put on television in his place. As if to fuel the first, Miz was also made host of the Diva Search, long after that segment had overstayed its welcome. Poor guy never stood a chance.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
  • Just look at his first appearance on the A-Show. Who would have thought this fool would be cashing in Money in the Bank on Randy Orton four years later to become WWE Champion?
  • And he's recently made a Heel–Face Turn. Turns out he's pretty good at using the same things that made him annoying as a heel to be absolutely hilarious as a face.
  • Lampshaded on his most recent T-shirt, which has "HATERS WANTED" on the front in the style of a newspaper classified ad, with the back saying, "The Old Ones Are Starting to Like Me."
  • Many people who had previously hated Miz consider his work from 2014 forward to be a big step up from most of his previous work, feeling that he plays his pompous Hollywood celebrity heel gimmick very well and also that he's in just the right spot on the roster. If that wasn't enough, his tag team with Damien Sandow may have been.
  • Unfortunately, Miz began treading water again in 2015 once the breakup with Sandow happened but managed to reverse it after WrestleMania 32 when he won the IC title in an upset win over Zack Ryder with the help of his new valet and real-life wife Maryse. His character work leapt forward, fully playing into the narcissistic Hollywood gimmick, backed up by a partner whom he actually respects and even loves, making them the perfect detestable heels.
  • His in-ring work also improved considerably, reaching the point where he shared a Fatal-Four-Way against Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Cesaro and didn't look out of place at all. Culminating in a fantastic, fiery promo in August 2016 that basically dared all the haters to continue hating him for doing something he loved the way he did. At the moment, there's no stopping the Miz.
  • In an indirect example, Alex Riley was near-universally disliked as Miz's lackey, but this only worked out to Riley's benefit in his Heel–Face Turn; he got a HUGE pop on the 5/23/11 RAW when Miz's insults and blame-shifting finally caused him to snap and give Miz a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown. And if that didn't work, Miz returned the favor in the 7/4/11 RAW and beat Riley senseless with anything the arena could give him after losing to him one many times, giving him sympathy cred to continue on as a face.
• Retroactive Recognition: In the first few minutes of the "Trainwreck: Woodstock '99" documentary released in 2022, footage of a young Mike Mizanin ended up as part of the documentary's intro before the actual Title Drop appeared (as confirmed by a 2013 tweet from a friend that he went to Woodstock with).
• Rooting for the Empire: In contrast to his mild reception on the Main Event of Wrestlemania 27 that was ultimately hijacked by The Rock, the Miz got some Daniel Bryan levels of pop from the Wrestlemania 33 audience who, as usual, wanted him (or anyone really) to win against Big Match John (especially when Mizanin started doing those Bryan shoot kicks).
• The Scrappy: Miz would be more a Base-Breaking Character than a Scrappy; however, almost no one liked Alex Riley's run as his apprentice, which at the very least was thought to have ran longer than wanted. See Rescued above for what happened when it finally ended.
• Shocking Moments: During one match with Kofi Kingston, Miz gets hit with a Trouble In Paradise. This wouldn't be noteworthy if it didn't make an incredibly loud THWACK. This sound effect wasn't just for show. This causes his head to snap back and it outright KO'd poor Miz for a while and caused him to bleed a little. You could say it gave him quite the bit of Trouble in Paradise.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: His 2017 feud with Dean Ambrose. The latter ended up driving the former Properly Paranoid enough to accidentally destroy Maryse's gift for him — twice, in fact — thus potentially ruining their relationship. Therefore, Miz ultimately recruiting Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel to Zerg Rush-retaliate the crap out of Ambrose arguably came across as more of a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds moment than anything else.
• Vindicated by History:
  • Miz saved Amanda Rose Saccomanno from getting eliminated from Tough Enough 2015 even though she placed dead last in fan polls, offering the most curt of explanations to a flabbergasted Paige: "She's hot!" This led to fan favorite Mada getting eliminated instead. Fast forward several years, Amanda has become part of the main roster as Mandy Rose, called up alongside her best friend Daria Rae Berenato AKA Sonya Deville as part of Paige's all-too-brief return in late 2017 only for the two to outlast literally everyone else from their competition on the company's payroll, with Mandy's beauty (and resemblance to a young Trish Stratus, at least before she dyed her hair brown) being a standout feature of her character. Mada, meanwhile, had quietly requested and been granted his release back in the start of the same year Rose made it to TV.
  • The Miz himself is an example. Many of his critics believed he wouldn't last 3 months in the company. Fast forward to 2021. It's been almost 16 years, and he ended up a 2-time WWE champion and a 2-time grand slam champion. He proved everyone wrong time and time again as a Villainous Underdog.

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