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Awesome / The Miz

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Every day that I get better, I watch as you get worse. My script is to the letter, and I'll write your final verse.

The Miz has had one hell of a career, rising from someone who seemed to be destined to only be a footnote in the history of wrestling to becoming one of the modern era's hottest stars. Throughout his run, he's had many doubting him, including many high-profile names, but his hard work and dedication to wrestling has proven them wrong, and even gotten many of his nay-sayers either on his side or begrudgingly admitting to his ever-improving talent. It's that drive that truly makes Miz, as he says, "AWWWWWWWEEEEEEESOOOOOOOOMMMMME!!!"

  • Early on in Miz's career in the WWE, during Armageddon 2004, he fought MMA fighter Daniel Puder in a "Dixie Dogfight" (boxing match with amateur rules and headgear) for the $1 million Tough Enough contest.
    • Surprisingly enough, the "untrained"note  Mizanin was able to land multiple lefts and hurt the more experienced, MMA-trained Puder.
    • Also, Miz managed to not go down himself despite being hit flush and people expecting a wash.
    • Ultimately, the wrestling fans voted for Puder, making him the victor of the show. However, the way the match unfolded was a good microcosm of Miz's future career: He's an underestimated overachiever who defied the odds every time.
  • 11/22/10: First and most significantly: cashing in his Money in the Bank contract on Randy Orton and becoming the new WWE Champion!
  • This promo. A lot of it is a shoot, and it stands as one of the best promos the Miz has ever given, and a testament to the amount of hazing and humiliation he had to endure to get to where he is now.
  • At TLC 2010, after a long and grueling battle, the Miz manages to hang onto his WWE Championship against an enraged Randy Orton with not just one, but TWO of the most dastardly and underhanded ways possible. And both of them involving his manservant A-Ry getting arbitrarily used as a punching bag. Surely a Crowning Moment of AWE-Some.
  • The first match of 2011 was the Miz vs John Morrison. It was so AWEEE~EEESOME that a few are saying that it could be a possible Match of the Year candidate!
    • More importantly, it was for all intents and purposes Miz's first clean win as champion. While Alex Riley would try to get involved, Morrison just kicked his ass after the first couples of minutes, forcing Miz to win all by himself.
  • Having a match against Daniel Bryan on the last RAW before Elimination Chamber 2011, and after getting his ass kicked in all of their other matches, he finally managed to get a decisive clean win against him.
  • Having a good match with Jerry Lawler, in 2011!
  • 3/7/11: The Monday Night RAW go-home show before WrestleMania. John Cena is continuing the verbal feud between himself and The Rock - which essentially means that Miz, in-universe, has been Demoted to Extra despite being scheduled to headline WrestleMania in a match with Cena for the WWE Championship. Miz, naturally, is less than thrilled about this, so he ostensibly decides to boycott RAW until his WrestleMania match, or when people start paying attention to him instead of Cena/Rock. Until Cena tries to cut the promo at the end of the show. In comes Miz out of nowhere, bashes Cena's face in twice with the championship belt, and follows that shocking action with a blistering promo that railed on the fanbase for disrespecting him and featured this epic Badass Boast that actually channeled a bit of heel!Rocky himself.
    • Miz then recounts the event and the Rock calling him afterwards, praising him for the performance.
      Miz: It was the first time that the audience said, "Wow, The Miz is ready. I wanna see The Miz versus John Cena." That day, The Rock called me and he was like, "That's it, you did it, dude. That is it, you sold this match." And I was like, "Wow, man." And, by the way, this is my hero growing up. This guy is the biggest movie star in the world, and he's calling me? Like, he doesn't have to do that, but he did.
  • The Miz was the first wrestler in 2 years to hold the WWE Championship for more than 100 days. That has to say something.
    • The last person to have such a long title reign (at 210 days) was resident Broken Base Triple H.
  • The amazing video package that detailed his rise to stardom amidst footage of Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, and The Rock was among the very best the production team has ever done. This was followed by Miz and Alex Riley busting out of inflatable AWESOME letters on the stage and doing his trademark entrance pose amidst a shower of fireworks.
  • In his match for the WWE Championship against John Cena on WrestleMania 27 and the subsequent rematch, the Miz actually managed to kick out of The Attitude Adjustment when John was in full-blown SuperCena mode.
  • It must've felt so reaffirming for Miz, a major fan of The Rock, to have the man himself tell him, "I'm so proud of you." This was after he got a concussion during his WrestleMania match against John Cena.
    The Rock: I will tell you what you did and I'm so proud of you. You were knocked out and you fucking pulled through.
  • Nearly winning the titular ladder match at Money In the Bank 2011 for a second year in a row? Why is this a Moment of Awesome? Because he spent most of the match in the back after dislocating his kneecap, hobbled down the ramp to the ring while everyone else was on the ground, and in that short window, nearly managed to take the briefcase out from under the noses of seven other competitors.
    • Not only that, but he received a ''massive'' pop when he came back, only for Rey Mysterio to knock him off with a sunset flip. The Miz got the crowd to turn on Rey Mysterio!
  • Miz vs Rey Mysterio Jr., RAW 7/25/11. Holy crap, who thought Miz had a match like that in him?
  • On 7/22/11, the Miz and R-Truth officially form their alliance against the conspiracy against them in grand fashion. First they beat up Santino Marella, and then they cut a contender for promo of the year in which they accused everyone involved in the Summerslam main event controversy of conspiring against them and ripping on the crowd for their infernal WHAT chants. This needs to be seen to be believed.
  • Hell In A Cell 2011, Miz and R-Truth after being fired comes back after Alberto Del Rio pinned CM Punk for the WWE Championship and beat the everloving hell out of Rio, Punk, John Cena, the cameramen, two referees, all whilst the rest of the locker room try to open the Hell In A Cell to get Miz and R-Truth, eventually they get arrested, but damn Miz and R-Truth showed they mean business, also adding to the fact that they knocked out Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne earlier on in the evening.
  • After leaving for several weeks to film a movie, after spending several months as something of a bit player on the WWE roster, Miz wins the Intercontinental Title from Christian in his first singles match back in months, becoming the twenty-fifth Triple Crown Champion in the process.
  • After performing a Heel–Face Turn, he gives CM Punk a "The Reason You Suck" Speech, managing to goad him into taking a lie detector test.
  • After losing a match against Dolph Ziggler on the 12/28/12 SmackDown, Miz cuts a promo from on the mat tearing down A.J. Lee's Really Gets Around tendencies. Naturally, this pisses off Ziggler, who heads back down to the ring to teach Miz a lesson. Before Ziggler can strike the first blow, Miz, from his back, brains Ziggler with the mic in his hand and goes to town on him.
  • A crowning Promoted Fanboy moment for Miz on Raw's 20th Anniversary, not only getting to introduce and talk to "Nature Boy" Ric Flair on Miz TV, but doing the strut and getting to cinch in the Figure-Four Leg Lock on Antonio Cesaro, at the behest of "Naitch" himself!
  • On the 2/4/13 Raw, Miz got to put down a foiled phony trick made by Paul Heyman and Vickie Guerrero, giving them both a "The Reason You Suck" Speech to boot.
  • On the Raw after Jerry Lawler's mother passed away, The Miz offered his genuine condolences to Lawler and told him he hoped it wouldn't affect their match... and he was a heel at the time!
  • Recently (2/22/13) got engaged to Maryse; let's let MVP's Tweet speak for itself:
    So the kid from Parma Ohio achieves his dream of becoming WWE champion & marries the French Playboy playmate/model. Dreams come true!!!
    • And now Miz and Maryse are married. That…lucky…bastard.
  • 7/19/13: On Miz TV, Miz, rather than zip off a few one-liners at his guest Paul Heyman's expense, opens up the floor to him, and Heyman proceeds to advise CM Punk to stay down and away from WWE or face Brock Lesnar's wrath. Once he's done, Miz finally does speak, delivering a brutal "The Reason You Suck" Speech that actually leaves Heyman speechless and has the crowd give him a small, but hearty standing ovation.
    • A Meaningful Echo of sorts touches it off nicely, as Miz simply drops the mic with a thud after his speech to a stunned Heyman, not unlike what Punk would do after one of his "pipe bombs."
    • The funny thing is that the Miz is actually one of the first and original Paul Heyman guys.
  • On the 10/7/13 edition of Raw, he actually manages to be the first person to evade a Wyatt Family beatdown through sheer Genre Savvy. He even manages to get a few punches into Bray before escaping.
  • Most of Miz's exploits from 2014 to 2015 as the Hollywood A-Lister went to either him putting over his Obvious Stunt Double Damien Sandow (who worked at the time as "Damien Mizdow"), taking a hiatus filming one of many The Marine sequels, hosting Miz TV, or being part of multi-man tag-team matches. It was during this quiet period when he helped others (like Sandow) get their own Moments of Awesome instead of being in the limelight himself.
  • On the 8/24/15 edition of Raw, during the banal Miz TV segment covering the Diva's Revolution, the Miz does his "When my hand goes up your mouth goes shut!" shtick on the Divas that has the crowd cheering because they couldn't stand another second of the segment. He then says to the cheering crowd, "And that goes for all of you!" in true heel fashion, eliciting boos. It was a boring segment, and the Miz took the crowd from completely bored, to cheering him, to booing him in about 3 seconds.
  • On 2/5/16, AJ Styles knocked the Miz's tooth out (actually a crown or veneer) with a spinning back fist. From there, in a 97.9/105.5 KISS FM's KISS KREW interview, AJ puts Miz over, stating that he's one of the "toughest cats" he'd ever come across and he's a tough dude that deserves respect.
  • On 2/21/16, Mick Foley admits that the Miz is really good on a Facebook post of his, crediting him for helping the rise of stars like Bryan Danielson and AJ Styles with his segments with them. This after declaring a few weeks before that every time there's a Miz "wrestling" match going on, it's time to do the laundry.
  • On the Extreme Rules 2016 PPV, the Miz had arguably his first 4.5-star match, battling in a Fatal 4-Way against Cesaro, Sami Zayn, and Kevin Owens for his Intercontinental Championship. He showed he can hang with all the Indy Darlings while still wrestling the soft WWE style... and win.
  • 8/23/16: On Talking Smack, SmackDown GM Daniel Bryan said that he thinks Miz wrestles like a coward. The reigning Intercontinental Champion was having none of it, delivering a "Reason You Suck" Speech that was so brutal that even the Smarks weren't sure if it was a work, shoot, or Worked Shoot.
    • To further add to the example he completely shut Daniel Bryan down to the point that not only did he not have a comeback, but he just completely walked off the set. Even better? The following week, Bryan admitted that Miz was right.
    • Then, on a Washington Post interview, Daniel also confesses that while he hates the way the Miz wrestles, he admits that Mizanin is a hard worker, he has a huge amount of respect for him, and he wants him to do well.
    • Jim Ross outlines what makes the Miz's promo work on his blog post about it. He says it contains the "I'm Not Working You" feel that resonates to fans far more than scripted promos ever could. As J.R. said, the Miz kicked some verbal ass.
    • Even Mick Foley was impressed with the Miz for that promo, posting on Facebook that he could never make the Miz the butt of a joke again.
    • Within the span of 11 months, the Don Tony & Kevin Castle Show went from saying the Miz can't cut a promo due to his boring segment with Cesaro to giving Miz props for his Talking Smack promo and noting that Daniel Bryan isn't able to hang with him on the mic.
    • The thing about his response to being told that he wrestles like a coward? One could consider, in a way, that this was him addressing anyone criticizing the "WWE Style" of wrestling in general.
    • Eric Bischoff is a big fan of the promo, with him particularly liking how fans aren't sure if it's on script or off script. High praise from the guy who knew how to blur the lines between reality and fantasy with the NWO Invasion Angle.
  • Cody Rhodes had this to say about the Miz on the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast on 9/20/2016.
    Cody: There's nobody like Miz in all of wrestling. I hate saying nice things about Miz, [but] there's nobody like him. His commitment to trying to be a better wrestler, which he's still actively doing, his commitment to trying to be the loudest guy in the room, but one who draws your attention in a positive way, his run to the WWE Championship, when he was out there doing the interview about getting kicked out of the locker room and stuff. He took his real life story and he's — it does pain me, but he's on the level of Cena as far as work ethic. [...] You might not think it when you look at the card, but he's next-level special.
  • His IC Title vs. Career match with Dolph at No Mercy 2016. While Miz lost, both men's performances were near-unanimously praised, and the match itself was considered by many fans to be as good as if not better than the earlier triple threat match with Dean Ambrose, AJ Styles and John Cena. Think about that.
    • In the match itself the crowd are so into it they give dueling "Let's Go Ziggler/Let's Go Miz!" chants - with the latter actually louder and notably deeper, indicating a significant portion of the "smart" fans chose to cheer Miz, whose rep with smark fans has been dirt for a lot of his career. Even Miz stops for a second during the match when those chants hit, like he genuinely can't believe what he's hearing.
  • Even many of his detractors will admit that the majority of his 2016 IC Title run has been pretty good. Not only have his matches with Dolph Ziggler been decent quality and shown him hit new heelish lows to draw heat, but he's simultaneously been carrying on an angle/rivalry of sorts with Daniel Bryan, which included the promo above, which is widely considered to have been one of Miz's best in years, if not his best ever.
    • Normally, when the audience mocks the heel for crying, it was all over for his credibility as a serious competitor. However, when the audience mocked the Miz for footage of him almost crying after losing the Intercontinental Championship to Dolph Ziggler, he managed to come up with a promo for the ages that shut both Dolph and the audience up.
  • Miz taunting Renee Young about her relationship with Dean Ambrose on the Dec 20th edition of SmackDown.
  • Miz effectively countering Cena's claim that his entire character and move set are ripoffs, stating that could be said for just about any wrestler, past or present, including Cena himself.
  • According to a conference call made by Triple H, the Miz is currently the best on the mic in the current roster. He also said he would be very surprised if the Miz wasn't World Champion in under a year.
  • When asked which matches he was looking forward to the most with his call-up to the main roster, Indy Darling Samoa Joe of all people sings high praises of the Miz, saying he learned that Mizanin was an "unsung talent" that's able to get a "polarizing reaction" from fans, which is a skill that not many wrestlers possess. He further states that a feud with the Miz would be "compelling".
    • Joe then pays the Miz the closest thing to a compliment in Kayfabe during their segment together with the Miztourage.
      Samoa Joe: AND YOU (referring to the Miz). You do your annoying, unorthodox thing that you do in the ring.
  • On the 5/1/17 edition of Monday Night RAW, the Miz joined Finn Bálor and Seth Rollins for a Triple Threat match to get a shot at Dean Ambrose's Intercontinental Championship. Not only did the match elevate the IC belt to main event status; the Miz also displayed how a proper chickenshit heel should draw heat to a match against two faces with great in-ring psychology (including using Maryse as a shield and begging either party to team up with him against the other) that makes the showcase of pure athleticism between two athletically superior wrestlers mean something.
    • It also helps that the Miz won by surviving a Superplex Falcon Arrow Chain Combo from Seth (eliciting chants of "Holy Shit!" from the lively crowd), going through a Dusty Finish that saved him from Finn's Coup de Grâce finisher, and generating a chorus of boos from disappointed fans after he won the match, the way wrestling should be.
  • Although YMMV in regards to whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, the infamous Vince Russo himself claims that the Miz was born in the wrong era and that he would've been a mega star in the Attitude Era.
  • Spoony went from being a vocal critic of the Miz to calling him the best worker on ''Raw'' right now on his Twitter account.
  • Ricochet, also known as Prince Puma in Lucha Underground, tweeted a now deleted tweet (referenced here) that the Miz is one of the best things in Pro Wrestling today. He's yet another Indy Darling singing praises for Mizanin.
  • In Extreme Rules 2017, he fought against Dean Ambrose for the Intercontinental Championship under the stipulation that Ambrose would lose the title if he were to be disqualified. The Miz takes full advantage of this stipulation by goading Ambrose into losing his cool, introducing a steel chair to the mix, telling his wife to slap him, and finally shoving the Ambrose into the referee. While the referee was sort of deciding whether or not he should disqualify Ambrose for "assaulting him," the Miz takes advantage of the confusion, hits his finisher and becomes IC Champ for the seventh time.
    • So the swerve was that he won the match clean anyway (on paper).
    • The following night on RAW, he was greeted to "You deserve it" chants. Because he's supposed to be a heel, he quickly turned it against the fans, saying that it would mean much more if they didn't say that to every newly crowned champion. Maryse's reaction, going from being proud of her husband to laughing in agreement with him, is the icing on the cake.
  • Miz later gives Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel a casting call of a lifetime, inviting them to be part of his entourage. They agree, beating up Ambrose while wearing bear suits after Miz's attempted apology segment with Maryse backfires and he gets attacked by the Lunatic Fringe.
  • During his podcast, the "Stone Cold" Steve Austin has three words for you in regards to the Miz: "Miz entertains me."
    • Although Steve is not a big fan of the Mizbear shenanigans (since he is one of the progenitors of the Attitude Era and the bear stuff is too silly for him), he appreciates the Miz's promo capabilities "on the horn" and how he tackled and elbow-dropped the gift box from Maryse Ric Flair style.
  • 8/21/17: On what should've been a cookie-cutter tease of a potential Roman Reigns and John Cena Passing the Torch match with a whiny heel ruining the moment, the Miz again delivers a straight-fire promo just two days shy of the anniversary of his Talking Smack promo against Daniel Bryan, venting his frustration over being on the pre-show match of SummerSlam (which he won but it happened in a nearly empty arena). Highlights include:
  • In his second diss promo against Roman Reigns, John Cena of all people just admitted that even though he despises the Miz (and the Miz has been John's Unknown Rival for years and years), he respects him for scratching, clawing, and earning every single inch week by week.
    John Cena: DAMN! I respect THAT!
  • On WWE RAW 9/11/17, when he's about to announce how he and Maryse are about to have their first child, Enzo Amore arrives to interrupt. The Miz goes out on a very powerful "The Reason You Suck" Speech stating how Enzo does not care about the craft of wrestling and how Miz saw himself in Enzo before stating that Enzo does not care about actually being serious about wrestling at all. It is absolutely brutal.
  • On WWE RAW 10/2/17, proving every bit the Determinator in his IC Title defense versus Roman Reigns, even when Reigns was savvy enough to take out the Miztourage before the match, countering one Superman Punch into a Skull-Crushing Finale for a close near fall, then taking a second Superman Punch point-blank and just barely kicking out before the three count, which surprised everyone, especially Reigns! The match would end up in a DQ win for Reigns after Sheamus & Cesaro got involved, but when the chips are down, never let it be said that Miz won't defend his IC Title to the last.
  • The Max Landis showcases what a complex and interesting character the "unchosen one" Miz is when you go look back at his career, from when he won the World Title to him being overshadowed by "chosen ones" like the Rock, John Cena, The Shield, and Roman Reigns.
  • Despite getting his well-deserved comeuppance via the reunited Shield and getting tossed into a six-man tag team TLC matchnote  at the eponymous PPV by Kurt Angle, Miz effectively rebounded against both the Shield and Angle by claiming that since Ambrose bragged on live television that the Shield could beat ANY number of men put up against them, Miz should be allowed a fourth partner, needling Angle over him being a "man of his word" who adheres to integrity, which is one of his "Three I's."
    • Kurt, resigned at being verbally cornered by Miz, asks who the 4th man is, only for BRAUN STROWMAN to kick in the door to his office and stare him down, leaving Kurt with a somewhat agape look while Miz leaves with a finger point and a very smug smile, having effectively conned Angle.
      • All of this is an understated example of how dangerous a conniving, Genre Savvy veteran heel like the Miz can be; he finds himself in an undesirable situation like the above match being made, and will find any approach to turn things to his advantage, like the above casual Badass Boast from a face like Ambrose.
  • Miz delivering yet another scathing promo, this time at the expense of one United States Champion Baron Corbin, who felt that Miz would be better off staying at home and playing "dress-up" with his little wife...
    • Bubba/Bully Ray Dudley of The Dudley Boys fame was certainly impressed with it, as evidenced by this Twitter post.
    • Rusev also tweeted that he loved "Michael's" promo.
    • The Miz then calls Baron Corbin the "Bathroom Break" of SmackDown Live on the 11/6/17 edition of Monday Night RAW.
  • Rolling Stone has named the Miz the Wrestler of the Year for 2017.
  • Winning back his beloved Intercontinental Championship for the eighth time on the historic 25th anniversary of RAW, upending Roman Reigns after utilizing the Miz-tourage and some sleight of hand to expose a turnbuckle, which Reigns would later end up cracking his head on following a missed Spear, allowing Miz to hit the Skull-Crushing Finale for the win.
    • This subsequently leads to Miz, for all of his Unknown Rival tendencies running up against John Cena, holding two career accomplishments over John: Winning the IC Title (a title John's yet to hold) and owning a one-on-one victory versus Roman Reigns (back-to-back wins, in fact, since Miz beat Roman in the title rematch the following week).
    • So despite his egregious error in leading them to reunite against him near the end of 2017, Miz has now defeated two-thirds of The Shield, Reigns and Dean Ambrose, in the past year, both times regaining his IC Title in the process...and from what we saw in this post-show promo, seems intent on putting down Seth Rollins to complete the trifecta.
    • Speaking of Seth, he posted a tweet in reaction to another blistering promo from "Mikey", with him admitting that the Miz is a hard worker and is one of the best in the game.
    • Previous Miz critic Kevin Castle went from saying Miz devalues the Intercontinental championship (when he won it from Zack Ryder) to Miz having a great match against Roman Reigns for the same title, adding value to it.
  • This interview with Sam Roberts. Miz barges in (having not been booked) on his break, completely berates Roberts for a good 20 minutes, promotes RAW 25, promotes his new reality TV show, promotes The Marine 6, promotes his match with Roman Reigns and does it all completely in-character without having anything prepared beforehand. It's small wonder Miz is one of WWE's go-to guys for media.
  • This tweet says it all: "God imagine telling people 10 years ago that The Miz would be over as f*ck at THE HAMMERSTEIN BALLROOM." note 
  • According to Ryback, the Miz is the best "natural" wrestler of all time.note 
  • Actually managing to hit the Skull-Crushing Finale on Braun Strowman during the tail end of the Gauntlet Match on the go-home show for RAW's Elimination Chamber PPV and coming within an eyelash of being only the third man in WWEnote  to actually pin the "Monster Among Men." It's a subdued moment of awesome, as Braun would quickly dispatch Miz afterwards, but at least the A-Lister proved wily enough that it ended up more of a Curb-Stomp Cushion than a straight-up Curb-Stomp Battle as many, even Miz himself, would have expected.
  • "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair says that Miz is the best heel in wrestling today.
    • Miz has solidified that praise in the last couple weeks leading into his IC Title defense at WM 34 against Seth Rollins and Finn Bálor, one week using the classic tactic of heaping praise upon one opponent and deriding the other, and suggesting to the former that they should team up to take out the latter. The Refuge in Audacity isn't when Miz initially fails to butter up Rollins and instantly shifts gears to Balor, but when Rollins Lampshades Miz's attempt to turn his opponents on each other...and does it for him anyway by inciting a brawl with Balor! Admittedly, Miz stuck around a little too long to take in his handiwork, but...
    • ...he'd up the ante with his over-the-top derision of The Miztourage a couple weeks later, reading them the riot act so badly that Bo blurted out that without him and Axel, Miz would be a "phony A-lister that can't fight", spurring Rollins and Balor to come out and incite dissension among the Miztourage, including having Miz dig himself deeper by saying he'd be a greater IC Champion than Curt Hennig, i.e. Axel's dad, turning the Ax-Man against Miz as well. Just as it would seem Miz had talked himself into a four-way beatdown...Dallas and Axel jump Rollins and Balor! It had all turned out to be a Fake Defector tactic by Miz's group to get the 3-on-2 drop on his opponents. While not totally successful thanks to Gallows & Anderson's save, it nonetheless sowed further dissension between Rollins and Balor, which was exactly what Miz wanted from the start.
  • Jeff Jarrett praises the Miz, saying, "You're doing the Intercontinental Title proud!" Naturally, the Miz was blown away by the praise.
    • Those words must've resonated with Miz until his Triple Threat match at WM 34, because he wrestled his ass off even if he ultimately took the pinfall and lost. He constantly played Rollins and Balor's aggression against each other, had simple but effective counters for a lot of both opponents' signature moves, and even hit a modified top-rope Skull-Crushing Finale on Rollins that would've put the match away if not broken up by a Coup De Grace from Balor.
      • Another interesting note is what happened before the match, with Miz ordering Dallas and Axel to the back. Mind you, there's no disqualifications in a Triple Threat. This means Miz would have had carte blanche to use the Miztourage as he saw fit, including having them sneak to ringside at any point during the match. Yet he made it very clear that he wanted to do this on his own. It's a Noble Demon aspect of Miz that perhaps we don't see as often as we would like out of the A-Lister.
  • During the podcast version of the The Edge and Christian Show featuring an interview with Breezango, Edge cites the Miz as one of the perfect examples of wrestlers who continue to plug away, reinvent themselves, and evolve even when they're not featured on TV or brought to the main event.
    • In the same interview, Tyler Breeze calls the Miz one of the most unselfish superstars in the WWE who's willing to take the job for anyone as necessary, like when Zack Ryder pushed Miz away to win the Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match at WrestleMania 32.
    • Tazz of ECW fame also credits the Miz for reinventing himself and always trying new things constantly to make himself very hot and relevant even after his WWE Championship push had long ended.
  • The Miz versus Seth Rollins at Backlash 2018. Full stop.
    • Probably Miz's best match since No Mercy 2016 with Dolph Ziggler (if not of all time). And it wasn't just Seth carrying Miz to a decent match. No, Miz held his own with no wasted movement even though he's not exactly the flashiest wrestler alive.
    • So much so that even Dave Meltzer was impressed by it, and he usually isn't impressed by anything Miz does outside of promos.
    • Regular Miz critic Spoony also gave the Miz his props.
  • On the following SmackDown Live on 5/8/18, Miz proves his work rate progress wasn't a fluke by having a barn-burner of a match with Jeff Hardy in order to qualify for the Money in the Bank match. Thanks to the surprise crucifix pin finish, it was arguably even better than the match they previously had on Raw for the Intercontinental Championship on 9/4/17.
  • The Miz said to Sports Illustrated that his rival, Daniel Bryan, isn't on his level currently (especially since he lost to Rusev in the Money in the Bank qualifiers while Miz himself won). Bryan's response? He surprisingly agrees Miz is right and for someone with a soft WWE style who wrestles like a coward, the Hollywood A-Lister has gotten great matches against Dolph Ziggler, Jeff Hardy, and Seth Rollins. This is major praise from Daniel, who's one of the best technical wrestlers in the game and has been a long-time critic of Miz, whom he said before was a great talker but so-so in the ring.
  • And then Miz ended up winning against Daniel Bryan at SummerSlam 2018 (with the help of brass knuckles from Maryse a la William Regal).
    • Miz also got kudos from Aaron Chalmers himself, a fellow reality show alum turned promising MMA fighter that CM Punk wishes he became when he entered the UFC.
    • The ending was an epic Call-Back; the first thing Bryan said he wanted to do upon bringing Miz over to Smackdown in the 2018 Superstar Shakeup was to punch him in the face. How did Miz win the match? A punch to the face. Pure, unadulterated irony at its finest.
    • On top of all that, the Miz went from being the curtain jerker for SummerSlam 2017 to beating long-time rival Daniel Bryan emphatically with a knockout in SummerSlam 2018.
  • During the Joe Rogan Experience podcast with Diamond Dallas Page, Joe has high praise of the Miz, saying that Mizanin was the fittest contestant that was ever on his old show, Fear Factor, with Rogan outright calling Miz "a stud".
    • He had the same sentiment in an earlier podcast.
    • The Miz managed to prevent a potentially violent confrontation on Fear Factor by separating an angry contestant from Joe Rogan, a trained martial artist.
  • According to Bullet Club founder Finn Bálor, the Miz is "The Most Underrated" Wrestler.
  • During the 10/9/18 edition of Miz TV, Miz goes into another rant at Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles about their match at Crown Jewel, berating Daniel for his "lame, suck the air out of the stadium roll-up" to win the No. 1 contendership for the WWE Championship and AJ for being a mid-card world champion act who can't main event PPVs because "You’re just another one of him (points at Daniel Bryan) but with an annoying southern accent". Miz then says he wants to face the winner of Styles vs. Bryan. The fans actually popped when Miz gave his passionate speech.
    • As one Redditor at the Squared Circle subreddit put it, "Never thought I would see the day that Miz got cheered in a ring with Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles."
  • The Miz is always right.
    • Said Cena and Nikki Bella wouldn't go the distance.
    • Said Daniel Bryan wanted to cheat but was too much of a coward.
    • Told Enzo he wouldn't last in WWE.
    • Claimed that since John Morrison was the one to cash in the 2020 MITB at TLC and not him, the actual holder of the briefcase, it didn't count as an official cash-in and he should retain the MITB contract. He was right!
    • Saved Amanda Rose Saccomanno from being eliminated from Tough Enough 2015 despite getting the lowest fan votes at the time. She eventually became the top superstar Mandy Rose, so he was right about her.
  • Even though it was a losing effort, the Miz was able to hit a springboard axe handle off of the top rope in his tag team championship match with Shane McMahon against The Usos.
  • Dolph Ziggler grills a fan via Twitter for suggesting that the Miz jump to AEW by listing off all of his WWE accomplishments and saying that Miz just can't catch a break.
  • The Miz and Shane McMahon stole the show on WrestleMania 35 with their Attitude Era tier Falls Count Anywhere match. It was brutal but mostly satisfying even though it left an unsatisfying finish of Shane getting the inadvertent pin victory. It even got Miz's father involved. At any rate, the Miz pulled off the vengeful Chaotic Good babyface quite well in that match.
  • Rhea Ripley—the NXT Women's Champion as of December 2019 and the Raw Women's Champion as of WrestleMania 39—is a self-admitted huge fan of The Miz, so much so that she couldn't even speak to him when they accidentally bumped into each other. note 
    Sporting News: I know you're a big fan of The Miz and him being an inspiration of yours. Did you get to spend any time with him when you were on SmackDown?"
    Rhea Ripley: No because I was too scared. Oh, man. I feel like the biggest dork saying that. I grew up loving The Miz, absolutely adoring him and then to see him at work, casually, I was like 'No, I can't talk to him.' I actually accidentally ran into him once. He was leaving the medical room and I was going to go in and we did that whole awkward step to the side, like 'Uh, uh, uh. Oh no.' I think I went bright red, to be honest. I think I went bright red and was like 'I'm so sorry.' I just stepped out of the way and was like I can't do it.
  • The Miz points out in an Instagram post celebrating his 15th year in the company: "For a guy that was told that he'd be fired within 3 months of stepping into WWE - that his 15 minutes of fame are up - Today is a day I celebrate saying thank you to all the doubters. Your hate motivated me. It lit a fire in me to prove you wrong."
  • The Miz versus Baron Corbin versus Daniel Bryan Triple Threat Match on the 12/28/2019 edition of SmackDownnote  was a nice way to cap off 2019. It was also probably the best Miz versus Bryan match to date, with plenty of good spots from both guys, a good third wheel in the form of Corbin, and Miz finally showing off his expanded offensive arsenal.note 
  • In 2019, Miz got not one but two shows he's starring in: Miz & Mrs and Cannonball.
  • Funnily enough, the Miz tops the list of most WWE title wins of the decade (2010-2019) in a tie with Kofi Kingston, beating luminaries like John Cena, Seth Rollins, and Dolph Ziggler.
    • Here is the Miz's reaction to topping the list of most title wins of the decade.
  • In non-wresting news, the Miz finally gets inducted into The Real World Hall of Fame.
  • After some "legal" shenanigans with Heavy Machinery, Miz wins the Money in the Bank contract from the original winner, Otis (due to betrayal by his tag team partner Tucker). It's been 10 years since Miz last won the briefcase. Will history repeat itself? Will he win the championship for a second time?
  • 2/21/21: FINALLY, after roughly 10 years since he won his first world title, Miz became a two-time WWE Champion, cashing in his second Money in the Bank contract on a tired Drew McIntyre after a particularly grueling match at Elimination Chamber 2021 and a run-in from an angry Bobby Lashleynote . He told you so.
  • Almost impossibly, Jim Cornette finally gave Miz his due when he watched a great promo from the A-Lister on the 3/8/2021 edition of Monday Night Raw.
    • And here is Cornette talking about Cody Rhode's Miz TV segment on the 4/11/2022 edition of Monday Night RAW, saying that even though he doesn't and probably won't ever "get" the Miz, the Miz did slightly "grow on him" throughout the course of the evening. He particularly liked how the heelish Miz corrected Cody on verbiage such as "belt" ("It's a title. Belts hold your pants up.") and "wrestler" ("Superstar!").
    • Here's also Cornette giving kudos to the Miz for helping carry Logan Paul in their SummerSlam 2022 match.
    • Here's Jim Cornette reviewing L.A. Knight's confrontation with The Miz on WWE Raw 8/7/23, which he acknowledges as great even though he still thinks Miz looks like a frog.
    • It took like 10 years, but Jim has finally accepted The Miz during his match against L.A. Knight on the 6/15/23 edition of WWE SmackDown. Jim still hates Miz's look but gives him kudos for his heel work.
    • Jim also praises Miz's work with Gunther at Survivor Series 2023. In fact, it was Jim's favorite match of the night.
  • On the 3/16/2021 edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer (of all people) defends the 11-minute squash match between the Miz and Drew McIntyre against Bryan Alvarez's personal disdain by pointing out Miz's segments with Bobby Lashley for the WWE title drew high ratings.note 
  • Who would've thought? Bad Bunny and Damien Priest vs. The Miz and John Morrison was a banger of a WrestleMania match. Miz and Morrison did their part to carry the match of course, but Bad Bunny delivered as well, doing acrobatic feats like a Canadian Destroyer onto Morrison and a Hurricanrana against the Miz before ultimately winning the match with a Doomsday Device High Cross.
    • Triple H even gives Miz & Morrison props for being good foils to Bad Bunny.
  • When Miz and Morrison dropped by the commentary desk during the Money in the Bank 2021 kick-off, the crowd were so into them that they started chanting "Miz is Awesome!" chants at the pair.
  • Miz also participated in Dancing with the Stars Season 30 with series veteran Witney Carson, reaching all the way to Week 7 of 10 and getting 9th place of 15 pairs.
  • Maxwell Jacob Friedman (MJF) from AEW has nothing but nice things to say about the WWE wrestler whom he's compared to the most, The Miz, even as he denies being a clone of his WWE counterpart.
    MJF: The guy is gold on the stick. In the ring, very solid too. If I'm being completely fair here, I'm not talking shit - it's just factual. There are no holes in my game. And that is not a jab at Miz. Miz is great. But he's not me.
  • The Miz then gives kudos back to MJF.
    Miz: I don't think he wants to be The Miz, to be honest. I don't think any superstar, no matter what company you're in, wants to be the next "this person". You want to be an original. [[...]] Honestly, he's doing a great job at it. 25 years old. When I was 25 years old, I was still in developmental and Deep South Wrestling and still learning the trade. I wasn't putting on matches on national television and putting together memorable promos that people talk about. I wasn’t doing that. Applaud to him.
  • AJ Styles says the Miz is the best heel in pro-wrestling. To him, "There's no one who understands what a heel's supposed to be better."
  • Lightning struck twice with a Miz celebrity match when he and the infamous Logan Paul had a banger of a match that they won against The Mysterios at WrestleMania 38. Though it certainly helped that Logan was a natural heel and a great athlete who competed in amateur wrestling back in high school.
    • Miz even helped train Logan and he was amazed at how quickly he learned.
  • The Miz did another amazing thing with Logan Paul during their one-on-one match at SummerSlam 2022. Mizanin successfully managed to have people cheer Logan as a face, which was no easy feat considering Logan's reputation!
  • The Miz just hit a half-court shot late in the NBA Celebrity game that would've won the game had it counted, to the shock of players like DK Metcalf. It was shot too late and it didn't count but for half a second or so, the hype was real and the Miz won the hearts of viewers everywhere.
  • On the 4/17/23 edition of Monday Night RAW, The Miz and Seth Rollins wind it back with a banger of a match like it's the Backlash 2018 days. In particular, Miz's rolling double DDT was a thing of beauty.
  • On the 5/29/23 edition of Monday Night RAW, The Miz recently had another classic against Ricochetnote . He did high-flying moves that he used to couldn't do like a Codebreaker into a rolling DDT, a Hurricanrana, and a flying crossbody in that one match.
  • During a recent appearance (7/25/23) on "This Past Weekend" podcast by comedian Theo Von, Hulk Hogan was talking about his life and career when Von mentioned that he was friends with The Miz. Hulk then says the following.
    Hogan: That brother is keeping this art form alive. Every time I see him, I tell him how much I love him for what he’s done because he understands this business a lot more than most of the guys do. There’s probably two or three guys that I can pick out that understand that business. He’s one of them. And he gets it.
  • On the 8/7/23 edition of Monday Night RAW, during their eventful promo battle, the Miz calls L.A. Knight a "Flash in the Pan", "Flavor of the Month" wrestler before also claiming he's an "Attitude Era Fanboy playing Cosplay" in his ring. Then, after listing down all of his own accolades in the last 20 years, Miz asks L.A.: "What have you done for the past 20 years?!"
  • Also on Theo Von's "This Past Weekend" podcast (8/8/23), the "Nature Boy" Ric Flair has more kind things to say about The Miz.
    Flair: He’s a great kid, man. He’s a guy that really cares for the business, man. And they s**t on him when he started... They gave him a tough time. That’s b***t. The guys that bully, I got no time for that. But he’s a wonderful kid, and he’s made the most of it. And I’m going to tell you the truth. Whatever they hand him, he makes work. It’s a gift. Whatever they hand him, he goes. He doesn’t complain. If he does, I’m not aware of it. And so damn respectful. He’s a great kid.
  • Later on, during the 8/18/23 edition of Friday Night SmackDown, The Miz cooked L.A. Knight on color commentary during his match against Austin Theory for a shot at the United States championship. He said, "L.A. Knight is a flash in the pan. The next Fandango, without the tap shoes. The next Eugene, without the crayons."
  • On 8/25/23, The Miz on TMZ Sports says, "He's (L.A. Knight) a fad. He is like a Napster, a MySpace, Vanilla Ice, L.A. Knight, they're all synonymous."
  • On the 8/29/23 edition of Monday Night RAW, Miz comes out and does a hilarious impression of L.A. Knight highlighting how much he has cribbed from The Rock and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin by demonstration instead of words.
    The Miz: So if you want a free L.A. Knight t-shirt, gimme a hell yea... I mean, if you want a free L.A. Knight t-shirt, lemme hear you say, "Yeah!"
  • On the 9/1/23 edition of Friday Night SmackDown, both Miz and L.A. Knight lay down a barn burner of a promo battle on the ring, with Miz getting the upper hand on the promo by stating Knight has failed in his reality show and Miz has succeeded where he failed. He also claimed to be a time traveler who'll send L.A. Knight back to 2003, back in his roach-infested hotels holding a hairbrush, doing promos like a WWE Superstar wannabe. He also gets a Skull-Crushing Finale in after weeks of being on the business end of the BFT.
    • Although in the end, L.A. Knight scored twin victories against Miz on both WWE Payback 2023 and the 9/15/23 edition of SmackDown, turning him into the stepping stone he claimed him to be, Knight still gives kudos to the Miz's promo abilities.
      L.A. Knight: Miz was really bringing it to the point where a couple guys in the back were like wow I feel like this is best work Miz has done in a while. Coincidentally, I felt like it was some of the worst work I’ve done in a while.
  • On the 10/31/23 edition of Monday Night RAW, the Miz delivers another scathing promo to the current Intercontinental Champion Gunther. He even had the rest of the Imperium catch strays from his impressive trash-talking skills for good measure.
    • Remarkably, Miz TV with Gunther is the peak segment for the 10/31/23 edition of Monday Night RAW, with it getting over 1.6 million viewers according to Wrestlenomics.
  • On the 11/6/23 edition of Monday Night RAW, the Miz busted out moves that aren’t in his usual moveset like he's 2015 John Cena during the No. 1 Contender Match for the Intercontinental Championship.
    • He specifically does a crossbody on Bronson Reed, a Tornado DDT on Ivar, and a Codebreaker into a rolling DDT combo on Ricochet.
  • During The Miz's confrontation with Gunther on the 11/20/23 edition of 'Monday Night RAW'', he was able to turn 2023 Michael Cole into 2011 Michael Cole again.
  • Miz and Gunther had a banger of a match at Survivor Series 2023, with them blending together well because of their contrast in styles.
    • Miz gets an almost pinfall after distracting the ref with a removed turnbuckle before he did two low blows on Gunther and gave him a Skull-Crushing Finale. However, Gunther persevered, gave Miz a Splash, and did the Lion Tamer on him, leading to a tap-out.
    • Incidentally, had Miz won the match, he would've tied his number of reigns with Chris Jericho, so Gunther's use of the Lion Tamer submission move was actually a Shout-Out to Jericho.
    • Gunther, who had repeatedly dismissed the Miz as a mere entertainer and Fighting Clown who didn't belong in a wrestling promotion in the lead up to the match publicly acknowledged his adversary as a worthy wrestler who did indeed belong in the sacred ring a few nights later, even though he threw in some curmudgeonly humblebrags about how the Miz clearly still wasn't on Gunther's level.
  • Huge defense by Gunther against The Miz on the 12/18/23 edition of Monday Night RAW. Their high-stakes banger of a rematch ended up being better and more dramatic than the first match.
  • Originally, Awesome Truth was split up after R-Truth was hit with a Wellness Policy violation, which was played out with The Miz deciding that Truth had outlived his usefulness. A decade later, at WrestleMania XL, the Awesome Truth win the tag titles.
  • Amazingly, CM Punk went from writing a scathing NSFW tweet at The Miz to squashing their beef and becoming as thick as thieves at WrestleMania XL.
  • On the RAW After Mania or the 4/8/24 edition of Monday Night RAW, the Miz and R-Truth ended up teaming with John Cena, leading to this sequence where they did a 15-Knuckle Shuffle and a Triple Attitude Adjustment.

...Because HE'S THE MIZ... AND HE'S... AWWWWWWWWWWEEEEEEESOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMME!!!

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