The Miz, awesome really?

In 2004 a skinny kid with minimal talent reality TV star was defeated by Daniel Puder in a Dixie Dog Fight at Armageddon 2004. He was then defeated in the competition by Daniel Puder. Puder competed in his second Pay Per View a month later in the Royal Rumble Match. He then spent around 8 months in OVW before leaving the company. When he left OVW there was some tension between Puder and Kenny Bolin after Puder left due to a statement made by Puder. The skinny kid on the other hand stuck around in DSW (Deep South Wrestling) and then to OVW. Finally In 2007 this kid debut on WWE Smackdown. The name of that kid Mike Mizanin although you would probably know him know was The Miz.

On Smackdown The Miz served as the host of Smackdown and eventually he went on to host the Diva Search. This meant he was on both RAW and Smackdown and to be honest he might have been the Miz but he was... awful! The WWE did what was best after this, moved him to ECW, the reason for this is because well not many people watched ECW and the Miz could learn his craft without too much criticism. Then Cyber Sunday 2007 came around The Miz beat John Morrison and Big Daddy V in a vote to take on CM Punk for the ECW Championship. I don’t know why the WWE Universe voted for Miz but I know that I voted for him as I thought he would be the easiest for Punk to beat. In this match the Miz showed how much he had developed and this skinny kid with marginal talent had arrived as a rookie superstar in the WWE.

On November 16th 2007 MVP and Matt Hardy were defeated by arguably one of the greatest tag teams in WWE history John Morrison and his new tag team partner The Miz. In February 2008 the Dirt Sheet (man, that name seems familiar) was created, this was the only WWE online show I watched. This show made it clear that although sophomoric and sometime childish The Miz and Morrison had great promo skills and charisma. The Miz remained one of the dominant teams in the WWE with or without the title belts until April 13th on Monday night RAW. During this time the Miz went from being a rookie to a full fledged WWE superstar. On April 13th the annual WWE draft took place. The Miz took on Kofi Kingston in a one on one match. During the matches John Morrison interfered and The Miz lost the match by disqualification. The draft pick was made and The Miz was moved to RAW. The Miz and Morrison had finally split up, they shared an embrace and the John Morrison got a Reality Check. JoMo took one small step to being a face and The Miz took one giant leap to being a heel. The Miz decided from that point on to challenge John Cena to a match (Cena was injured at the time.) The Miz claimed a victory via forfeit. For the next few weeks the Miz went on to be 5-0 against Cena. But The Miz lost to Cena at the Great American Bash and then on RAW to ban The Miz from ‘Summerfest’ sorry Summerslam. The Miz went 5-2 against John Cena. The final stage of The Miz’s evolution was complete when the ‘Calgary Kid’ was unveiled as The Miz with his new trunk and all. As much as the Miz’s old attire was great his new wrestling gear, made him look more professional but also helped him become Awesome. The Miz new trunks and new finishing move ‘Skull Crushing Finale’ issued a challenge for the US title. The Miz failed at 3 PPVs to win the title Night of Champions, Breaking Point and Hell in a Cell. Ben Roethlisberger made Miz and offer the night after Hell in a Cell, win the US title from Kofi or admit that he was awful. The Miz who’s character hinged on him winning a title at this point to keep I credible did just that and became the United States Champion, winning his first singles title in the WWE. The Miz went on to defeated John Morrison on Bragging Rights and Team Miz beat Team Morrison at Survivors Series perhaps suggesting that The Miz was the dominant partner. A claim echoed by Jack Swagger on the 9th April on Smackdown when he claimed Morrison lived in ‘the shadow of the Miz.’ It seems that whilst The Miz is on the rise JoMo’s career seems to have stagnated since the split, but he is on the verge of being a main eventer and has been for years, he just needs a push, but this is a topic which could have an article all by itself. The Miz then defended his title against MVP in a series of excellent matches. During this time The Miz capitalised on the splitting of JeriShow and forming an alliance with The Big Show in a team known as ShoMiz. This team captured the unified tag team championship from DX on February 8th, making the Miz the first person in WWE history to hold 3 titles at the same time (the US title, World Tag Team Championship and the WWE Tag Team Championships.) ShoMiz defended the tag team titles at Wrestlemania XXVI. Now ShoMiz look to be feuding with Bret Hart and the Hart Dynasty. On RAW in the UK on the 12th The Miz defeated David Hart Smith in a match where the stipulation was if D.H. Smith won the Hart Dynasty would receive a title shot at Extreme Rules but if the Miz won Bret Hart would have to declare that ShoMiz was the best tag team in WWE history on RAW the next week.

Despite Daniel Bryan knocking the Miz for not having enough experience to be his pro, I think Bryan is stuck in a bit of a Time Warp (and not the cool Rocky Horror dance!) Whether it is a kayfabe or legit beef I think it is rooted in jealousy. I think Bryan either as a character or his personal opinion I think Bryan is jealous of the fact Miz became a star in the WWE without spending 10 years on the indies like Bryan had to. But the fact that the Miz is a NXT pro suggests that WWE like him because it shows they want him in lots of shows exposed to lots of crowds. Personally I think that Bryan should have been paired with Regal and Otunga should have been paired with Miz. The reason for this is that Regal and Bryan could have been snobby towards the Miz and Otunga and Miz could have been a great heel pairing.

The Sun newspaper described The Miz as ‘the most entertaining act on WWE Raw.’ A statement which if made at his debut or even predicted at the time of his debut would have been laughable. But The Miz truly is a WWE superstar, I would perhaps suggest a future WWE Champion and if he continues on this path at this speed I see no reason why the Miz cannot be a future WWE Hall of Famer, because he is the Miz and he IS AWESOME!