411’s WWE Backstage Report: The Miz On Elias Being a Potential Top Star, More

-Welcome to your weekly WWE Backstage recap as tonight’s show was delayed about 15 minutes due to Big East basketball, but I’m a sucker for college basketball, so it was fine.  After 2 weeks of slightly modified shows due to the Holiday Season we are back with a normal show and The Miz is being advertised as our special guest this week.  Let’s get to it!

-Renee Young with the weekly show tease as she hypes The Miz appearing.

-Opening Credits!

-Renee welcomes us and she joined as always by her co-host, Booker T.  Joining them on the panel this week: Christian and Paige.  First up is the week in review and that starts with SmackDown: The return of Sheamus, John Morrison, and The Usos.  Over on RAW, Andrade took off Rey’s mask, The Big Show returned, and Brock will be #1 in the Royal Rumble match.

-To the panel and they start off with the news of Brock entering the Rumble at #1.  Booker likes it as he actually says Brock could eliminate everyone and challenge himself.  Christian has mixed feelings as the prize is to win and pick the title you want to challenge for at Mania.  Paige thinks it is predictable and they question what happens if Brock wins.  Does he get to pick his opponent or challenge The Fiend?  Booker wants Brock to win, and then beat the Fiend, and then win the UFC Heavyweight Title.  Renee asks who can take Brock out of the match and Booker is keeping an eye on Drew McIntyre.  Paige jokes about everyone wanting Drake Maverick as #2 in the Rumble.

-Next we cover Show returning as help for Owens and Joe in their war with Rollins and The AOP.  We get a clip of the end of the match and then the panel jokes about how often “The Monday Night Messiah” was said last night.  Christian likes the name and Renee says he already has so many nicknames.  Booker is not a fan of the nickname and Renee crushes all the nicknames he currently has and asks how many t-shirts does he need.  Booker doesn’t think he needs the nickname to get over.  Christian says it’s not needed to get him over but it goes along with his new persona.  Paige loves The Big Show, and loves the dynamic of Show towering over The AOP.  Renee asks if that spot should have gone to someone else who needs more TV time.  Booker loves Show and puts over his longevity in the business.  He talks about the pop when his music hit, but agrees you may have used a younger talent to get a rub.  Christian is of the mind that they promised a surprise and Show fits the bill.

-Renee promises they will talk about the other returns later in the show, but covers Miz turning heel after attacking Kofi.  Christian isn’t sure if it’s a new direction.  I will say that it makes sense as it’s another person that changed after facing The Fiend.  Paige loves Miz as a heel and says he oozes being a douchebag.  Booker: “sometimes you aren’t down with the pancakes.”  Well said!

-Next week Xavier Woods debuts as part of the panel and Ember Moon will be back.

-Commercials!

-Back with a Miz video package that touches on the highlights of his career.  Renee introduces him as the man who won more titles than anyone else in the 2010s.  I wonder if that is counting the 24/7 title as Truth has to be way up there now.

-Miz is happy to finally be on the show and Christian jokes it only took 4 other people not being able to show up.  Renee asks Miz what motivates him and he says he gets infuriated when he sees other WWE Superstars being front and center of the company.  That is a spot he wants and that is something he thinks he can do.  Booker asks what Miz’s secret is and he answers that it’s hard work.  He knows he isn’t the most talented guy, but he will work harder than anyone.  Paige asks him what is left on his bucket list and Miz says he wants the respect from his peers and WWE Universe.  He feels he has started to get that the last few years as young guys are asking him for opinions.  Miz is glad he came up in the WWE when he did as it was hard, but he learned from the very best: Booker, Christian, Edge, Cena, HHH, HBK.

-Christian brings up how Miz came from The Real World and was tortured by the locker room.  Miz knows they still didn’t respect him even when he was WWE Champion.  Booker says he didn’t think Miz would last 3 months and Christian gave him 6 months.  Miz knows he comes off as a douchebag at times, but Renee and Paige both know he has a nice side to him.  They ask him his favorite thing in the WWE and he says it is the story with Otis and Mandy Rose.  That’s not shocking as Miz drooled all over Mandy Rose when he was a fill in judge (after Hogan’s issue) on Tough Enough.  He can’t help but laugh and smile every time he sees Otis on TV.  He is also a fan of Elias and thinks he can be a top star.  He hears people complain about guys getting minimal time and he thinks anyone can steal the show even with only 30 seconds.

-Booker wants to know if Christian took his finisher better than anyone else and that leads to them showing a slow-mo of him taking The Skull Crushing Finale.  Miz says he thinks that was from RAW 1000 when he beat Christian for the IC Title.  He got a text from Edge saying it was the best match he every saw Miz in and when he told Christian, he responded, “I know.”

-We gets clips from Season 2 of Miz and Mrs.  It premieres Jan 29 on USA and Renee jumps on the clip of Miz getting him neither regions waxed.  The women know of the pain and Miz applauds them.  Miz says his dad shows up this season and covers his WrestleMania run that made him a meme and gave him merchandise.  The Miz will be sticking around for the rest of the show.

-Commercials!

-Greatness as they show a video package of previous weddings in WWE.  Savage/Liz was the only one to go off without a hitch (well, at least until the reception).

-Renee covers the recent engagement news with Andrade/Charlotte and Nikk Bella/Artem.  Booker and Miz join Renee as they will discuss what it’s like to be a Real-Life Couple in WWE.  Miz says he and Maryse didn’t want anyone to know they were dating.  Marrying her was the best thing he ever did and when she became a mom, there is nothing more beautiful to him than that.  Booker says being on the road with Sharmell was the greatest part of his career.  They slept in a gas station parking lot instead of a hotel and Booker knew she was the one.  Miz says he fell in love with Maryse in a parking lot and she didn’t understand what he was saying because she had limited English then.  He wanted to impress her so much that he went to Barnes and Noble to get a book to learn French.  Sadly, no Renee/Ambrose conversation, but that was to be expected.

-They cover the shenanigans of The Rusev/Lana/Lashley storyline and the introduction of Liv Morgan.  Renee applauds the whole thing and loves WWE weddings.  She loved the twist with Liv.  Christian loves WWE weddings as well and knows they need segments like this.  He is a pro-wrestler and loves wrestling, but you need layers.  He brings up Lashley being a physical specimen and great wrestler, but he didn’t start connecting with fans until this storyline.  Paige knows people hate the Liv angle, but tells people to relax and give it a chance.  Renee thinks they are wrong and need to buckle up for the ride as there is a lot to come from this.

-Commercials!

-We return with a video game themed package of Kofi’s incredible Rumble saves.

-Speaking of Kofi they show fans trolling him on Twitter about his Patriots losing this weekend.  Renee then plugs Sunday’s game with Green Bay and Seattle.  Let me just say: GO NINERS!

-Hot Tag: Each panelist gets 30 seconds to touch on a topic.  Paige gets to talk about Lacey Evans’ face turn: Paige loves Lacey as a heel and thinks the face turn should be shot term, but mentions she loves Lacey’s daughter.  Next topic: Murphy attacking Black last night: Christian says their chemistry together is great and that Buddy is going to need to win one of these matches.  He says they can all do crazy moves, but sometimes a good punch in the face or boot to ribs can tell a better story.  He also wasn’t a fan of him mocking Black as AJ did it earlier in the night when trolling Orton.  Booker gets that as a topic and loved AJ building on his character last night.  We know AJ can wrestle great matches on any night and Booker likes seeing the character touches.  He calls Orton/AJ a Main Event anywhere.

-Commercials!

-Back with the SmackDown returns: Sheamus, John Morrison, and The Usos.  We find out that Miz helped facilitate the return of Morrison.  He calls Jo-Mo one of best in ring talents the WWE has now.  He puts Morrison over for putting him under his wing and teaching him when he was green.  Booker talks about The Usos and how they were his students.  He loves the pairing with Reigns.

-Seth Rollins shows us why he is called Cross Fit Jesus by some.  He fell in love with Cross Fit from the start and has been hooked.  We hear from Josh Gallegos, Cofounder of Deadboys Fitness, and he thinks Cross Fit and wrestling are one in the same.  He says good to solid matches are 10-12 minutes and that is how long a good cross fit session should last.  Apparently fans wanted to know what Rollins did in Cross Fit so they put his routine online for paying customers and will hold sessions for fans to join them.  We get video of Cesaro and Becky Lynch taking part as well.  Josh says he loves being able to help people and that has always been his goal.

-To the panel and Renee brings up that Booker has been working out just in case a Rumble appearance is needed.  The Rumble is in his hometown of Houston and he has made it known he wants to be in the match.  He let it known on his show that the WWE had 48 hours to call him.  They have a deadline clock and it’s just under 20 hours.  Miz jokes you know if they call it will be the last minute.

-They show video of Wilder doing a spin-a-rooni to troll Harlem Heat.  Booker cuts another promo on The Revival as they continue to tease a match we probably will never get.

-Final commercial break and then Social Media SmackDown!

-They promote SmackDown for Friday with Banks vs Lacey.

-ERIK on twitter calls Miz a douche and says he has sucked his entire career.  The Miz says if you hated him on The Real World, and in the WWE, then you will hate him on Miz and Mrs as he moves into his multi million dollar home in LA.  Booker shows a tweet from Lacey Evans busting on Renee as she wants Renee to zip it and let Paige continue to put her over.  Renee cuts a promo on Lacey and says that she really does love her and to stop tweeting mean things to her.  Renee just can’t be mean.

-That wraps up another edition of WWE Backstage.  I continue to enjoy this show for what it is and the chemistry with everyone has been great since the first episode.  You can tell everyone who comes on the show is having a ball and it will be the closest thing we likely ever get to the greatness that was Talking Smack.  Not shocking, Miz was great here as he lives for shows like this.  Just a fun and easy show to watch.  As always thanks for reading!