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411’s WWE 24 Report: Miz on Being Barred from The Locker Room, WrestleMania 27 Concussion, More

April 25, 2021 | Posted by Robert Leighty Jr.

411’s WWE 24 Report: The Miz

-Original Air Date: 04.25.21
-Run Time: 1:17:47

-We open with Miz pulling up to his mansion in an expensive car while telling us a lot of people don’t like negative things being said about them. They fuel his fire and he likes who he is. His is a career that never should have happened. He talks about his early days in the WWE when everyone hated him because he was seen as the reality guy. He spent years walking on egg shells and understands why people quit, but he didn’t. We see him become the WWE Champion and then the terrifying bump he took at Mania 27 when his head went splat against the concrete. He wants to get back to where he was as he feels he can still be the man in this business and he will make everyone believe it. This is WWE 24: The Miz!

-Home video of Miz as a kid growing up in Parma, Ohio. I have been there as my best friend has family that still lives in that area. Miz tells a story of having bad grades and his dad crumbled up his report card and told him it was fine. Miz asked if he was going to yell and his dad told him no because “you’re stupid. You’re not smart and that’s ok.” He told Miz he will not have a good job or be successful. We meet Miz’s dad who says he met Mike’s teacher a few weeks later and she asked what he did because Mike was now her star pupil. From that point on Miz only got straight As in school. Kudos to Mr. Miz for some reverse psychology parenting there. We also meet Barbara Pappas (Mike’s Mom) who says her Michael is determined and will keep going to get what he wants.

-Miz explains he has always been a ham for a camera and it ignited an energy in him. These home videos are always great and we get some videos of Miz playing basketball, dancing in his underwear during a school talent show.

-The Real World: Miz was in college when they had auditions and he wanted to do it, so he sent in video tapes. He was amazed when he got a call back and was cast in The Real World: Back to New York. Jon Murray (founder of Bunim/Murray Productions) joins us and says what attracted them to Mike for the show was his curiosity and openness to the world. He was 20 when he started on the show and this will shock you but nobody in the house liked him. He admits he wasn’t comfortable in his own skin and created a character called The Miz. It was his primal side coming out and we see The Miz cutting a promo on a Rock action figure, which is crazy to think about as he would be in the ring with The Rock years later. The cast mates liked The Miz more than they liked Mike from Parma, Ohio.

-Once The Real World ended Miz had no clue what he wanted to do. He didn’t know if he wanted to go back to college which is what everyone expects you to do, but he wanted more than that. He talks about having The Rock’s action figure (a gift from his house mates) sitting in his room and he set a goal to become a WWE Superstar. He started looking up schools and indy shows and learned about UPW (footage of UPW from 2002 shown). He moved to California and got into acting and improv classes to help him become a pro-wrestler. He was broke and bruised working UPW shows and nearly quit, but knew he had to keep pushing through. He then got the call to do MTV Challenge shows (you know, the shows still running to this day that always finish #1 on Wednesdays above AEW and NXT when they were on that night). His hope was the WWE would see him on the show with his Miz character and they would bring him in. Sadly for him the WWE wasn’t calling.

-Then the call finally came but it was for Tough Enough Season 4. This is where the show fell off for me as it was no longer MTV produced like the first 3 seasons. I still go back and watch Seasons 1-3 because of how great they are. We see Miz talking to Al Snow and Snow grilling him on being a reality TV junkie. Hugh Morrus then runs him down and Miz knew it was always going to be something they called him out on, but The Miz locked in and did everything they asked. He was picked out of the group of 50 to be one of the cast members.

-He had friends tell him he was nuts and that the WWE was never going to hire him. His dad had the same thoughts. Brian Gewirtz (former WWE writer) says Miz had a reputation as a loud WWE fan and to him he was just looking for a voice to write for. He admits Miz had a face that you just wanted to smack which can be useful.

-Miz ends up finishing second as Daniel Puder is crowned the Tough Enough Champion. Gewirtz says it was all about Puder, but you could see The Miz would make a great heel. Mike says everything happens for a reason and he will keep trying until he gets there. Puder tells him that he will get there sooner than he thinks and Mike wishes Puder all the best. Yeah, Puder got turfed out in short order, but will always have that run in with Kurt Angle.

-Then Miz gets a call from the WWE who offer a developmental contract. He becomes the first ever Deep South Wrestling Champion and then Johnny Ace calls to tell him that Vince wants to see him. This was his first meeting with Vince and Vince told him he sees him as the Ryan Seacrest of the WWE. Miz admits that is not what you want to hear as he was hoping to be the next Rock. Nobody wants to be a host. Miz becomes The Host of SmackDown and then gets the gig of being The Host for The Diva Search.

-He mentions that was bitter sweet as that is where he met his wife. I am sucker for people falling in love and it is always cool when two people meet for the first time with no idea that one day they are going to be together and start a family. Miz says he will never forget the day she walked in to the room for the contest (they obviously have that on tape here for us to see). He calls her stunning and drop dead gorgeous, but she couldn’t speak any English. Maryse tells us that Miz told her to cut a promo in French. She basically whispers in his ear and you can see The Miz falling for this girl. He admits he has never been so scared and turned on before in his life and he has no clue what she said, but everyone knew she was going to make it into the contest.

-RAW: July 10, 2006: The Miz comes out on RAW to introduce a Diva Search segment and he bombs as he completely forgets what he is supposed to say and the number he is supposed to give out for fans to vote. This was hard to watch as I hate seeing people embarrassed like that. He had the number written on his wrist, but he was sweating so much it disappeared. He could tell the crowd was checking out and his mind just went blank. Gewirtz says it was rough and was like watching someone get attacked by a shark. That’s one way to put it! Lawler tried to cover as he says “if you were around these women you would be nervous too.” The Miz went backstage thinking he was going to be fired and immediately started apologizing to Vince. Vince told him it would never happen again and he needed to learn bullet points. He told Miz to get it right on Friday and Miz was relieved as he wasn’t getting fired. Never ones to miss a chance to bust someone’s balls, DX made fun of The Miz later in the night. The question now for Miz was how was he going to rebound from the failure of that night.

-SmackDown: Aug 25, 2006: The Miz gets his first match on SmackDown. JBL says it is so hard to get in the business and it becomes a baptism by fire. We hear commentary of JBL just burying him. Ziggler says people look down on guys who weren’t brought in a certain way. Ziggler says he was one of the guys that looked down on Miz at first as well. The Miz admits he doesn’t make a very good first impression as he is loud and will say what’s on his mind. Some people like that and some don’t and he was rubbing people the wrong way. People only saw him as a reality star that didn’t belong. Gewirtz says the boys felt Miz was using the WWE as a stepping stone to Hollywood and they were going to test him.

-Miz says he was eating a piece of chicken in the dressing room and someone (not named) yelled at him for eating it over his bag. The Miz knows he didn’t get stuff on his bag, but he apologized. Someone else jumped in and got on Miz about it as well and at first he thought they were joking with him. They were dead serious and kicked him out of the locker room and told him he wasn’t allowed to be in there anymore. Damn!

-Zack Ryder (listed as former WWE Superstar) pops up next and talks about how it was different era back then. The Miz was loud and people felt he was entitled. When he got the call up he saw Miz changing in broom closets. The Miz says he had to use the bathroom in the same place all the fans did and fans would wait for him to come out of the stall. That is both tremendous and sad at the same time. Gewirtz says that Miz never cracked and plenty of guys higher on the card than him would call and say they couldn’t handle similar things happening to them.

-It took 7 months of being kicked out of the locker room before he had a match with The Undertaker and he thinks he impressed him. Taker didn’t kick him out of the locker room, but he is the guy you ask if you want to come back in to the locker room. He told Taker he has been out for 7 months and he just wants to come back in and be a sponge to learn about the business. Taker told him he was allowed back and basically gave his seal of approval. Apparently Taker said to put him with John Morrison.

-Morrison had reservations as he was now saddled with the guy who was kicked out of the locker room. Funny they don’t mention that Morrison is a former Tough Enough Champion (Season 3). Morrison quickly learned to like Miz and they became great friends with similar type of humor. That humor led to The Dirt Sheet and it’s awesome as they just mad fun of everyone. Morrison: “My prediction is Triple H will spit water.” Fantastic! They wrote all the skits they did and it was a way to get over their characters. Some good stuff show in there as Morrison dressed up as bWo Richards, and Miz as CM Punk.

-WWE Draft: The Miz gets moved to RAW to end the tag team with Morrison. The Miz quickly turned on Morrison and a week later he is going after John Cena. That leads to a match between the two at The Great American Bash and Cena SQUASHES him. Arn Anderson told Miz he hasn’t been through the battles and wars enough to be near Cena’s level. It was the matches with Cena that Miz realized he was levels below where he needed to be. He credits Cena with teaching him so much during house show matches and teaching him what it takes to be a WWE Superstar.

-The Miz started to slowly build himself through the mid card and won The US Title from Kofi Kingston. Ziggler brings up that if you were paying attention, The Miz was doing things to make his segments important or worthy. Kofi says Miz has a way of connecting with people, by annoying them and mentions his shit eating grin he always has. Mark Henry asked Miz if he believed his own bullshit and Miz told him, “yes, yes I do.”

-Miz talks about cutting promos on house shows just as a way to get practice. On RAW they had to get to the building at a certain time and usually 2 hours before was media time which not many people wanted to do. Miz asked to do the media stuff because he wanted to be the biggest star they had.

-He brings up around that time Vince started having promo classes and we get some sweet footage from those classes. Kofi calls them cut throat and there was some great stuff coming from the classes. Miz says they were told to cut a promo on anything and Vince called him up last. Miz cut a promo on every single person in the room and told Vince he would be a future WWE Champion. The promo got Miz a giant reaction from everyone and Vince told him he picked him to go last as he knew he could finish it. The next week he cut the same promo on RAW and it became one of his famous promos. “I’d rather you all hate for me for everything I am than love me for something I am not.”

-Miz continues to climb up the ranks as he wins the Tag Titles again with Big Show. SHOW-MIZ! Then Miz wins the Money in The Bank contract and he admits he even thought like others that he would be the first to cash in and lose.

-Didn’t happen though as we jump to Nov 22, 2010: The Miz cashes in on Randy Orton on RAW and we have a new WWE Champion. Cool moment for him and good for him! I always love seeing someone win the WWE Title for the first time as there is usually a moment when they break and the character slips away. It happened with Edge and Miz admits he nearly cried, but told himself not to. They talk about Angry Miz Girl and Miz says that is the reaction he wanted. He wanted everyone to feel like that. His dad says he went crazy watching at home and his mom talks about how he lived out his dream. “He is my pride and joy.”

-Another wonderful thing is when they show the new champion backstage. Miz hugs Vince who tells him he deserves it and he tells Vince he won’t let him down. Various people are lined up clapping for Miz and Ryder is there to congratulate him. Cena congratulates him and Miz thanks him for working with him. Again, I love this stuff!

-WrestleMania XXVII Press Conference. Miz says that people wanted his spot and didn’t think be deserved to be there. Some of them were friends or at least people he thought were friends. He didn’t name him, but we know CM Punk felt he deserved that spot and match with Cena. The Miz mentions The Rock returned and everyone was focused on Rock/Cena and forgetting he was the WWE Champion.

-He remembers walking into RAW and Vince telling him he was going to dress like The Rock and everyone would think he was The Rock. All he could tell Vince was “I am not a 6’5” 265 lb Samoan. There is no way anyone is going to believe I am The Rock.” Vince told him they would believe. They hit the Rock’s music and the crowd pops. Vince tells Miz to wait until the crowd dies a bit and then he sends him out and the crowd pops again at first before realizing who it was. That was the day he felt the crowd bought him as being a part of that match. The Rock called him and told him that he sold the match that day and Miz was blown away as this was his hero growing up.

-WrestleMania XXVII: April 3, 2011: I was there in The Georgia Dome as this was the last of the 3 straight Manias I attended. Quick story about the Main Event as I was fine with Miz vs Cena. A guy behind me was from England and he bitched the entire time that he paid all that money for a travel package and he was finally at a WrestleMania and it’s headlined by The Miz. They have some good backstage video of Miz talking about the day and how surreal and incredible it is that he is now of the people that can say that closed the show at WrestleMania. John Cena says that he knows Miz is nervous as a son of a bitch no matter what he says. A-Ry tells Miz they made it and he shoots back not until the match is over. Sadly, they don’t talk about the amazing video package before the match set to “Hate Me Now.” Miz talks about busting through the “AWESOME” bubble letters and he could hear some of the crowd cheering for him. While everyone was watching Cena make his entrance, Miz looked at this 10 friends in the front row and mouthed to them, we did it.

-Now the interesting stuff as Miz admits he doesn’t remember much from the match. We then see the spot where he gets tackled off the bell keeper’s area and his head cracks off the concrete floor. That was sick! He somehow got through the match even though you can tell he is gone. We see the doctors talking to him in the back and he admits he doesn’t remember anything from the match. Miz says he can’t watch the match as he doesn’t want to see himself like that. Kofi talks about the tragedy of getting to that point and you can’t remember any of it. Miz puts over being in the ring with people like Rock and Cena and their ability to get him through the match. The Rock hugs The Miz and tells him he is proud of him for getting through it. Yeah, I don’t think that happens today as they likely call that the minute they realize he isn’t all there, but who knows, AEW let Hardy go through his match. His mom gets emotional talking about it.

-A few months later The Miz lost the Title and he wasn’t sure what he could do to get back on top. Mark Henry mentions The Miz disappeared and fell off the face of the Earth after he dropped the Title. The Miz talks about the fall and how he thought he might get fired. Gewirtz says he would get texts where Miz would tell him his career went in the crapper when he left. Maryse told him to stick to it and he would go back up the card. The Miz puts over his run with Miz-Dow and how much fun that was. It was great!

-Once that run ended, The Miz wins The IC Title for a 5th Time from Ryder and Maryse returns as well. He admits that Maryse returning helped him get out of his rut. Wonderful pairing as they are both great at getting people to hate them. Ryder says that Miz was missing something and it was Maryse.

-Manor MarMiz: Maryse and Miz at home working out together in their gym. Miz says they started dating 2 years after they met at Diva Search. He tried to speak to her on a flight and realized it was hard because she didn’t speak much English. He went and got an English to French translation book and week by week just started talking to her. He could only think how great it would be to have a woman like her and she admits she knew she wanted to be with him. The Miz proposed to her in the same hotel conference room where they met during The Diva Search. Nice, we get some video from their wedding ceremony. Maryse says they didn’t rehearse their vows as they are WWE Superstars and of course Miz screwed up. Fantastic as he butchers saying “lawfully wedded wife” and she cracks. Ziggler and Ryder were in the party and they lose it as well. That’s wonderful! It makes for a great story to tell now! Papa Miz and Momma Miz say Miz and Maryse are perfect for each other and the best couple they’ve seen. The Miz talks about how his life has changed since being a father and as the proud father of two boys, he’s not lying. Miz playing with his girls is just awesome and now I don’t know how I can boo him now.

-WWE Draft 2016: The Brand Split: Daniel Bryan picks The Miz and Maryse to get the IC Title on SmackDown. Daniel is now a talking head and says The Miz hates sitting around so they were trying to thin of things to do. That takes us to Talking Smack and here we go! My review of this legendary episode can be found here. This was early in the shows run and helped set the tone for this being the best show the WWE produced at the time as Daniel gave no craps, Renee was great as controlling the chaos, and all the guests just cut loose. The Miz brings up that he was the IC Champion and wasn’t booked for SmackDown. That legit irritated him and he wanted to be on Talking Smack to vent. Daniel tells Miz he doesn’t like the way he wrestle and Daniel knew it would set The Miz off. Daniel goes deeper and tells Miz he wrestles like a coward. The Miz says he went blank hearing that and doesn’t remember much of what he said. They show Renee’s face and she is just stunned by what is happening. Daniel admits they know they to push each others buttons and that’s what they did. Miz goes off with the greatest promo of his life and tells us that he was waiting for Daniel to punch him. The fact that Bryan just walked away only made him angrier. Just amazing stuff!

Daniel Bryan: “So, I don’t like Mike. I don’t like Miz, but I respect him. He works hard and I also think he is underrated as a wrestler too.” Ziggler puts over that Miz has been able to get his in ring work up there with his promo skills. Henry credits Miz for making the IC Title mean something again and Kofi puts over how hard he works.

-We meet the executive producer of Miz and Mrs. He calls Miz a force of nature and someone made for this stuff. He puts over his natural charisma and he is able to back that up with hard work. Those are the people that make it on TV. Ryder talks about how he has seen Miz mature over the years as he has become a family man. He is grateful for what he has and what he has accomplished, but he always has a desire for more.

-That takes us to his second run with The Money in the Bank briefcase and that pays off at Elimination Chamber. Cool video of Miz warming up backstage during The Chamber and Flair asking him if he is in the match. Miz says he isn’t going to tell Ric what’s about to happen. “People are going to hate this and I am going to love it.” Lashley attacks Drew after his defends inside The Chamber and Miz is out to cash in his briefcase for a second time. Miz is once again The WWE Champion! He says there were so many emotions and all he could do was stare at the belt and think of all the hard work and sacrifice. He gets a standing ovation backstage with Lashley, Sheamus, and Orton all there to congratulate him. AJ Styles tells him that nobody works harder and Miz says this time they can tell he has earned their respect. He thanks Vince again and talks about how great it feels to get the nod from him. He video calls Maryse and tells her he is bringing the Title home so be ready. “Was that inappropriate?” If this was Edge we know that means Live Sex Celebration!

-The reign doesn’t last long as Lashley squashes him on RAW a little over a week later. Gewirtz asked Miz if Lashley was a face now because all he saw on Twitter was people celebrating and Miz told him that Lashley was there top heel, but people love seeing him lose.

-Bad Bunny! The Miz says he loves doing things with celebrities and Kofi says that they love putting celebrities with The Miz because he can make it work. Morrison calls him the go to guy because he knows how to make those stories work. Again, it’s a good spot to have as the company obviously has faith in him in these spots.

-WrestleMania 37: The Miz talks about how great it is to have a live audience for the first time in 1 year, 1 month and 1 day. Their energy only helps them and today they are going to make moments that will last a lifetime. We get to the tag match and they knocked it out of park as it over delivered and a ton of credit should be given to Miz and Morrison for holding it together as they had a celebrity and Mania rookie out there with them. Bunny put in the work as well and deserves his props. The Miz mentions he got texts that it was the match of the night and he was blown away by that. He talks about the fun of being out there and how he missed the crowd.

-Morrison says it is rare to find someone like Mike who has done it all. He calls what Miz has done inside and outside the ring inspiring as he still sees Mike as an underdog. They go back to Al Snow if he was going to do wrestling for the right reasons and not just to get on TV. Mark Henry puts over Miz huge and says there has never been a wrestler that loves himself as much as the Miz does, but that is a compliment because he loved himself so much that he wasn’t going to let himself down. Ryder says Mike should have had a short career, but he busted his ass and became a 2 Time WWE Champion. Gewirtz brings up that Miz has been in the business for 15 years and on TV nearly every single week and you have to respect that. He has proven all the idiots wrong who keep telling him things he can’t do. Miz never would have guessed he would still be here 10 years after closing Mania and he never would have guessed he would have a family. They include a clip of Hulk Hogan congratulating The Miz and telling him he is proud of him. He tells someone nearby that The Miz has this business in his blood and The Miz is beaming. Wow, that had to feel amazing. The Miz knows not everyone is going to like him, but he thanks all the fans that have stuck by him. He knows his time is numbered but he will always work hard to be the best dad, entertainer, husband, and superstar he can be.

-In a great touch the have the talking heads talk about The Miz during the credits. Gewirtz hopes they don’t use anything he said as he knows the text he is going to get for putting Miz over. Kofi has similar thoughts and Ryder calls him an annoying, but great dude. Ziggler goes over all of Miz’s accomplishments and yet he is still only the second best wrestler in his family as Maryse is number one. He then says Miz is tied at 2 with Papa Miz. Amazing! Speaking of Papa Miz he says he enjoys the double and triple flips off the ropes and Mike can’t do that stuff. Again, amazing!

-This was wonderful and it was nice to have a documentary on someone new. Love or hate him, The Miz has had a hell of a career that has gone on loner than anyone would have ever guessed. He works hard and does all he can to improve his craft while also making sure the top ability he has is availability. There is a reason he is on our TVs every week and it’s because the man doesn’t get hurt. You can hate on his ring style, but he does what he knows he can do and does what is needed to stay healthy. This documentary was great at showing his rise in the WWE as he fought through the backstage nonsense and didn’t quit where so many others did. As with all these documentaries it also put a human side on him as it showed us his childhood and his life as a husband and father. That is always the best part of these things as you do sometimes forget the person you are hating is someone’s son/dad or daughter/mother. Definitely check this one out as the WWE Documentary crew continues to deliver the goods. Thanks for reading!

article topics :

The Miz, WWE 24, Robert Leighty Jr.