411’s WWE Evil Episode Two Report: The Miz

-Run Time: 48:38

-As a reminder, John Cena is the narrator for this series.

-We start with the producers asking Maryse if she was a WWE fan would she like The Miz and she says no because he is a bad guy. Miz says he enjoys being the bad guy. Heyman: “If you are not an asshole at heart, you’re not going to cut it as a villain in today’s environment.” Michelle Beadle pops up and she calls Miz the perfect, hate-able human. Having Beadle is cool because I’ve always been a fan. Mick Foley calls Miz a dick.

-Show opening.

-Cena asks “why is The Miz so easy to hate?” Peter Rosenberg calls The Miz, “the Joker.” He is disrespected and counted out but is everyone’s worst nightmare. Dolph Ziggler says all that Miz wants is attention and each time he grabs a mic he gets reactions from the fans. Foley feels the hallmark of a great bad guy is confidence and believing in everything you say. Beadle credits Miz for being great at smack talk as we see him dress down Daniel Bryan during the reboot of their feud after Bryan’s return. Jimmy Smith points out Miz chose to be this way.

-We go back to MTV’s The Real World and that is where we first meet Mike. Sasha Alpert, Real World Casting Director, tells us she first met Mike when he tried out for season 10 of the show. We get footage from the show as she says they felt Mike was goofy, but he grew on people. Miz says that nobody liked him on the show and it bothered him. It was uncomfortable because he had to be around the people in the house 24/7 for five months. He dealt with it by drinking and creating a character called The Miz. What happened though is the cast liked The Miz while they didn’t like Mike. Sasha thinks Mike had The Miz in his back pocket for years and The Miz was a creation to protect Mike. Maryse agrees as the Miz doesn’t care what people think so he can’t get hurt. Miz says that when The Miz showed up on The Real World there was no more Mike. He was given a Rock action figure from the cast and he knew from there he wanted to be a WWE Superstar.

-Mike was then picked to be on Season 4 of WWE Tough Enough. That was the crappier season that didn’t take place on MTV and was integrated with SmackDown. The first three seasons of that show were my jam, and they never recaptured that. Miz didn’t win (Daniel Puder was the winner), but the WWE brought Miz in as a host for SmackDown.

-Miz talks about his meeting with Vince McMahon where it was told to him that he wanted Mike to be the Ryan Secrest of WWE. That disappointed Miz but he knew he had to take the opportunity and run with it. At minimum he realized he would be given a microphone. He created the Hoo-Rah catchphrase and the crowd would shout back “You Suck.” Miz realized he had something!

-Kazeem Famiyude talks about how for better or worse Mike was already seen as a bit of a celebrity before he got into pro-wrestling. Rosenberg says Miz just turns himself up to ten and goes. It makes you hate him more and that is the point. Miz wondered how he could turn this into a wrestling career and he realized if he got hated enough fans would want to see him get beat up.

-Sept 2006: Miz makes his in ring debut and JBL buries him on commentary. I mean just buries him and the talking heads bring that up as well. Everyone pegged Miz as a reality show bum and he wouldn’t last more than a week. Foley credits Miz for paying his dues. Miz says he was walking on eggshells backstage and tells the famous story where he was eating chicken and someone claimed he was getting chicken all over his bag. That spread among the boys and it became that Miz was throwing chicken around the locker room. He was yelled at and lectured about it. Maryse tells us Miz was kicked out of the dressing room for six months and had to change in bathrooms before heading to the ring. Foley says some people knew Miz would be a star, but they wouldn’t make it easy on him.

-Miz says it put a chip on his shoulder as all he wanted was respect. He wore a bandana and fedora because the boys hated it and he figured the fans would as well. I mean, that’s kind of smart actually! They talk about how punchable of a face Miz has and mention it is a skill to be that hated so quickly.

-Miz and Morrison: John Morrison, labeled as former WWE Superstar, was a bit uneasy being partnered with the guy that was kicked out of the dressing room. I mean, it kind of made sense as they were both alums of Tough Enough. What they soon found was they were like PB&J as they meshed so well. They quickly became Tag Champions and they created a YouTube show, The Dirt Sheet. They did the show at the arenas and only had 30 minutes to get it filmed, edited and sent out. The Dirt Sheet was great and helped them build an underground following. The show went viral and it got them attention no matter if it was good or bad. Dolph says getting attention is great, but you have to back it up.

-WWE Draft: Miz gets drafted to RAW and Morrison stays on SmackDown. Miz instantly turned on Morrison to end the team and kick off his singles push. Miz says he had no clue what the future held as it had been 2-3 years since he was a singles wrestler. He then spent eight weeks challenging and running down John Cena because he knew Cena wouldn’t be there. It got him a ton of heat as the fans wanted to see Cena tear him apart.

-The Bash 2009: Miz gets his match with John Cena and I completely forget about this match. Miz was thinking they would have an incredible match, but instead Cena SQUASHED him. Miz: “I didn’t even get any offense in on him.” Miz taps in short order as the commentary team buries him again. Smith says Miz played his role perfectly.

-Miz goes on a run where he won The US Title and then The Money in The Bank briefcase in 2010. We jump ahead to RAW where Orton pinned Wade Barrett and out comes The Miz to cash in his shot. Like many, I assumed he would be the first to lose on a cash in, but it didn’t happen and to the shock of everyone, The Miz pinned Orton to win the WWE Title. The Miz girl gets some more fame and they even show her winning a Slammy Award and being interrupted by The Miz. Yes, they had Miz pick on little girls to get him more heat.

-Miz talks about being WWE Champion and still not being respected. That was when The Rock returned as WrestleMania host and everyone was gravitating to Rock/Cena and forgetting Miz was WWE Champion. I was there for that Mania! Actually, that was the last Mania I attended because I was soon married and then children, so attending Mania dropped down the list of priorities.

-They cover Miz pretending to be The Rock (much like we just with KO as Austin). Miz was in awe of the pop The Rock’s music got as he had never heard a reaction that loud. He was ready to head out and Vince made him stop and wait for the crowd to come down a bit. Miz figured the crowd would die when he walked out there, but instead they erupted and he was amazed that it was working. The crow didn’t key into the fact that it was The Miz instead of The Rock until he hit the ring. He plants Cena with a Rock Bottom and the crowd is pissed. Dolph talks about pulling the heart strings of the crowd and Beadle calls it a brilliant moment. She doesn’t want to compliment The Miz because he is the worst but it was so well done. Miz then beats the dog crap out of Cena and Beadle calls it a name making moment. Miz felt it set up Mania and now fans were ready for Cena/Miz. Well, the guy behind me in The Georgia Dome wasn’t a fan as he bitched the entire time that he bought a package nearly a year earlier and came all the way from Australia to get stuck with Miz in the Main Event at WrestleMania. I was fine with it because just being at Mania was enough for me, but I was also at Mania the previous two years and got both Taker/HBK matches.

-Miz retains and starts getting TV and Film opportunities. He took a month off to film Marine 4 and he had the idea for his A List Actor that only did straight to DVD movies. “People hate those people.” Miz informs us that he started studying Andy Kaufman and we get some Kaufman footage where he cut promos on Lawler. Miz calls him an absolute genius and this episode gets a recommendation just for all this Kaufman footage.

-We jump all the way to 2014 as Miz tells the fans they take him for granted and then he eats a Codebreaker from Chris Jericho. Even with the success he still felt disrespected. Dolph says he had the same opinion as others as you groaned each time Miz came out.

-Talking Smack: WOOO! This was the early days of the show with Renee Young and Daniel Bryan as hosts when they were free to do and say whatever they wanted. It was the best wrestling show on TV and I miss it to this day. Anyway, Miz is the IC Champion and is pissed he wasn’t booked for SmackDown. He cuts the promo of his life as he unleashes all his fury on Daniel Bryan. They touch on the feud between the two. Daniel Bryan (former WWE Superstar) is here to tell us he doesn’t like Mike and he doesn’t like Miz. They know how to push each others’ buttons. This is just glorious as their feud was amazing and thankfully this was all paid off when Bryan was cleared to return. Bryan tells Miz he wrestled like a coward and he could see in Bryan’s eyes that what he was saying was real. That just pissed Miz off to no end and he absolutely loses it. Again, just so awesome!

-Kazeem calls it one of the greatest moments Miz has ever had. He mentions you weren’t sure if what you were seeing was real. Foley covers that Miz was mad that people questioned his style, yet he never missed any shows. The Miz mentions he doesn’t even remember what he said because he was so mad. Maryse says that Miz got out of control as he had all this he wanted and needed to say. It was Mike letting out his frustration at being disrespected. Again, just awesome and here is my review/recap of that show.

-Rosenberg compares wrestling to reality TV as you see people at their best and worst and their home life. That is the difference between wrestling and other sports. You get to know the wrestlers while athletes get a little more privacy. Miz says that the character overcompensates for the disrespect from the fans. Foley says nobody wants to give Miz credit, but they have to because of his run and longevity. Rosenberg says that no matter how much you hate Miz, he is consistently in the picture. Miz has a great understanding of character development.

-Rosenberg says Miz would have made it as a WWE Superstar even if he wasn’t on a reality TV show. Beadle is madly impressed that Miz called his shot on Real World and ended up as a WWE Superstar. Cena mentions Miz is the only 2 Time Grand Slam Champion and has his own reality show. He questions if Mike ever got the respect he deserved. Miz says he does get praised and it is a nice feeling, but he still hears people say he got lucky and was in the right place or he’s not big enough or strong enough. Miz: “I did it.”

-For me personally this was a step down from episode one, but I mean it’s Hogan vs Miz and that’s not really a fair fight as Hogan is my childhood and then the Monday Night War Era. I was never one to hate the Miz or one to think he didn’t deserve a chance. I was just more amazed the WWE actually gave him the chance and credit to him for taking on anything they gave him. I have nothing but respect for The Miz as he has accomplished so much and put up with so much. The talking heads for this show continue to impress and this was a good episode even if it started to repeat some things that were stated several times. Thanks for reading and next time in the series it is Boss Time!