411’s WWE Rivals Report: The Miz vs. Daniel Bryan

-The WWE did their own look at this rivalry a few years back and my review of that can be found here. Interesting one, as again, it features someone currently in AEW. Let’s get to it!

-Freddie Prinze Jr is the executive producer/host and is at the table with JBL, Johnny Gargano, Kevin Owens, and Renee Paquette. If Renee wouldn’t have been part of this episode what are we even doing?

-Kevin Owens notes that Daniel and Miz were like oil and water. The rivalry came down to Daniel Bryan was a wrester and Miz viewed himself as a Superstar. Miz came from The Real World, and ended up on Tough Enough. Booker T notes that they all felt Miz would be here today and gone tomorrow. Miz says in 2010 he was in WWE for four years and was getting a grasp on his character. He was The US and Tag Champion and was on the rise in the company.

-While this was happening, Daniel Bryan was setting the independent scene on fire. We get Dragon Gate footage! Gargano says Bryan is the greatest independent wrestler of all time. Daniel says he signed with WWE and was making less money, but it gave him greater opportunities. Kevin Owens says Daniel signing with WWE was huge, but at the same time he was now a small fish in a big pond.

-Feb 23, 2010: Miz says there were rumblings of a new show with rookies being paired with pros. The show took the place of ECW and was called NXT. Miz was the pro and was paired with his rookie, Daniel Bryan. Miz says they were both excited, but nervous as they didn’t know what they were getting into. HHH says that looking at Daniel on paper you wonder if she should be in WWE. He notes Daniel is an amazing athlete and in ring performer, but even he would say he didn’t have the larger-than-life personality.

-It wasn’t by accident that Miz and Bryan were paired together. They knew having someone like Miz talk down and try to teach Daniel was great TV. Miz slapped Daniel on the first episode and Bryan says their pairing was smart. We see Daniel cutting a promo noting he has been a wrestler for twice as long as Miz. That didn’t mean anything to Miz as he looked down on the independents.

-Bryan says he had a ton of indy cred and Miz was a WWE Superstar, but had no wrestling credibility. They blurred the lines of reality with The Miz and Bryan story on NXT. Miz mentions there have been a lot of great guys from the independents that didn’t not work in the WWE. The fans obviously sided with Daniel and felt he was better than Miz, but the point for The Miz was Daniel never did anything in the WWE. Daniel says he never takes offense to anything anyone says, but he says it was borderline insulting. He did wrestle in front of 15 people, but he also wrestled in front of 15,000 people and he felt WWE brought him up just to make fun of him.

-Miz knew there was something between the two of them and it could be magic. They have been rivals ever since.

-Commercials!

-RAW: Aug 23, 2010: I guess we are skipping over Bryan being fired for choking Justin Roberts and then being brought back a few months later. Instead, we see the start of The Miz/Bryan feud on RAW with Bryan making Miz tap out after a fight.

-Sam Roberts says Miz had to elevate his in-ring work for the matches and Bryan had to elevate his promo skills. We see Bryan at a promo shop with Vince McMahon and other stars including Miz and R-Truth sitting in the crowd. Shawn says that Bryan is a traditionalist and is the real version of what they do. The Miz is sports-entertainment. Bryan is every man, while Miz you want to smack the taste out of his mouth.

-Bryan: “I don’t like Mike. I don’t like The Miz. His ability to be annoying is secondary to none.” He continues that even in the back with the boys, Miz annoys people, but it’s that ability that makes him so valuable.

-Night of Champions: Sept 19, 2010: Miz defends his US Title against Daniel Bryan. Miz says his goal was to be WWE Champion and Main Event of WrestleMania. Miz taps out and Bryan is the New United States Champion. Bryan says he was excited to do a singles match on PPV and though the moment was cool to take The US Title away from Miz. Roberts says Bryan was ready to launch into Superstar status, but this is far from the end of the Miz/Bryan rivalry.

-Commercials!

-RAW: Sept 20, 2010: Daniel makes fun of Miz for tapping as Miz is sitting on commentary.

-RAW: Nov 22, 2010: Miz cashes in on Randy Orton to become WWE Champion. ANGRY MIZ GIRL! Miz says he didn’t think it was real and notes you can see the emotion going through his body. Renee says Miz was never respected as the guy to do anything and he turned into one of the best heels in the business.

-Miz: “A couple of months later, I lost the title.” It was over five months later, which was a decent reign back in those days. Cena takes the WWE from Miz and he says he couldn’t figure out how to get back on top for a long time. He just kept falling and Daniel Bryan was slowing moving up.

-The Yes Movement takes over not just wrestling but all over the place. They show Michigan State Basketball, Islanders Hockey, and others doing the Yes Chants. Miz was proud as he was part of that rise and we see him tell Bryan he helped it happen. He says all credit to Bryan as he did it, but he helped.

-WrestleMania XXX: Kevin Owens says he went himself because he had to be there to see Daniel do it. They show KO in the crowd in The Superdome. He wrestled Daniel in front of 300 people in New Jersey and now he was winning The WWE Title in front of 70,000 people at WrestleMania. JBL calls it one of the greatest moments he has ever seen. Daniel says it was the greatest week of his life, but then his neck was getting worse and worse. Brie says that Bryan had bone spurs pinning back his nerves and he needed immediate surgery.

-Bryan goes on MIZ TV and states his career is not over and he will be back. Bryan says it was more than the neck and mentions all the concussions. He went to a neurologist and Bryan broke down as he was told it was in his best interest to retire.

-RAW: Feb 8, 2016: Daniel announces his retirement in Seattle with tears in his eyes. They show us backstage where Heath Slater, HHH, Cody Rhodes, and Brie all have tears in their eyes watching. The Miz says it is sad because Daniel is one of the biggest stars at the pinnacle of his career.

-The Miz starts rolling again and wins The Intercontinental Title for a fifth time and his entire goal was to make it the most important title. He credits his wife, Maryse, for being back on screen with him and being there to help him get his groove back.

-Meanwhile, Daniel Bryan is brought back as The General Manager of SmackDown when the WWE went back to a brand splint after years of it being on hiatus. The crowd was really happy to have Daniel back on screen.

-Commercials!

-SmackDown: WWE Draft! The Miz and Shane McMahon draft The Miz and Maryse because they want The Intercontinental Championship. Miz knows Daniel didn’t want him on the show because it annoyed him to see Miz being able to wrestle every day, while he had to watch.

-Talking Smack: HERE WE GO! We see the premiere with Daniel Bryan and Renee Young. That initial run of Talking Smack was amazing and was some of the best TV ever from WWE. It’s like Vince didn’t care and just let them do what they wanted and it was fantastic. They tried to recreate it with RAW Talk, but nothing ever matched the original Talking Smack. They got close with a later iteration with Paul Heyman as the co-host. Renee says she could feel the animosity from Bryan as he desperately wanted to be back in the ring.

-The Miz is The IC Champion and he is told he is not needed for SmackDown as they have two other titles to focus on that week. Miz is pissed and asked them to put him on Talking Smack as he knew he was ready to unload. Bryan says Miz came up to him and expressed his frustration. He says Miz is someone that can’t stay on the sideline long and Bryan also wanted back in the ring. They decided to try to do something where they had no choice but to put them in a match against each other.

-Talking Smack: August 23, 2016: My review for that episode is here. The greatest promo of Miz’s life! Just absolute fire from him and Maryse says she can tel Miz was in a different place. Miz barges in and complains about The IC Title not being on SmackDown. Bryan and Miz each had the idea to say whatever they could to set the other man off. Bryan says Miz wrestles like a coward and like someone who is afraid to get him. Renee is just taking all of this in, but you can see she is just playing along at first, but then realizes something heated is happening here. Bryan didn’t know coward would have an effect, but he knows people have said that to Miz. Maryse says that word doesn’t play well with Miz. I guess that’s his Marty McFly trigger. Miz says he has been called it before, but it was worse when Daniel said it. “You were on a reality show and don’t belong here is what I heard.” The Miz goes off and says he is never injured. Renee says it was intense and she became uncomfortable when she saw tears welling up in Miz’s eyes. She had no clue where they were going with this. Miz then unleashes fire as he calls out Bryan for promising he would be back, but instead he retired and went home. JBL points out, with a smile, that Miz was making fun of Bryan for breaking his neck due to his style of wrestling, yet he wants to call Miz out for his style when is still wrestling. Renee says she thought Daniel was going to legit punch Miz in the face. Miz tells Bryan to quit and go to The Bingo Halls with his indy friends. Maryse tries to break things, but Miz won’t back down and continues on his tirade.

-Commercials!

-Rosenberg says it was a moment where you wondered if this was part of the show or if they really hated each other. Bryan says it got a point where he either had to punch Miz in the face or walk away. Bryan opts to walk away and Miz continues to abuse him on the mic. Maryse notes they were doing a TV show and Bryan left because Miz was getting to him so much. Miz says Bryan leaving made him more angry as he was upset Bryan didn’t hit him. Just brilliant from Miz! Sam Roberts notes this wasn’t a wrestler hyping the next big match. It was a man pouring his heart out and getting the respect he deserved.

-Bryan says it was what they wanted out of the segment, but probably went further than they wanted. “It was good, but I wasn’t thinking about it being good. I was thinking, I want to punch this guy in the face.” HA!

-Gargano says the best stories are always based in reality. He knew Bryan couldn’t wrestle, so what was the pay-off? That made him think what he was watching was real. Next week Miz was back on the show and a mainstay of SmackDown. Bryan says that interaction showed how good Miz is at talking, and despite any of his issues with The Miz, he will never discount his ability of talking.

-SmackDown: March 2018: Daniel Bryan finally gets cleared to return to the ring. I was at work when the news broke, and when I saw it on 411, I legit got tears in my eyes. One of my co-workers thought something was wrong and it was weird explaining to a non-wrestling fan that they were tears of joy over a wrestler being allowed to wrestle again.

-Kevin Owens says that almost immediately everyone was wanting Miz vs. Bryan. Miz says he called Daniel to congratulate him and ask how he was feeling. Miz wanted the match and Daniel agreed.

-SmackDown: July 2018: They start reheating the feud and the match is set for SummerSlam.

-Commercials!

-SummerSlam 2018: Nearly two years after Talking Smack, we get the match we have all wanted. Gargano says Bryan being injured made people want this match more as they had to wait. Renee credits Miz for keeping all this simmering on the off chance that Bryan would be cleared. Miz says there is always pressure on ever match, but this one had extra. They didn’t want to disappoint.

-I remember the video package before the match being exceptional. Bryan notes that he loves being a wrestler and brings him so much joy. Maryse is in the front row and slips Bryan something and he decks Bryan trying a suicide dive. Miz gets the win! Miz says they tore the house down and it was a job well done. Bryan says that match was great and again says, he doesn’t like The Miz, but he feels he is underrated as far as being a wrestler. He has been very happy with some of the matches he has had against The Miz.

-The wives get involved leading to mix tag matches. Roberts compares them to Batman and Joker as they are destined to always fight each other. I actually would be cool with them facing off again before they are both done.

-Freddie says he felt both men needed each other. KO says that Miz learned more as far as in ring working with Bryan and Bryan learned how to be a WWE Superstar from The Miz. Miz is thankful for the rivalry as they push you. Bryan says that he did learn a lot from Miz and he hopes that Miz respects him. He certainly has a respect from Miz. They’re personalities don’t agree, but he respects him. Great stuff!

-I enjoyed this a lot, but this is one of my favorite rivalries of the last 15 years. That Talking Smack segment is still jaw dropping and is what set that show up for the run it had. A lot of this had been covered in the WWE documentary, but we get some new stuff here. Having Renee on the panel was needed since she was there for the most talked about moment in this rivalry. The rest of the talking heads helped add to this, but this was Bryan and Miz’s story and thankfully they had a lot of footage from them discussing the rivalry. I’m not sure if there is an episode next week due to Mania being on Sunday, but if there is by some chance it will likely be a few days before I get to it. Thanks for reading!