Was The Miz's WWE Title Reign A Fluke?

[Hard Hit Prince]

I've found myself skipping most of 2009's wrestling, only to return at the time The Miz won his Money In The Bank contract. All fine I guess, a lot of people thought he was going to be the first to cash-in and fail, but he didn't and he won the WWE Championship from Randy Orton. Since then I've been a big fan of The Miz and it really pisses me off the fact that he's no longer relevant.

I enjoyed most of his title reign, including Michael Cole's mark out moments, The Miz's angry girl (or whatever) and even his feud with Lawler was enjoyable. But the best thing about his title reign was how well he fitted in with the likes of The Rock and John Cena. The truth is that he got overshadowed by that "Once In A Lifetime" and after CM Punk's rise, we saw The Miz disappearing from the face of the Earth.

I miss the "I am Awesome" shtick, back then he was even getting some good matches with the likes of John Morrison and John Cena (all fine workers of course). Now I went back and actually found out that Miz's title reign was actually good for the ratings, and I remember the guy doing all the freaking press that even John Cena went on and complimented him on Twitter. Legit, the guy was getting the respect of his peers and fans alike (save for some people who just don't like him and that's fine).

So what do you think was the reason for The Miz's disappearance from the main event scene? Lack of confidence from management? Booking? His talent or lack of it? Thoughts on his title reign...

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

I think it's simply a case of they tried, and it failed so he moved back down on the card. It may be tough to remember but Miz had some good momentum about him back in 08-09. He seemed fresh, was good on the mic and began to develop in ring as a wrestler. He was coming off looking strong against Morrison after there tag split and it made sense to move him up the card.

He got his shot and it did not work. I think its as simple as that.

 

[Dagger Dias]

That reign was absolutely a fluke. It should NEVER have happened. Miz is great on the mic but he's average in the ring at best and was never believable in the role of anything further up than an annoying midcard heel. What he's doing right now is exactly where he should be. In the midcard doing annoying heel promos to generate negative reactions for the fans, thus making nearly anyone who stands up to him get a positive reaction. Remember when Alex Riley beat Miz up? Had that been anyone else the fan reaction would not have been much different.

I'll admit he has improved some.... but Miz should never have been anywhere near the WWE Championship. I always believed John Morrison should have gotten the big push over Miz when they split up. Miz's reign as WWE Champion saw some of the darkest times that the federation has ever been through in the past decade. A guy who is not believable whatsoever as the top guy defended the belt ON PAY-PER-VIEW against a 60+ year old announcer. That was a disagrace. Don't EVEN get me started on Wrestlemania 27. That show was a total disaster and it gave us the worst main event in Wrestlemania history, while the show itself overall is in the bottom 3 of all time alongside Wrestlemania 11 and 9. A big part of that is Miz walked in as the top guy, retained against JOHN CENA, at the biggest show of the year. Horrible. Just horrible.

Was it a fluke? Yes. A thousand times, yes.

 

[vicd71]

Miz was a placeholder to set-up Cena for another title run. However, because The Rock came back Vince saw the opportunity to create a 2-year/WM program between Cena and The Rock. If not for that Miz would have dropped the belt to Cena @ WM.

The Miz holding the belt for so long was what led to WWE giving the strap to CM Punk for so long to re-establish its credibility before dropping it to The Rock which was the set-up for what WWE intended to do with Cena @ WM 2 years earlier.

 

[justinept]

Are we so far removed from 2011 that people don't actually remember what happened? The Miz didn't fall off the planet after dropping the title to Cena. In fact, the Miz went on to form AwesomeTruth, a team that was booked like an unbeatable force in the fall of 2011. Seriously - go back and re-watch this stuff. They were booked like monster heels. Their highlights included:

1) Attacking a white-hot CM Punk during his Night of Champions match with Triple H.

2) Destroying Punk, Cena and ADR during a Hell in a Cell match while the rest of the WWE watched helplessly.

3) Defeating Punk and Triple H in a tag-team match at Vengeance.

4) Destroying Cena during his WWE Title match at Vengance.

5) Creating such chaos on Raw that Triple H was removed from his position as acting CEO.

6) Wrestling Rock/Cena in Rock's first WWE match in 7 years.

The duo broke up following their loss at Survivor Series when Miz turned on Truth. But it was clear at that point that the Miz was still high in the WWE graces as he was given a WWE Title match at TLC in December. It wasn't until after TLC when the Survivor Series buyrate came in that Miz was demoted. With the numbers significantly lower than what the WWE anticipated, the WWE had to 'punish' someone. It was clear that they weren't going to demote Rock or Cena so Miz took the fall...

In the following months, he was the first entrant into the Royal Rumble - a complete after thought in the match despite lasting 45 minutes. He followed that be being left off the EC card completely and spent WrestleMania season working a program wherein he complained that he was being left off the card - before ultimately being placed in a 10-man tag filled with other guys who had no real spot on the roster.

So you can say his reign was a fluke, but you'd be wrong. He was over as anyone on the roster not named Cena. You can say he was overshadowed by Rock/Cena, and he was, but that's just ignoring that he maintained his main event status through the end of the year. And you can say that CM Punk took his spot, but that's ignoring that Miz was actually handed the 'anti-establishment' part of Punk's gimmick when he formed Awesome Truth.

The fact is that Miz lost his spot ONLY because Survivor Series didn't get the expected buyrate, and he took the fall for it.

 

[The Samoan Heritage]

I loved the Miz's WWE title reign it was..........AWWWWWWWWWWWWESOME!

Miz's title reign was NOT a fluke. Miz was the most over guy as champion. No one was more loved/hated than the Miz. The issue I had with Miz's run is the same issue I have with Rollins current run and that's the constant need of interference.

Miz 1st title defense was against JERRY LAWLER and he needed Riley and Cole to win. He then faced Orton twice after and won both due to inteference from Riley in their first match and Cm Punk in their second match. He would later go on to feud with Cena even winning the tag team championships with him at some point. But when it was time to face Cena at Wrestlemaniaone one-on-one he WON AGAIN DUE TO INTERFERENCE from the Rock.

It also didn't help when the champion is heading into Wrestlemania and the challenger is more focused on someone else rather than THE CHAMPION. Basically after building all that heat for the Miz they turned him into an afterthought. Heck Miz was booked more as a serious threat after his championship reign as apart of The Awesome Truth than he was as the top champion.
Even with all that I will explain (briefly) why I enjoyed Miz's title reign. Before Miz's reign it was Orton, Cena, Orton Cena, Sheamus, Cena, Orton, Sheamus, etc when the Miz came into the scene a breathe of fresh air. They pushed Miz using his best asset and that was his mic skills. Miz was entertainment something that had been missing in the last couple of champion reigns.

 

[Seosa]

People try and defend Miz by saying "He was over as a hated heel". There's a big difference between portraying a hated heel to good affect and being an annoying heel who's pushed to the moon causing people to hate the product.

He sucks, simple.

 

[enviousdominous]

The way I see it; Miz was a victim of bad writing, and nothing more.

Miz had a massive chip on his shoulder from being knocked around like a pinball by the locker room status quo while he was coming up, and this with his youthful vigor seemed to make Vince fall head over heels in love with him. I had read dirtsheets saying that even when Miz wasn't the World Champion, he was still being given World Champion accommodations on his travels with the WWE courtesy of Vince.

Miz was Champion, and the WWE had to work toward a program for Rock vs Cena involving Miz. WrestleMania comes around, and the doofus squad in the back decides to end the main event with a double countout, and a fluke pin on Cena after the match was reinstated. As the World Champion, Miz' legacy involves one of the worst WrestleMania main events in history. Not his fault, but that was the big moment they threw into his lap.

Since then; Miz has been looking pretty basic for a pro-wrestler, in that basic levels of creativity are all that are invested in him. He had a neat program with R-Truth, but I seem to recall Miz missing a few crucial spots. If I'm not mistaken; Miz was supposed to be in place to catch Truth during a PPV match and he was day dreaming somewhere else. I remember a battle royal on RAW where Miz was apparently demoted to Brad Maddox status, he was eliminated by Santino in that match.

It really doesn't help that the only movies that the WWE put Miz into are watered down sequels of the blatantly clichéd Marine series.

Miz has had some amazing promos and matches in his career, but his big moments were unforgettable for all the wrong reasons and there's not even any room for him in the mid-card these days. I wish him the best of luck, but won't hold my breath for a Miz IC title run.

 

[Aquaman6686]

That reign was absolutely a fluke. It should NEVER have happened. Miz is great on the mic but he's average in the ring at best and was never believable in the role of anything further up than an annoying midcard heel. What he's doing right now is exactly where he should be. In the midcard doing annoying heel promos to generate negative reactions for the fans, thus making nearly anyone who stands up to him get a positive reaction. Remember when Alex Riley beat Miz up? Had that been anyone else the fan reaction would not have been much different.

I'll admit he has improved some.... but Miz should never have been anywhere near the WWE Championship. I always believed John Morrison should have gotten the big push over Miz when they split up. Miz's reign as WWE Champion saw some of the darkest times that the federation has ever been through in the past decade. A guy who is not believable whatsoever as the top guy defended the belt ON PAY-PER-VIEW against a 60+ year old announcer. That was a disagrace. Don't EVEN get me started on Wrestlemania 27. That show was a total disaster and it gave us the worst main event in Wrestlemania history, while the show itself overall is in the bottom 3 of all time alongside Wrestlemania 11 and 9. A big part of that is Miz walked in as the top guy, retained against JOHN CENA, at the biggest show of the year. Horrible. Just horrible.

Was it a fluke? Yes. A thousand times, yes.

I disagree 100% with everything stated here, but the one I really have to call out is "worst main event in WrestleMania history".

The Miz vs. John Cena was a mediocre match. And being mediocre, it was still infinitely better than Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns. That match was the absolute drizzling shits. The ONLY reason it's not looked at as the worst WrestleMania main event in history is because Seth Rollins cashing in left fans with a positive note, and because the rest of WM31 was incredible.

 

[MWRedskins]

First things first...i can't call a booked Title Run a fluke...if this was a real show and someone won via a roll up and lost it a night later, then i would say fluke, but since it's booked and it was booked for Miz to win, it wasnt a fluke.

now what Miz's title run was to me was them (WWE) building up The Miz and him taking the rope and going with it. he wasnt a bad champion, but honestly, he wasnt booked great either. i liked how he won his matches, but one of his opponents was Jerry Lawler. i felt WWE quit on Miz a bit too soon on his title run, but with that said, he wasnt great though as champion. his in ring skills were just ok to me, but he was great on that mic, 2nd or 3rd best in my book on the mic (behind Punk of course). his run is forgotten mainly due to who later had it. it's really hard to top what CM Punk did that summer. as for Miz now, i feel that his "Hollywood" gimmick is fine for mid card status or even tag team status (which i think Miz excels at), but i can't answer if it's main event worthy, however, i wouldn't hate seeing him on top again.

 

[rmp0012002]

They gave him a shot and he did hold the belt for 4-5 months I believe but I think the summer of punk just overshadowed him and he got shuffled down the roster. Never a fan but it's not like he was just cast aside even though he didn't get back in the main event spot he still has always gotten a push in some form.

 

[JoeMallard]

I wouldn't necessary call it a fluke, but I don't remember much of it, because I took a break from wrestling. Miz comes from Hollywood, so it makes sense how they would use him to kickstart Rock vs Cena. However, there was no one more hated in the company than Punk during the Straight Edge Society schtick, but then it led to virtually nowhere. This is about to become a CM Punk post, so I'm gonna stop there.

 

[Headman]

Are we so far removed from 2011 that people don't actually remember what happened? The Miz didn't fall off the planet after dropping the title to Cena. In fact, the Miz went on to form AwesomeTruth, a team that was booked like an unbeatable force in the fall of 2011. Seriously - go back and re-watch this stuff. They were booked like monster heels. Their highlights included:

1) Attacking a white-hot CM Punk during his Night of Champions match with Triple H.

2) Destroying Punk, Cena and ADR during a Hell in a Cell match while the rest of the WWE watched helplessly.

3) Defeating Punk and Triple H in a tag-team match at Vengeance.

4) Destroying Cena during his WWE Title match at Vengance.

5) Creating such chaos on Raw that Triple H was removed from his position as acting CEO.

6) Wrestling Rock/Cena in Rock's first WWE match in 7 years.

The duo broke up following their loss at Survivor Series when Miz turned on Truth. But it was clear at that point that the Miz was still high in the WWE graces as he was given a WWE Title match at TLC in December. It wasn't until after TLC when the Survivor Series buyrate came in that Miz was demoted. With the numbers significantly lower than what the WWE anticipated, the WWE had to 'punish' someone. It was clear that they weren't going to demote Rock or Cena so Miz took the fall...

In the following months, he was the first entrant into the Royal Rumble - a complete after thought in the match despite lasting 45 minutes. He followed that be being left off the EC card completely and spent WrestleMania season working a program wherein he complained that he was being left off the card - before ultimately being placed in a 10-man tag filled with other guys who had no real spot on the roster.

So you can say his reign was a fluke, but you'd be wrong. He was over as anyone on the roster not named Cena. You can say he was overshadowed by Rock/Cena, and he was, but that's just ignoring that he maintained his main event status through the end of the year. And you can say that CM Punk took his spot, but that's ignoring that Miz was actually handed the 'anti-establishment' part of Punk's gimmick when he formed Awesome Truth.

The fact is that Miz lost his spot ONLY because Survivor Series didn't get the expected buyrate, and he took the fall for it.

This post should have ended this thread but of course nobody reads anything but the OP before chiming in with their own opinion. As you stated Miz didn't simply fade away in the months following WM 27 as some people stated. His reign wasn't a failure or an aborted experiment. The Miz was a major player all year long. All people seem to remember about 2011 is the Rock/Cena thing and CM Punk's emergence. What they quickly forget is the WWE's top heel during all of that. It was The Miz.

 

[Rhodes2TheFuture3313]

I legit hated Miz during his title reign. I actually didn't start saying ok this guy isn't bad until WM 27 when he weaseled his way to victory over Cena. After that I became a Miz-fit. What the last few guys are saying is true. Miz instead of R-Truth took the fall for that low SS buyrate and has been in Mid-card haven ever since. Lost is some of the great work that he has done. He MADE Damian Sandow relevant for a time. He was a really good IC champ before that. This guy is GREAT on the MIC. It pains me to see Sheamus get another main event shot when guys like Ziggler & Miz are far better equipped and more entertaining to handle it. Maybe WWE can strike gold again w/another Rated RKO? 2 mid-card guys who beat the hell out of everybody on their way up the card. Miz and Ziggler are both worthy. That's for sure. My problem is Miz has this great gimmick, but it's booked as a joke. The guy should be wearing designer suits. Doing interviews w/real hollywood guest stars and have a paparazzi like entrance retaining the AWESOME and music.

 

[stmarks2002]

His title reign is comparable to David Arquette winning the WCW title. Both never should've happened. In respect to the question, it was definitely a fluke as he has never won it back since losing it and its now 2015. Miz has no legitimate relevance to pro wrestling at any capacity. I recall watching his season of Real World and I did in fact root for him to be successful one day. That boat has clearly sailed. His reality tv background and alleged hard work got him in that top spot because of his crossover/mainstream appeal. His title defense opponents were definitely a joke ...

 

[Azane]

I liked Miz's reign, I actually hated the guy (not heel hate, just.... Hated), until he started doing some really cocky things that made me like booing him. The Era he was in fit perfectly, along with the Twitter Takeover (Twitter being mentioned every 5 minutes is why I don't watch WWE anymore) and "reality era" that people thought we were heading towards (now restricted to the Divas 'revolution').

As far as his wrassling, he was nothing flashy, but the Miz could talk circles around people which lead to some great promos and setups. It was really refreshing to have a champ who was just an arrogant prick.

 

[Vanilla Midget]

Fluke is the wrong word. There are no flukes in professional wrestling as the outcomes are scripted. Miz was white hot in 2009-10. He was getting huge heat and even a few pops. The mistake really came with the timing and direction of his babyface turn. That and I'm betting he wasn't really a huge draw during his time.

When Miz came out the Raw after the dreadful WrestleMania 27, the crowd came unglued. The right time to turn him face would have been after he dropped the title back to Cena. I wouldn't have even separated him and Alex Riley, they both could have been faces.

WWE in the post-attitude era has had a nasty habit of booking certain faces too face. Rock and Austin got over because they did heelish things. Eddie straight up cheated in matches. When Miz finally turned face he became Ryan Seacrest and was hosting PPVs and being complimented on his spray tan, instead of being the cocky prick that got him over.

People wanted a-hole Miz, they wanted Awesome Truth Miz. They wanted the Miz that could go toe to toe with the Rock on the Mic.

Speaking of Rocky, Miz's current character is a watered down version of the downright classic heel that was Hollywood Rock. Rock's 2003 heel run should be required reading on heel turns if you ask me. Miz's character is b-movie version of that on cheese whiz. Like we get it, you think you're a movie star, do we need the quiet on the set thing in his theme music.

They didn't see long term sustainable main event in Miz, so they booked him atrociously and sent him down the card. I see the good in uncool heels, I wish they'd tone him down a bit, but we need heels that aren't cheered.

The end of Miz in the main event truly came when Cena single handedly defeated Awesome Truth. Seriously, he beat them both at once on Raw. Why did he even need the Rock? Rock and Cena should have lost, DQ or whatever due to infighting. Awesome Truth was ridiculously over and they seemed poised to enter the main event, but both were dorky faces come 2012. What a waste.

 

[justinept]

The end of Miz in the main event truly came when Cena single handedly defeated Awesome Truth. Seriously, he beat them both at once on Raw. Why did he even need the Rock? Rock and Cena should have lost, DQ or whatever due to infighting. Awesome Truth was ridiculously over and they seemed poised to enter the main event, but both were dorky faces come 2012. What a waste.

Yes and No. This wasn't the moment that Miz was sent down the card, but it was the factor that led to the reasoning behind sending him down the card. As I stated earlier, the Miz was dropped from main event status immediately following the release of the Survivor Series lackluster buy rate. So technically, the end of the Miz was the buy rate. But you are correct in your assessment that the decision to have Cena single-handedly defeat Awesome Truth on Raw was the deciding factor for a lot of people not to buy that pay-per view. I remember a lot of conversations on these boards with angry viewers who had no intention of paying $60 for a main event that was clearly going to be booked as a squash match.

That's why the buy rate was so damn low! They shit all over the main event and took away any potential drama leading into it.