An Awesome 180

[Little Jerry Lawler]

Whenever I form a certain opinion about a wrestler, that opinion rarely changes. I remember my height of John Cena hate was when he won the 2008 Royal Rumble. Later that year, I started to look back at his matches and realized that he is a very good wrestler who can have great matches with a variety of opponents.

This brings me to The Miz. I used to never think much of him. To many, he seemed undeserving of the opportunities he received which includes main eventing Wrestlemania. Most saw him as an afterthought due to the battle of verbal wits between Cena and Rock. Now that I look back, I have done an 180. Why wasn't Miz deserving of that spot?

We complain that guys are pushed too fast into the main event scene before they are ready which could be the case in a guy like Ryback. Miz started off as an annoying little nuisance in 2006 who JBL ragged on constantly when he was a commentator on Smackdown. From there, he went on to a pretty entertaining tag team with Morrison. He rose up through the ranks and became U.S. Champion, won Money In The Bank, and cashed in Orton to become champion. Miz was a guy that they took their time with and sprinkled in big opportunities here and there (feuding with Cena in 2009) and won the big one. I can't have too many complaints with that because we rarely see it happen anymore.

Another gripe is that his offense is terrible. I used to think that same exact thing but why does he need a great offense as a heel? Guys like Flair did the little things whether it was putting feet on the ropes or a thumb to the eye and they played to the crowd. It's all about making the audience invested in the comeback of the babyface. Sometimes simplicity is the best option.

Currently, Miz is one of the best heels in the WWE and I love his Hollywood gimmick. He appears to be a good company guy and never shys away from doing promotional appearances. I don't know why they did the title switch so soon but that's par for the course these days. He may not get back to where he was 3 years ago but what he has done in the past is more than I, and most, thought he ever would do.

 

[GeminiGarlord]

Yeah I agree, Miz finally sorta found his spot, and he's quite entertaining (unlike Ziggler which should go to the shop and buy a personality or something), especially now that he is paired with Sandow, really really like how they play off each other.

And yes he's still a bit weak in-ring, but honestly, there's a lot worse around in WWE and at least Miz has tons of heelishness to justify not being great in-ring.

 

[Aeon Mathix]

I never once even came close to agreeing with Miz as being WWE Champion and I had to make sure I wasn't dreaming every time I saw him on the card as main eventing Wrestlemania 27 against Cena. Maybe more like a nightmare. He just doesn't have that believable aura about him where he can be the top guy of a professional wrestling company. He did work his ass off and took all the hazing and bullshit that came at him and in that essence I do believe he did deserve everything he achieved. It doesn't mean I agree with giving him his accomplishments, but he defintely deserved it. If I was the head of a company and I see some guy scratching and clawing his way up but I don't see him as the guy who can be brought up to the next level, I would at least throw him a bone and give him a shot. Also Miz is pretty mainstream and promotes the WWE on Cena levels of insanity so you can definitely see why he got what he did.

As of right now I think he is in the perfect spot. Midcard heel with occasional title wins with the Intercontinetal and United States Championships. I don't ever see him even sniffing the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and that's not a knock on him, but I can probably count on one hand how many guys in the WWE right now are legit contenders for it, where as before with 2 world tites there were a lot more options because you could have an established guy like Cena, Edge, Orton or whoever carry it while one of the guys they are testing waters with win the other one. Now it isn't anywhere near as simple as that.

 

[Slash-LN]

I had a 180 on Miz when he was still in the ECW brand working those matches with Punk and Morrison.

I just wanted him to go away before that time. He's entertaining though. He still has a heel look to me. Something about his face just bothers me but rather than feeling like I want him off my screen I feel like I love every moment a face takes him out.

I don't know the guy personally but from what I see on my screen he does actually seem like he enjoys being out there and he doesn't phone it in week after week like some of the others around there.

The addition of Mizdow I think is keeping people interested and for some that may be the only interesting part of the pair and that's fine.

Not my favorite wrestler by any means but he's become more entertaining over time.

 

[Mudlup50]

I feel sorry for the Miz to be honest. This is a guy who obviously has an insane love for this business, he'll lose any match they want him to lose, do anything they want him to do and like Sandow and Cody Rhodes(at least in my book) he makes it work.

I personally didn't care for him or MNM until ECW. When Nitro got the belt, I didn't like it and it wasn't until the webshow him and Miz had that I cared about either of them. When the show started it just worked. Suddenly I cared what both of them did, it actually gave me a reason to watch ECW and Smackdown. When they won the Tag Belts I was happy but when they unified them it was amazing. Sadly it happened on the pre-show and I figured it was a temporary thing.

Fast forward to when they split up and I was torn over which one I liked better. I figured Morrison had more star power and I couldn't have been more wrong. Miz turned into this old school heel and he made it work. Morrison turned into a boring baby face who's only cling to fame was doing parkour. Meanwhile the Miz was doing anything to stay in the public eye, winning mid card belts, tag belts, teaming with Big Show and insulting the Special Host. This was where I became a Mizfit!You can argue Morrison was on the better career track up until the Miz beat him at Bragging Rights and Survivor Series 2009.

It was back during that long period of special guest hosts and the Miz every single week made me want to tune in. The rest of the show did nothing for me but the Miz kept me interested. Yea there were guys like Triple H who I like but you knew he wasn't going to stay much longer. I think even back then I knew Miz wasn't a main eventer. He won the US Championship and I figured he wasn't going anywhere after that, but he teamed up with Big Show and won the unified tag championships. Keep in mind, he beat DX and CM Punk/Luke Gallows to win the belts.

By the time they finally lost the tag belts Miz was a pro on NXT and was about to be again! Then he won the US championship back and the MitB. With the way the WWE was booking him I fully expected him to cash in and lose it. But when he cashed in he actually won the belt!

Then the WWE decided to screw him over again. In hindsight it made sense but he ended up looking like such a weak champ. I think the IWC would respect more if he didn't beat guys like Jerry Lawler and John Morrison. The matches he won involved huge amounts of interference: in his match with Lawler it took Michael Cole and Alex Riley for Miz to retain. It seemed like Miz was just in the right spot at the right time. Who else was ready for the belt? They were using the Miz's reign to set up other matches: Cole v Lawler, Orton v Punk at Wrestlemania.

Then you have the Miz+Cena winning the tag belts. So Miz so far had been a duel champion/mitb holder what 3 times in his career? But then at Wrestlemania for some reason, they used the Miz to build up a Cena/Rock match set a year away. And instead of doing the logical thing and putting the strap on Morrison, they put it on Cena because I guess they thought he was looking weak after Wrestlemania.

Miz kinda coasted until Awesome Truth was formed which should have been a huge deal but they didn't stay together long because R Truth got suspended for violating the wellness policy. Plus Miz had to job to Cena/Rock at Survivor Series to plug their match again -.-

Since then he's done jack in the main event and that's not a bad thing really. I just don't see why the IWC seems to love hating the Miz. He's worked his ass off to get where he is and every week he goes out and does a great job. If the WWE says to put Lawler over, he does it. Lose your belt to Kofi, he does it. And he doesn't complain about it.

And the guy who said Miz won't win the world championship again, I completely agree! I've been a fan of his for a long time but if he wins it, it would hurt it's credibility big time. Miz should stay in the midcard for a long time, maybe main eventing a few PPV's but only to put over guys like Ambrose, Cesaro, Reigns and Bryan.

 

[Navi]

I used to hate the Miz then I saw him on believe it or not an episode of Ghosthunters and he was hilarious. He was using his heelish behaviour to scare up some ghostly activity. LOL

After that he was okay with me. Still don't really like his in ring skills, but he's gold on the mic and one of the best promo artists around.

EDIT: You can search out portions of the show on Youtube, and WWE.com has it there as well.

 

[Mustang Sally]

I think Miz is a great example of someone making it to the top with his mouth more than his muscles. The wrestler of today is a combination of his assets: if he can't talk well, he'd better be able to wrestle (ex. Chris Benoit), if he can't talk or wrestle particularly well, he'd better have a compelling gimmick (ex. Sin Cara) and if he can't do anything especially well, he'd better have size (ex. Big Show & Mark Henry) to make it in the McMahon circus.

Miz is an ordinary wrestler, at best. His physique is below average because it seems he could work out and make himself more impressive, yet he doesn't. His entire ability to function in WWE is based on his big mouth.

Yes, he does it well, although I was more impressed with him as a good guy, which we got to see for the first time last year. He's better off doing the in-ring talk shows and occasionally having to back it up by fighting than he is battling for minor championships, imo.

But for all of that, I can better handle watching him fight it out now than in years past.....and I'm not sure of the reason. Has he sharpened his ring skills? Is being matched with guys like Dolph Ziggler more attractive than those he's faced in the past?

I'm not sure, but it's nice to say I don't walk away from the TV when I see he's ready to wrestle. I guess that's worth something.

 

[ZUMBOdriver]

I personally wouldn't say I've done a 180 on The Miz, but I've certainly come around on him some. 120 degrees maybe? There's a few reasons for this.

-He's where he should be on the card.

-His new character. In many ways, it's just an extention of his old character but it's working for him. Giving him even more of an identity.

-Damien Mizdow. These guys are pretty awesome together. Play off of each other well. Tag team champs in the making for sure.

-One of a very few actual heels on the roster

-Miz is coming up on his ten year mark on the roster I believe. Someone doesn't get worse at something they do for ten years. Even though The Miz will never be remembered for his in-ring work, he certainly has improved his work over the years. He may have gotten more chances because of who he is, while better workers got feature endeavored, but you can't deny the improvement. Same goes for Cena

 

[ttdg]

I usually don't hate on a specific wrestler. If they entertain me I like them whether good or bad. As for Miz, I wasn't a huge fan but then he cut that promo on Raw when he was feuding with MVP back in 2010. The one where he started out standing next to the locker and then walked out to the arena. I got goosebumps when I saw that. I knew then that he has a passion for the business that most don't. The same passion that Cena has. From then on I have been a fan.