It's interesting how many of the people who bash on the Miz are the same ones who praise Daniel Bryan. Yes, Bryan's a better in-ring performer, but The Miz is bigger physically (which doesn't matter, yet a lot of people keep bringing up his physical stature), plus he actually has mic skills and charisma.
I'm happy that the WWE is doing something different, pushing younger guys instead of giving us Cena vs. Orton for the billionth time. Things feel fresh right now, which isn't something you can usually say about the WWE. The Miz is the WWE Champion heading into the biggest PPV of the year, and Alberto Del Rio is probably going to win the World Heavyweight Title even though he's only been in the company for a few months. Both wrestlers have a ton of potential and very bright futures.
Reading different threads on this forum, many of the posters sound very young and juvenile. We have too many middle schoolers who don't know the history of wrestling and take it all way too seriously. Apparently you guys don't realize that this is sports entertainment. It's not real. This is not the UFC. It doesn't matter if the Miz would probably get his ass kicked by Cena in real life. If we were going for realism, Big Show and Mark Henry would proababy hold onto the belts all year long. Is that what we want?
This is 2011. No longer do we have to have huge, gigantic, muscle-bound freaks as the champions to try to make it "believable." A guy like the Ultimate Warrior was given the world heavyweight championship because of the size of his muscles, even though he couldn't wrestle worth a damn. During Warrior's reign, Bret Hart was wrestling on the undercard, putting on the best matches night in and night out, yet he wasn't considered "big" enough to main event. The same goes for HBK. Many people considered him to be too skinny to be champion, yet both of those guys are two of the greatest wrestlers of all time.
The Miz is just as big, physically, as either of those guys. It's not like we're talking about Spike Dudley here. The Miz is one of the better mic-workers in the company right now. Maybe that's more a testament to how few of the current wrestlers can deliver a good promo, but regardless, Miz is one of the best they have. This isn't even debatable.
As far as in-ring skills, The Miz is good, but he still has a lot of room for improvement. There are wrestlers in the company right now who are much better than him in the ring, but they're usually guys like John Morrison who have no mic skills or charisma whatsoever, two of the most important ingredients in a main eventer.
With two world championships in one company, the belts are devalued and no longer hold the same amount of prestige as in the past. This is why we now see guys like Sheamus and Jack Swagger win the belt so early on. The days of "paying your dues" are pretty much over. With that said, The Miz has been around for awhile, steadily working his way up. Like many superstars in the past, he got his start in the tag-team divison (and his last reigns as tag-team champion were pretty much the last time the belts felt relevant). He then moved onto a singles career, winning the U.S. belt. He held onto the MITB briefcase longer than we've seen with some of the past winners. Miz teased cashing it in multiple times, and when he finally did, it was one of the best moments on RAW all of last year. Instead of getting a cheap win like CM Punk and some of the other MITB winners of the past, the Miz actually had to wrestle for a few minutes instead of just running in and doing his finisher. It looked like Orton was going to win that match, actually, but the Miz pulled it off. That was the best MITB cash-in we've had so far. And instead of dropping the belt two months later, the Miz has held onto it for a few months, and is now main eventing Wrestlemania, the Superbowl of wrestling.
The claims of Miz being a "weak champion" are ridiculous. You people complain that he needs help to win his matches, that he attacks people from behind, etc. That's the POINT!!!! That's his role. He doesn't have the makeup to be the big, bad dominant heel that beats the crap out of everyone. He's the cowardly heel that doesn't whatever it takes to keep the belt, whether that's cheating, losing by DQ, or involving his "friends." That's the way champions like him have always been booked. Fans aren't supposed to like it. Again, that's the whole freakin' point.
Personally, I don't like some of the things they've done with the Miz during the current build-up to WM. Instead of being the Miz that we've seen for the past several months, they're trying to make him seem more like a badass, leaving Cena beaten and bruised week after week. I prefer the Miz that runs away through the crowd and just sneaks in an attack every now and then. I think that role suits him much better. He doesn't have to go into WM looking like a credible threat. He's supposed to get his ass kicked yet find a way to win thanks to classic heel sneakiness. THAT'S what makes him a threat.
I'm happy that the WWE is doing something different, pushing younger guys instead of giving us Cena vs. Orton for the billionth time. Things feel fresh right now, which isn't something you can usually say about the WWE. The Miz is the WWE Champion heading into the biggest PPV of the year, and Alberto Del Rio is probably going to win the World Heavyweight Title even though he's only been in the company for a few months. Both wrestlers have a ton of potential and very bright futures.
Reading different threads on this forum, many of the posters sound very young and juvenile. We have too many middle schoolers who don't know the history of wrestling and take it all way too seriously. Apparently you guys don't realize that this is sports entertainment. It's not real. This is not the UFC. It doesn't matter if the Miz would probably get his ass kicked by Cena in real life. If we were going for realism, Big Show and Mark Henry would proababy hold onto the belts all year long. Is that what we want?
This is 2011. No longer do we have to have huge, gigantic, muscle-bound freaks as the champions to try to make it "believable." A guy like the Ultimate Warrior was given the world heavyweight championship because of the size of his muscles, even though he couldn't wrestle worth a damn. During Warrior's reign, Bret Hart was wrestling on the undercard, putting on the best matches night in and night out, yet he wasn't considered "big" enough to main event. The same goes for HBK. Many people considered him to be too skinny to be champion, yet both of those guys are two of the greatest wrestlers of all time.
The Miz is just as big, physically, as either of those guys. It's not like we're talking about Spike Dudley here. The Miz is one of the better mic-workers in the company right now. Maybe that's more a testament to how few of the current wrestlers can deliver a good promo, but regardless, Miz is one of the best they have. This isn't even debatable.
As far as in-ring skills, The Miz is good, but he still has a lot of room for improvement. There are wrestlers in the company right now who are much better than him in the ring, but they're usually guys like John Morrison who have no mic skills or charisma whatsoever, two of the most important ingredients in a main eventer.
With two world championships in one company, the belts are devalued and no longer hold the same amount of prestige as in the past. This is why we now see guys like Sheamus and Jack Swagger win the belt so early on. The days of "paying your dues" are pretty much over. With that said, The Miz has been around for awhile, steadily working his way up. Like many superstars in the past, he got his start in the tag-team divison (and his last reigns as tag-team champion were pretty much the last time the belts felt relevant). He then moved onto a singles career, winning the U.S. belt. He held onto the MITB briefcase longer than we've seen with some of the past winners. Miz teased cashing it in multiple times, and when he finally did, it was one of the best moments on RAW all of last year. Instead of getting a cheap win like CM Punk and some of the other MITB winners of the past, the Miz actually had to wrestle for a few minutes instead of just running in and doing his finisher. It looked like Orton was going to win that match, actually, but the Miz pulled it off. That was the best MITB cash-in we've had so far. And instead of dropping the belt two months later, the Miz has held onto it for a few months, and is now main eventing Wrestlemania, the Superbowl of wrestling.
The claims of Miz being a "weak champion" are ridiculous. You people complain that he needs help to win his matches, that he attacks people from behind, etc. That's the POINT!!!! That's his role. He doesn't have the makeup to be the big, bad dominant heel that beats the crap out of everyone. He's the cowardly heel that doesn't whatever it takes to keep the belt, whether that's cheating, losing by DQ, or involving his "friends." That's the way champions like him have always been booked. Fans aren't supposed to like it. Again, that's the whole freakin' point.
Personally, I don't like some of the things they've done with the Miz during the current build-up to WM. Instead of being the Miz that we've seen for the past several months, they're trying to make him seem more like a badass, leaving Cena beaten and bruised week after week. I prefer the Miz that runs away through the crowd and just sneaks in an attack every now and then. I think that role suits him much better. He doesn't have to go into WM looking like a credible threat. He's supposed to get his ass kicked yet find a way to win thanks to classic heel sneakiness. THAT'S what makes him a threat.