Miz Says He Feels Like The Rock; Why That's Out Of Line

[4-Real]

The following is an excerpt from a recent interview with WWE Superstar The Miz from The Examiner Of Beaumont:

Coming over from reality television, how were you received in the WWE locker room?

Everyone hated me. It felt like I had to walk on eggshells and everyone was waiting for me to do something wrong. It was a different locker room back then and it wasn't very fun for me, but I wanted to stick with it.

Now you have some gold around your waist. Have you arrived?

Even right now, I think I am progressing. I honestly feel like the Rock going from the WWE to the movies. He had to make an incredible transition where he's no longer known as The Rock, but Rock the movie star. Granted, I love the reality stuff I've done and had a blast doing it, but I don't want to be known as that guy, I want to be known as a WWE superstar. I am not at the level I want to be at. I don't think I have arrived yet. When I arrive, that's when I am on every WWE poster and every time you turn it on Raw, you just want to see what The Miz is going to do. Winning the U.S. title puts you into a category with the likes of Bret Hart, John Cena, Curt Henning, Eddie Guerrero, Lex Luger, Ricky Steamboat, Dusty Rhodes and Stone Cold Steve Austin. For me to hold that title in the ring and get to say "I'm The Miz and I'm awesome' in front of millions, it gives you goose bumps.

You were a mentor in the first season of NXT, now your back in the second season as a pro for Alex Riley.

He has the talent, the charisma and is very physically fit. He looks and acts the part. I think he has the ability to do something big in the WWE. I just wish the WWE Universe would get on his bandwagon. The problem is the Universe likes good, cool guys who ask them what they think.

You can check out the full Miz interview online at TheExaminer.com.

Now, I don't know whether or not Mike was in character, but to even, for a second compare himself to the great one was in my opinion WAY out of line. What would the Miz know about anything Dwayne Johnson had to go through from becoming a wrestler-turned-movie star?

1.) The Rock was more over, without question.

2.) The Rock had a better look than the Miz does. He's bigger, and more convincing thus why he was the face of the company and why the Miz shouldn't be.

3.) While the Miz has some of the best mic skills on Raw, it pales in comparison to what the Rock was able to do.

4.) The Rock was far more skilled in the ring than the Miz is today.

Yeah, sure Miz gets most of the outside interviews and promotions, and thats great. But if he is feeling like the Rock, going from wrestling to movies, than his ego must be as high as the sky. It shouldn't be that big of a deal, when a mid card wrestler makes the transition from wrestling to movies, and it seems like Miz thinks he is more than what he really is, which at the moment, is the top of the midcard ladder on Raw. It just makes me sick sometimes to think about how he always talks about the crap he had to go through, and how much he is putting himself over outside of wrestling, when for the longest time he was nothing but a backstage interview man. On Smackdown, he was Boy #3 (with Grisham and Matthews being 1 and 2.)

Your thoughts?

 

[Davi323]

You missed the point of what he was saying. He wasn't comparing himself to "the Rock" as a wrestler, he was comparing his transition from reality star to wrestling, like the Rock had to transition from wrestling to movies.

Just as it took a while for people to stop thinking of Dwayne Johnson as a wrestler trying his hand at the movies, and start seeing him simply as a movie star, the Miz was saying how he wants to stop being seen as a reality star trying to be a wrestler, and simply be a wrestler. That is all he was suggesting. He wasn't claiming to be as big as the Rock, as good a wrestler or anything like that...he was talking about the transition from one thing to another, that's all.

 

[Thriller Ant]

Let's play a game, shall we? The game is called "Read what the fuck the Miz actually said." Here's the quote:

I honestly feel like the Rock going from the WWE to the movies. He had to make an incredible transition where he's no longer known as The Rock, but Rock the movie star. Granted, I love the reality stuff I've done and had a blast doing it, but I don't want to be known as that guy, I want to be known as a WWE superstar. I am not at the level I want to be at. I don't think I have arrived yet.

He's not comparing himself as a wrestler to the Rock, which isn't actually that bad of a comparison. He's saying that he had to change himself from a reality TV star into a wrestler, just like Dwayne Johnson had to change himself from The Rock to a legitimate movie star.

So yeah, save your complaints for after you learn how to properly read quotes.

 

[Hawkeye]

I'm sorry,but I believe you misread his statement.What he means is that he feels like The Rock as in he is trying to be known as something other than what he's most known for. Just like the ROck wanted to go from being known as the Rock to being known as Dwayne Johnson film star,Miz wants to go from being Mike Mizanin,the reality star to the Miz championship wrestler.He wasn't comparing himself to the man,just the situation.

 

[4-Real]

You missed the point of what he was saying. He wasn't comparing himself to "the Rock" as a wrestler, he was comparing his transition from reality star to wrestling, like the Rock had to transition from wrestling to movies.

Just as it took a while for people to stop thinking of Dwayne Johnson as a wrestler trying his hand at the movies, and start seeing him simply as a movie star, the Miz was saying how he wants to stop being seen as a reality star trying to be a wrestler, and simply be a wrestler. That is all he was suggesting. He wasn't claiming to be as big as the Rock, as good a wrestler or anything like that...he was talking about the transition from one thing to another, that's all

Well that's a good point. But still, to wrestling, the Rock was comparable to many A-List celebrities of Hollywood. For instance, speaking strictly about popularity, what The Rock was to wrestling, Will Smith is to Hollywood. The Miz was on the Real World (one of my guilty pleasures). It wasn't as if he was a big time celebrity or anything like that, he was just that guy that was on that TV show for a while. So I just miss the point of how it was such a big transition for him, is all.

 

[I hate those Christians]

The Rock is over-rated in my books.

The Rock wasn’t that great of a wrestler, when people think of The Rock they don’t think about his wrestling they think about his promo’s.

His promo’s/segments are what made The Rock.

So I do think you misread what The Miz was saying, he’s saying that he wants to be known as a wrestler and nothing more, just like how the rock wants to be known as Dwayne Johnson and not The Rock.

So don’t get your panties in a twist and chill out.

 

[wushady]

Like the previous posters said he wasn't comparing himself to The Rock as a wrestler. He meant going from reality TV to pro wrestling, and wrestling to movies. I thought it was a good comparison, and thought what he meant was very clear.

 

[BestForTheBusinesso9]

The point is that when The Rock went to movies, people said its "the wrestler" without actually respecting him as a true movie star. This is very similar to what The Miz went through when coming to the WWE. Like many did when he came in thinking of him only as the "reality tv guy" and not accepting him as a wrestler.

Please don't let your dislike for someone cloud your judgement of what is actually said. The Miz goes on to show plenty of respect for the guys that paved the way for his success. This whole post was just a stupid attempt to try and bash on a guy you obviously dislike.

 

[JJ15776]

The Rock is over-rated in my books.

The Rock wasn’t that great of a wrestler, when people think of The Rock they don’t think about his wrestling they think about his promo’s.

How does that make him over-rated? Makes no sense. That's like saying, when people think of Trish Stratus they don't think about her wrestling they think about her amazing body...does that make her over-rated? Of course not.

The Rock wasn't Kurt Angle in the ring, but he could hold his own with most. In fact, if he had never picked up a microphone, he still would've been a main eventer based on his look and his wrestling. It was his promos that put him over the top, made him the most electrifying man in the history of sports and entertainment, and eventually made him too big for wrestling.

On topic, I worried this would happen when I saw the article subject on Wrestlezone. It was ridiculous then, and it's even more ridiculous for a thread to be started on it. He wasn't comparing himself to The Rock. He was saying he knows how the Rock felt when he was trying to become known as an actor instead of a wrestler. Miz is trying to become known as a wrestler instead of a reality show guy. It's a very appropriate statement.

 

[KnowYoRole]

I don't think what he said was out of line at all. He simply compared his transition from reality TV to WWE, to the Rock's transition from WWE to Hollywood. Which is a fair comparison, and he gave good reasons. He didn't compare himself to the rock at all.

 

[natlee75]

How does that make him over-rated? Makes no sense. That's like saying, when people think of Trish Stratus they don't think about her wrestling they think about her amazing body...does that make her over-rated? Of course not.

It makes perfect sense. The Rock is over-rated as a *wrestler.* He was never that good of an in-ring performer, but he did have a s***load of charisma on the mic and he knew how to work the crowd with his People's Elbow in the ring. Ultimately, that's all that really matters as far as being pushed to the sky in the WWE, but I think it would be tough for anyone to argue that he was anywhere near being a good worker.

The Rock wasn't Kurt Angle in the ring, but he could hold his own with most. In fact, if he had never picked up a microphone, he still would've been a main eventer based on his look and his wrestling.

I couldn't disagree with you more. The Rock would never have been a main eventer had it not been for his personality. When he came back from his liposuction surgery or whatever it was he did to get rid of his Samoan man breasts, he wasn't any better a wrestler... he got over almost solely from his character and mic work.

It was his promos that put him over the top, made him the most electrifying man in the history of sports and entertainment, and eventually made him too big for wrestling.

And made *anybody* care about him.

On topic, I worried this would happen when I saw the article subject on Wrestlezone. It was ridiculous then, and it's even more ridiculous for a thread to be started on it. He wasn't comparing himself to The Rock. He was saying he knows how the Rock felt when he was trying to become known as an actor instead of a wrestler. Miz is trying to become known as a wrestler instead of a reality show guy. It's a very appropriate statement.

Agreed.

 

[HBKevin]

Lol. The Miz was saying that he transitioned from TV to wrestling, which is sort of like how The Rock went from wrestling to movies. He wasn't saying he's as good as The Rock. But give him a few years and his mic skills may approach Rock levels. I don't think Rock will ever be truly equaled on the mic, though.

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

The Rock is over-rated in my books.

The Rock wasn’t that great of a wrestler, when people think of The Rock they don’t think about his wrestling they think about his promo’s.

His promo’s/segments are what made The Rock.

Go watch his matches with Chris Benoit and tell me he wasn't a good wrestler.
He was stellar in the ring and had had great in-ring awareness when after 1999.

He maybe wasn't technically perfect but had the in ring tempo of an Angle or HBK, which made for fast paced matches that where entertaining to watch.

I do understand that his promos are what people still talk about and they always will, but under no circumstances was he 'over-rated' in any other facet.

 

[The Aussie Invasion]

I agree with The Thriz, Play the game of "Actually read the fuck what he said". He wasn't comparing his in-ring skills etc to The Rock, He was comparing how The Rock had to go from "The Rock" as a wrestler, To Dwayne Johnson the "moviestar", And the Miz went from Mike Mizanin the "reality tv show star" to "The Miz" as a wreslter.

It's not way out of line, It's you mis-enterpreting what the Miz said, End of story.

 

[Trill Co$by]

Well that's a good point. But still, to wrestling, the Rock was comparable to many A-List celebrities of Hollywood. For instance, speaking strictly about popularity, what The Rock was to wrestling, Will Smith is to Hollywood. The Miz was on the Real World (one of my guilty pleasures). It wasn't as if he was a big time celebrity or anything like that, he was just that guy that was on that TV show for a while. So I just miss the point of how it was such a big transition for him, is all.

Well for the people who watched MTV religiously, Mike coming over to WWE as The Miz would be a shock to them. To those people, especially if they had no idea he was an indy wrestler before his reality show day, he would simply be known as the Reality Show guy and not "Pro Wrestler"

To a lot of fans today, the Rock is considered a "Pro Wrestler" and not "Movie Star". I admit to being one of those people at times because in his movies, his characters always have "The Rock" persona that he had in WWE...

I really think you're trying to make an argument out of nothing here... I mean especially since The Miz is 10x better than The Rock, IMO.

 

[airvar]

Your mis-interpreting what the Miz Said, He was comparing his transition from a reality TV star, to a wrestler , to the Rocks transiton from a wrestler, to a movie star.

When the Rock first started filming movies it was very hard, Hell, He REFUSED to be even mentioned as "the rock", because it "hurt" his image. He didn't want to be known as that Wrestling guy who did a few action flicks, he wanted to be known as Dwayne Johnson - Actor.

The Miz similarly transitoned to wrestling from Reality TV. When he came in he didn't want to be seen as "that kid from the real world" , he wanted to be seen as a legitmate wrestler. He wanted to prove he didn't just get a try-out, and a spot on WWE because of his reality backround, but because he was a hard working guy who is a GOOD wrestler.

Through the last two years, he has worked his ass off and tranistioned. He is now seen as a wrestler, when you see Mike Mizanin the first thing that comes through your head is "WOW THATS THE MIZ" not "isn't that , that kid from the real world"..

 

[Optimist Prime]

Now, I don't know whether or not Mike was in character, but to even, for a second compare himself to the great one was in my opinion WAY out of line. What would the Miz know about anything Dwayne Johnson had to go through from becoming a wrestler-turned-movie star?

1.) The Rock was more over, without question.

2.) The Rock had a better look than the Miz does. He's bigger, and more convincing thus why he was the face of the company and why the Miz shouldn't be.

3.) While the Miz has some of the best mic skills on Raw, it pales in comparison to what the Rock was able to do.

4.) The Rock was far more skilled in the ring than the Miz is today.

Yeah, sure Miz gets most of the outside interviews and promotions, and thats great. But if he is feeling like the Rock, going from wrestling to movies, than his ego must be as high as the sky. It shouldn't be that big of a deal, when a mid card wrestler makes the transition from wrestling to movies, and it seems like Miz thinks he is more than what he really is, which at the moment, is the top of the midcard ladder on Raw. It just makes me sick sometimes to think about how he always talks about the crap he had to go through, and how much he is putting himself over outside of wrestling, when for the longest time he was nothing but a backstage interview man. On Smackdown, he was Boy #3 (with Grisham and Matthews being 1 and 2.)

Your thoughts?

You gotta love 21st century America. People just have to always complain about something. No matter how ridiculous it is.

Why? I will never know. Instead of just keeping things to yourself - people will literally go to the utmost extremes to complain and make sure their irrational thought gets noticed. Like the people who write to schools and rally over the schools having the children say the "Pledge of Allegiance" because it has the word "God" in it. You don't believe it God? Then who gives a shit! Say it anyway. It shouldn't bother you because you DON'T believe in it anyway! It's not that big of a deal, folks.

This is somewhat similar, albeit, not as political. But it still has that misinterpreted "This is an outrage!!" type feeling where it shouldn't even be close to a big deal.

The fact that I'm even responding to this is making me angry. I'm breaking every rule in my book by doing so. But I've been seeing these kinds of things a lot lately and it's really ridiculous.

Normally this probably wouldn't have been a big deal but it triggered something (what I've explained above) and therefore, I had to get it off my chest haha. Sorry.

 

[Money Inc.]

I don't know why I'm going to reply to this since everybody has already mentioned it to you..

The Miz said nothing even close to what you're trying to point out here. He could of said "I feel like Ice T, going from a gangster rapper, to a television actor"

So I imagine if you read the the past statement you would take out that the Miz is saying he's a on the same level as Ice-T when it comes to rapping?

This is how some people get accused of not being humble enough, the Miz just had a brilliant interview where he was 100% humble and seemed 100% dedicated to getting better for this business and you make him out to be a conceited person.

 

[Miss Flawless]

Go watch his matches with Chris Benoit and tell me he wasn't a good wrestler.

Buddy, he was saying that The Rock isn't that great in the ring. That doesn't mean he's not good at all. And, that was just his opinion.

On to the topic. He's not comparing himself to The Rock, he's just saying he felt like The Rock when he transitioned from reality T.V to wrestling. He said he wants to be known as just "The Miz", not some dude on The Real World. Same as The Rock, he wants to be known as Dwayne Johnson, not "The Rock'.

 

[Ferbian]

Why all the buzz over this? Seriously just because he says he's feeling like the rock in the way that he had to adapt. There's absolutely nothing out of line for that. He's not saying he's the next Rock. He's not saying he's better than him. He's not even comparing himself to him in any manner with the exception of adaption. Get it? Adaption.

The Miz is no Rock, we get that. But that doesn't make it out of line in any manner. And even if he was comparing himself to The Rock. Why is that still out of line? If it's done on-screen then it's a heat magnet. That's the purpose of his alignment and current wrestling career - Getting heat. So that's not out of line either.

Besides while The Rock was great. There's no saying nobody could ever become better than him. The Rock was just a great talker with decent in-ring ability. The Miz is a great talker as well as improving in the ring. He can still improve. Perhaps in 3 years we'll be saying "The Rock? Pfft. The Miz is better". And no I'm not saying it will happen. Notice "Perhaps". But there's a chance.

 

[GameOver]

Fail to see what the issue is, so the guy has confidence, he wouldn't be the first guy that compared themselves to a legend. as it stands atm he's one of the most entertaining mic guys on the roster just like The Rock was in his time.

and one could cut some comparisons. Rock came in a young dorky looking guy, that people liked cause he was fresh, then he got cocky and everyone hated him but slowly over time that hate grew to liking his cockiness then he broke through to be the People's Champ

The Miz is on the same path. as much as Orton has the ability to be the next Stone Cold/Jake The Snake spinoff

I for one couldn't stand the Miz til the Miz and Morrison was winding to a close, now i like his overall ability. and he's getting props from people in commentry and behind the scenes so is gonna be a main event player this year and forward.

Originally Posted by CanadianFan
The Rock is over-rated in my books.

The Rock wasn’t that great of a wrestler, when people think of The Rock they don’t think about his wrestling they think about his promo’s.]/quote]

Well your book must be on the worst sellers list then

what does Rock's ability in ring have to do with anything with him being rated highly? Cena can't "wrestle" for alot of his kiddy fiddler career yet millions of people drool over him.

The Rock was an entertainer, had nothing to do with his in ring moves, had to do with his ability to entertain and tell an amusing story. And yes he was one of the best mic guys in the business.

The overall theme though is both The Rock and The Miz had been labeled when they decided to jump ship to another career, and yet both have arguably succeeded in what they moved to.

If that's out of line to you then so be it, the rest of us don't care

 

[Morpheus101]

I don't think what he said was out of line at all. He simply compared his transition from reality TV to WWE, to the Rock's transition from WWE to Hollywood. Which is a fair comparison, and he gave good reasons. He didn't compare himself to the rock at all.

I'll echo these sentiments. Miz wasn't trying to make himself out to be the next "The Rock". However, just like The Rock made the transition from wrestling to movies, Miz (very successfully) made the transition from reality TV to being a top WWE star.

Good luck to Miz...hoping for great things from him in the future.

 

[tRKOj]

Wow really?! u must be the biggest Rock mark on the planet Miz's comments weren't even really bout bein a wrestler it was bout crossin over from 1 career 2 another wat he said wasn't out of line at all i'm a big fan of the Rock but i'm not offended by wat the Miz said so y r u

 

[Xemmy]

Even if The Miz was comparing himself to the Rock directly instead of his transition it wouldn't be THAT far off. The Miz is incrediably over as a heel, and as a heel his promos are simply money. The Rock's mic skills as a heel are easily comparable to the Miz's. As for Face, well Miz has never been face so you can't make that judgement. The Rock is NOT a superior wrestler to the Miz. Say what you want about the Miz's wrestling skills, the Rocks aren't that much better. The reason the Rock was considered an all time great is the same reason Hulk Hogan was considered an all time great. Money Promos. The Miz is going to come to a point in the next couple of years they will have to turn him face just because people like him too much. Just like the Rock.

Hell to be bold, I'll call it right now. The Miz will be in the Hall of Fame one day- given that he doesn't do anything stupid.

 

[TheAnimal]

I dont think he was saying i'm like the Rock in a WWE superstar sense, he was identifying similarities with their transitions to gain respect. Hes not saying hes the next Rock, or he is going to be he is saying how it was hard for im to get respected and now he feels he has and has made it. He should be proud of what he has acheieved so far and i think he will be a big star and definitely a World champ. When Miz goes face he will be HUGE! He undoubtedly has that connection with people and is a fan that worked hard to get his dream to come true which is another thing people will love about him when he is face.