Your honest thoughts on: The Miz

[Mr. Extreme]

Maybe it's because I'm one of the "Mizfits," but I've always liked The Miz. I know he's been gone from TV while filming The Marine 3, but I do hope he comes back for another shot at the WWE Championship. I believe he is a solid upper midcard player, and can easily fit right back in the scene. I personally would love to see a Punk/Miz feud, or even a revisited Bryan/Miz feud, now that D-Bryan has established himself in the main event.

However! I do believe he is in need for a change in character. In fact, I KNOW he is. "The Awesome One" has ran his course long enough, so it's time for something new. What is that new character? We'll leave that for a thread of its own.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

From an overall perspective, I like Miz and have for a long while. He's pretty decent inside the ring, nothing dynamic but solid, he's loaded with personality, he's able to connect with the audience to generate strong responses and he's damn good on the mic.

I do believe that Miz has gotten a bit of a raw deal from WWE over the course of the last 7 or 8 months. Initially, it was reported that Miz was getting blamed for the relatively poor buyrate for Survivor Series last year. As I've said in other posts, the WWE is to blame for that as they didn't create intrigue by building Miz & Truth up to look like threats to Cena & Rock. WWE felt people would pay out the ass just for a "feel good moment" with the in-ring return of The Rock. Turns out, pretty much, they were right according to an article I read yesterday on the WZ main page. According to the article, the WWE announced updated figures for Survivor Series and it's now being said that last year's show drew well over 300,000 buys. One thing that Miz did deservedly get heat for was the botched spot with R-Truth on Raw. Miz actually looked as though he stepped out of the way rather than helping to catch Truth.

In the grand scheme of things, Miz is someone that's gotten a lot of unfair hate from internet fans. A LOT of WWE wrestlers do, especially when they make it to the main event scene or look as though they're about to, but Miz got as much as John Cena, especially during his title reign. A lot of people complained that Miz looked "weak" during his run as champion given how he cheated to win just about every match he had, those same people completely ignoring the fact that heels are supposed to cheat. The thing that I find ironic is that a lot of fans who watch both WWE & TNA have panned Miz for having a long but "weak" run but heap praise upon Bobby Roode for relying constantly on cheating & outside interference just as Miz did.

Personally, I think Miz needs a character change upon returning. He's gone as far as he can with the type of heel persona he's been playing for the past several years and definitely needs to be freshened up.

 

[The Talon]

I respect him for what he had to go through to get to be WWE champ. But, I think he's the posterboy for WWE-style booking. Built up heavily for months, gets a championship push, loses it, slides deeper & deeper into irrelevancy/jobberville. Trust me, same thing will happen to guys like Dolph or Cody. That being said, he's filming for The Marine 3, so he must still have some value to WWE.

 

[Paralyzer Z]

The only time I really was interested in the Miz was during the Wrestlemania 27 build-up.

I think that the whole "I'm not going to be overshadowed by John Cena or The Rock" version of his character was great, it added a bit of an edge to him that he lacked before winning the title, and has still lacked since. Like Lariat said, his character is that of the stereotypical cocky, whining, annoying heel. That's all find and dandy if that simply a trait of a heel character, but with Miz it's all that there is. "I'm Aweeeeeesooooome" is about the most generic and cliched catchphrase you can get and it truly is symbolic of how bland Miz can get sometimes. It doesn't help that his in ring work isn't something to go berserk about. Its's decent, nothing that strands to far at all from the staples of a WWE style move-set, pretty much run-off the mill, even if there is nothing wrong with that. His mic skills of course are is his main assets, I don't think I need to elaborate on that. In recent months I've cared even less for the Miz, his loosing streak has meant nothing to me nor has his absence. Of course the fact that he is filming the Marine 3, he still is of some importance to WWE (after all it is WWE films) but his return is not something I will mark out for.

To me, Miz is stale, he is the run off the mill heel. His character is almost the generic heel as a whole and that's all there is to him. At the end of the day, he needs a character change, not necessarily a face turn just something distant from what he has been for the past couple of years.

 

[#1Dobz92]

He's a great mic worker, with imo potential to be in the elite leagues with The Rock etc. in terms of his mic work. In the ring though he isn't brilliant and probably won't ever be. Having said that, being a face will really suit him if WWE ever go that way. His mic work is very reminiscent of a Rock or a Jericho which will endear him to the audience. Not to mention because of his limited in-ring ability, like a Cena for example, he can do his trademark fightbacks towards the end of a match and doesn't have to control the pace of the match.

Another thing I will say about Miz is because of his 'reality TV' past he is one of very few people in WWE with serious mainstream crossover potential. WWE should realise this is a very precious quality to have in a superstar and should therefore take advantage of it.