The Miz, The Evolution of a Professional Wrestler

In the history of professional wrestling, the lines between reality and fiction have and will always be made separate. On very rare occasions and moments in time professional wrestlers and booker’s blur those very lines, leaving controversy and confusion stirring in the minds of professional wrestling fans. Some occasions and moments remain negative, and some become infamous and unforgettable.

CM Punk’s shoot promo of 2011 made his career more successful than it already was, his promo and actions became mainstream and weren’t exclusively vibrant to just wrestling fans, his actions became incredibly sound to the entire world. Recently another WWE wrestler broke the fourth wall of entertainment by making claims and bringing up excellent points while containing and following the basis of the typical wrestling “shoot” promo. A collection of emotional words that reign real and blur the lines between fiction and reality. These moments are usually instantly remembered as great and the uprising for greatness for that specific wrestler. Could we be witnessing one of those moments?

Mike “The Miz” Mizanin began his career as a cast member of MTV’s “The Real World”. While that was a dream on its own, Mizanin’s passion was professional wrestling. His start was a rocky one, he began training in the only reality wrestling show Tough Enough. A show that saw a grand prize of a million dollars, and a lucrative contract with the WWE. The Miz was the runner-up that season. Due to his potential, The Miz was granted a contract with WWE anyway, and he was immediately put through the ringer by his co-workers. The Miz was thrown out of locker rooms and forced to change in janitors closets. As time passed, he saw and started to truly hit his stride as a performer.

Forming tag teams, and winning lower-card titles. The past 10 years have been a true point of evolution for The Miz. Fast forward ten years, and The Miz holds the prestigious Intercontinental Championship, a title that has lost a monumental piece of its value over the years. The Miz’s career has seen its side of pro’s and con; In 2011 The Miz main evented WrestleMania 27 in Atlanta defeating the company’s posterboy John Cena and retaining the WWE World Title. Immediately following that, The Miz was placed in the middle of the card, the middle of media exposure and more importantly, the middle of the company. He held some titles, but he never regained the momentum he had in those five months holding the World Title.

After this year’s WrestleMania, The Miz won the company’s Intercontinental Championship, defeating Zack Ryder and he has held on to it since. On an episode of Talking Smack, a wrestling great and future hall of famer Daniel Bryan while in character, called The Miz a coward. “There’s, no gentle way to say it…to me, you wrestle like a coward.” While it’s not confirmed as being a real-life response or a response planned in advance, what is agreeable to the masses is that what followed was a true and passionate promo by The Miz speaking from the heart.

The Miz made it obvious that he has been a WWE Superstar, day-in and day-out without a single injury to sideline him. He also made aware that he doesn’t need to capture the World or Universal titles because the title he is currently holding is the only one worth watching. You can clearly see and feel the emotion and heart illustrated in the angered face of The Miz. This promo has forced fans to give Miz a separate and new look at his accomplishments and his work-ethic. His character and verbal skills have truly evolved over the years, from going to simple catchphrases to minute long rants on how his perspective is the only lucrative one. His in-ring skills have also made a massive and positive change since his debut in 2006.

This is not the same guy that Ric Flair gave the Figure-Four to a few years ago because he wasn’t getting over.

This promo could help catapult him to the top of the food chain and top of the company’s expectations again. It’s been five years since the Miz main evented a WrestleMania, could the 33 edition of the showcase of the immortals be a bright one for the Awesome One?