The following are highlights of a new interview with The Miz:
Making it in WWE: “I remember coming into the WWE and people saying, ‘you’re not going to last three months in the WWE. You’re going to be fired and you’ll be gone,’ and here I am eight years later still going strong and still having fun and living my dream. It just goes to show that hard work pays off. Those people that told me I wasn’t going to make it three months, now tell me, “You shocked me. You really did and you proved yourself,’ and now I gained the respect of hopefully everybody.”
Being a go-to guy for WWE to represent the company: “That’s one of those things I really take pride in because I love the WWE so much. I think the product is so amazing. It’s such a great entertainment. It’s such a value that everyone should be able to share these kind of moments. I try to display that by doing every kind of radio, print, TV spot I can do. The way I look at it is grassroots. The only way people are going to get to know you is if you’re out there and any media is good media, so I’ll take it all so that everyone knows my name and someday it might pay off or it might not. But the fact is that I get to create relationships and talk to as many as possible about something I’m passionate about.”
The recent WWE releases: “That’s the nature of business. In any business, people get fired and people get hired, so you just got to take it with a grain of salt and know that they’re talented enough as individuals that they’ll be able to do whatever they pursue after the WWE. Everyone would be doing it if it wasn’t tough, so absolutely it’s tough, but it’s something you have to do deal with and you have to go through and you just keep trucking along. I know those people that got released aren’t going to tell me, ‘Well, you should come with me.’ They’re going to be like, ‘Dude, go steal the show, go be as amazing as possible and I’m going to go do my thing and be as amazing as possible.’ I think that’s the mentality.”
– Comedian and actor Kevin Hart, who will serve as the celebrity guest host of tonight’s edition of WWE RAW in Cleveland, Ohio, recently commented on Twitter about his gig for the evening:
And I'm hosting "WWE RAW" tonight….it's going to be HUUUUGGGEEEEE …..I'm everywhere damn it lmao
As previously reported, WWE Hall Of Famer “Nature Boy” Ric Flair recently went to Pittsburgh to take the required medical tests needed to return to WWE as a regular television performer. Word has come back that Flair passed those tests, so he should be back on television in the near future.
There is a possibility that Flair could return at next week’s edition of RAW, as it is in The Miz’s hometown of Cleveland, and Flair has been rumored to be aligned with Miz upon his return.
The Miz returned to action at Saturday night’s WWE live event from the Veterans Coliseum in Madison, Wisconsin, losing to US Champion Sheamus.
Even though he got a big babyface pop when he came out, he cut a heel promo when he came out and quickly turned the fans against him. Throughout the match, he acted cowardly and even grabbed the mic to demand that Sheamus not hit him in his ‘money-making’ movie star face. Sheamus won with the Brogue Kick.
Miz was away filming the WWE Studios movie “The Marine 4” and is expected back on television as soon as Monday’s RAW.
He’s rumored to be paired with Ric Flair as his manager when Flair is medically cleared.
WWE Hall Of Famer “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair finally made the trip to Pittsburgh, Pennyslvania this past Monday (June 2nd) to undergo the required WWE medical testing.
If Flair passes the tests, he is expected to return to WWE television as a regular character.
As noted in the past, ideas for Flair have ranged from being the possible new RAW General Manager, managing The Miz and managing Dolph Ziggler — an idea that was reportedly turned down by WWE.
– WWE Superstar The Miz will be appearing on the season finale of the TBS show “Deal With It,” which airs tonight at 8:30pm EST. The show is a hidden-camera prank show hosted by Howie Mandel, the same program that Chris Jericho appeared on earlier this season.
– The following is the latest “Five Things” video from the official WWE YouTube channel, which looks back at the five best Money In The Bank matches of the past.
– The Miz returned to action on the final shows of WWE’s European tour and could be back on television this week. Miz was away filming The Marine 4 and is rumored to be paired with as his manager Ric Flair soon.
– John Cena and Cesaro celebrated the end of WWE’s European tour last night in Berlin by drinking beers together in the ring. The WWE crew is traveling back to the United States for tomorrow’s RAW from Knoxville, Tennessee.
– The original Sin Cara (Mistico) is now wrestling in Mexico using the ring name El Misterioso (‘The Mysterious.’) After leaving WWE, he had been telling the media that he would be retaining the Sin Cara name.
Additional sources have recently confirmed our previous reports regarding plans for Ric Flair’s role on WWE television upon his upcoming return.
As noted, Flair requested to work with Dolph Ziggler. In a bit of an update, while it was noted previously that it would be unlikely, it can now be confirmed that the idea of Flair working with Ziggler was shot down by WWE.
We noted that there was a strong possibility that Flair would return and work with The Miz again, and it appears that those two will indeed be paired up again.
Flair is scheduled to undergo WWE medial testing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and will soon-after be brought back to WWE television to return as a regular weekly character.
WWE has had an offer on the table for Ric Flair to return as a regular television character, which recently led to Flair getting scheduled for a full cardiovascular physical before the company would use him on TV. Flair has been working out, currently weighing around 230 pounds, and wants to get down to 225 lbs. before his TV return.
As far as what role Flair will play when he does return, there’s been some discussion of putting him with The Miz. The feeling is that Flair could help elevate Miz to becoming a top-tier performer for the company, although some are of the belief that pairing Flair with Miz would be wasting Flair’s value.
Flair himself has reportedly requested to manage Dolph Ziggler, although WWE hasn’t seemed to want to push Ziggler lately, so it’s considered unlikely that they will go with a Flair-Ziggler duo.
It’s worth noting that Flair’s deal with WWE requires the company to approve all of his appearances, which has led to some issues recently with Flair reportedly being involved with negotiations to actually return to the ring for an overseas non-WWE wrestling tour. Many are of the belief that those negotiations will not actually come to fruition, as many assume WWE will never allow it.
It seemed as if the tag team division had been revitalized last year. However, almost as soon as fans started to become excited about the division again, half of the teams were broken up and it has been largely ignored.
The Usos are the current champions, and I think their pay-per-view exposure shows how confident the WWE is that the Uso brothers will draw. After all, they defended their tag titles on the pre-show at WrestleMania and did not appear in any capacity at Extreme Rules.
With that said, it would not take much effort to get the division back to where it was at the end of last year. Here are five current or potential tag teams that could help make the division relevant again (or at the very least, get it onto the pay-per-view card).
5. Rybaxel – At first, this team seemed like it would go nowhere. They had both just basically flopped while under the tutelage of Paul Heyman, so why would anyone believe that they would fare well without him? Surprisingly, both have improved since leaving Heyman, especially Ryback. He is hilarious on the microphone and can actually be pretty entertaining when he’s allowed to speak. I think the WWE still has plans to push both guys in the future, and a run with the Tag Team Championships could help elevate both superstars.
4. Damien Sandow and Dolph Ziggler – These guys have adopted similar personality traits in recent weeks, most notably because both guys seem disgruntled, annoyed, and displeased that their talents are not being properly utilized. Sandow and Ziggler would make a great team if paired together, as both are impressive in the ring and on the mic. There were rumors a while back of a possible stable of disgruntled superstars being formed, including Ziggler and the Miz, but a team of Sandow and Ziggler would work even better and could make the tag title picture exciting again.
3. Jack Swagger and Cody Rhodes – It is no secret that Zeb Colter has been trying to recruit a new member to the Real Americans since Cesaro betrayed him a few weeks back. With Cody being the son of the American Dream Dusty Rhodes, it would make sense for him to become a Real American. Cody and Goldust are definitely going to part ways soon, with Cody likely being the one to turn heel, so it would provide the perfect opportunity for Cody to align with Swagger and Colter afterward.
– UFC will be running their UFC 176 pay-per-view on August 2nd at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California with a show headlined by Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes for the UFC Featherweight Championship. While the event will take place in the same venue two weeks before WWE SummerSlam, it won’t hurt WWE business because SummerSlam is already sold out.
– WWE Diva Summer Rae cut her hair off for the movie she’s filming right now with The Miz. Her new haircut is described as looking similar to Charlotte, the NXT Diva who is the daughter of Ric Flair, only shorter.
The following are results for this week’s edition of WWE Main Event. The show was taped on Monday night in Washington, D.C. prior to WWE RAW.
– Sheamus def. The Miz in singles action to open the show. Miz played heel throughout this match, as many would expect. The finish saw Sheamus pick up the victory after hitting Miz with his Brogue Kick for the 1-2-3.
– Tamina Snuka def. Nikki Bella in Divas action. AJ Lee was in Tamina’s corner, and of course Brie Bella was in Nikki’s. The finish came when Tamina hit the top-rope splash on Nikki for the 1-2-3.
The following is a non-spoiler match listing for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown. For complete spoiler results, click ahead to page two.
– Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose vs. Drew McIntyre & Jinder Mahal
– Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose vs. Ryback & Curtis Axel
– Damien Sandow vs. Sin Cara
– Goldust vs. Fandango
– Batista vs. Sheamus
– The Bella Twins vs. AJ Lee & Tamina Snuka
– Jack Swagger vs. Jimmy Uso
– The Miz vs. Mark Henry
– Bray Wyatt vs. Big Show
For complete spoiler results for this week’s WWE SmackDown, click ahead to page two …
– The latest edition of “Talk Is Jericho,” which features Chris Jericho interviewing The Miz, is now available. The official description for the show reads as follows:
TIJ – EP24 – WWE’s The Miz WWE’s The Miz was the token All-American frat boy on MTV’s Real World, and parlayed that into a career in pro-wrestling! And he’s telling stories about all of it – from his first match with John Cena to his WWE locker room ban to being fired by Jeremy Piven to winning the championship belt!
– Chris Jericho recently revealed his guests for his two “Talk Is Jericho” podcasts this week. On Wednesday’s edition of the show, Jericho will talk to WWE Superstar The Miz. On his Friday show this week, Jericho will be interviewing comedian and television personality Howie Mandel. Jericho tweeted the following:
Bray Wyatt refers to himself as “The Eater of Worlds.” After his first few months with the company, he could also easily refer to himself as “The King of the Promo” and not many would object.
No character in recent memory has used the promo to build up his character as well as Wyatt. Starting with a series of haunting videos preceding the stable’s debut, the Wyatt Family were able to build the foundation that would allow them to become one of the top heel groups in the company.
After a perfect debut (minus the Husky Harris chants) and successful feuds with Daniel Bryan and the Shield, it was revealed that Wyatt would be entering a program with John Cena during the WrestleMania season.
http://youtu.be/x7QJruEbKL4
Many cringed at the thought of Wyatt battling Cena at WrestleMania. I personally thought the match would result in nothing more than the WWE further elevating its biggest star while taking one of the hottest superstars in the company down a notch.
After all, Cena isn’t exactly notorious for putting over stars at WrestleMania, although he has put over the Miz and the Rock in the past. I am not here to make predictions regarding the matchup, but to instead discuss how the two have used masterful promos to build the fight into possibly the most anticipated match on the card.
The Rock is the only man to ever pin Cena clean at WrestleMania? Will Wyatt be able to defeat Superman?
Cena has discussed how his legacy is at stake at WrestleMania, while Wyatt has criticized Cena for being primarily concerned with selling merchandise and achieving fame. This is certainly not a new line of criticism directed at Cena.
In fact, Daniel Bryan levied the same insults at Cena during their build-up to SummerSlam, where he said Cena was in the WWE for fame, while he (Bryan) was there because he loves to wrestle.
Bryan’s rebukes never really felt personal though, largely due to the fact that he had to hold back because he was a face. Wyatt, on the other hand, has not held back one bit, criticizing Cena for living in a castle with his plastic girlfriend during his latest promo (seen above), which is also quite possibly his best yet.
Last week I threw out the names of five deserving candidates who never had the opportunity to hold the WWE’s top title. I suggested names such as Hennig, Piper, and DiBiase, while readers suggested other wrestlers who were stiffed by the company, including Roberts, Steamboat, and Rude.
It is now time to look at the other side of the coin and discuss five wrestlers who never should have been anywhere close to the WWE Championship, yet somehow managed to snatch it away from more talented competitors.
Sycho Sid
5. Sycho Sid
Sid isn’t the worst competitor on the list, but there were much more deserving wrestlers who never had the same opportunities. I have always been a Sid fan for one reason. No, not his in-ring work, nor his ability to captivate an audience, but instead for his unintentionally hilarious promos.
There has never been a wrestler who was worse on the mic than Sid. He compiled a vast collection of hilarious promos throughout his career that are more memorable than his actual matches.
JBL
4. JBL
I know there are many JBL supporters out there, but I am certainly not one of them. I was never really impressed with his in-ring ability, his promo skills, or his character. The fact that he held onto the belt for a relatively long period of time is surprising to me, even if he was on SmackDown at the time and the title did not mean as much as it does now.
His recent commentary stint reinforces the fact that he just isn’t very entertaining, and he also seems like he would be a pretty negative person off-camera as well.
Rey Mysterio
3. Rey Mysterio
Mysterio has held both the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship during his career. At roughly 175 pounds, Mysterio is the lightest competitor to ever hold the crown and many have argued that it is unrealistic to have Mysterio defeat someone as large as the Big Show. I won’t make that argument, but do feel like he should not have held the WWE Championship, mainly because it was a pointless, half-hearted title reign.
He won the title against the Miz on RAW, only to have John Cena steal the glory moments later and win the championship on the same night.
– WWE has added the “Christmas Bounty” film starring The Miz to Netflix. There was originally concern that WWE would be pulling their content off of Netflix due to their new WWE Network service, however the latest word is that they won’t be taking their stuff off of Netflix because it has been a solid source of revenue for the company.
– Speaking of WWE movie projects, there are rumors that the WWE Studios film “See No Evil 2” starring Kane will be released in October, just in time for Halloween.
The following are highlights of a recent interview with WWE Superstar The Miz:
On his wedding with Maryse: “I wanted a wedding where I could actually be able to talk to everyone and just hang out and have fun. It was beautiful and wonderful and perfect.”
On getting to WrestleMania: “You always try to find your way into that main event category. It’s a little bit of everything (to get there). It’s doing everything the WWE needs to do, and hopefully the fans catch on and say, ‘Hey, this guy works harder than anybody. This guy has the talent and the ability, whether it’s on the microphone or in the ring.'”
On being a heel vs. being a babyface: “I do it because I want to entertain that audience the best that I can. I want reaction from that audience. They can boo me, they can cheer me. I don’t care which one it is. I just want that initial reaction. That’s what it’s all about, entertaining those families that are our fans.”
WWE Studios recently announced that they have acquired the United States distribution and worldwide remake rights to the French film, “Queens of the Ring.” WWE Studios originally partnered with Warner Bros. on “Les Reines Du Ring,” a French production that was released last summer in France.
The film is a comedy and focuses on Rose, a mother attempting to re-connect with her son, a kid who is a passionate fan of WWE. The mother then trains to become a WWE Diva.
The movie stars Marilou Berry (Rose), Nathalie Baye (Colette), Audrey Fleurot (Jessica) and Andre Dussollier (Richard), and features WWE performers The Miz and Eve Torres.
“We are excited to acquire distribution and remake rights to a wonderfully entertaining comedy like ‘Queens of the Ring,'” said the President of WWE Studios, Michael Luisi. “This film gives WWE Studios the opportunity to introduce a ‘feel good’ story to a broad audience, while serving up a film we know our core fans will also enjoy.”
– WWE Studios’ Christmas Bounty starring The Miz has been added to Netflix.
– WWE has announced that NXT Tag Team Champions The Ascension will be in action tonight on the NXT ArRival live event airing on the WWE Network.
– Here is the full conference call with Triple H, discussing the developmental philosophy, NXT expanding, and the Arrival PPV that will kick off the WWE Network’s live in-ring programming.
– Since the announcement of Hulk Hogan’s return was made official by WWE earlier this week, Hogan has been a top trending topic on Yahoo, Twitter and Facebook.
– Celebrity-gossip website TMZ added an article with coverage of The Miz and Maryse’s wedding, which took place earlier this week in the Bahamas. The article also contains several photos from the wedding ceremony.
– As previously reported, Kane mentioned in a recent interview that Brock Lesnar will be at this Sunday’s WWE Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. Apparently Kane misspoke, as Lesnar is not expected to be at the show. He is, however, scheduled to be at RAW. Paul Heyman is scheduled for Monday’s RAW as well.
– The Miz, Mark Henry and Rey Mysterio have been announced as the “expert panel” for Sunday’s WWE Elimination Chamber pay-per-view “Kickoff Show.”