Original subtitles

Miz interview, take one, Mark.

You missed your opening shot.

You missed your opening shot. I mean, that was it. Miz, click, come off, see

face, smirk, had it in. We had a guy in the background. You ruined the whole

thing. If you were a fan, WWE Universe, would you like the Miz?

No.

No, I would probably not like the Miz.

Why?

It's just... He's just a bad guy.

Some people don't like being a bad guy.

They don't like hearing all the negativity.

I enjoy it.

If you're not an asshole at heart, you're not going to cut it as a villain

today's environment.

You're just not.

That persona has to live inside of you. The way he sort of has an arrogance

about him. He's got an air of condescension when he speaks to anybody.

The WWE universe doesn't realize the A -list talent that I am.

He is the perfect, hateable human.

He's a jerk. He has the courage to be a dick.

I'm sorry, am I bragging too much?

The Miz is a future Hall of Famer. He's really one of the great villains of the

last 20 years.

He will do whatever it takes to get a win.

I will cheat. I will cut corners. I will hit you in the back. Hey! Hey!

Miz! Miz from behind with the free kick!

If you're a villain, it allows you to tap in to a side of your personality

you're yearning for everyone to know about you.

Why is the Miz so easy to hate?

Does it come naturally?

Or is it by design?

The Miz is the joker.

The Miz is the guy who's counted out, who is not shown respect.

who's treated like he's disposable, who turns out to be everyone's

worst nightmare.

Describing Miz as a villain is pretty easy.

He knows how to pull these strings.

He knows how to make people angry.

His goal is to get that attention, and that's all he wants. And that's why

time he goes out to the ring and grabs a microphone, you see the looks on

people's faces.

seen a performance like the one I gave in Marine 5.

There's a word bus.

The hallmark of a great bad guy is confidence and believability.

I'm going to be the biggest star you have ever seen. What makes the Miz

character so effective is that you couldn't help but feel that he meant

word of what he was saying.

Whoever comes out is going to get a beating and I don't care who it is.

So who is it?

He is good at trash talk. He's quick.

He's smooth.

I got in your face and what did you do?

Did you fight for your dreams?

Did you punch me in the face? No, you got up and you walked away.

He can cut people down and he can do it very well.

Making this all about you. Making it about me? I make nothing about me.

You can be hated for a lot of different reasons and they aren't your fault.

It's not a choice that we make to be hated.

Evil's a choice.

He chose to be this way and he has no problem saying it.

This is the true story. We were first introduced to The Miz on the classic

reality show, The Real World. The Real World. A character fabricated from the

pain of being disliked.

The Miz was cool. Mike was not.

I first met Mike when he tried out for Real World Season 10.

This is the first time I've ever been to New York. I don't know who I'm going to

live with.

I think we all thought he was a little goofy at first.

It's time, Mike, to be unleashed.

And the more you get to know him, the more he grew on you. He was kind of a

burn.

I'm a very social person.

I love to talk to everybody.

But when I got on The Real World, nobody liked me.

Every word that comes out of your mouth tends to be more insulting than the one

previously. And it bothered me.

I've never said anything that made you go, ooh, I don't ever want to hang out

with her again.

But you've done those types of things to me, and you've said those things,

whether you know it or not.

And it was very uncomfortable, because you had to live with them and be around

them 24 -7, all day, every day, for five months.

Because that's how long we filmed for, five months.

So how did I deal with being uncomfortable?

I drank a lot.

And I created a character called The Miz that told people exactly what I

thought.

You just don't get it, do you? You just don't get it, Coral, do you? He asked me

if I smell what he's cooking. I don't know what he's talking about.

You can't stop the claw.

It's The Miz claw.

It's on her. It's got her. The Miz is a character I created. He's a wrestling

star, and he's ready for the big leagues.

Something happened.

People started liking The Miz more than they liked Mike.

I didn't realize I was creating a character.

It kind of just happened organically.

Let me tell you something, Rock.

You think you're all that and a bag of chips. You think you're big. Well, you

ain't seen big until you've seen The Miz.

I think Mike had the Miz in his back pocket for a long time.

I think he was thinking about it for years.

And he was a kid that was a little insecure.

And what kid does not want a superhero as their alter ego? I mean, everyone

does, right? He just was a little more organized about it.

He created the Miz to protect himself.

I think it's his cushion where you can be the Miz and it doesn't matter if no

one... No one likes you because The Miz doesn't care.

The Miz doesn't care about you.

But Mike cares.

Once The Miz got on the real world, there was no

more Mike.

Everyone called me The Miz.

Damn right.

Everyone. You hear that?

I remember going back home.

Looking at myself in the mirror and saying, what do I want to do with my

And there's an action figure of The Rock.

My roommates from the real world gave me.

And I said, I want to be a WWE superstar.

Being a reality star helped Mike earn an opportunity to compete on WWE's hit

reality show, Tough Enough.

Tough Enough's panel of judges found Mike to be irritating.

And though he left empty -handed, the

Miz's big break would ultimately come in the form of a microphone.

Anytime you are being brought up to WWE, you're thankful and you really want to

do your best. But when you sit down with Vince McMahon and he tells you, like, I

wanted you to be the Ryan Seacrest of the WWE.

Look. Ryan Seacrest is very talented, but you don't want to hear that. You

to hear, like, I see you as my next main event. People are going to pay big, big

money to buy your merchandise, to buy your tickets.

Not, I want you to be the host.

But when an opportunity presents itself to you, you take that opportunity.

If I'm going to be the host, I'm going to have a microphone.

My job was to hype up a crowd.

That all starts right now.

I was going to do everything I possibly could to make sure that I got a

reaction. I created a catchphrase, hoorah.

Hoorah! Every time I would say hoorah, they would say, you suck.

Hoorah! Hoorah!

Hoorah! Hoorah!

In my head, I went, got something.

Mike was immediately disliked by the fans.

He hadn't earned their respect.

He was still just Mike from the real world.

For better or worse, The Miz was kind of already a celebrity before he got into

pro wrestling.

Yo, what's up, it's The Miz. The attitude of the B .E. was they had this

that had been on MTV.

He had been on Tough Enough. He was this loud, obnoxious character.

Let him go out there, stir up the pot.

and see how the crowd reacts to him.

There's a thing where the crowd feels like someone's trying to get under their

skin, and The Miz was the master of that, and I think the WWE saw it early.

He doesn't become someone else. He just turns himself up to 10 and goes.

He may make you hate him more, but you're not supposed

to think he's cool.

You're supposed to hate him.

Mike saw this as an opportunity.

So how do I parlay this into a wrestling career?

How do I get in the ring?

I remember thinking, if you give me a microphone, people are going to hate me

much they're going to want to see me get beat up.

He was the man everybody loved to hate.

An annoying, arrogant loudmouth.

After just...

four months as the antagonizing host of SmackDown.

The WWE Universe and the entire WWE locker room were anxious to see Miz put

money where his mouth is.

How about we book Paris Hilton, okay?

Since we booked the freaking Miz.

You could tell just by the commentary that Miz wasn't being taken seriously.

I'll say what I want to say. I hate him.

I personally hate him.

When you see The Miz's debut and you hear the commentator say, I hate this

he's pretty easy to hate. All of you get to witness the greatest debut in the

history of SmackDown!

He comes in with aura of, I'm above professional wrestling. I've been on

I've been a reality star. Like, I must see.

This is the guy I think he is. He's a reality show bomb.

He's not going to last a week.

Some of the guys made life kind of difficult on The Miz. He paid his dues,

believe me. He paid his dues.

Oh, JBL.

When people have a preconceived notion of you, they don't want to like you.

I'm walking on eggshells every time I walk backstage. One day I was in a

room eating a piece of chicken, and someone said I dropped chicken all over

their bag.

Then someone else hears that, then someone else hears that, and it turns

Miz is in the locker room throwing chicken, getting grease all over the

How dare him?

And I got a huge talking to. I got yelled at more

than I've ever been yelled at in my entire life.

Mike wasn't allowed in the locker room for six months, and Mike had to change.

in the public bathroom with fans sometimes 10 minutes before

going on.

Like he would be signing autographs in the bathroom before going on live

television.

He struck people the wrong way because of his reality show background, good

-looking guy, natural talker right off the bat.

I think some people knew this kid's going to be a star.

but they didn't make it easy on him.

No! Last ride through the announce table!

Boy, did that set a chip on my shoulder.

I don't care if you love me or you hate me, but I want you to respect me.

I've always been a button pusher.

I would test the waters with superstars in the back. I started wearing a bandana

and fedora.

Because I wore it once backstage, and everybody made fun of me and said, oh,

God, what are you wearing? And in my head, I went, well, I'm wearing this out

there because if you guys hate it, man, is this audience going to really hate

it?

People wanted to be out there to boo me and tell me how much they couldn't stand

me. They ruined our show.

Hey, your show was ruined the minute you opened your mouth out there. He has

made an absolute living on being the guy.

you want to see get punched in the face.

I don't know what the science is behind having a punchable face, but people see

his face and they go, look at him, that smug little blonde.

I'm going to punch his little face.

There's a true skill to being that hated that early in your career.

Hated by everyone, the Miz found an ally, a tag team partner in John

A man who thrived on the hate just as much as the Miz.

And the dynamic duo quickly became a force to be reckoned with.

You never know what's going to happen to the team of Miz and Morrison.

Remember that. Write it down. Do what you got to do.

When I first got paired up with Miz in 2007, I remember thinking, oh, great.

This guy that just got kicked out of the locker room is going to be my tag team

partner.

It really didn't take long for me to realize that there is a lot more to Mike

Mizanin than The Miz.

Miz and Morrison were like peanut butter and jelly. He was kind of the

mouthpiece. Morrison was the physical performer, could do anything in the

They matched up so well together. They had a style that worked.

You're looking at a new SmackDown Tag Team Championship.

Morrison and The Miz.

We were champions, but nobody really knew who we were as characters.

John and I would talk about, man, we should make a show on YouTube.

Today we're going to talk about what was most important.

YouTube was just getting popular.

Hello, this is Trish Stratus. While everyone else is thinking about what

going to do in their next match, John and I were also writing, editing.

Let me take a look at that.

Producing a show that we would show up early.

go into where there was a camera and a green screen. We only had maybe 30

minutes to get this done, so it had to be written, memorized, and figured out

a T.

Those two would come to work every day ready to make a movie when some people

are just walking in and cashing a check. They did these extra things on their

own. It really made them stand out.

It was entertaining, but...

We were also going after everybody.

We dominated DX.

We mocked them.

Bestest, you are still the biggest, fattest, baldest virgin.

Fierce, fierce, fierce, fierce.

There's one thing to being a villain on camera and upsetting the audience and

going after your peers. That's part of the show. When you're doing it in your

free time and going after people on social media, that was a step above.

And it really upset a lot of superstars. Even if we weren't even in a story with

them, we went after them.

You're a loser.

Saying things that weren't supposed to be said.

Hello, John.

Who are you? I want to play a game.

It went viral.

People were talking about it, and most of all, people were talking about us.

number one talk show on the internet, The Dirt Sheet.

The Miz was always doing things that get you noticed.

He wants that attention, whether it is positive or negative or anywhere in

between. He doesn't care, and that's great.

But then you have to be able to back it up in the ring.

As tag team champions, The Miz and Morrison were inseparable, best friends

life, or at least until the night of the WWE draft.

It's draft night here in the WWE.

Welcome, everyone.

In a shocking twist, the dynamic duo were now singles competitors.

The dirt sheet duo has now been separated.

And The Miz instantly chose his first victim.

Oh!

Oh, I like it!

Reality check!

What in the world?

Miz is ready to be a top -tier primetime player on Monday Night Raw.

Was it a moment of fear?

or desperation.

Either way, this act of betrayal set the stage for what was to come.

When John and I broke up, I had no idea what's in store for me. I haven't been a

singles wrestler in, what, two, three years? And now I'm going into Monday

Raw, the flagship show of WWE, and my first night out, I call out the poster

child of WWE.

I'm here to challenge John Cena.

He is sending a message to the Royal Locker Room right now.

For the next eight weeks, John Cena isn't going to be there. And I know he's

going to be there. Cena will still not come out and fight me. And I'm going to

call him out. The most overrated athlete in the history of WWE.

So for eight weeks, I got tremendous amount of heat.

Haven't heard that one before.

People were booing me.

Are you scared of me?

They're standing me.

You gotta step up now, Cena!

Wanting to see John Cena just rip me to shreds.

Then, The Miz finally got his wish.

The good news is, The Miz will main event a pay -per -view this Sunday at

Bash. The bad news is, The Miz has a match with me.

Miz has talked about this for months. Now he has the opportunity to put up or

shut up.

Do you know how many people can't wait to see The Miz get shut up once and for

all?

The Miz facing off with John Cena at a pay -per -view event. The attitude was

like, who's this punk calling out this megastar in John Cena?

The all -American, clean -cut wrestler.

He's the biggest thing in the WWE.

John Cena, a mega superstar for Miz. His first big match at a major pay -per

-view.

The man is this agitator. He gets under your skin.

He's not on John Cena's level.

It makes the audience want John Cena to shut his mouth.

I'm thinking, oh, man, like, we're going to have this incredible match. It's

going to be a barn burner. People are going to be talking about it for years,

right?

Instead, John Cena mops the floor with me.

Cena just came

in and I didn't even get any offense on him.

The question I have is, did Miz learn anything from this

lesson?

The Miz played that perfectly.

What's hard to understand is if the crowd wants to see you to win,

or they want to see you to lose, it doesn't matter. It's all the same.

And so John Cena and The Miz, at that moment, are on the same level.

And it is!

Miz is the United States Champion!

The Miz used that beatdown as motivation and went on an impressive run,

including winning the U .S. title.

But Miz craved the ultimate prize,

the WWE Championship.

The prize, climb the ladder, retrieve the symbolic briefcase inside a

opportunity at a WWE title, any place, any time.

The winner of the Money in the Bank briefcase has gone on to win the

championship over 80 % of the time.

Look at Miz!

Look at him!

The Miz climbing the ladder.

Miz has done it! The biggest win of Miz's career!

There's a change in the air.

Orton is a true WWE champion.

How bad you're hurt, you get in that ring. Suppose he's got a torn ACL or

something like that, and then he keeps trying to go, just going to do more and

more damage.

How did he do it?

Oh, my God!

After barely surviving a brutal title defense, Randy Orton was clearly voted.

It's the Miz!

What? I can't believe this!

And the Miz paddled it.

The Miz won that 20 in the bank contract, waited all this time. He's

tonight. Randy Orton in his second, not his first, but his second title defense

of the night.

I can't believe this.

No, no.

What more does Randy Orton have to endure here?

Classic villain.

By hook or by crook, often by crook, The Miz will get it done.

I

cannot

believe it. This is unbelievable.

The Miz comes out and picks this spot and takes the WWE title.

He is the WWE champion.

This young girl's face encapsulated the sentiment throughout the WWE Universe.

She would forever be known as Miz Girl.

Miz's greatest moment of glory became her fleeting moment of fame, for which

won a coveted Slammy Award. I'd like to thank my dad for taking me to Raw, and

I'd like to thank my sister Tiger Butter and I for standing up for me.

Which did not sit well with a man who despises sharing the spotlight.

Do you mind if I take a look at your slammy?

May I?

Hold that.

If anyone deserves a slammy, it's not a nine -year -old girl, it's me.

The evil traits are greed and envy. He wants it all, and he's very upset when

anyone else gets...

some of his spotlight his goal is to get that attention and that's all he wants

he loses respect of course but he doesn't care it doesn't matter his focus

getting an entire arena booing him out of it no matter what the situation at

that point i am the wwe champion i am in a main event caliber and i'm still not

respected as the champion nobody really

wants me as the champion or believes I should be champion.

You boo me.

You boo me.

At that point, it was all about The Rock and Cena. That's what people wanted to

see. It is time to give the people what they want.

The Rock just came back. He's going to host WrestleMania.

Him and Cena are kind of feuding. More people are gravitating towards that.

than they are against me against Cena.

And I needed to switch that. So when John Cena is worrying about The Rock and

doing his raps, he should be worried about one person and one person only.

Me, the WWE champion.

The Miz needed to piss off so many people that you would want to see him

beat up for it.

So how does The Miz steal the spotlight away from what was to be the main event?

by pulling off one of the most diabolical acts of fraud in wwe history

the

people wanted to see the rock on raw and the myth had a plan to make it happen i

get the bald cap on the sunglasses on i cut my sleeves i have a just bring it

shirt ladies and gentlemen please welcome your special guest

I get the gorilla position, which is the position right before you enter the

arena.

I'm standing there waiting. I am very nervous.

Butterflies are in my stomach, and The Rock's music hits.

The place

becomes unglued.

I'm talking celebration.

I've never heard an eruption like this before in my entire career. It is

As I'm about to go out to the curtain, Vince stands up and goes, wait.

Okay, I'm waiting.

And the crowd starts to come down.

And Vince goes, nah.

Once I get out there and the crowd sees me, I'm thinking it's just going to die.

But that didn't happen.

erupted even bigger and in my head i'm going oh my god this is working

i take off the sunglasses and

sniff the air and the crowd erupts even bigger this time when they

see me me dressed as the rock they think i'm the rock it's working

oh so good So I'm like, I bet I can get another pop out of this.

They didn't start noticing that it wasn't The Rock until I started going

the ramp and getting into the ring.

It took them like two to three minutes to realize it was me and not The Rock.

I get into the ring. I rock bottom John Fina.

The crowd is just booing.

Stunts like that are what make a WWE great.

I mean, we see a bald cap and dressed up as a rock, like that's kind of funny.

When you get people's heartstrings involved, when the emotions are there,

they think they're going to see someone that they love, and then you take that

all away from them, that's a win right there for any villain.

It's a brilliant, brilliant moment, and not everyone could have pulled it off.

I don't want to say anything complimentary about him.

That's the worst person to compliment in the world. But it was so well done.

And to do it in that way, to go in there and beat up on John Cena.

This guy beat John Cena? Like, how often does that happen? Ten times every

thousand years?

Oh, my God. I beat Cena up.

Like, I've never beat anyone up.

I don't know anybody who's had a better moment as far as really making a name

for themselves in WWE.

It was the first time that the audience said, I wanna see them as versus John

Cena.

To literally have them erupt the way they erupted and then react the way they

reacted after realizing it was me, that set up.

my entire program for WrestleMania as the WWE champion.

71 ,000 has set an all -time record here at the Georgia Dome, and they are ready

for this main event.

Miz had pranked the entire WWE universe.

To make matters worse, Miz took full advantage of the distraction he created.

Miz and John Cena, it is all about the WWE title.

Cena has never lost a one -on -one match at any WrestleMania Cena has competed.

And here it is.

We are officially underway for the WWE title.

Oh, Miz just drilled Cena.

Looking to end it. It'll take more than that, Miz.

The Miz facing off with John Cena at WrestleMania, that is a huge

acknowledgement.

by the WWE, and it's a huge acknowledgement by the WWE fans who

because they believe John Cena and The Miz at that moment are on the same

Miz coming off those ropes.

Cena's here, and I'm right here with him in this moment.

Oh, man!

They do it!

WWE title at stake!

And The Miz kicks out.

Miz showing amazing resilience.

Whether we like him or we don't is irrelevant.

It's one thing to be the guy everybody hates, but it's another thing entirely

be the one taking out the top stars in the country.

The pushing finale should do it.

And Miz hits Cena.

Miz still the WWE champion.

That is a huge thing, but it also is an acknowledgment of Miz's stardom. That's

why it was such a huge moment for him.

After retaining the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 27, The Miz's star

continued to rise.

I am the most captivating and entertaining superstar on this brand.

And he intended to take full advantage.

Well, it's kind of nice, actually, that now you're here as a guest on the show.

Yes, it's an absolute honor. Thank you very much.

The Miz pursued TV and film opportunities.

Yay, here we go, guys.

And discovered a way to make his character even more annoying.

I went away for like a month to film The Marine.

Four. And when I came back, I had this idea for a character.

I wanted to be the greatest A -list actor in the world, but I will be

an A -list actor who only did straight -to -DVD movies.

I'm a mess.

Maybe you'd seen me in The Marine 3, 4, 5, and 6.

People hate those people.

I don't even think about when I'm acting because it's just real to me.

Like that person.

And then that I really started studying Andy Kaufman.

I'm a star. I'm from Hollywood. I make TV shows and movies in Hollywood that

very famous for and people love me for it. You're just a two -bit wrestler

never been successful at anything.

Okay?

This guy is an absolute genius.

I want to give you a little chance to apologize.

It wasn't until during my run in WWE I found a lot of his stuff because YouTube

wasn't even popular when I first started.

You know, we didn't have ways of getting videos.

You're just a dumb hick from Memphis, Tennessee.

Is that how you talk to me?

You're from Memphis, Tennessee?

You're from Memphis?

I'm from Hollywood.

I'm going to wipe the floor with you, Mr. Lawler. Because I am a star. I am a

Hollywood star.

Inspired by the brilliance of Kaufman.

The Miz embraced an overinflated view of his Hollywood success, which aggravated

the WWE universe to another level.

I was tempted to stay in Hollywood and shoot more films. Directors begging me

stay.

Do you have any idea how important I am? You take me for granted.

I'm not going to leave until you all are on your knees begging me.

How dare you deprive these people of a moment to watch me shine?

He always smiles. You just want to wipe that smile off their face.

I'm a box office thrower. I'm a...

The Miz

experienced tremendous success over

the next several years, but there was still a persistent undertone of

disrespect.

Like an A -lister.

I don't think many members of the WWE Universe thought The Miz was an A -list

actor, but I think they thought that he thought he was an A -list actor.

I look the part, I act the part, I walk the part, I talk the part, because I am

the part!

I had the same opinion as several others.

He's really loud, and he's constantly on the microphone, so after 10, 12, 14

years... You see him coming out to the ring, and you instantly groan and roll

your eyes. Don't you dare boo me!

Don't you dare boo me!

The Mrs. Credit, he was very good at portraying a character in a very

unlikable way.

One night, after years of trying to ignore it, it all blew up.

On live TV. I think the fact that the Intercontinental Championship wasn't

highlighted in SmackDown Live is a fraud.

I went on Talking Smack.

We had you on like two weeks ago, Miz.

There was no secret that there was no love lost between The Miz and Daniel

Bryan.

Professionally or personally.

I don't like Mike, right? I don't like Miz.

We know how to push each other's buttons.

Forced into an early retirement due to injury, Bryan was serving as a general

manager of SmackDown.

When The Miz interrupted Talking Smack to complain about the lack of ring time,

Daniel Bryan shot back and struck a very raw nerve.

This is the last title that you held, Daniel.

Last one. The last title. And you said you wanted to make it relevant. You

wanted to make it prestigious and honorable.

That is what you said.

Here's the deal. I have respect for the title. I just don't have respect for the

person holding it.

Why? What did I do? What is the thing that I do that was so wrong in the WWE?

You haven't done anything wrong. I just don't like the way you wrestled.

I think a lot of the fans don't like the way you wrestle either. There's no

gentle way to say it. To me, you wrestle like a coward. You wrestle like

somebody who's afraid to get hit. I wrestle like a coward.

You wrestle like a coward. It wasn't the word coward.

I've been called a coward before.

It was how Daniel Bryan called me a coward.

I could see in his eyes that it was real.

And I felt my entire body get mad and aggravated. And in the back of my head,

I'm going, oh, man, I'm getting mad and aggravated. This is what my body is

doing. And then when Daniel Bryan left.

You're the one that doesn't get in the WWE ring again. Now, don't you walk away

from me, Daniel.

I lost it.

Don't you walk away. Get that camera right here. This is my show.

My show.

And I'm sick of all of you, my GM, sitting there criticizing me, calling me

coward. You're the cowards. I'm the one here day in and day out in that

wrestling ring beating people up. Thank you very much.

That was one of the greatest moments he's ever had.

I don't know how much real life was in what he was saying, but it felt real.

Okay, this has been Talking Smack. We will be back.

Thank you guys for joining us tonight.

Whenever you're kind of watching the show and you're like, I'm not sure how

of this is supposed to be going on.

I believe it was real. I believe Miz was fed up with hearing that his style

wasn't tough enough, and he pointed out, like, hey, I don't miss matches.

I have never, never been injured. I am here each and every week. The reason I

wrestle the way I wrestle is because I can do it day in and day out all the

for 10 -plus years. He was talking to every single person who doubted him, who

doubted that he'd be this far this long in his career.

For all the people that told him he didn't really have a place in WWE.

Your shirt says earning. I've earned it for 12 damn years.

I think right then and there, that kind of turned him into, oh, this is

undeniable. You got to give The Miz his props.

The Miz used that moment to solidify his character.

Did it feel good after the fact?

No, I got very insecure.

It doesn't feel good.

It feels like you were out of control of your body.

I don't remember even what I said. I was so mad.

I'm not used to that.

To this day, I think people want to know if that was The Miz or Mike.

That was Mike.

Mike? had many things to say that he hasn't even said.

He was really upset, and he let it out.

And I got kind of nervous because it got out of control.

This was something different. We're used to the Miz who was accepting people's

hatred, never really seemed to bother him.

This seemed to get under his skin. This was Mike.

This was someone who was really hurting, and that was something new for us.

After all the years of blood, sweat, and sacrifice, The Miz's battle for respect

from his fans and peers had taken its toll.

I think in a lot of ways, wrestling is like reality TV in that you see

everything.

You see people's best, their worst.

You see their relationship, home life.

Everything is a part of the wrestling story.

We don't just fall in love with what the person does in the ring.

That's the difference between wrestling and other sports.

Athletes, you may know some, but many of you don't know.

In wrestling, you get to know every superstar and who they are.

The reason I am not there is because I am a star.

The reason why The Miz does all the things that he does is because he's so

insecure. I know he's been obsessing over me. That's why he speaks louder

everybody else.

It's the reason that he wears the three -piece suits, the expensive designer

stuff, because he wants you to see him as a star.

Anything else? Didn't think so. Thanks.

But you don't believe it.

So he needs to overcompensate for it.

And there's nothing that will ever be enough.

I will do whatever it takes to be the biggest superstar that WWE has ever

I should be representing this company as WWE champion.

I don't think anybody wants to give him the credit, but we have to.

Because he's established himself over such a long arc of time of being a top

tier talent and a person who creates attention.

The more hate you give The Miz, the more you feed him, the more it motivates

him, the bigger star he becomes.

No matter how much you hate him, no matter how much you want to kill the

year after year after year, he's just consistently in the picture.

He's gone through this progression.

Of just trying to be accepted in this world that doesn't want to accept him,

being kicked out of locker rooms, being told he should quit, being told he's not

legit. But what The Miz does have was such a completely incredible

of character development.

Capacity crowd of 14 ,000 all chanting in unison that Miz is awesome. He's so

good at being a bad guy, you cheer him. And I guess that's the ultimate sign of

respect. What he's brought to the wrestling world, I don't think a lot of

could have done.

I honestly think he's the only one who could have really done it. The truth is,

the reason The Miz was able to make it from reality TV to WWE

Superstar is because he would have made it as a WWE Superstar even if he never

did reality TV.

Well, you ain't seen big until you've seen The Miz.

He was on the real world, and he was just Mike.

And the guy would, like, tell everybody in the house, I'm going to be a famous

wrestler one day. And we all laughed at him, like, you're an idiot. That's never

going to happen.

To this day, I am madly impressed that that guy called the shot and did it.

Cannot knock a dude for having that kind of love and passion for something and

then growing up and making it his world.

So what is the true measure of success?

As a person or as a character?

The Miz is the only two -time Grand Slam champion in WWE history.

He has his own reality show.

On the surface, The Miz has it all.

But the one thing he struggled with from the beginning is earning respect.

From his days on the real world to his career in the WWE, Mike Mizanin did what

he had to do to get ahead.

But did he ever get the respect he was looking for?

Do I get praised now?

Yeah, I do. And it's a nice feeling.

But still, to this day, people look at me and go, he doesn't deserve anything

that he has gotten.

I don't respect him.

This guy, he's never going to make it. This guy comes from the real world.

You're not big enough.

You're not tall enough.

Oh, he just got lucky. He was just in a good spot, good timing. You're not smart

enough. You're not athletic enough.

You're not going to make it.

I did it.

Miz has always been a proud champion.

Where's the cover?