The Awesome Rise of The Miz

Before the wrestling business was exposed as “a work,” a wrestler’s reputation was a huge part of their success. After all, the whole premise of pro wrestling was to make the fans believe what they were watching was real. So if a wrestler had a reputation of being a “tough guy,” he better not be losing any bar fights or his credibility would be shot. Things have changed a lot since then, but some aspects of that still exist. Now a days, all us fans know wrestling results are pre determined, so the reputation we go off, is whether the guy is a “great performer” or not, instead of legitimate toughness. Guys like AJ Styles, Sami Zayn, and Finn Balor garner the same respect from fans that guys like Haku, Bruiser Brody, and Harley Race did back in the day. That’s where The Miz struggled at first. He wasn’t an Indy darling. Sure he had a small stint in UPW, but he wasn’t seen in the same light as legit Indy guys like CM Punk and Samoa Joe. The fact that Tough Enough had failed to (and has failed to),create any legitimate stars other than The Miz didn’t help his case much either. Fans just thought to themselves “here’s another Tough Enough reject. He’ll be gone by next WrestleMania, then they’ll trot in the next one.” The Miz made his WWE debut on June 2nd 2006, as the “Host” of Smackdown. His hosting duties were supplemented when he and Ashley Massaro hosted WWE’ s Diva Search competition. That had to have been frustrating for a guy who just wanted to wrestle. Mercifully, The Miz would finally make his in ring debut in September 2006, with a win over Tatanka. 2007 would see a change in shows for The Miz, and it would see the beginning of his rise.