Credit: James Caldwell and PW Torch
New WWE champion The Miz was interviewed by Bill Simmons of ESPN.com for over an hour about his career progression, current events in WWE, sports subjects, and reality TV. The following are highlights of his interview.
— Unrelated to his WWE Title victory, Miz was asked why WWE doesn’t have an off-season. Simmons asked if it would benefit the wrestlers to be able to rest and recover taking a few months off during the year.
“I don’t know. I kind of enjoy not having an off-season. I get bored really easily. I feel like we’re the hardest working company in the industry and we take pride in that,” Miz said. “I think the value in not having an off-season – that’s why we’re the longest running episodic show in TV history. (But) if someone’s injured, we give them time off.”
Putting Miz’s comment into context, it came across like a company line that was the right thing to say by deflecting the question onto how he views it personally. Miz stressed throughout the interview that he wants to be “the guy” for WWE, like John Cena, doing as much media as possible to get the WWE brand out in public.
— Miz is marketing his current WWE Title run as a “screw you” to the Legends who came before the current generation. He cited Roddy Piper’s promo on the “Old School” Raw as the impetus for his heel title run. He said he even wanted to WWE to bring back the Legends on Monday’s Raw – his first TV show as new champion – to cut a promo on them.
— Miz made two bold claims that seemed to come from a mixed perspective of Miz, the character, and Miz, the person.
“I think our product is the best it’s ever been,” Miz said about the current product. “I think the characters are the driving force.”
He tried to sell that statement by saying WWE has to be so creative in today’s wrestling era because the bar was raised so high in the Attitude Era that the audience has seen everything already.
Miz said he believes that carries over to the in-ring wrestling product where they have to tell “such elaborate stories to get our characters over.”
Miz’s other bold claim was believing he can make WWE bigger than it was during the Attitude Era. After taking the WWE Title, Miz said his new goal is to “make WWE the biggest, most phenomenal it’s ever been.”
— The other piece of marketing Miz identified for his WWE Title run is going for shock value. Miz played up his “undeserving champion” role and said he wants to draw people to Raw because people believe he can drop the title on any given night.
“I want to be the most unpredictable, most must-see champion. I want shock value,” Miz said. He cited his first night as champion containing a TLC match against Jerry Lawler of all people.
— Related to current news, Miz confirmed that Randy Orton was not on Monday’s Raw getting an MRI on an injury. He hinted his title feud is going toward a re-match with Orton, which WWE is advertising locally in Houston for the TLC PPV.
Simmons brought up John Cena’s storyline “firing” and said he thought they could have turned the angle into three months of TV with Cena appearing under a mask. Simmons lamented WWE quickly transitioning into Cena beating up Nexus on Monday’s Raw. Miz didn’t have an opportunity to really discuss that development, as Simmons moved on to other subjects.
— Miz described his emotions when he became WWE champion: “There’s nothing that can explain it. Once you hear the one, two, three, and you hear the noise of ‘the new WWE champion, The Miz,’ you go through all these motions.”
Backstage after capturing the title, Miz said he was greeted by clapping and a standing ovation. He also said he saw John Morrison, his former tag partner, and quipped to him, “I told you I wasn’t the Jannetty.”
— Miz said the current locker room leader on Raw is John Cena, but he’s not sure about Smackdown with The Undertaker out of action. He guessed it would be Kane, Edge, or Rey Mysterio.
— Regarding the McMahon family, Miz said he hasn’t seen Stephanie McMahon backstage at TV in a while. He said he hasn’t seen Shane McMahon “in a long time” after Shane departed the company at the beginning of the year. He complemented Triple H on being a “great mind to talk to.”
— Other miscellaneous wrestling items include Dean Malenko coming up with his Skullcrushing Finale finishing move. Miz said Chris Jericho claims he stole the move from him.
Miz said he would like to see a resurgence in tag team wrestling. “I wish they (WWE) would put more into the tag team matches,” he said.
Simmons quipped that he knew Miz “made it” when he had a flunky (Alex Riley) following him around. Simmons closed with a tongue-in-cheek warning to watch out for Riley because the sidekick always gets jealous in wrestling.
Miz strongly endorsed Wade Barrett’s mic work when asked who some of the better talkers are in WWE. He also talked up John Cena’s babyface promos.
— On the sports front, Miz said he considered attending tonight’s Cleveland Cavaliers game in his hometown where former Cavs star LeBron James will be returning to Cleveland for the first time on the Miami Heat.
Miz said he opted not to attend the game and go home to Los Angeles because he doesn’t get to spend much time at home. He said he’ll be on the road for the majority of the rest of the year.
Miz also laid out a scenario where he could have brought the WWE Title belt with him to tonight’s Cavs game and stormed the court if things get out of hand.
Regarding LeBron James’s “Decision” in the summer when he announced he would be joining the Heat, Miz talked about James having the opportunity to become the ultimate babyface if he announced he was staying in Cleveland rather than turning heel and going to Miami. Miz concluded his promo on James, saying, “I brought the championship to Cleveland, not LeBron.”
When WWE was in Miami for Survivor Series in November, Miz said he begged the WWE writers to allow him to cut a promo on James and the Heat. He said the writers wanted him to make it relevant to his heel persona, then they told him he had ten minutes to talk.
