Ring Name: The Miz
Nicknames: The A Lister, The Awesome One, The Grand Mizard of Lust, The most must-see WWE Superstar of all time
Billed Weight: 221bs (100kg)
Place of Birth: Parma, Ohio, US
Finishing Move: The Skull Crushing Finale
Major Titles Held: WWE Championship, WWE Intercontinental Championship, WWE United States Championship, WWE (World) Tag Team Championship
Signature Moves: Awesome Clothesline, Figure-Four Leglock, Discus Punch, Snap DDT, Running Knee Lift, The 'It' Kicks
Managers: The Miztourage, Maryse, Damien Mizdow, Ric Flair, Alex Riley
Interesting Trivia: The Miz, along with this wife Maryse Ouellet, is a co-founder of the ‘NOH8’ campaign, a charitable organisation that promotes LGBT rights, gender and marriage equality and human rights.
Entrance Themes: I Came to Play by Jim Johnston (WWE 2010 – Present), Reality by Jim Johnston (2006 – 2009), Ain’t No Make Believe by Stonefree Experience (2007-2009), The Awesome Truth by Jim Johnstone (August 2011 – November 2011)
Reality TV Star turned Professional Wrestler: The Miz’s early years
Despite a promising career in business on the horizon, The Miz always seemed destined for the screen. His magnetic personality and innate confidence in front of the camera led him to appear on the reality TV show The Real World, becoming one of the most recognisable faces the franchise has ever seen.
Not content with just the one string to his bow, Mizanin decided to pursue his childhood dream of becoming a Professional Wrestler, finding early success with Ultimate Pro Wrestling in 2003. During his time with UPW, Miz honed his craft and managed to reach the finals of the company’s signature tournament in this second year.
WWE Tough Enough
Mizanin achieved his ultimate goal of joining the ranks of WWE as part of their Tough Enough season. The mix of Pro Wrestling and Reality TV proved invaluable for Mizanin who came second to Daniel Puder. This was enough to capture the attention of WWE management who immediately signed him to developmental territories Deep South Wrestling (DSW) and Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW).
Main roster debut
Miz first appeared on the WWE’s main roster as part of the Smackdown! Brand, however his involvement was mostly limited to hosting duties. In addition to this, Miz was tasked with hosting the annual Diva’s Search competition.
Whilst on Smackdown, Miz would pick up impressive victories over the likes of Tatanka, Matt Hardy and Funaki. During this time he also gained the reputation as a ‘Chick Magnet’, finding himself involved in many of the Diva feuds, culminating in a love triangle storyline with Kelly Kelly and Balls Mahoney.
Miz would gain his first major title opportunity against the ECW Champion CM Punk at Cyber Sunday 2007, but ultimately came up short.
The Miz and Morrison
It wouldn’t be long before the Miz picked up his first title in the WWE, becoming WWE Tag Team Champions with John Morrison in November 2007. Miz and Morrison would then go on to form a highly popular and entertaining tag-team, displaying their impressive mic skills on their weekly show ‘The Dirt Sheet’.
The pair found themselves in several high profile feuds throughout 2008, facing the likes of Cryme Tyme, The Colons and the newly formed D Generation X. Despite losing the WWE Tag Team Championships, Miz and Morrison would then go on to win the World Tag Team Championships soon after.
During the Pre-Show of Wrestlemania XXV, Miz and Morrison lost their belts to the Colons in a match designed to unify the two championships. Shortly following the event, Miz turned on his partner, thus transforming into an outright heel.
United States and Tag Team Champion
Now officially a singles star once again, Miz gained high profile attention in a short feud with John Cena. Despite coming out on the losing side on two separate occasions, this momentum propelled Mizanin to the United States Championship scene, eventually winning the belt by defeating Kofi Kingston on an episode of RAW.
The Miz would also form a tag team with The Big Show, defeating both DX and the Straight Edge Society. This resulted in Miz becoming the first man in WWE history to hold three different belts at the same time – The US, WWE Tag Team and World Tag Team championships.
WWE Champion/ Wrestlemania main event.
Following a successful period of time on the main roster, Miz became the 2010 Money in the Bank winner. After failing to cash in on several occasions against WWE Champion Sheamus, Miz eventually achieved something not thought previously possible for Tough Enough graduates. After delivering a Skill Crushing Finale to Randy Orton on RAW Miz became the WWE Champion for the first and only time, cementing one of the most impressive zero to hero stories the industry has ever seen.
The title reign earned him a spot in the main event of Wrestlemania XXVII against John Cena, where he successfully retained after outside interference from The Rock.
Face Turn
Despite commonly being associated as a heel, Miz did enjoy one, rather mediocre run as a babyface, becoming the protégé of Ric Flair. Fan’s response the Awesome One’s face turn was luke warm at best, and despite picking up the Intercontinental Championship and becoming a grand slam winner for the WWE, the character change would prove to be short-lived.
The Hollywood A-Lister/ The It Couple
In 2014, Miz returned to the WWE following a short absence and chose to combine his television and movie star persona with his WWE gimmick, becoming the self-professed ‘A Lister’.
Even taking into account his WWE Championship run, this would trigger his most successful and well-received period as a Professional Wrestler. In the summer of 2014, he almost single-handedly saved the career of Damien Sandow by employing him as his stunt double, and becoming a highly popular, comedic tag team in the process.
During the episode of RAW following Wrestlemania 32, Miz’s wife Maryse made her return to the company, helping her husband pick up the Intercontinental Championship for a 5th time. The pair would bring back the Miz TV segment and began calling themselves the ‘It Couple’.
The couple formed the backbone of Smackdown Live following the 2016 WWE Brand Split. The highlight of their time on the blue show came with a thoroughly entertaining feud against John Cena and Nikki Bella where Miz would mock Cena for being overbearing and obsessed with attention.
The Miztourage
The It Couple were then drafted to RAW while Miz would go on to form the three-man faction known as the Miztourage. Once again, Miz would offer a platform to struggling WWE Superstars, with Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas joining him.
The Miz has also been featured highly in his own right in recent years, becoming a well-respected holder of the Intercontinental Championship. His recent work has even caught the attention of former mentor Ric Flair who recently referred to Miz as the most natural heel in the company at present.
