It might sound strange to argue that somebody about to face John Cena at WrestleMania is not getting the respect he deserves. After all, signature WrestleMania matches typically involve either the world title, The Undertaker, or John Cena. On the other hand, facing Cena at Mania is one of those anomalies in Wrestling.
True, you are getting a top spot on the most important card of the year, but you’re probably not going to win your match unless your name is Dwayne Johnson. Just ask Rusev or Bray Wyatt.
However, you can just about argue that when you’re in the position of somebody like Rusev or Wyatt – relatively new to the company and trying to make a name for yourself – facing Cena, win or lose, is a major step in your career. Nobody can take away the fact that Vince trusted you to share the ring with his favourite Superstar. And this was certainly true about The Miz back at WrestleMania 27. Even though the feud was primarily centred around Cena and The Rock, The Miz is one of two men who can say that they successfully defended the WWE Championship as a heel at the Showcase of the Immortals.
Fast forward six years and The Miz is no longer in that position. He may not be the champion at the moment, but oddly his character is much better positioned and just has a lot more to it. I would even go as far as to say that The Miz is the most effective heel the company has right now. He is certainly not somebody in need of a John Cena match at Wrestlemania to enhance his legacy. A quick glance at the man’s career, and you’ll find he’s perfectly capable of doing that himself.
The Miz is somebody who never should have been a WWE superstar. Without knowing the full ins and outs, it’s pretty apparent that the guy faced a lot of hostility in his early days. He was basically a failed reality TV star trying to make it as a wrestler. He has spoken before about how the big dogs in the locker room would ignore him and congratulate somebody else i.e. John Cena, on a job well done. A lesser man would have given up at this early stage, but the Miz managed to stick it out.
He then found himself in a tag team with John Morrison. They were pretty entertaining and shared a decent amount of success winning the Tag Team belts at one point. Their dirt-sheet segments were very entertaining and were an excellent way to show how good The Miz was on the microphone. Even during this pairing, however, fans pretty much expected Morrison to emerge as the top guy, and the Miz to fade away into mid-card hell, or even worse. They even did an angle after the pair split up, each man claiming the other was going to be the ‘Janetty’ of the team – a reference to Shawn Michaels becoming a main eventer, and his former partner Marty Jannetty fading into obscurity.
Again, Miz managed to defy expectations and became the first of the pair to break out on his own properly. He found himself in a solid partnership with the Big Show as part of ‘Showmiz’ and once held both the tag team and US Championship at the same time. Miz was becoming synonymous with mid-card success, and it was only a matter of time before the guy would move even higher up the billing.
Also read: Triple H praised The Miz, calls him the best on the mic in the current roster
When Miz won the Money in the Bank Briefcase, there were the inevitable moans and groans from the WWE universe. He wasn’t ready; they could have given it to somebody else more deserving, etc., etc. Despite this being a time when the WWE thought the best way to build up their MITB winners was to have them lose every week, Miz still managed to stay on people’s radars. It was around this time that Michael Cole became a one-man cheerleader for him, which again kept people’s attention.
When Miz finally cashed in his briefcase on Randy Orton, people had to admit that the guy they kept expecting to fail, had well and truly defied their expectations. True, his title reign was mostly forgettable, which seems crazy considering it involved a short programme with the Rock and a Wrestlemania main event! Miz would eventually lose his title to Cena a few months later, and once again the fans were anticipating his downfall.
Often when somebody doesn’t manage to make a title reign work for them, they soon find themselves quickly sliding down the card. Sheamus and Del Rio are good examples of this. And this was true for Miz as well, at least for a time. Mania 28, one year removed from his main event billing, he found himself on the kick-off show winning the IC title. Quite the fall from grace. But true to form the guy didn’t give up, and he now finds himself in a more than prominent position on the Smackdown Live roster.
So, does all this warrant a rematch with Cena, albeit with the inclusion of Maryse and Nikki Bella? I would argue that the guy deserves more. For one thing, this is probably the easiest match to call in terms of the result. Unless they wanted to drag it out a few months further, which seems unlikely, the Miz is probably going to lose here.
The only saving grace is that because they will want to shed the limelight on Nikki in possibly her final match, she will most likely get the pinfall on Maryse. Once again, just like Mania 27, the Miz finds himself as a pawn in a John Cena storyline that involves a third person. There are better ways to use the guy.
For example, he would have been a great opponent for somebody like Apollo Crews. The Miz’s skills on the mic would have protected Crews during their Promo build ups and allowed him to showcase his in-ring work. Working with the Miz at this point feels like a big deal, especially for somebody who would have otherwise found themselves thrown into the Andre the Giant Battle Royal.
Or maybe they could have built a programme around Miz Vs. AJ Styles. Miz would prove to be a much more worthy opponent for Styles than Shane McMahon, and the two would no doubt have had good chemistry. They could have also used it as a way to turn Styles babyface, something that needs to happen sooner rather than later.
When all said and done, this match is about John Cena and Nikki Bella. Although Miz’s promo work has been exceptional in the run-up to this match, he will be an afterthought come the pinfall. I think Miz has done enough in his career to warrant being a main attraction of Wrestlemania. At the moment he is struggling to be the main attraction in his own feud.
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