Booking 101 The Miz
Hey there, you glorious bunch of wrestling fans. This is Booking 101 with me, Tony Ironhide Stabile. I’m back again and this week I’ll be taking a look into the man they call The Miz. He is our generation’s version of Chris Jericho. He’s got the new look of a true Superstar, and the promo skills that rival the best in the industry. We’re going to go over some of his past and explore the awesome future this man will have in the WWE.
Mike Mizanin is a 29-year-old former Reality Show Star. Before wrestling, Mizanin’s claim to fame was the fact that he was so hated on MTV’s The Real World and Road Rulez. It was then that people saw that he was big on wrestling. He even sported a replica heavyweight championship belt occasionally on screen. His need to join the combatants of the squared circle pushed him to join Ultimate Pro-Wrestling (UPW). He got his basic training there. Mizanin made his in-ring, pro debut in 2003 with the promotion. He even competed in the Mat-Wars tournament. Then in 2004 he appeared on the fourth and final version of WWE’s Tough Enough. Although he didn’t win the competition he was probably the most memorable of that year’s contestants.
After Tough Enough, The Miz disappeared from TV to further his training. He was sent down to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW). While there, it became evident that The Miz had phenomenal mic skills. He got to exhibit his talents weekly during his segment: Miz TV. He was finally called up to the main roster in 2006. His debut wasn’t all that memorable and for month he served as “host” of Smackdown! The Miz and Ashley Massaro were used as hosts for the 2006 Diva Search competition.
Once the competition was over, The Miz returned to Smackdown, ready for action. He seemed to be floundering during those months. Then what can be seen as a catalyst to The Miz’s first push happened; he was drafted to the ECW brand. He got a very nice push in ECW. It was during this time that he was given a streaming show on WWE.com along with John Morrison. The Dirt Sheet showcased both men’s ability to cut a promo and display their sense of humour. Through The Dirt Sheet, both men teamed up and feuded with other tag teams. They became two-time Tag Team Champions, and won WWE’s 2008 SlammyAwards for Tag Team of the Year and Best WWE.com Exclusive.
After losing a Unified Tag Team Championship match and being drafted to Raw, The Miz and John Morrison broke up and both men’s careers exploded on their respective brands. The Miz was quickly pushed into a feud with John Cena. Every week, The Miz would come out and cut a promo on Cena and call him out to no answer. He would then claim a count-out victory over The Doctor of Thuganomics. This was a direct rip-off of the Jericho-Goldberg feud of WCW. The blow-off came when The Miz lost a loser leaves Raw match to Cena. Now, the beauty in this feud was that, Cena had to do nothing but beat The Miz. It was all The Miz’s doing that got this over. People just wanted to see him get his face kicked in. Which is good wrestling folks. What makes this feud even more amazing is that it got over even with almost every fan over the age of 20 knowing exactly what was going to happen because they had already seen it. The mere fact that he got this angle over is a testament to his ability and talent as a wrestler and performer.
After a short absence from Raw, The Miz returned after winning a “Contract on a Pole” match; wrestling as The Calgary Kid. The following week, The Miz came out as a reinvented man. He ditched his dorky looking shorts and hat for a pair of speedo trunks and kick-pads. Since then, he has gone on to improve on his match quality and even his promo skills. Week in, week out, he is a high light of Monday Night Raw. He is the current reigning United-States Champion.
The parallels between The Miz and Chris Jericho are very evident. Both men are incredible on the mic. The have very similar styles, in the sense of wrestling and in looks. They are both smaller guys. However, this will not hold back The Miz as much as it did Jericho because our generation’s wrestlers are all much smaller thanks, in part to the Wellness Policy. I remember watching the episode of Raw where The Miz debuted his new look. My friend brought up the fact that Jericho did the same not too long before that.
His repertoire of wrestling moves isn’t very vast, but he doesn’t waste much movement in the ring, as most of what he does is pertinent to the story of the match. The one thing I do see holding him back is The Skull Crushing Finally. It’s a finisher of the likes to anything used by Jeff Jarrett. Which means it is crap. He was smart in coming up with his “Awesome” stuff, as it can push him both ways. As a heel it gets under people’s skin and as a face it will be something interactive with the crowd like “Hell Yeah” or “Suck It!”
Big things are in the future for Mike The Miz Mizanin. He’s going to pull The WWE one day. The Miz’s experience in the Reality Show world, and urge to constantly learn are things that are pushing him to the top. Within the next 2 years, I can confidently say that The Miz will be a perennial main event player. He is of the class of young lions like John Morrison, Drew McIntyre, Kofi Kingston and CM Punk.
That’s it for this week’s Booking 101.
Be Awesome folks,
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Tony Ironhide Stabile
