In this WWE Evil: The Miz review, some thoughts on the second installment of the newest Peacock series from WWE.
Let’s jump in.
– Paul Heyman with a great line: “If you’re not an asshole at heart, you’re not gonna cut it in today’s environment.” He’s right. Mick Foley also lauds Miz’s courage to be a dick. That is something you have to give Miz credit for. He has always embraced playing the heel, and as he says in this episode, not everyone wants to get booed. He’s fine with it.
– I don’t always love Peter Rosenberg‘s appearances on these things, but he compares Miz to The Joker in that he’s the guy who’s counted out and treated like he’s disposable, then turns out to be everyone’s worst nightmare. It’s an extreme comparison, but there’s some truth in there.
– Foley points out that what makes the best bad guys is they believe what they’re saying. That’s true not only in wrestling but in other mediums like novels, television series, etc.
– Flashback to the Real World. I remember watching the first few seasons of this show, but I don’t think I ever journeyed into watching Miz’s season. It’s fun to watch his wrestling-esque mannerisms on the show. Again, this is pretty much new to me because I didn’t follow the series.
– Like him or not, Miz is a natural entertainer. That was clear during his run as a host on SmackDown, and the guy was just so confident on the mic even back then. As Cena puts it, Miz was the man everyone loved to hate. The dude leaned into it, and that’s why he’s featured in this thing.
– Miz’s story of getting kicked out of the SmackDown locker room for dropping chicken is funny in a way because of how many ridiculous wrestling locker room stories fans have heard over the years. He gets banned for six months, for those who haven’t heard the story before.
– Great details and highlights on Miz and John Morrison‘s team and how they aimed to be innovative by using “The Dirt Sheet” on YouTube. Dolph Ziggler notes that Miz is always doing things to try to get noticed.
– As expected, the story moves to Miz’s feud with John Cena and their first big match at The Bash 2009. Well, it was more squash than match, which would eventually work perfectly for their future matches.
– The focus turns to Miz becoming WWE Champion and MIZ GIRL makes an appearance. That was so funny. I honestly forgot about Miz interrupting her at The Slammy’s. Evil, indeed.
– Miz tells the story of him cosplaying as The Rock on Raw, and Vince McMahon‘s direction for him to wait for the crowd to come down. Another hilarious bit that I haven’t seen in years. It’s awesome how many people in the crowd actually thought he was Rock even as he was walking down the aisle. What a heel.
– And then it’s time for Miz vs. Cena at WrestleMania 27. The visual of Miz pinning Cena in a WrestleMania main event is still wild, even if it was with Rock’s help. They do a good job pushing the importance of that moment to his character.
– Some good insight into Miz studying Andy Kaufman‘s antics during his feud with Jerry Lawler. He’s probably referenced this approach before, but this was news to me. That’s good stuff.
– The Talking Smack segment with Daniel Bryan is brought up, and there’s an appearance from Bryan in this thing. So, I assume this was filmed before he left for AEW. If you haven’t watched that segment in a while, do yourself a favor and pull it up. It really was terrific, and it’s interesting hearing Miz talk about why that wasn’t fun for him because it was real anger coming out. Maryse also adds an element of realness to it discussing how nervous she was during it.
– Miz’s motivation is he wants to be the biggest superstar in the world. We know what drives him, and that’s important to any character’s success. Cena pushes the point that Miz has never gotten the respect he truly wants, and Miz reiterates that same point.
BLAKE’S TAKE ON WWE EVIL: THE MIZ
Rarely have I found myself rooting for the Miz character during his WWE run. But isn’t that the point? I thought this was another focused documentary in this WWE Evil series that really hammered home a character’s motivation. Miz has never been afraid to be hated, and they did a great job telling the story of the man and character behind that motivation.
I doubt Miz will truly get his due until he retires as an active competitor, and many will likely never him the credit he deserves. But that’ll be just fine for someone who clearly feeds off of the disrespect. This was another good episode in the series, and it’s one that should make a lot of wrestling fans appreciate Miz even more.
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