The Miz has a phrase for what he bel💝ieves his role in WWE is right now – calling himself “the multi-talent.”
For the 18-year veteran, that means being able to do whatever the company asks and d♔oin🌄g it well, better than anyone in and out of the ring.
“If you need a main event that’s gonna draw ratings and get people talking, you can put me there,” Miz said in a phone interview. “If you need, four, six🐼, eight segments, yo𒁏u need the whole show revolved around someone, you can make that the Miz.”
Miz, whose real name is Mike Mizanin, has certainly proved that time and time again whether it be working with celebrities Bad B🦩unny and Logan Paul, winning t💯he WWE championship at Elimination Chamber in February 2021 and now working a program on “Monday Night Raw” that’s helping elevate main roster newcomers Tommaso Ciampa and Dexter Lumis.
He’s also busy away from the squared circle, having done three seasons of the reality show “Miz & Mrs” for USA Network with his wife Maryse and his entire family. He’s recently been on “Family Feud” and homered in the celebri♔ty softball game during the 2022 MLB All-Star Game festivities. Miz is also partnered with NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” and The League dating app for their that looks to bring fans together weekly at local bars and restaurants to watch the game and bond over football.
“I’m the person who can tell a story. I can do main event matches and not only that, I can do outside work,” Miz said. “I can host, I can do movies. I can be on promotion. Whaꦚtever it may be, I am your guy. I don’t know if th🃏ere is anyone who can do it better than me.”
He may have proved that tagging with Paul at WrestleMania 38 and then having a singles match with him at SummerSlam. Miz praised the work ethic and natural athletic ability of the well-known YouTube star-turned-combat sports disruptor who recently signed a multi-match contract with WWE. He said in their matches it’s their job to make it look “really easy” and “m✨ake everything look like you could do it” when it “wasn’t easy” because a l༺ot of work went into make it look so.
He was at least a little apprehensive about how the match was going to be received as he is a natural he✅el to the WWE audience and the outsider Paul had been getting a decent amount of boos during h🧸is time in front of the live crowds. By the time their match at SummerSlam was over, Paul had shown off a tremendous acumen for the business and was getting the cheers he and WWE were hoping for. It’s something Miz is proud of.
“When you’re booed and it’s two people in a ring that people don’t like, it’s a very difficult match to do,” Miz said. “To be able to have one of those people at the end of the match, people chanting one of their names, that’s a huge, huge testament to both parties in working and figuring out what the audience truly wants and g꧒iving it to them.”
It’s a kind of giving spirit that doesn’t go unnoticed. Ciampa recently praise Miz for it in an interview with SEScoops, talking about his work with some of the newer talent. 🎉Miz, 41, said he was 100 percent on board with working with Ciampa, who had been a huge star in NXT but had not been given a real chance on the main roster previously. Miz said in these situations, he remembers when he got his start in WWE and the importance of giving people a chance to shine. He feels he’s at a point where he can give information that can be helpful for other superstars and believes the “sky is the limit” for Ciampa.
“He has the brains, the wherewithal, the work ethic, everything you need in🧸 a WWE superstar,” Miz said. “He just needs TV time and people to start seeing his chara🌌cter and who he is so they can believe in him and they can either hate or love him.”
The twꦉo were recently part of a United States title feud with champion Bobby Lashley that culminated in a main-event steel cage match between♛ Lashley and Miz on Raw two weeks ago that lasted just over 18 minutes. It ended with Lumis appearing from under the ring and prevented Miz from escaping with the win. Lumis has been “kidnapping” Miz in recent weeks and stalking his family in storyline.
“No, I’m getting kidnapped,”🌸 Miz joked when asked about working with Lumis.ཧ “It’s something I honestly don’t like to talk about. It’s a little embarrassing.”
All of it is part of Triple H’s push to bring the mid-card titles back to prominence since taking ov🌊er as head of creative from Vince McMahon. It’s something Miz, a two-time grand slam champion, is happy to see be🎃cause presenting that championship in a main-event steel cage match “makes it prestigious” in his eyes.
“The people that have fought their way for years upon years upon years, the Harley Races, th𝕴e Dusty Rhodeses that have held the United States title, you want to ensure you uphold the prestige and history it holds,” Miz said. “I just love the way [we’ve] been able to s𝓰howcase it.”
He feels the new regime of Tri🍌ple H and co-CEOs Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan are building upon the foundation and “well-oiled machine” left behind by Vince McMahon, and trying to push it further. The improved ratings and the quality of the shows themselves are all signs to him that WWE has “been succeeding in being able to do that.”
Miz and Maryse, who have two daughters, Monroe and Madison, gave themselves a rare break from him being WWE’s multi-talent two weeks ago, getting away to Cabo. Miz said it was both a chance for the two of them to spend some time together and for him to break out “Mikey Romance” for his wife prior to the NFL football seasoꦦn starting, when the longtime Cleveland Browns fan’s free time gets a bit more conܫsumed by the game. Miz is also in five fantasy football leagues, with a number of them where his winnings go to charity. Maryse, who grew up in Canada and around hockey, is still warming up to Miz’s football passion.
“She comes from Montreal, she did speak English 10 years ago, so this is a whole new kind of world for her in the football, especially fantasy f🍌ootball,” Miz said. “I love it. I love the fact that fantasy football allows me to hang out with my friends, talk to my friends more, especially in Cleveland.”
He has been trying to get his two young daughters into the sport as thꦉey live close to Rams’ home at SoFi Stadium. Miz joked that while he is trying to teach them the game, the thing they most enjoyed about this week’s “Sunday Night Football” contest was watching the starting lineups introduced. It’s a start as it does get “Despicable Me” and “Frozen” and other shows like it off the TV in his house for a little bit.
“If I’m doing something with the daughters, Maryse is gonna want to be involved,” Miz said. “So this is kind of the plan righ൩t now, is to get the daughters into it so if they’re into it, guess who else is gonna be into it? Maryse, because she wants to hang out with the girls.”
His passജion for football is the reason he felt working with the “SNF Match Up” campaign and bringing people together with the game made a lot sense for him.
“When they came to me, I said the Miz and football are synonymous,” he said. “I’m huge into football. I love watching every Sunday night.”
All of that is part of the side of Miz fans of “Miz & Mrs” get to see. He is at least a little surprised a comedy that shows him as a husband, father and friend hasn’t resulted in him becoming a babyface in WWE. He doesn’t think it ever will and he’s “come to ter♔ms” with it.
“Even going against Logan Paul, where I was like, ‘there’s no way they’re gonna cheer him. There’s no way,’” Miz said. “It’s WWE, it’s our loyal audience. If we were in an arena full of Logan Paul fans and I came in, I guarantee they’d boo the hell out of me.
“But for Logan to be turned into a good guy and cheered at the end of that match, I was like dam. I don’t think there is anything I can do for them to love me and cheer me. Like there’s nothing. I put a show on, a comedy that shows my family, that I’m a dad. You look at it and you go this is a nice guy ꧅and no matter what I do, who I go up against. I’m gonna be booed.”