Going into the A&E WWE Biography on “The Miz” Mike Mizanin, it’s fair to say that I was dreading the assignment.
At the end, I think I appreciate The Miz a little more (beyond being a fellow suffering Cleveland Browns fan), and detest Sam Roberts and Peter Rosenberg a whole lot more than I did. Biography really needs to make an effort to switch up its talking heads for the historical transitions. Watching these week after week, I find myself wanting to punch the screen when they’re on — which used to happen with the Miz, come to think of it.
You also need not to be allergic to the words “stigma” and “respect” because they come up again and again and again.
As the show got underway, I was in fear they would treat it as an extended Miz & Mrs episode, because they started at the house with his wife and kids. But the ultimate goal was to show that family means everything to him, that he’s a dad first.
His wife, Maryse, was particularly insightful: “I don’t think fatherhood changed Mike Mizanin, I think it changed him in the eyes of the world because he’s a good guy, the biggest babyface.”
It didn’t start that way. From humble beginnings in Parma, Ohio, outside of Cleveland, he sought challenges, doing better as an underdog or when someone put him down. That included him time playing football, baseball or acting.
Some of the vintage home movies were, well, awesome, and it briefly went into a shrink session as he explored how his parents divorce when he was in Grade 5 changed him. Having a couple of life-long friends speak on his behalf, on how he has and hasn’t changed, plus his parents, helped humanize a guy who has been tough to peel the onion back from.
Adrift in college, he applied for MTV’s The Real World and got the part for season 10. A few people from behind the scenes, including creator Jonathan Murray, talk about how the Miz character came to the forefront during the show’s taping in New York City. No castmates were interviewed though, which probably would have been a real wormhole and distract from the wrestling.
Determined to wrestle, he goes to Ultimate Pro Wrestling, in El Segundo, California, in 2001, but also takes advantage of Los Angeles, and takes acting classes, improv classes, hires a nutritionist and truly hits the gym.
Miz talks about the training, and some vintage footage is run, but this is a big hole that should have been explored more. He was there three years and some of the names he was on the card with included Sara del Rey, Frankie Kazarian, Samoa Joe, Adam Pearce, Kenny King and … some kid named John Cena. Naturally, when Cena comes on camera later he doesn’t talk about being there in California with Miz, almost like he couldn’t see him or something.
WWE calls, invites him to try out for Tough Enough. We hear and see Bill DeMott putting him through the paces, but since DeMott got cancelled, he ain’t gonna be talking on here. Daniel Puder (remember him?) actually wins that season — “Daniel Puder was kinda thrown to the wolves when he wasn’t ready,” notes Miz — and the second-place finisher goes to Atlanta and Deep South Wrestling, where he eventually becomes its champion.
Vince McMahon takes notice — and, as an aside, this episode had far more Vince than any since he was cancelled / fired / ostracized by WWE/Endeavor. There was one remarkable scene where Vince was teaching promo class, with great visual of everyone making notes, and I paused it just to see so many familiar faces, like Serena Deeb, Heath Slater, Dolph Ziggler, Shad Gaspard, Shelton Benjamin, Harry Smith, Natayla, TJ Wilson, R-Truth. Fascinating.
Initially Miz is an announcer, as Vince saw him as “the Ryan Seacrest of WWE.” That included hosting Diva Search which is where he met Maryse. The hosting duties go okay, and some of his gaffs are highlighted to showcase how he overcame.
But the fans hated him enough that they figured they should put him in the ring, because the fans wanted someone to shut him up.
That stigma from the reality TV world kept him from getting respect. (Wash. Rinse. Repeat.)
Backstage, Miz was put in his place by bullies, and he was not allowed to use the locker room, even having to go out to use the bathroom with fans. He doesn’t name names, though. For six months, he was “not one of the boys.” A match with The Undertaker — “I think I impressed him” — changed that, and Miz asked him to let him back in. “Once that happened, the ride started going up,” he said.
The team with John Morrison (not interviewed) gets mentioned but not all the unique web-related stuff they were doing that helped. Then we zoom toward the main event picture, facing Cena, and beating Randy Orton for the WWE title. The behind the scenes shots after those big moments are always among the best things on these Biography episodes.
Then we get to WrestleMania 27, where The Rock versus John Cena is simmering but with Miz as the champion. “I still can’t believe to this day that I main evented WrestleMania,” said Miz, noting he doesn’t remember it; he got a concussion when the back of his head hit the concrete. It was wild seeing the behind the scenes stuff on the concussion check, Maryse talking about running in high heels to see him. “I didn’t know how badly Mike was concussed until afterward,” said Cena.
The Miz became an afterthought after losing the title. “I start spiraling down,” he said “I was trying so hard, but I just couldn’t find it” … conveniently overlooking that this is worked business and if you were “treading water” for three years, it was as much the writers and powers that be as anyone else.
Speaking of writers, as well-spoken as Brian Gewirtz is as a former WWE head writer, they never hunt down other former writers, almost like all of them are disgruntled and look back in horror at their time in WWE. Gewirtz, though, hooked his wagon to The Rock and is the proverbial success story who got out alive. “The Miz certainly had a face that you wanted to smack, so you could see he’s a natural heel and you could see that there was something there,” Gewirtz said of Miz’s early days.
Fortunately they don’t call Marine 3: Homefront any sort of Oscar-caliber flick, but explain how Miz’s time off to film it helped him remake himself into the A-Lister, and then adds Maryse on screen.
At two hours (less commercials) this Biography was too long (especially when Diamond Dallas Page and the Steiners only got one hour), and the whole Talking Smack controversy from 2016 where he badmouthed Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson) while Renee Young (Renee Paquette) sat there not sure what to do could have been trimmed. As it was, they had to explain who everyone was and why Bryan mattered. They used vintage footage of Danielson and Paquette talking about the incident.
Then the show is basically in fast-forward mode for the next six years of his career, briefly stopping on another WWE World title, WrestleMania 37 with Bad Bunny, and then mentoring Logan Paul.
“I can’t give Miz enough flowers. He was instrumental in teaching me the ways of the industry,” said Paul. “I definitely owe him the beginning and the kickstart of my career.”
What does it say that Paul’s quote was more real and not pandering for a soundbite compared to others who were interviewed, including Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Mick Foley, Seth Rollins, Edge, Mark Henry, Shawn Michaels, Booker T, Kofi Kingston, and Bruce Prichard?
Which all brings me to the point that star power is a real thing, but using the names just because you have them can dilute the show.
Two hours of The Miz is a lot, and I still can’t say that I know the difference between The Miz and Mike Mizanin. Does anybody at this point? Maryse recalled their early dating: “It was just funny to see how Miz would become Mike and Mike would become Miz, and how they were almost two different people.”
I guess I have a little more … respect … for the Miz, who overcame the … stigma … of reality TV.
Words he used to describe himself included “hated, despised, drive, work harder than everybody, sacrifice, it’s kind of a crazy life I’ve lived.”
What’s more, “I’m not done yet.”
But I am.
TOP PHOTO: The Miz in the WWE-Peacock show Evil. WWE photo
RELATED LINKS
- The Miz story archive
- Slam Wrestling’s WWE on A&E archive