The Miz Served Notice on Talking Smack

The Miz is a controversial figure among WWE fans. Over the last 10 or so years, the relationship has been rocky to say the least. He was the “guy from the Real World” that no one, not even the wrestlers liked. But he worked hard, he slowly improved and he won some fans over. He was the villain when Daniel Bryan came in on NXT, and while the words stung the fans of the independent hero, the Miz played his role to perfection. I dare say that Miz’s work helped Bryan early on as he was the perfect foil to the fans of Bryan. The tide turned when Miz won and cashed in MITB as he once again found a growing fan base; he was unfortunately outshined at Mania by Rock and Cena, but remained a professional and just kept working.

Ever since then, the booking of the Miz has been inconsistent to say the least, but he had found his place in the company. He became a go to guy for media appearances, always putting a positive shine on the company and representing himself very well. He also became a big part of the WWE Studios productions, starring in multiple Marine films, Santa’s Little Helper and also scoring roles on Supernatural, Psych as well as other shows and commercials. He had become a cross over star, not to the level of the Rock, but he has been a success story in terms of what WWE had hoped for when they opened the movies division.

Throughout 2016 Miz has been on his game, having some very good TV matches on Smackdown and being completely locked in on his character. The addition of Maryse to the act has been absolutely tremendous. They are a disgustingly annoying act that is impossible to like, but that you completely appreciate as heels. But when it came to Summerslam, his feud with Apollo Crews has next to no build at all, it was cold and lifeless and their match as Summerslam felt that way.

The Miz felt like an afterthought, the title felt like an afterthought, and then Talking Smack happened…

The Smackdown post show isn’t something that a lot of people brag about watching, but on this night, the Miz made it must see TV. He and Daniel Bryan, his familiar foe, were guests and Bryan said that the Miz wrestled like a coward, noting that when he was an independent wrestler, the Miz would have basically been the poster child for a soft WWE wrestler. Bryan respected the title, but NOT the Miz.

And then it happened…

Talking Smack has been a venue for promo work that is off the cuff and not completely scripted out. And with this being the case, the Miz fired up and cut the promo of his life. He ran down Bryan for promising to come back and failing, for taking so much time off due to while he had been in WWE for 10-years and never let the fans down. HE loved the fans and HE was always there, while Bryan had quit. It was based in reality, it made you feel bad for Bryan because he can’t come back, and it made you absolutely loathe the Miz because he reminded us of this fact. To say that the Miz was excellent here is an understatement. His promo was passionate, full of real life facts (some hard to take for long time fans of Bryan), and delivered flawlessly. This didn’t work because “it was a shoot promo,” it worked because it didn’t feel scripted, it didn’t feel fake, it was raw in all the right ways.

In many ways, this is something that has been missing from the WWE product. As fans we don’t want the same 15 to 20-minute promos, which are 75% story time of things we already know and then the same basic set up. When you look at the history of great promos, promos by solo performers, there isn’t a laundry list of soliloquies that go 20-minutes; there are however a long list of 3 to 6-minute promos where the greats, the guys that knew what they were doing, delivered the goods and sold the shows. They made you want to see them win or lose and pay to see it. Some say that the art of the promo is dead, but I think that with the right guys, it can still be done.

The Miz, to quote the man himself, was awesome here. Unfortunately this cannot lead to a program in the ring with Bryan (unless something has drastically changed), but I do feel that this can serve as another relaunch point for the Miz. Bryan is so loved by the WWE Universe that they need to get this promo out there, they need to play it up and they need to continue with THIS Miz. The brand extension has opened up the field, it has given opportunities and some will sink (Titus O’Neil on Raw) and some will thrive, and that’s what the Miz did tonight. Bryan can be incorporated into this, thanks to his role as Smackdown GM. I would love to see Bryan lining up challengers week after week for Miz, only for the Miz to keep winning and running down Bryan until Bryan can find that right man to finally beat him. This could provide a great long-term program for the Smackdown brand, which is coming off its best show in along time.

He’s the Miz, he’s awesome and he needs to be a major player on Smackdown after this.