OK Miz, I Give Up! You Win!

Remember The Bash in 2009?

It took place in the heart of the “Hate John Cena Because He Always Wins” era. Cena’s opponent for this particular Pay-Per-View? A man who got his foot in the WWE door because he was on an MTV reality show, The Miz. For that fact alone (well, that and the fact that he seemed to be the stereotypical frat boy reject) I couldn’t stand him!

I was at my friend’s apartment watching the show. When that match came up, I literally walked out. I stood outside the apartment and waited until the match was over to come back in. I just couldn’t do it. This match meant nothing to me and would only make me cringe if I watched it.

The Miz had absolutely no appeal to me. I even put the blame of switching to a TV-PG rating on him! I mean come on, the only reason a guy like him could have been getting any sort of a push was because he came from MTV, and WWE was changing over to focusing on programming appealing to that younger audience.

Then it just kept on getting worse and worse.

In the summer of 2010, Miz wins Money In The Bank. That November he cashes in on Randy Orton to become the WWE Champion. A few months after that he is in the main event WrestleMania 27 … … … and WINS!

Anytime I would be asked who I liked least on the show, Miz would be the answer with no hesitation. There was never anything that I could find that would make me enjoy his work. He came close working with Damian Mizdow…but WWE unnecessarily put the kibosh on that.

I could never like Miz!

… I just couldn’t!

… NEVER!!!

… … … OK … … … I tap!

I have been proud to be one of the biggest Miz haters that I knew, but I have to throw in the towel. 2016 was an unbelievable year for The Miz. After defeating Zack Ryder the night after WrestleMania to win the Intercontinental Championship, Miz found himself in classic matches against the likes of Cesaro, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn.

Even through all this, I still held on to my skepticism. These quality matches couldn’t have been because of Miz, it was because of his opponents, right?

Since the draft, though, I just can’t fight it anymore. The Miz is legit.

Miz spent most of the second half of 2016 in a feud with Dolph Ziggler that was easily considered to be a candidate for feud of the year. The back and forth action between the two longtime rivals made for some amazing television!

Not only has his in-ring game stepped up, his mic work has been phenomenal! He has regularly been able to go to a place that more superstars need to go to today. From his emotional tirade towards Daniel Bryan on Talking Smack months ago to the more recent interaction between him and Renee Young,  Miz has shown that he will raise the bar and create a buzz throughout the WWE Universe.

This has led to rumblings of Miz winning the upcoming Royal Rumble. While I think Miz vs AJ for the title would be good, I’m not sold on it being good for WrestleMania.

If it happens, maybe Miz will change my mind again.