The Miz Discusses How Iconic 'Talking Smack' Promo Came to Be

Now that The Miz and Daniel Bryan are destined for a SummerSlam clash, it's the perfect time to revisit how we got here. And the best starting point in a 2016 episode of Talking Smack.

While the post-SmackDown show has plenty of fun moments, nothing topped the purple-faced promo delivered by The Miz. As the Intercontinental Champion, the Miz stormed on the set and laced into everything that moved — particularly General Manager of SmackDown, Daniel Bryan. That exchange simmered for nearly two years and in the same moment Bryan earned medical cleared in the spring of 2018, we all began to salivate for the inevitable match with The Miz.

That match is upon us, but thanks to Reddit, an excerpt from the WWE book Creating the Mania, we now have a candid explanation as to what THe Miz was thinking ahead of the now iconic promo.

"So I went up to one of the producers and I said, 'Put me on Talking Smack.' He goes, 'Why?' And I tell him, 'Because I'm going to vent out all of my frustrations with everything that I have at this moment, and I'm going to vent it out on the General Manager of Smackdown, Daniel Bryan,'" recalled the Miz.

But before he could unsheathe his verbal sword, The Miz needed to approach Bryan.

So I went up to Daniel and I said, 'Hey, man, I don't know how this is going to go, but I'm really upset,' and he actually gave me a couple of lines and told me maybe I could go here, here, here, and here. I told him, 'If you want do do anything, just go for it. I don't care.' I just wanted to make something captivating, something amazing. And when I went out there, I don't even remember anything, I just went blank. I don't remember saying any of the things I said. I was so angry and so mad and so frustrated, and I just let it all go," he said.

What had The Miz upset was likely multifaceted, but on camera, the moment Bryan called Miz a coward for his wrestling style something within the Intercontinental Champion detonated.

"Sometimes when you're angry, you try to harness it, and you say to yourself, 'Calm down, calm down.' But in my head, I said 'F— it, I don't care,' and I just started ripping into everything. And that's exactly what happened. I lost it. I literally lost it on Talking Smack," said The Miz.

The Miz did give Bryan the freedom to hit him if things went off the rails, but according to Miz, Bryan's choice to walk away was genius.

"I even told Daniel, 'If I say things that go too far, go ahead and hit me.' I didn't know if he was going to slap me, but instead he got up and walked away. And, honestly, him walking away was the biggest gift he could've given me. He gave me the power, and that's something a lot of people will not do. They'll stand up and get in your face so they don't look weak, but Daniel's just so smart and just so good, and we're such good foils for each other. When he got up and walked away, it gave me the opportunity to turn to the camera and just let loose on everyone," he said.

The Miz and Bryan's story culminates on August 19 at SummerSlam.