The Miz has reached the point of his career where fans are beginning to give him his flowers. Similar to how WWE audiences have come around on John Cena in recent years, Miz’s heel work reached a point in the late 2010s that crowds were cheering him for doing an effective job rather than booing him in an effort to get him off screens. Audience appreciation for his mic skills and character work has always been present, but not many draw attention to his abilities in the ring. That was until earlier this year on Monday Night Raw when the former WWE Champion was busting out hurricanranas on a TV match.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Miz’s recent impressive run continued last night when he defeated Tommaso Ciampa in a no disqualification match after ally Bronson Reed helped him clinch the victory.
“I’m a winner. I’m a winner. A winner, you hear me? It’s everybody in the locker room, it’s everybody in this arena,” Miz said on Raw Talk after the show. “I got the best version of Ciampa, I gave him the best version of me, and who came out on top? Me. Because I am a winner. I went through a table. I went through chairs. Look at my back. Bumps, bruises, bleeding. It doesn’t matter.”
This then prompted Miz to give himself a new superlative within his company.
“I am the toughest man in WWE,” Miz continued. “Maybe Ciampa was right. He needed to light a spark under me, and that’s exactly what happened.”
“Tough” is actually a word that has been associated with Miz since the beginning of his career. Miz broke into professional wrestling on the fourth season of Tough Enough, a competition series set out to find the next WWE superstar. Miz finished in second place but undoubtedly went on to become the show’s most successful alumni.
Miz’s fiery promo after Monday Night Raw had shades of his famous Talking Smack segment with Daniel Bryan (AEW’s Bryan Danielson). During that 2016 confrontation, Bryan criticized Miz and said he believed he wrestled like a coward. This led to Miz clarifying that he wrestles his style because he can do it “day in and day out,” pointing to the fact that up to that point he had never been legitimately injured in his career.
There is no word on when WWE plans to run Miz vs. Ciampa again. It’s worth noting that Johnny Gargano is reportedly set to return to programming soon, which could lead to the former NXT Tag Team Champions reuniting to take on Miz and Reed.
