WWE Superstar The Miz (Mike Mizanin) has been a dream casting for Johnny Cage ever since Mortal Kombat 2021 teased Cage’s arrival in the upcoming sequel. The former WWE Champion even got an endorsement from Ed Boon, one of the video game series’ creators. Miz has supported the idea on social media and in interviews ever since, and in a recent appearance on Ryan Satin’s Out of Character podcast, he revealed he started training for the role ever since the rumors began. That included learning how to hit Cage’s signature kicks and perform the splits.
“I wanna play Johnny Cage in Mortal Kombat, I have been working on my splits, I’ve been working on my kicks,” Miz said. “As soon as I saw that Mortal Kombat was out and there was no Johnny Cage yet and my name was literally trending Worldwide No. 1, ‘We want Miz as Johnny Cage,’ I was like, ‘If that want that to happen, I need to basically make sure that I am prepared and ready that if that opportunity presents itself then I will be ready and focussed.’ So I called my trainer that helped with Marine 6, I was like, ‘How do you do his intro kicks?’ I need them left-handed and right-handed because Johnny can do both.”
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Miz mentioned he’s “almost there” in regards to perfectly executing the splits. News that Mortal Kombat 2 had the green light broke back in January with Moon Knight’s Jeremy Slater hired to write the script.
“So the story goes like this. ‘Mortal Kombat’ came out and our social team, actually our digital team, texted me and said, ‘Hey, are you looking at the internet right now?’ And I was like, ‘No, I’m busy playing with my kids. Why?’ ‘Look at it, and look up Johnny Cage.’ I go, ‘Okay.’ And then I see Johnny Cage and my name is trending with Johnny Cage, and I’m like, ‘What is going on?’ And all of a sudden, I just see my name associated with Johnny Cage, just flipping through,” Miz explained in an interview with Looper in May 2021. “And it’s not negative, it’s all positive. And normally when I’m in a feed of Twitter, it’s negative, 100%, all the time. But man, was it positive, and, man, were a lot of my fans really wanting me, even people, even my peers, even the co-creator of Mortal Kombat was like, ‘Yeah, we’d love to see The Miz as Johnny Cage.’ And honestly that would be a dream come true and I would put everything I possibly have into that character and make sure that it gives the Mortal Kombat fans the Johnny Cage that they deserve.
“And I will do everything in my power to hopefully get that part if the opportunity presents itself. I don’t know if it will, but if it does on putting my name in the hat, I want the part,” he continued. “So whatever I have to do to get it, I will do. I will put forth the entire, I have an immense work ethic and whatever it takes, I will be there to try and do it. And if I don’t get it, that’s okay too. But I hope the person that does get it will put in the same amount of work and dedication and give the fans exactly what they want, because I know what I want out of Johnny Cage. I really do. I love the game. I’ve loved it since I played it on Sega Genesis, wouldn’t play it on Super Nintendo, only Sega Genesis.”
