The Miz Thought He'd Never Cash In Money in the Bank and Win the WWE Championship Again
The Miz made history during Sunday's Elimination Chamber pay-per-view when he cashed in his Money [...]
The Miz made history during Sunday's Elimination Chamber pay-per-view when he cashed in his Money in the Bank contract to beat Drew McIntyre and become a two-time WWE Champion. "The A-Lister" became just the fifth man in company history to go at least a decade between world championship reigns, and his first run with the title back in 2010 was heavily criticized as he took a backseat to the budding rivalry between John Cena and The Rock.
Miz was promptly pushed back down the card after dropping the title to Cena in 2011, and while he rose back up the ranks with outstanding Intercontinental Championship reigns in the late 2010s, the idea of him being a world champion again seemed out of reach even when he beat Otis for the Money in the Bank contract last year. He openly admitted in an interview with Bleacher Report this week that, given how strong McIntyre and Reigns have been as world champions, there was no way he'd get a successful cash-in.
"To be completely honest with you, I thought, 'I'm never going to cash in until these two get rid of the titles because they're such strong champions,'" Miz said. "I can't remember the last time we had such strong champions in WWE. To be able to go in there, beat Drew McIntyre, who has been on fire as of late, and win my second WWE Championship... I wasn't sure it was ever going to happen.
"Ten years ago, I was WWE champion, and I've had opportunities here and there but sometimes you just wait and you see and you push and you make sure you're always evolving, always getting better, always doing the right things," he added.
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Even though Bobby Lashley is already threatening to cut Miz's reign short, the two-time world champion is confident this second reign will be better than his first.
"It feels better because I feel that I'm ready and I'm worthy," he said. "When I first won the WWE Championship, I was still gaining my confidence in WWE. I was pretty new to the main event scene.
"As a matter of fact, I think that was my first main event," he continued. "I wasn't in the main event picture. To be able to work with Randy Orton and John Cena, who literally took me from his lower-level midcard Superstar into a main eventer... This is how good they are, that when you're in the ring with them, you have to elevate yourself and get to that level. If you don't, they'll swallow you up and spit you out, and so many Superstars have done that.
Miz vs. Lashley will take place on next week's Monday Night Raw.
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