The Miz recently spoke with Red Carpet Crash while promiting his upcoming movie The Marine 3: Homefront. Here are some highlights from the interview.
What made him want to get into wrestling: “My entire life has been on TV, in a way. And you know what’s cool? The uh, the fact that people saw the dream right from the beginning. Like, when I was on The Real World, before the Real World, I didn’t think I could do anything besides go to college, after college go back to Parma, Ohio, you get a family, you get a job, and that’s what you do for the rest of your life. And, once I got on The Real World, it made me realize that I could do anything I wanted. So I went back to Parma, I looked myself in the mirror, I remember looking at myself in the mirror and like right next to me on the shelf was a Rock, The Rock, action figure. And I was like, “What do you want to do with your life?” and I saw the thing and I was like, “I’ve always loved WWE, I want to be a WWE superstar.” So I moved to Los Angeles, started training in the independents while doing all those challenges that everyone saw. And at the challenges I was like, “I’m the Miz, I’m the Miz! WWE…can you look me up?”
What his WWE debut was like: “For a year I was in developmental territory, until I was debuted in Portland, Oregon at the Rose Garden Center as the host of Friday Night Smackdown. They wanted me to be the Ryan Seacrest of the WWE. And I was like, you know growing up as a kid, watching Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan, I never dreamed of wanting to be the Ryan Seacrest of the WWE. But, you know what, I’ll take whatever I can get.”
How he was treated once he made it to Smackdown: “The fans hated me, because WWE is like a fraternity. The locker room hated me. Nobody liked me because I was from a reality show, and I had to earn respect. And that’s what I set out to do. I set out to earn respect from not only the WWE Universe, not only the locker room, but everybody. And uh, everyone said I’d be fired within three months. Here I am today, sitting in front of you, 2013, a person that’s main evented Wrestlemania, has been WWE Champion, 2 time United States Champion, Intercontinental Champion, 4 time Tag Team Champion, 2 Time Slammy Award Winner, and now starring in a WWE Studios film, The Marine 3 Homefront.”
Several Photos of WWE’s Corporate Jet
