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The Miz

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Mike Mizanin
Born (1980-10-08) October 8, 1980 (age 44)[1]
Parma, Ohio[1]
WebsiteMike "The Miz".com
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Mike Mizanin[1]
The Miz[2]
Billed height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[2]
Billed weight231 lb (105 kg)[2]
Billed fromCleveland, Ohio (WWE)[2]
Parma, Ohio
Trained byUPW staff
Al Snow
Bill DeMott
Debut2003[1]

Michael "Mike" Mizanin (born October 8, 1980)[1] better known by his ring name The Miz, is an American professional wrestler signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on its ECW brand. He also makes appearances on both the SmackDown and Raw brands.

Before being promoted to the main WWE roster, Mizanin trained and wrestled with Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW) and Deep South Wrestling (DSW), where he became the first Deep South Heavyweight Champion. Mizanin was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), working in tag team action and winning the tag titles, the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship, on one occasion.

After signing with WWE, Mizanin became host of the annual WWE Diva Search competition in 2006. Following his hosting duties, Mizanin made his wrestling debut in September 2006, as a villain who went "undefeated". In 2007, he was drafted from SmackDown to the ECW brand, where he formed a partnership with John Morrison, in which the two captured both the WWE Tag Team Championship and the World Tag Team Championship.

Aside from professional wrestling, Mizanin has appeared on numerous MTV reality shows, most notably The Real World. Mizanin entered the fourth season of Tough Enough, a televised competition which would award the winner a WWE contract. He was a finalist in the competition. Mizanin has also made appearances on television shows including Battle of the Network Reality Stars, Fear Factor, Identity, and Ghost Hunters.

Biography

Mizanin, a native of Parma, Ohio, graduated from Normandy High School, where he was the captain of the basketball and cross country teams.[1] He also particpated in swimming, the student government and was the editor of his high school yearbook.[1] He then attended Miami University, where he was a member of the Theta Chi Fraternity, and studied business at the Richard T. Farmer School of Business.[1][3]

Mizanin later relocated to Southern California in order to attend acting classes. He also visited high schools and colleges, delivering motivational speeches.[3]

Television career

Mizanin dropped out of college, where he was pursuing a degree in business, in order to appear on the tenth season of MTV's reality television program The Real World in 2001.[4][5] He went on to appear in multiple seasons of its spin-off series, Real World/Road Rules Challenge,[5] along with contestants from both Road Rules and The Real World, including Battle of the Seasons,[6] The Gauntlet,[7] The Inferno,[7] Battle of the Sexes 2,[8] and The Inferno 2.[9] Except for Battle of the Sexes 2, Mizanin made it to the end of the rest of the Challenges on which he competed, and won both Battle of the Seasons and The Inferno 2.

It was during an episode of The Real World that Mizanin first displayed an alter ego known as "The Miz".[1] In contrast to Mizanin's usually placid demeanor, the Miz was angry, combative, and headstrong. Mizanin later realized that "The Miz" would make an excellent professional wrestling gimmick.[1]

Mizanin had a number of relationships during his various "Challenge seasons"; during The Gauntlet he dated Trishelle Cannatella[3][10] of The Real World: Las Vegas, during The Inferno he had a relationship with Kendal Sheppard[10] of Road Rules: Campus Crawl, and during Battle of the Seasons he had another brief relationship with Tara McDaniel of Road Rules: Northern Trail.[10]

In 2004, he appeared on the Bravo reality show Battle of the Network Reality Stars,[5][11] where his team finished second. Mizanin was also a contestant in the "Reality Stars" episode of Fear Factor.[5][12] His partner was his former girlfriend and cast mate, Trishelle Cannatella, and the two won the competition. In April 2007, he appeared on the game show Identity, where he appeared as a stranger, and contestant John Kim correctly identified his identity as a professional wrestler by the odd way he added "Miz-" before most words. In 2008, Mizanin appeared on the Sci Fi reality series Ghost Hunters Live as a guest investigator.[13]

Wrestling career

Pursuing the goal of becoming a professional wrestler which he had harbored from an early age, Mizanin joined Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW), where he trained in the Ultimate University.[1] He made his in-ring debut in 2003 as the Miz.[1] During his time with UPW, the Miz competed in UPW's Mat War's tournament, making it to the finals before losing to Tony Stradlin.[1]

World Wrestling Entertainment (2006–present)

In October 2004, Mizanin entered the fourth season of Tough Enough, a televised competition which would award the winner a World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) contract and the sum of $1,000,000.[1][14] Despite coming last in an arm wrestling tournament on November 25, 2004, Mizanin outlasted six other wrestlers, and made it to the final round.[3] At the pay-per-view event, Armageddon, Mizanin faced the other remaining entrant, Daniel Puder, in a three round "Dixie Dogfight" (boxing match). Neither man achieved a knockout, and the contest was awarded to Puder on the basis of crowd reaction.[15] On the December 16, 2004 episode of SmackDown!, Puder was announced as the winner of Tough Enough by head trainer Al Snow.[16]

Despite losing the Tough Enough contest, Mizanin had piqued the interest of WWE, and he was eventually offered a developmental contract.[1] Mizanin was sent to Deep South Wrestling (DSW) to train under Bill DeMott,[1] relocating to McDonough, Georgia in the process. In July 2005, he wrestled two dark matches for WWE, teaming with former Tough Enough champion Matt Cappotelli to face The Highlanders (Robbie and Rory McAllister). On December 1, 2005, Mizanin defeated Mike Knox in the finals of a tournament to crown the first Deep South Heavyweight Champion.[1][17]

He continued his partnership with Matt Cappotelli throughout the second half of 2005 in WWE dark matches and house shows until Cappotelli, nominally of Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), was diagnosed with a brain tumor after an injury at a taping in December 2005.[18]

Ohio Valley Wrestling

On January 3, 2006, it was reported that Mizanin was transferred to Ohio Valley Wrestling. On the January 18, 2006, OVW TV show, Mizanin made his debut as "The Miz", with a Miz TV segment, where he was shown talking backstage.[1] On the January 28, 2006, edition of the OVW television show, The Miz wrestled his first singles match against Rene Dupree, but lost by countout.[19]

At the February 8, 2006 TV taping, The Miz and Chris Cage captured the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship, defeating Chet the Jett and Seth Skyfire.[1][20] In what was deemed a "disciplinary move", WWE released Cage over the weekend of March 18, 2006, making it necessary for Miz and Cage to drop the titles.[21] On March 19, 2006, Deuce Shade defeated The Miz in a singles contest to win the titles for his team The Untouchables (Deuce Shade and Domino).[1][22]

NERD

ECW (2007–present)

Main article: John Morrison and The Miz
Mizanin was one half of the WWE Tag Team Champions, alongside John Morrison.

Miz was drafted from SmackDown! to ECW on June 17, 2007 as part of the 2007 Supplemental Draft.[23] He was absent from the first few weeks of ECW, though he was the subject of backstage mentions between matches and had several short Miz TV Crashes ECW video segments.[24][25] He made his debut on the July 10 episode of ECW in a match against Nunzio, which he won.[26] Following this match, Extreme Exposé began expressing admiration in him and gave him a lap-dance, starting a new gimmick for him of a self-proclaimed "chick magnet".[27] Extreme Exposé then became managers for The Miz.[28] He then began a feud with Balls Mahoney, after Kelly Kelly began to fall in love with Mahoney on screen.[29][30][31] On the October 2 episode of ECW, it was revealed that Miz owned the contracts of Kelly Kelly, Layla, and Brooke Adams, and used this excuse to stop Kelly from going out with Mahoney.[32] He was voted at Cyber Sunday to face CM Punk, for the ECW Championship but lost the match.[33] On the November 16 episode of SmackDown, he became one half of the WWE Tag Team Champions with John Morrison when they defeated Matt Hardy and Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) in a title match, which gave the Miz his first title within the company.[34][35]

Along with Morrison, The Miz co-hosts a weekly segment on WWE.com called "The Dirt Sheet", where Miz and Morrison make fun of the WWE roster and show off their promo skills.[36] Since holding the titles, WWE downplayed the angle of Miz and Morrison disliking each other, and since has portrayed them as friends. The team had many successful title defenses over the next few months, before dropping the titles to Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder at the Great American Bash in a Fatal Four-Way match which also featured Jesse and Festus and Finlay and Hornswoggle.[37] Neither Miz nor Morrison were pinned, as Hawkins pinned Jesse to win the titles.[37] Miz and Morrison soon followed a feud with Cryme Tyme (Shad Gaspard and JTG) as a battle of their webshows, Word Up" and "The Dirt Sheet". The two would become victorious against Cryme Tyme in a match at Cyber Sunday where they were voted in.[38] On December 13, 2008, Miz and Morrison defeated Kofi Kingston and CM Punk to win the World Tag Team Championship during a WWE house show in Hamilton Ontario, Canada.[39] The team then engaged themselves in a feud with The Colóns (Carlito and Primo). At WrestleMania XXV, they lost the World tag title to The Colóns in a Lumberjack match to unify the World Tag Team and the WWE Tag Team titles.[40]

In wrestling

  • The Dirt Sheet
    • In February 2008, Miz and his tag team partner John Morrison were given a streaming segment on the WWE website named The Dirt Sheet in which they mocked other wrestlers and facets of pop culture.[36]

Championships and accomplishments

The Miz (left), with John Morrison (right) as World Tag Team Champions, and with their Slammy Awards.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t "Slam! Sports - Wrestling - The Miz". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2008-01-03.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "The Miz Bio". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-12-31.
  3. ^ a b c d Nwokeabia, Joannah (2005-09-22). "Reality TV rules Real World's "The Miz" on keeping it real". The Commonwealth Times. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
  4. ^ "A few 'Real' no-no's". USA Today. 2004-09. Retrieved 2009-02-20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ a b c d Morrow, Terry (2007-08-27). "Think reality TV: Think Mike Mizanin". Accent. Retrieved 2008-03-27.
  6. ^ "Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Battle of the Seasons". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2008-03-27.
  7. ^ a b "Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Gauntlet". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2008-03-27. Cite error: The named reference "gauntlet" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  8. ^ "Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Battle of the Sexes 2". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2008-03-27.
  9. ^ "Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Inferno 2". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2008-03-27.
  10. ^ a b c "WWF Champs - Wrestler Profiles - The Miz". WWFChamps.com. Retrieved 2008-12-04.
  11. ^ "Competitors". Bravo TV. Archived from the original on 2007-10-15. Retrieved 2008-03-27.
  12. ^ Shattuck, Kathryn (2006-06-13). "What's on tonight". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
  13. ^ Medalis, Kara A. (2008-10-30). "Go 'Ghost Hunt'-ing with The Miz this Halloween". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
  14. ^ Cooper, Gael Fashingbauer (2004-12-21). "Who's the most famous reality TV alum?". MSNBC. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
  15. ^ Plummer, Dale (2004-12-13). "WWE survives its own Armageddon". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2008-11-24. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  16. ^ "WWE SmackDown! - December 16, 2004 Results". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-03-04.
  17. ^ "Deep South Wrestling - December 1, 2005 Results". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-03-04.
  18. ^ Dee, Louie (2007-04-06). "Matt Cappotelli to undergo brain surgery". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2008-11-24.
  19. ^ "Ohio Valley Wrestling (2006) - January 25, 2006 – OVW TV Tapings". Online World of Wrestling. 2006-01-25. Retrieved 2009-03-04.
  20. ^ "Ohio Valley Wrestling (2006) - February 8, 2006 – OVW TV Tapings". Online World of Wrestling. 2006-02-08. Retrieved 2009-03-04.
  21. ^ "Cayden Croft profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
  22. ^ "Ohio Valley Wrestling (2006) - March 19, 2006 – Ohio Valley Wrestling". Online World of Wrestling. 2006-03-19. Retrieved 2009-03-04.
  23. ^ Dee, Louie (2007-06-17). "2007 Supplemental Draft results". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
  24. ^ MacKinder, Matt (2007-06-13). "ECW: Title picture clears up". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
  25. ^ MacKinder, Matt (2007-06-25). "ECW: Tuesday Nitro era begins". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
  26. ^ Clayton, Corey (2007-07-10). "Nitro and Punk continue to roll toward The Bash". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
  27. ^ MacKinder, Matt (2007-07-11). "ECW: Come on baby, light my fire". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
  28. ^ MacKinder, Matt (2007-07-20). "ECW: Morrison issues challenge". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
  29. ^ MacKinder, Matt (2007-08-02). "ECW: Punk gets his 15 minutes". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
  30. ^ MacKinder, Matt (2007-08-09). "ECW: Returning Estrada named GM". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
  31. ^ MacKinder, Matt (2007-08-29). "ECW: New champion crowned". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
  32. ^ Rote, Andrew (2007-10-02). "Big results". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
  33. ^ Rote, Andrew (2007-10-28). "Miz-match? CM Retains". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
  34. ^ a b "History Of The WWE Tag team Championship-John Morrison & The Miz". World Wrestling Entertainment. 2007-11-16. Retrieved 2007-12-22.
  35. ^ Dee, Louie (2007-11-16). "That's not what friends are for". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
  36. ^ a b "The Dirt Sheet". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
  37. ^ a b Passero, Mitch (2008-07-21). "Out of the shadows, into the golden light". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2008-07-22.
  38. ^ Martin, Adam (2008-10-26). "Cyber Sunday PPV Results - 10/26/08 - Phoenix, AZ". WrestleView. Retrieved 2008-11-25.
  39. ^ "History Of The World Tag Team Championship - The Miz & John Morrison". World Wrestling Entertainment. 2008-12-13. Retrieved 2008-12-14.
  40. ^ Burdick, Michael (2009-04-05). "Brothers united". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
  41. ^ a b c "OWW: The Miz". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-02-26.
  42. ^ "Bolin Services Biography". Kenny Bolin. Retrieved 2008-03-27.
  43. ^ "Roni Jonah". G.L.O.R.Y. Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-03-27.
  44. ^ a b c d e "WWE Superstars and Divas attend a pre-Oscar party". World Wrestling Entertainment. 2009-02-20. Retrieved 2009-04-03.
  45. ^ "Deep South Wrestling Heavyweight Title history". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
  46. ^ "Ohio Valley Wrestling Southern Tag Team Title history". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
  47. ^ Pro Wrestling Illustrated. 30 (3): 66–67. 2009. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  48. ^ Clark, Ryan (2008-09-18). "The Complete 'PWI 500' List For 2008". Pro Wrestling Illustrated. WrestlingInc.com. Retrieved 2009-03-10.
  49. ^ "History Of The World Tag Team Championship - The Miz & John Morrison". World Wrestling Entertainment. 2008-12-13. Retrieved 2008-12-14.
  50. ^ a b "2008 Slammy Awards". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
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