The Miz Explains How to Become a WWE Superstar, What Not To Do, How He Distanced Himself From Reality TV and More

WWE star The Miz recently did an interview with Vulture.com, and below are some highlights:

Go big or go home:

“When I was on The Real World, I moved back to Cleveland, and I had a choice: My dad was like, ‘You should stay in Cleveland and be the big name out here.’ I was like, ‘But no, Dad, I wanna be a WWE superstar.’ He was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ I looked on Yahoo and found wrestling schools all over America, and I wanted to find one that was in Los Angeles, ’cause I wanted to not only prepare myself for WWE, but I wanted to take acting classes, improv classes — get all the tools I would need to become a WWE superstar. Not only that, I wanted to do as many reality shows as I could so I could get my name out there, because WWE might be able to see that and say, ‘Hey, not only is this guy on TV, but he has a following.’ I moved from Cleveland to Los Angeles in a matter of a month.”

Don’t be Seacrest:

“When I first came to WWE, I was told I was going to be the host of Friday Night SmackDown, and if you wanna be a WWE superstar, the worst thing you can be told is they want you to be the Ryan Seacrest of the WWE. I said, ‘Ya know what, they’re gonna give me a microphone. If they give me a microphone, I can make an audience boo me or cheer me.’ That’s how I proved myself [as a WWE star].”

Never get comfortable:

“If you succeed at a goal, make another one, and make it even bigger. My goal now is to win an Oscar. When I say that, people laugh at me. When I said I wanted to be a WWE superstar, they laughed at me. When I said I wanted to main-event WrestleMania, they laughed at me. So far I’ve been able to prove them wrong, and that fuels my fire. Now I need to find the tools to get me where I need to get next. I make goals that everyone else thinks are unattainable, but I know I can do it.”

Endear Yourself to the Higher-Ups:

“It’s all a matter of how you work it. Say you go on Bachelor, and you meet all the execs, and they really love you, and they go, ‘You did such a great job on this show, now you’re gonna be [the star of] The Bachelor.’ Then, when they do The Bachelor, who’s to say they don’t meet another exec? Or an agent or manager sees you and says, ‘Hey, we’re gonna put you on a new show.’ It’s all who you know. If you have the talent, use that talent to do something else. Hell, look at Dave Giuntoli. He was on Road Rules, and now he’s the star of Grimm. These things can happen. Are they gonna happen to everybody? Hell, no. But if you work hard and know what you want and know how to do what you can do, then it’s gonna happen.”