John Morrison doesn’t think The Miz winning WWE Tough Enough would’ve worked out for his career.
Appearing on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet, All Elite Wrestling’s John Morrison praised former tag team partner The Miz for the success he has achieved in his career despite not winning Tough Enough.
Morrison also speculated about an alternate timeline in which both his and The Miz’s careers could have played out very differently if the results of their appearances on WWE Tough Enough had been reversed.
“The irony, I have thought about this too, if I didn’t win Tough Enough, I feel like my career is totally different if I had won, if Miz did win Tough Enough, same, I don’t know if he makes it as the Tough Enough winner, especially because his year, I think, was it a $250,000 Tough Enough?,” John Morrison said.
“So I remember at OVW, when I got there with my Tough Enough contracts, which is $50,000 a year, basically a grand a week showing up to OVW, and there are people like Rob Conway and the Bashams and Nick Dinsmore who had been there for years, and they were on $500 a week, or $250 a week.”
The AEW star noted that Conway had already spent years in OVW and even worked part-time as a furniture mover and installer while continuing his training. By comparison, Morrison arrived with a contract and television exposure, which made him an easy target in the locker room.
John Morrison on The Miz being naturally unlikable
Morriosn also pointed out that The Miz naturally had a personality that could rub people the wrong way, which might have made things even harder if he had won Tough Enough. Even after finishing second, Morrison noted, The Miz still had to go through the system in Deep South Wrestling, where he worked his way up while facing constant bullying and even being kicked out of the locker room at one point.
“We’ve all heard that story. What if he’d won? How much worse would it have been for him? I don’t think that The Miz would ever have quit wrestling. I truly believe that from the time he was a kid, there was something in his heart and soul that told him I’m going to be a professional wrestler.
“So even when he was on the Real World, we saw what he kept saying on all his shows back then, was he wanted to be in the WWE but the difference is just him having to overcome, not winning, and work his way up, I think, was more palatable to the rest of the locker room than if he had won and been given, a good position, like he already rubbed people the wrong way. It might have rubbed people too far.”
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