The Miz loves being a WWE Superstar.
The Miz was a recent guest on Just Getting Started with Rich Eisen and talked about his road to WWE. He explained how even though he wanted to be on Tough Enough and use that as a way into the company, he was told no because of his reality background as a cast member of MTV’s The Real World.
“Back then, you couldn’t intermix those things. Back then, it was a whole different world. Nowadays, you look at reality TV—everything is a reality show. Instagram, YouTube, TikTok—I know exactly what the biggest movie star in the world is doing because I can go on his Instagram and see it, you know what I mean?”
Reality shows are everywhere today and they are more widely accepted, but when Miz was on MTV it was actually used against him and stalled his career plans for a time.
“You weren’t applauded and loved and liked in Hollywood. As a matter of fact, I couldn’t get into a room to audition because they didn’t want you. You were a no-good nothing, a hack of a talent that could just be on TV and have a camera pointed at them and be entertaining. So, WWE wasn’t calling and I wasn’t allowed to do Tough Enough because it was different back then. Then Tough Enough went on to The CW, and they said it’s on CW, you could try out now. I tried out, 50 contestants, and I made the top eight, and then I was runner up. I didn’t win, but it was by audience reaction and if anybody knows anything about WWE,” Miz explained, “I’ve always been a very good person to hate. I’ve always been a bad guy, so I looked at that as a blessing in disguise.”
The Miz referenced his new WWE 24 documentary and said he’s always been about the job and it was never about the money, and it was captured on tape back then too.
“It was funny, in the WWE 24 doc, they showed me doing an interview that I had never seen before and it was like, ‘Man, it would have been really great to have a WWE contract and the bonus to win a million dollars.’ I really wanted that contract. In my head I’m going, ‘A million dollars? You could’ve won a million dollars and all you’re talking about is a contract for WWE?’ I was like, wow, even back then, my mindset wasn’t about the money. I saw the career and the want and the love and the fun. It wasn’t about the money, and that’s what you need to find when you’re looking for a job. I imagine you love what you do, I can tell you love what you do, Rich. You love interviewing people and talking about sports, you enjoy it. It’s something that you do. And so with me, I love being a WWE superstar.”
Miz closed by saying he loves going out each week and getting the reaction from fans, noting that “there’s nothing quite like it anywhere else.”
Related: Official Trailer Released For ‘WWE 24: The Miz’
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Just Getting Started is Eisen’s first step into the world of personal fulfillment podcasting where he interviews the biggest names from news, entertainment, sports, and pop culture, discussing their career origins and mining their stories on how they got started in a format where audiences can be inspired by their endeavors.
New episodes of Just Getting Started drop each Friday and are available at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, and Pandora, among other platforms.
