BBB’s WWE Column #1

As the sun shined in the eastern portion of the United States, Bad Booking was getting ready for work. Meanwhile, I just so happened to go to the FAN (Freakin’ Awesome Network) Forums, and went to the WWE section. I didn’t catch the end of RAW because I valued sleep a little more, not because of the quality of the show.  I was just expecting on getting some results to catch me back up.

Then I saw the thread title, “#1 in the 2011 PWI 500 is...”.

For a second, I thought John Cena or Randy Orton were going to win it again. I mean, multiple time world champions with the amount of good to great matches to compliment. They both represent the company to a great degree and put the business before anything else. So you see by the picture above that a photo-negative took the prize.

Before I start this rant, I do want to say that I have nothing against Mike Mizanin as a person or his beliefs. As a matter of fact, I actually kind of respect him.

His career started out with competing in Tough Enough back in 2004. Although he didn’t win, he definitely had something that if tweaked enough, could amount to some-thing some day.

Heh?

That “some-thing” almost didn’t happen. During his very early days, the man about to be known as Miz ate a piece of chicken in the locker room, and the “boys” so to speak weren’t too kind of this action.

The punishment? He couldn’t be that in space for SIX MONTHS. As in, if he was smelling like crap and had to change, he had to do it in public bathrooms or in hotel rooms. This would be the sort-of-thing that would make a rookie snap under pressure and quit!

If you’re reading this, then you can tell that Miz still stuck around. After being stuck in a lower-to-no-card hell for about a year or so...

Just listen to Bradshaw RAIL on this kid. It’s as if he was soaping his ass in the shower during the match!

Miz was partnered with Johnny Nitro/Morrison, and thus a two year reign of terror of the tag team ranks began.

Plus they had some chemistry not seen since Don Muraco and Mr. Fuji.

Obviously improved and ready to do some battle, Miz had a make-over in the summer of 2009, donned Chris Jericho’s gimmick, and started a meteoric rise towards the top of the WWE echelon.

Now here is where I start to sour on the kayfabe version of Miz. Keep in mind the operative word, kayfabe.

Although there is no doubt Miz was worlds better than what he was, he still wasn’t “that”.

For the next year, the ‘Awesome’ one would snatch that word as his signature catchphrase, and toll around the mid-card, winning the United States and Unified Tag Team Championships.

Watching the television at the time, the purpose of Miz’s character was a little unclear. While he had the US title, most of his action came in the ranks of the tag division, with Big Show acting as teammate/bodyguard. This, at least in my mind, made both of Miz’s initial US title runs quite forgettable, as if the title was devalued because of outside agendas.

Fast forward to July of 2010, when Miz won the red Money in the Bank briefcase at the pay per view of the same name. Miz would do what would be considered “normal” by winner standards, that is stalk whoever is champion in the hopes their title win could be an easy one.

In quite predictable fashion, THIS happened...

Nexus attacks Orton, Miz cashes in. That’s the Cliffnotes version.

Most people would think, including myself, that this would be a transitional reign. A reign so brief that even Bret Hart would think, “Wow, that’s short!”

Somehow, Miz held on for an incredible FIVE AND A HALF MONTHS.

In that time span, he had title defenses against Randy Orton, John Morrison, Jerry Lawler, and John Cena.

Yep, Miz defended the title against less people than Kurt Angle did in one night at Armageddon in 2000 in that Hell in the Cell battle. That’s over the course of 5.5 months people!

Sadly, of all those matches, the two he had against Lawler are considered to be the best matches. Miz could hang with a commentator, but not with Cena and Orton.

Which leads me to WrestleMania 27.

Miz and Cena competed in the second worst main event in five years. Of course that other main event was Orton/Triple H from 25, but that’s a different story for another day.

Whether it was sabotage or lack of chemistry, the matter of the fact was that Miz, as WWE Champion, looked more out of place than Leslie Nielsen in the million man march.

Metaphor proven.

Now with that out of the way, let me state that Miz being out of place as WWE Champion wasn’t entirely Miz’s fault. You see, Cena and The Rock had a purely-verbal feud over the course of winter/spring, and it completely dominated the match leading into 27.

As a result, it made Mike look like a chump, a patsy if you will. I firmly believe that Miz retained at 27 because WWE said, “Miz, we made you pretty much unimportant at a time where YOU should have been front and center. So here’s a one-month extension on the WWE title.”

At least Miz looks good with the title, one of the very few outside of Cena that do. His PR skills are pretty damn good too, as he made entertaining talk-show appearances. Check out the Jimmy Fallon interview, and surprises will come about.

Before I go way into the other direction, let me still state this is a rant.

A rant about how a man, whose skills in the ring are still very much inconsistent, somehow won a contest reserved for the gods amongst pro wrestling.

PWI, aka Pro Wrestling Illustrated, is a “premier wrestling publication” whose articles are completely in kayfabe. Therefore, unlike Dave Meltzer and “Wrestling Observer”, the reports are mainly based on what we see on the tube, mixed with reality only when it serves a direct purpose.

So while Miz had a good year, he didn’t get fired twice (Cena) and didn’t single-handedly take out a whole faction on his own with no help (Orton). In the grand scheme of things, Miz’s year could be noted as underrated, but #1? Now that’s just crazy talk.