Welcome to the first in what will hopefully be a long line of blog posts by yours truly regarding the sport of professional wrestling. I'm hoping to entertain those who read it and maybe, just maybe, give an original opinion. That's what these posts are: opinion. I am not a trained wrestler, nor do I have any desire to get in the ring and do what these men and women do week in and week out. I have the utmost respect for them, and while my criticism may be harsh at times, I will try to be more positive than negative, offering constructive criticism rather than blatant angry rants. Yes, the title of this blog is Rantables, but hey, I can try to help as well as entertain. Okay, on with the show!
Nine days ago, something happened I did not think would ever happen: Mike Mizanin became a WWE Champion. A World Champion. If you had told me five years ago that he would be the WWE Champion, you would have to call an ambulance afterward since I would be dying of laughter. But here we are in 2010, and The Miz holds what many consider the WWE's most prestigious title. Now, I still do not believe that Miz deserves a championship reign despite the improvements he has made over the past five years, but at the same time, I do have to give him credit for working his way up from the bottom. In this day and age, Vince McMahon tends to be a little more schizophrenic in his booking choices. Some guys will be pushed to the moon mere months after debuting, while others toil in relative obscurity despite a wealth of talent. Some men receive a sudden push only to have it disappear just as quickly, and championships change hands at the drop of a hat. So when The Miz cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase at the end of Raw, I will admit that at first I felt like this young (and possibly former) WWE fan, whom I'm sure many of you know as The Angry Miz Girl. She was even featured on this week's episode of Raw. I could barely contain my disappointment in WWE Creative, putting the title on a guy who is so mediocre. But over this past week, I've become increasingly conflicted in regards to this decision.
On the one hand, as I stated earlier, I have a begrudging respect for The Miz. Five years ago, everyone thought he was nothing more than a flash in the pan, a former reality TV contestant who somehow made it to TV again as some random idiot. He wasn't particularly good in the ring, and he was more annoying than entertaining on the mic. I'm sure some of you have read about all the crap he's had to put up with backstage. Hell, he even mentioned some of it on Raw, talking about how one John Bradshaw Layfield was...how shall I put it...a complete asshole to Miz during Miz's early years. But Miz never gave up on his dream. He paid his dues, he got better (both on the mic and in the ring), had a memorable tag team with John Morrison, became a two-time United States Champion, and helped put Bryan Danielson on the WWE map with a great feud earlier this year. The Miz has bucked the odds and managed to stay relevant in a company that has been stagnating for several years now. Any man who was able to live through the John Cena/HHH/Randy Orton years and end up on top of the card has my respect.
But (yes, there's a but) I still don't feel as though he's good enough to be a world champion. Sure, he's improved leaps and bounds since his debut, but I don't feel that he's as good as many other Internet Wrestling Columnists believe he is. He can be carried to a good match, but when he's doing the brunt of the work, his in-ring skills are still lacking. That isn't to say that Vince McMahon only selects the most talented of individuals to hold his top prize (Sheamus, anyone?), but there are probably a dozen or more men on the Raw roster alone who are more talented in the ring than Miz. And while he can incite a crowd with his promos, his character is very bland. Now, again, I'm not saying that every wrestler has to have a completely unique persona or character that they have to play at all times. But it would be nice if they at least made themselves stand out as an individual instead of seemingly blending in with the background. Miz basically has no character to portray. He's just some guy who happens to be the WWE Champion. Even Bryan Danielson (I refuse to call him by his ridiculously lame WWE name), who was purported to have no personality by The Miz, has a character that is drawn from his real life: he's a quiet, sort of nerdy guy who happens to also be one of the most dangerous submission specialists in the world. Miz is just...well, I guess the right word is the word I already used: bland. While he is by no means bad on the mic, he is still nothing special. He's just very...average.
It just seems (to me, at least) that the quality of performers on WWE programming has fallen so far in the past decade that someone like The Miz seems great in comparison. Of course The Miz is going to seem like a fantabulous worker when you compare him to someone like The Great Khali or Ezekiel Jackson, but he's nowhere near the capabilities of an Evan Bourne or a CM Punk (who, by the way, is now my favorite color commentator in the industry). And if you look to the indies, Miz looks downright pathetic when you compare him to individuals such as Eddie Kingston or Mike Quackenbush. Maybe if these Internet Wrestling Columnists would look outside the WWE to a promotion like CHIKARA, they'd realize that The Miz is nothing special. As I've stated, I have respect for The Miz for paying his dues and making it this far, but that doesn't mean I think he's good enough to be a WWE Champion. Then again, it isn't as though the guys most deserving of a WWE Championship reign are going to win the title any time soon.
Take from this post what you will. I will likely stay conflicted in my opinion of The Miz forever. Having respect for someone you find wholly unimpressive is a strange feeling indeed. I'm hoping he manages to impress me instead of depressing me. I've had enough depression when it comes to Vince McMahon's promotion in recent months. But I'll save that for another time.
So there you have it. Episode 1 is complete! Did you like it? Hate it? Do you wish millions of dollars to my bank account, or would you rather I was forced to clean up gorilla semen for eternity? Leave a comment or two. I appreciate all feedback. Unless you're just going to troll, in which case I'd suggest you move along. Thanks for reading, and I'll be back soon with Episode 2 of Rantables!
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