The Miz' Current Babyface Run *minor SD spoiler*

[Dale]

Is anyone else finding it to have fallen totally flat? Like i've never been a fan of his at all but accepted that he had the charisma and tools to potentially be a good face, however I think they've made a mistake with it.

So far off the top of my head that I can remember, his booking has consisted of two Miz TV segments, one with Cena and one with Flair. Match wise he had those two six man tag matches where Tommy Dreamer and Brooklyn Brawler were the surprise partners to get the pops and a singles match with Slater. This week on SmackDown he wins his match with the Figure 4 Leg Lock, which gives me the impression that management may be panicking that he hasn't taken off yet. The question is, why hasn't he taken off yet?

Simple, he needs to feud with a heel who the fans care and react to but the problem is that person is himself. He had that connection with the fans that when guys like Bryan and Kofi feuded with him, he got their backs up and made the fans get behind the faces.

There was a tease on RAW and in the dirtsheets that he could be feuding with Antonio Cesaro which I think could be a great option for both guys. Cesaro isn't at that level a heel Miz was, but because he's got this Anti-American deal going on it can be a good platform for Miz to build his popularity from by defending the USA and it should also do wonders for Cesaro's credibility and getting over as a solid heel.

What are you thoughts on his turn so far? Do you think is character is going to alter over the next few months? Is he going to become a successful face? Who should he be feuding with?

 

[Chuck Taylor's Grenade]

Punk pretty much owned him in that one stupid lie detector segment and tried to get sympathy for him and it failed. It needs to be a slow process so the fans can get behind it. You can't have someone be heel one week and turn babyface the next and expect it to work.

Feuding with Cesaro or any foreign heel would be a great way to put over Miz's role in the new Marine movie as well.

 

[Crippler]

At first i was all for it in hopes that he would completely just change up what he was doing but NO! he just seems like a far more annoying and far more over the top then he use to be.

 

[zigglerHEEL]

I still say they should have done his turn the old way of doing it..... give a couple brief glimpses of him thinking better of his heel ways leading up to the eventual Miz saves the day as a top face is getting beat down.... a guy like Miz is always gonna get some heel heat from the people that don't believe he deserves his spot so why not go the great save the day face spot and win over the Cena crowd...

 

[The New F'n Show]

I think the tools are there for him to be successful. He is an entertaining guy and should be able to get fans behind him, but for some reason he hasn't yet. I think a feud with Cesaro will get the crowd behind him but I'm not sure it helps either guy. Cesaro, while talented, is getting more of a boring reaction from the fans than a heel reaction.

 

[The Cork]

Loved him as a heel but come on, he's an annoying, ugly chubby guy with a super hot GF, why would anyone choose to like him.

 

[Defiant]

Say what you want about Miz being rudimentary as a heel but it worked for him from day one because he has this naturally condescending attitude and tone of voice, they could have easily squeezed more life out of his heel run by putting back in the title scene. There's stuff people stuff he can do there at this stage and people are willing to accept him as a contender.

The babyface turn really hasn't been working. Part of it is how it just feels forced and sudden and the timing alongside Alberto's equally abrupt turn hasn't helped either (ADR at least had the mountain to climb with Big Show and the sympathy factor of Ricardo, though). I've been given no reason to believe The Miz is a different person now than he was a month or two ago - apart from the fact that he pairs with Kofi in tag matches now - so I think I'd be more perplexed if his face turn HAD gone over, if anything.

And lastly, he lacks material now.

Miz is competent on the mic and thus should theoretically get over just fine, but his turn has just been so poorly thought out and lazy in its execution that the audience still sounds confused when Miz is calling out heels.

tl,dr - Stupid booking

 

[Kiffy Lube]

The problem when he is on Raw and SD! he tries to keep his same obnoxious character. I mean it's hard to even tell he's a face in a middle of a promo until he does something fans want to see. They used Ric Flair in his favor on Raw and that helped a lot but the overall promo from him seemed off.

I still think his work on Main Event on commentary has helped his feud with Cesaro quite a bit but of course that doesn't help if his booking on Raw & SD! doesn't match up. It's made Cesaro look like a bigger player but here is where this differs. Cesaro right now is being booked much better on Raw & SD!. They are building him to be something great with his recent victories over Khali while Miz is floundering. Who has Miz beat lately? Heath Slater? This feud is half-assed on Raw & SD! and completely changes the realm it should be in.

 

[Deezy]

Judging from the reactions he gets on Raw, the live show with no piped crownd, it seems that Miz os over enough to be face, he's annoying? So is Cena. It doesn't mean the audiences will automatically hate him as a result. like I said in another thread, just like in high school, the jock douchebags are popular. The most popular shows on TV all center around a character who are assholes.

Heel/face is dead and buried. There is just popular and hated.

 

[Gimmick]

One of the main problems with his face turn has been that his character hasn't changed at all, there's simply no reason for the crowd to cheer for him. What made Orton's face turn work was the fact that his cold and sinister character could easily be altered into a strong, silent type character. With The Miz, they can't simply turn him face and keep his character the same, because he's way too annoying to get a positive reaction.

I think if they could change his gimmick up a bit he'd get a better reaction from the fans. They can keep the confidence, but do away with all of the smugness. Also, putting him in a actual fued against a good heel would also make him a bit more popular. Since turning face the fans have had practically no one to boo against.

 

[Dod Draper]

Getting him off these goofy MizTV segments would help. I'm not sure about anybody else, but when I hear "MIZ TV COMING UP WITH XYZ", I just feel the boredom descending upon me. Watching Miz kiss Ric Flair's ass in some boring, meaningless segment isn't doing it.

Give him matches. Give him an actual feud. Take him off the shitty talk shows. That's my 2 cents, anyway.

 

[zigglerHEEL]

Getting him off these goofy MizTV segments would help. I'm not sure about anybody else, but when I hear "MIZ TV COMING UP WITH XYZ", I just feel the boredom descending upon me. Watching Miz kiss Ric Flair's ass in some boring, meaningless segment isn't doing it.

Give him matches. Give him an actual feud. Take him off the shitty talk shows. That's my 2 cents, anyway.

I'm with ya, he's improved vastly in the ring and it's clear he's better on the mic when it's just cutting a promo on whatever guy he's feuding with.... I think the program with Cesaro could be really really good if they just let the two yap at each other and give it a 2 or 3 PPV run...

 

[Kiffy Lube]

If you are just watching Raw & SD! you aren't watching the true build up for Miz/Cesaro. That whole thing is pretty much on Main Event usually with Cesaro putting on a hell of match while Miz is on commentary. If you decide to not pay attention to this part of the feud then you shouldn't even be allowed to judge it.

 

[zigglerHEEL]

I saw the first interaction between the 2 on Main Event and it was great.... My point was to agree that MizTV needs to go and that they need to do more of what they did on Main Event....

 

[Kahuna]

Miz as a face, lol no. Thats all I have to say bout that.