Great thread, PHX. Thanks.
I'm a big fan of The Miz. I always enjoyed his mic work going back to his days tagging with JoMo on ECW. His wrestling has come a long way since then. It's funny, my wife *never* watched wrestling before we started dating. (This will connect back to Miz, trust me) I didn't even tell her I watched wrestling for months and months of dating. Finally I had to break it to her that yes, I was one of those wrestling fans lol. She is super cool though, and she's also a big comic book fan. When I explained to her that I like it because wrestling to me is a big live action comic book, she was on board. It just clicked for her, and she's been a huge fan since.
The Miz was brand new really back then, and she's been a fan of him since. I enjoy shit a lot more if she's into it, and man she's a huge fan of The Miz. When he main evented WrestleMania you have no idea how she was marking out. This woman was crazier than I was for Mania that year. It was cute as fuck. She's super smart and she's figured wrestling out very fast too. When Miz dropped the title at Extreme Rules the following month, she was bummed but she was also the first to say that he got to that belt REALLY fast. We've both come to the agreement that he needed to be knocked down a peg or two just to see if he can handle it and come back stronger.
Since he's come back, he's definitely done that. His matches have been off the charts. The dude can *go*. His mic work was always there, and now the in-ring stuff has caught up. I have no doubts he will be a huge player in WWE for quite some time. He will get back to the main event sooner rather than later.
I'll make another prediction. Other folks have said they'd like to see Miz be a babyface. I agree. I think Miz would be great in that role if done that old school "Miz saves the day" way that was mentioned above. That is spot on. My prediction is that when he does turn, he's going to be RED HOT!! Crowds loooooove it when a long-term heel finally saves the day. The pop will be enormous. The crowd appreciates his wrestling now, it's his mic work that keeps him a heel.