WWE SmackDown Live Results, Highlights, and Grades for March 19, 2019

The Miz responds to Shane McMahon

Despite initial announcements by WWE that Kofi Kingston’s gauntlet match would kick off SmackDown, we were instead greeted by The Miz. After a brief recap of Shane McMahon’s words and actions last week, we heard from The Miz and he didn’t hold back in the slightest. Right from the start, he owned some of the questionable decisions he’s made throughout his career.

The Miz explained that he’s been only focused on the yearly Road to WrestleMania for a decade now, but has done so at the cost of every relationship in this business (with the exception of his wife and daughter). As he continued, The Miz started to talk about what Shane McMahon did at WWE Fastlane and was literally shaking with emotion.

The Miz even said that others warned him about joining forces with Shane McMahon, urging him to watch his back. The Miz didn’t heed their warnings, and that’s led us to this moment. After calling out Shane McMahon in every way imaginable, he reminded Shane that he doesn’t own The Miz and “sure as hell [doesn’t] own Kofi.”

It was a small shout that reminded everyone of the gauntlet we have coming later tonight. The Miz emphasized that Shane McMahon came from privilege, whereas The Miz was born to nothing and had to work for everything in his life. The Miz was born in Cleveland and “destined to flip burger,” but hard work pulled him out of that situation. He left things on a strong note, explaining that Shane McMahon will get the only thing he’s ever earned at WrestleMania, “an ass-whooping” from The Miz.

Grade: A+, The Miz was on fire here. The emotion was palpable, and he’s easily at one of the hottest points in his career right now.