WWE has already managed to mangle The Miz’s babyface run
The Miz went from being one of the hottest stars on SmackDown Live to getting lost in the shuffle on WWE Raw, so what went wrong with his babyface run?
WWE’s highly questionable booking lately has plagued almost the entire roster and The Miz has unfortunately been no exception.
Despite always having been a natural heel, Miz tested the waters for a face turn when he aligned with Shane McMahon at the onset of 2019 and targeted the SmackDown Tag Team Championship. Although he flourished as a fan favorite almost immediately, it was more a question of whether his popularity would last.
Shockingly enough, Miz ended up exceeding all expectations in the role and became a breakout babyface on SmackDown Live. Soon after Shane turned on him, The Awesome One cut some of the best promos of his careers and gradually got more and more over with the audience by the week.
It would have been easy for him to get overshadowed due to Kofi Kingston being such a hot commodity on the road to WrestleMania 35, but that wasn’t the case whatsoever. Thanks to his newfound intensity on the mic and in the ring, he was firing on all cylinders heading into his Falls Count Anywhere match with Shane at WrestleMania 35.
Then came The Show of Shows, where Miz lost to Shane in fluky fashion.
Worse yet, Miz didn’t even look credible in defeat. Instead, he came across like a fool for allowing Shane to beat him the way he did. That was the beginning of the end for the Cleveland native as a babyface.
For the third consecutive year, Miz switched shows in the 2019 Superstar Shake-up and was sent packing to Raw in April. The move was obviously done so he could continue promoting his Miz & Mrs. reality show on USA Network, but it was a mistake to put him on a brand that was already stockpiled with star power.
He then resumed his rivalry with Shane a few weeks removed from WrestleMania, which was great news for Miz because it meant he could get his win back over him. Their rivalry didn’t get any more interesting during the month of May or at Money in the Bank where Super Shane reigned supreme in their Steel Cage match.
That all but sealed Miz’s fate as a directionless loser on Monday nights. With WWE not seemingly having any plans for him to avenge his embarrassing losses to the McMahon family scion in the near future, we have been left to wonder what could have been if his babyface run had been handled better.
One of the biggest reasons why a portion of fans were so hesitant to see Miz turn face in the first place was because of how we have been down this path before, and how it wasn’t exactly amazing the last time.
When he resorted to portraying a good guy in late 2012, it was a necessary change for his character since he was getting cheered by crowds anyway. However, WWE turned him too abruptly, failed to flesh out his new persona and just had him host Miz TV more often than not.
Sadly, not only has he has been suffering from the same problem in recent weeks, none of his Miz TV segments have made for compelling programming whatsoever. It doesn’t help that he was unceremoniously tossed from the 50-man Battle Royal this past Friday like any other jabroni.
First and foremost, a little less focus on the legends such as The Undertaker and Goldberg and more on Miz would go a long way in establishing him as an important player on the show.
It’s also criminal that he has yet to be placed in another storyline since his rivalry with Shane wrapped up a month ago. Bobby Lashley, Samoa Joe and Robert Roode are all spinning their wheels at the moment and any one of them would make for fine rivals for Miz.
Slotting him right back in the midcard scene is a decent use of him, but he was well on his way to the main event earlier this year before WWE had him return to Raw. Heck, he could have even rekindled his rivalry with Daniel Bryan, this time with the roles reversed.
dark. Next. 10 Sami Zayn WWE matches to watch
No matter how you slice it, WWE butchered babyface Miz and somehow managed to ruin any momentum he once had. He can still be salvaged if they play their cards right and treat him like the top talent he is, but it may not be long before he cools off completely if no effort is made to make him relevant again.