The Miz, New WWE Champion? Does the Miz Deserve the Championship?

From the moment I saw "The Miz" on WWE television I hated him and I honestly thought the guy would last six months, a year at most, with the company. After all, Mike Mizanin was just another "reality show" cast-off.

Soon, WWE teamed "The Miz" up with John Morrison and they became a rather successful tag-team. Their column, known as "The Dirt Sheet", was soon on WWE.com and it was quite witty.

At that point I stopped hating "The Miz" quite as much and thought he would end up being a relatively useful mid-card wrestler.

Something funny happened as time went by, I started seeing the potential that "The Miz" had. He was busting his butt day in and day out. He was learning his craft and taking it very seriously.

He was hazed by "the boys" in the locker room but he didn't give up and with any single thing that was thrown his way, "The Miz" just kept getting better and better.

Then a few months ago, Miz did a promo about all the hazing he went through. Usually it was John Bradshaw Layfied doing the hazing. Miz continued telling his story about how he was kicked out of the locker room for getting crumbs from some fried Chicken everywhere.

He went on to say that although he was now forced to change in the hallway or the bathroom he wasn't about to quit and it made him want to be a true blue pro-wrestler that much more.

It truly was at that moment that I started to slowly start becoming a fan of "The Miz" though I wasn't a full blown fan just yet.

The Miz was absolute gold on the microphone and I started paying attention every time that "The Miz" had a match or was doing a promo. Not only were his in-ring wrestling skills improving but he was pure gold on the microphone.

He knew how to get a crowd reaction, he knew how to press their buttons. He knows how to make you feel for him and he knows how to make you feel like you absolutely want to see him beaten to a pulp.

Miz had figured out what and who he was and how he was going to translate that into a Pro-wrestling character.

The fact is that Miz really had a very traditional and very old-school "upbringing" and exposure to the world of Professional wrestling. He didn't have it easy and nobody held his hand. He was given an opportunity and it was up to him to make the most of it and the Miz definitely made the most of it. He was truly committed to his craft and was eager to learn and grow as a pro-wrestler.

The company was taking notice as they gave Miz a rather lengthy run with the United States Heavyweight Championship.

Seeing that he was improving day by day and that he could be counted on to deliver. The WWE decided to not only continue his run with the US Heavyweight Championship but also had him win the "Money in the Bank" match at Wrestlemania in 2009.

For those of you who are not familiar with the "Money in the Bank" match and what it's all about I'll give you a quick rundown.

The "Money in the Bank" is a ladder match, which means that there are ladders in and around the ring for the wrestlers to use on each other. However, there is also a briefcase suspended above the center of the ring and whichever wrestler can incapacitate his 5 or 6 opponents and climb the ladder to snag that briefcase is declared the winner.

In the briefcase is a WWE contract, that is good for one whole year, the contract stipulates that the person who posses this contract can cash it in at any time in order to face the reining champion for his Championship.

So now "The Miz" had a contract that gave him the freedom to cash that contract, in at a moments notice, and face the reigning champ. It doesn't matter if the Champ just finished defending his title in a grueling match. The fact remained that if the holder of that WWE "Money in the Bank" contract wanted to cash that contract in right after the Champs match, then he was more than welcome to.

On November 22^nd, 2010 "The Miz" cashed in his "Money in the Bank" contract towards the end of "Monday Night Raw" to face the reigning Champion, Randy Orton.

Now Orton had just "fought" a very tough match and his leg was "injured". As soon as he won his match and successfully defended his title, "The Miz" came out and cashed in his contract and was now going to wrestle for the World Wrestling Entertainment Heavyweight Championship.

Naturally he was going to wrestle and exhausted and injured champion but that didn't matter, the match was sanctioned and soon the action started.

To make a long story short, a well rested Miz was able to pin the exhausted champions shoulder to the ring-mat for a three count and thus "The Miz" became the new champ.

I started this article out by saying I didn't think that this guy would last 6 months but I am happily eating those words because it's been a very long time since I've seen someone put as much effort into his craft as "The Miz" did.

He worked his tail off and in the process turned me into a fan of his along with many other "old-school" pro-wrestling fans.

I would like to congratulate "The Miz" for becoming the WWE champion as it just goes to show you that if you really work hard at something, like "The Miz" did then you too can rise to become the very best in whatever you do.

A regular on Wrestling Classics Message Board posted: "Miz is awesome. He's this generations version of Roddy Piper. I bet all the old fans that were watching 25 years ago didn't like Piper either." I think that it's very possible and an apt comparison of "The Miz" and Rowdy Roddy Piper.

To "The Miz" I have this to say. I tip my hat to you sir, I congratulate you on your win and I thank you for making me a fan of yours. You are very entertaining and this is coming from a very jaded old pro-wrestling "mark" and the son of the current reigning Cold War Champion of the World, Boris Korczak. Here are some pictures just for fun.