The Miz: Master of the Beatdown

Miz, doing one of the things he does exceedingly well
Photo Credit: WWE.com

The Miz doesn't really get high marks across the board when it comes to his wrestling in the ring. I think he's above average, but at the same time, he's behind probably ten workers in WWE when it comes to being an elite wrestler. That's not really a knock on him, seeing as the WWE right now is loaded with so many good workers. I won't really say it's unprecedented, because I'm sure there's a point in the '80s where they had a lot of really good in-ring guys, but that's not the point.

There is an area of physicality where I feel Miz is the best in the WWE and possibly the whole industry. Whenever he's called upon to beat someone down in a sneak attack, you know it's going to be a vicious, effective segment. We saw this a lot during the feud with Jerry Lawler. He'd come out of the crowd, burst out of nowhere and just waylay the King, laying hard-looking punches and forearms, throwing him into the rail, stomping him, just brutalizing him.

That came into play again Monday night, when he beat down Rey Mysterio before their scheduled match. Again, Miz came off looking like a feral animal, charging after Mysterio like he owed him money. A lot of that was Mysterio bumping and making Miz look like a million bucks, but you can't tell me that the look in Miz's eyes when he charged in and stomped Mysterio's head against with all the force of a thousand Clydesdales didn't convey pure hatred. Much like commenter uconngary7 said on the Instant Feedback post Monday night, Miz "looked like he wanted to end Rey's life". That's not really something you can teach. It's dedication to the craft. It's surrendering yourself to the character and performing at a high level whether you're main eventing WrestleMania or you're doing basic storyline stuff that in effect takes your rumored match off the card of the second or third biggest event on the calendar.

You people rag on me for my Miz praise all the time (you people, what do you mean you people?), but it's stuff like his knack for really going the extra mile when he has to go out and beat the crap out of someone in a sneak attack, the facial expressions, the vigor at which he performs the most basic-seeming stomps that add to my admiration for him. He's a rare example of a guy who has natural talent and who tries hard to make sure that every time he's on screen, you remember him. Personally, I think he does a damn good job at it.