the opportunity to be part of an international press conference with various media outlets to speak with the WWE Superstar and WWE Champion, The Miz. In it, the wrestler has spoken about his recent crowning as WWE champion after trading the Money in the Bank briefcase against Drew McIntyre at Elimination Chamber. Now that you are a parent, how do you change your priorities? You don’t have that much free time and you have the responsibilities of a WWE champion. How does The Miz change from 10 years ago?
As soon as I became a parent, life changed and I believe or speak for any parent when I say that it is the hardest job I have ever had, being a parent. When you have a child, a part of your heart opens up that you don’t even know you had, love that you didn’t know you had. I would do everything for them. What people ask me the most ‘What did you do when you won the title’ “I called my wife to see if they had seen it. And they are 3 and 1 years old, they do not understand what happens, but I just want to impress them. I got home and I showed them the title and they don’t know what it is, what it represents. But they take it and play and one day I will show them the photos of when their father was the man. My goal is to make my family proud.
I will do everything possible to achieve it and I also know, having been a champion before, what this championship means. I do not have to be a role model only for my children, if not for all. Know that to be WWE Champion, this is what it takes and if you are not at this level, you do not deserve it. Everyone thinks they deserve it, but they don’t understand the pressure that comes with it. Even the audience, it’s like when someone tells you “you don’t know what it is to have children” and you say “of course I have, I’ve already had cats and dogs. No, you don’t understand until you have children. People don’t understand that I’m trying to show what it takes in the ring, outside the ring, to have it. Drew McIntyre was an incredible champion. Roman Reigns is an incredible champion and they understand it and they know what it takes and they do it. I hope that with the title I can do the same as them and more because it is the most precious title in all of WWE.
Right now, you are going to face Bobby Lashley, who has Hurt Business behind him. You only have John Morrison by your side. Are you planning to make your own faction to take on Hurt Business? As far as I’m concerned, I don’t need a faction. I’m with John Morrison because he is someone who elevates me as a talent, at the same time I elevate him as a talent and together we have a lot of chemistry, we are unstoppable. If you watch RAW, the show is basically us because we manage the time they give us to entertain every week. There are layers and layers of history, the characters are larger than life in terms of factions, Bobby Lashley needs 5 people in his party.
You need so many people to lift you, I don’t need it. I am a WWE Champion for a reason. The reason John Morrison and I are together is that we elevate each other. If Bobby Lashley needs MVP, Shelton Benjamin, Cedric Alexander, and this other, and this other, to elevate him and get to the WWE Championship, we have another conversation. Are you talented? 100%. There is no one more dominant than him in WWE and the WWE champion is saying it. But I am going to make a strategy so that he does not take this title because I am going to the main event of WrestleMania and come out as champion, as I did 10 years ago.
With The Pandemic, Do You Miss The Fans Who Boo You?
Ah, as much as they boo me, they tell me that I’m bad, you will always miss the WWE Universe. There is electricity when they are in the arena or stadium, cheering or shouting, there is nothing like it in entertainment. But I think WWE has done a great job, it shows how the WWE production team works, everyone is. I don’t mean copying us but they have taken ideas and use them to their benefit and I think the ThunderDome has given us one. the audience, even though virtual experience. It feels like the fans are there. I like it but I can’t wait to have a live audience. And working in front of them all over the world is what we like. Travel, go to different countries, show who we are: the best entertainers in the world.
If you could defend the title in the main event of WrestleMania against any fighter, what would be your dream rival? Past or present. I’d give John Morrison a chance. He deserves it, he’s talented, I think he helps me be the star that I am, the brother I never had and I think he deserves it. And that’s why I’m against Lashley getting the chance. I don’t miss him, Lashley is a tremendous talent, but I think he needs to earn the opportunity to fight for the title, not just give it to him. Did I make a deal? Yes, but once you are a champion things change and you understand.
Lashley does not understand because he has not been WWE Champion, he does not understand the risk, the pressure, the stress that a champion has to face and I want to make sure that the person you have the opportunity to be ready and if you are not ready you will not have the title. I don’t think anyone is ready and even if John Morrison faces me at WrestleMania, he is not going to take the title. I am the WWE Champion for a reason. If you could go back in time, to 2011, when The Miz won his first WWE Championship. What advice would you give him?
Great question, a lot of people ask it. What would you tell yourself about the past? 20-year-old Mike, 30-year-old Mike. To be honest, keep doing what you do. Listen, learn. Don’t listen when someone says something to you, listen. Absorb, understand and do it. Make sure you have all the necessary tools. I say this because I am a person who prepares for opportunities that are not there, so when the opportunity appears I am ready. It is what I do as a human being and I hope that by saying this, other people can improve.
