The Miz?

[CF DolFan]

Ok seriously. I know some of you are wrestling fans so I have to ask  ... how in the heck do you go from MTV reality teen to WWE champion? Has wrestling fell so far that they ran out of "wrestling" actors and are now scraping from MTV?

I saw this the other day and I thought it was a joke. Too funny.

[MikeO]

I heard him on Bill Simmons ESPN podcast a few months back. I guess the guy worked his way up through the farm system and stuff like any other regular joe wrestler. Was actually a bit of a feel good story from where he started and how he got there. And how his MTV fame worked against him.

I don't watch that fake crap and think anyone who does has issues, but I am a fan of the Real World show from back in the day and was interested in hearing about him post-MTV and the WWE story was interesting. I'm sure the podcast is archived you should give it a listen. It was a very good listen

[EDGECRUSHER]

The Real World NY was 10 years ago. He put himself through wrestling school and worked his way up through the independents like any other wrestler. He went on WWE's own reality program "Tough Enough" and came in 2nd. He was then signed to a developmental deal by the company and eventually made the main roster. 4 years later, he is the champ.

It actually is an inspiring story because he overcame a lot to get to where he is in the wrestling world. At first, everyone treated him as a joke and he was even banned from the locker room for 6 months do to older wrestlers thinking him unworthy. Classic story of hard work and determination paying off.

[Sunstroke]

I saw the title of this thread and my initial reaction was "What the f***k is a Miz?"

You could take the amount of time I've spent in my life watching MTV's Real World, combine it with the amount of time I've spent watching fake wrestling, and it would just about add up to the length of a Doritos commercial. I can appreciate a good "worked his way up the ranks" story, but when the ultimate goal is a scripted drama (anything involving fake wrestling titles), doesn't that sort of make it a bit anticlimactic?

[EDGECRUSHER]

Not necessarily. I have been a wrestling fan all my life, I was even set to go to the ECW "House of Hardcore" wrestling school when I was younger before a back injury, so I know how the business works.

Yes, it is scripted and a champion is determined by a bunch of old men in suits, but you still have to be an incredible talent and bust your ass. For instance, The Miz, like most WWE performers is on the road for 200+ days a year with no offseason. In addition to that commitment, when he isn't wrestling he is making public appearances for the company or appearing in films.

It takes a great deal of dedication to get to the top, even in the world of sports entertainment aka "athletes who act".

[CF DolFan]

I don't think I've seen Real World since he was on so it was a bit of a shocker to me. I also used to be a wrestling fan but the names were Dusty Rhodes, Terry and Dory Funk, Bob Backlund, Mil Mascaras, Jimmy Snuka and the Freebirds. It seems very stupid to say this but it seemd a whole lot more real in those days!! I guess in a way it was as people like Dusty and the Funk brothers actually cut their foreheads for the blood effect. 

[Dave Gray]

^ They still cut themselves.  It got way more "real" in the 90s and 2000s, with guys like Mick Foley, who were just crazy.  ECW also pushed the envelope.

[MaineDolFan]

Thing about the Miz?  Even 10 years ago on the "Real World" he said his life long dream was to make it to the (then) WWF.  The guy worked hard and made it come true.

[MikeO]

^ They still cut themselves.  It got way more "real" in the 90s and 2000s, with guys like Mick Foley, who were just crazy.  ECW also pushed the envelope.

A grown adult just used the term "real" when talking professional wrestling! ha ha ha

[EDGECRUSHER]

It's not real, but the injuries and athleticism are. These guys are world class athletes, some with actual sports backgrounds. Not all of them as you still have the occasional fat guy who does nothing but be big, but that's basically what NFL O-Linemen are.

[MikeO]

It's not real, but the injuries and athleticism are. These guys are world class athletes, some with actual sports backgrounds. Not all of them as you still have the occasional fat guy who does nothing but be big, but that's basically what NFL O-Linemen are.

The actual sports background thing is what gets me. If they were able to make it in the NFL or NBA or MLB they would be there (ie Brock Lesner, when a sport he wanted to do became viable, he left and went there). These "fake wrestlers" are the rejects out of that sport who can't make it there and don't want to work for a living so go play make belive on a mattress in their underwear.

Look if you are fan, god bless ya.  Really, Im not trying to rain on your parade but its a tough pill to swallow when I hear they have sports backgrounds and are real atheletes. I mean it takes no athlete to swing a folding chair.  Not to mention the rate these guys drop dead in their 30's and 40's....no other real sport has guys dropping dead at that age at that rate.I mean 2 guys in their 30's die a month and nobody bats an eyelash in wrestling. It's a sick industry that probably should be outlawd in this country, the fact UFC is banned in a handful of states and Vince McMahon is allowed to do businesss is something I will never understand. Vince is no different than a middle east dictator with the amount of blood on his hands and the bodies he has burried. The fact they market to kids is really disturbing.

[CF DolFan]

It's not real, but the injuries and athleticism are. These guys are world class athletes, some with actual sports backgrounds. Not all of them as you still have the occasional fat guy who does nothing but be big, but that's basically what NFL O-Linemen are.

O linemen are big fat guys who do nothing and are not athletes? You just lost any credibility you may have had!! 

[EDGECRUSHER]

It isn't so much that they can't hack it in MLB(although, about 99.9% of the population can't), it's that they choose not to be. Basically, they are actors who do their own stunts. Actors don't get dumped on and stuntmen don't get dumped on, but wrestlers do.

I understand how you can feel otherwise. At it's core, wrestling is just plain goofy and stupid. Grown men in spandex fake fighting one another. It's just something you enjoy or you don't.

As far as the O-Line remark, I was oversimplifying the case, but I honestly believe almost all "major league" wrestlers are better athletes than O-Linemen. Not to crap all over those guys as they are still ridiculous physical specimens, just my opinion.

An NFL running back or Linebacker is a different story, as I feel those guys are the premier athletes of the world.

[Pappy13]

As far as the O-Line remark, I was oversimplifying the case, but I honestly believe almost all "major league" wrestlers are better athletes than O-Linemen.

But they aren't athletes.  They don't "compete" in a sport.  They are by your own admission actors.  They might be in better physical shape than some O-Lineman, but unless they are actually competing in a sport, they can't be considered better athletes.

[MikeO]

^^^ Agree. And you can't be considered athletes when you are nothing more than a pill popping, steroid shot taking guy your entire life.The NBA, NFL, and MLB drug policies aren't perfect by any means, but at least its something that is somewhat respectable these days. And the government has even got involved to clean up these sports and make everything on the level as much as can be. You aren't an athlete when you take steroids every day of your life for years to get the look those wrestlers do. And dont give me the WWE has a drug policy, please. Nobody is buying that line of BS for one minute. They may have one in theory or on paper, but with the rate those guys drop dead it is hardly something that is enforced or taken seriously by anyone with a brain.

And don't give me that pro wrestlers choose not to play REAL sports. A guy like THE ROCK tried out for the NFL and the CFL, couldn't cut the mustard in either. Became a wrestler and the first chance he got to leave to do something else.....he left!! Pro Wrestling is an "industry" filled with rejects from other walks of life. Nobody in it wants to be in it. Everyone who can leave....does!