In an interview with Chris Van Vliet, The Miz opened up about his road to becoming a star in WWE, as well as the issues he has with being cheered by fans.
The two-time Grand Slam Champion made his first appearance within the company as part of the 2004 Tough Enough competition, though he recalls looking into the second season of the series years prior:
I wanted to try out for Tough Enough season two, because I found out they’re doing Tough Enough. I didn’t realize they were doing it. Then when I found out they had a show, I asked MTV, I said, ‘Hey, I want to try out for this.’ And they were like, you can’t try out. Because back then, you couldn’t mix and match, you couldn’t mix and match reality shows. It just wasn’t [a] thing back then.
They [Real World & The Challenge] were both on MTV, and they were like, it would be confusing, this, that and the other. So I couldn’t do that. So I had to stick with UPW in Los Angeles, continue learning the art of professional wrestling.
Following the end of the competition, Miz returned to the realm of MTV reality competitions, even winning the second season of their Inferno series in the midst of being offered a contract with WWE.
I get backstage, Tommy Dreamer comes up to me and goes, you’re probably going to get a contract for developmental. I was like, oh, man, that’s awesome. And then I thought, okay, if I go to developmental, I need to be on TV in a year, right? So if I’m in a year, MTV called and said, ‘Hey, we have another challenge.’ I was like, ‘Hmm, maybe I shouldn’t do this contract yet.’
I should get on MTV’s The Challenge again. Hopefully win that thing, and then I’ll be on TV for a year, so the fans will never forget about me being on there. So I kind of told WWE I’d like to wait a couple months just to get my bearings back.
I don’t know why I said that, because that’s dumb, like they’re offering you a contract, and you’re like, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it in two months.’ Yeah, this is my dream job. But I also knew I had a fan base, and I wanted to keep that fan base, and I also wanted closure with MTV. So I went on the [The Inferno II]. I won. And while that show, before that show even started airing, I signed my contract for WWE.
The Miz has since won numerous championships and accolades, garnering much approval from fans in the process, but admits that such adulation has its challenges when his character “doesn’t really work as a babyface.”
Noting that his tactics as a heel don’t “get the boos anymore,” Miz addressed what those cheers mean for him.
If you’re gonna cheer me, cheer me. If you’re just gonna go ‘Ah! He’s so good.’ I don’t want that. I don’t want that. That’s the death, because that’s just, I don’t know what to really do.