JBL says The Miz has one of the most remarkable careers in the history of wrestling, and that he does not believe he could have done it himself. Talking on Something to Wrestle With, where he sat in for Bruce Prichard with Conrad Thompson, JBL framed it around what Miz did not have.
“I’ve always thought that The Miz had one of the best careers in the history of this business, because he didn’t learn in the territories,” JBL said. “He came in when we had a pretty loaded roster 20-something years ago, and he didn’t have the benefit of having, like we did, 1,000 matches before we got there.”
Miz came through Tough Enough, finishing as a runner-up on the fourth season in 2004 before signing a developmental deal. JBL said the format created a problem the company never solved.
“The problem that you had with Tough Enough, and it was a real issue, was you had so much equity in these guys that you had all these shows about them,” he said. “All of a sudden, now you think, okay, now I want to see them wrestle. Well, the problem was they hadn’t learned how to wrestle yet, and so you don’t want them to learn on global television, because that kills them.”
Miz did learn there, and JBL’s point is that it did not kill him.
“Miz learned a lot on global television and still built a Hall of Fame career. There are very few people in the history of the business,” JBL said. “I don’t think I could have done it, that could have had the trajectory that Miz had.”
On whether that gets him in, JBL was not equivocal.
“If he ain’t a first ballot Hall of Famer, there ain’t a first ballot Hall of Famer,” he said. “That guy deserves all of the accolades that you could possibly get in this business.”
He said the range is what makes the case.
“He’s done everything well. He’s gone and acted in movies. He’s been a heel. He’s been a babyface. He’s been a serious character. He’s been a comedy character. Everything he’s done, he’s done fantastic,” JBL said. He compared the workload to John Cena’s, saying the company sends Miz everywhere precisely because he can be trusted anywhere, and that talent like that inevitably gets used more than everyone else.
The two worked together recently on a season of A&E’s Rivals, 11 episodes with Miz hosting and Booker T alongside JBL. What stuck with him was that Miz did it without notes.
“I was amazed at the memory, and I asked him about it,” JBL said. He said the usual method is remembering tent poles and navigating between them, and that Miz did not need even that.
The record behind the argument is the part JBL did not spell out. Miz has held the WWE Championship, main-evented WrestleMania, and holds the record for reigns with the Intercontinental Championship. He is a Grand Slam Champion, has worked as a commentator and as a host, and has been on WWE television continuously for close to twenty years, which almost nobody from his era can say. He did all of it after finishing as a runner-up on a reality show rather than coming through a territory or an established school, which is the specific thing JBL keeps pointing at.
JBL was one of the people who worked against Miz early, in an angle where he was among the veterans hazing him on television.
“I took a lot of heat on him when he was younger, but it was all storyline stuff,” JBL said. “I’ve always enjoyed Miz.”
