A coward is not someone who goes right to your face and tells you exactly how it is. A coward is someone who walks away.
The Miz
I've been hit with kendo sticks and chairs; I've been thrown through tables, broke my ankle, broke my nose, and have had concussions in WWE, but nothing has hurt me more than when I stubbed my toe in 'The Marine 3: Homefront.'
When I first got to WWE, people thought I was going to be fired within three months. No one liked me; no one wanted me there, whether it was the fans or the people backstage. I had to fight and fight and fight to earn my spot.
Doing 'Marine 3' and 'Marine 4,' and kind of knowing what's in store, I knew that when you do a 'Marine' movie that it's hard days, it's long days and all that. You're tired, your body's tired, your mind's tired, but you have to do the acting, you have to do the stunts, you have to do everything.
I will let my daughter do whatever her heart wants. I will support her and guide her and give her all the knowledge that I have because I want her to succeed in whatever she loves.
I am sick of people sitting there saying, 'Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz.' He doesn't deserve to be in the ring with me. He's not at the level that I am.
WWE is my first love.
My stats don't even need to be said, but I'll say them anyway. I'm a 14-time champion. I'm a two-time Slammy award winner. I've done movies. I host my own show. How much more do you want in an athlete, in a star, than The Miz?
I remember sitting on my couch on a Saturday watching reruns of 'The Real World.' And it said, 'Do you want to be on 'The Real World?' Go to MTV.com, and you can try out there.' And I said, 'I want to be on 'The Real World.'' And I sent in my tape.
I remember the first time I stepped into a WWE ring, and I got critiqued, and I was told I'd be gone in three months. Here I sit ten years later, and I'm the Intercontinental champion.
People always sit there and talk about 'Talking Smack.' They always bring up the incident of 'Talking Smack.' What did I do on there that was so terrible?
I have all the accolades, all the experience, all the knowledge you could possibly want from a WWE number one draft pick.
I need to be highlighted. I need to be the main attraction of entertainment.
As far as being a WWE Superstar, that was my dream.
The Miz came in as a way to say exactly what I was feeling and not have any repercussions for it because it was a character I was playing.
We had a show called NXT, and Daniel Bryan was my rookie, and I was his pro. And the object was for the pros teach the rookies what it's like to be a WWE Superstar. As soon as that hit the Internet, the Internet thought it was absurd: 'How dare WWE put Daniel Bryan as Miz's rookie? Daniel Bryan should be the pro.'
My story was that I was egotistical, arrogant, and an absolute jerk to everyone who brags about everything - and I will - but I've been very fortunate to take everything and learn from it.
Nobody has a scientific formula to being the most over superstar in all of WWE.
I kind of had that Parma, Ohio, mentality that after high school, you go to college. Then after college, you get a job; then you get a family. And after that, you just stick around Parma.
When I was on 'The Real World,' I moved back to Cleveland, and I had a choice: My dad was like, 'You should stay in Cleveland and be the big name out here.' I was like, 'But no, Dad, I wanna be a WWE superstar.'
I will be the biggest WWE Superstar the WWE has ever seen. I will be the biggest movie star movies have ever seen. I will be the biggest TV star that TV has ever seen. I will be the biggest person in the world.
The talk of the town has been Finn Balor. Finn Balor has been killing it down there in NXT, and the fans love him. He looks like one of those guys who could be ready to be up here in WWE, but who knows what's going to happen?
Whenever you're on a reality show, you're the scum of the earth. You have no talent, you're a nothing, and you deserve nothing.
I think everyone that's from Cleveland knows exactly where they were when the Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA Finals. I was filming a movie, 'The Marine 5: Battleground,' up in Vancouver, so I couldn't be at the game, but I watched it in my hotel room with my wife - who could care less, by the way, about basketball because she's from Montreal.
The reason I wanted to be a WWE Superstar was because of The Rock. I used to watch him in The Attitude Era. There was no one more electrifying and no one more must-see than The Rock.
Whenever something's really hard, you always question yourself, and I had many times when I questioned myself, but I always rose above it.
I was on 'Monday Night Raw' - and nobody realizes this - every time you go from 'Raw' to 'SmackDown' or 'SmackDown' to 'Raw,' it shakes up your career; it shakes up your life.
Sometimes the worst things that you can say really teach you a lot about what you can learn.
I'm the type of person that doesn't quit. I just keep going and give my best effort because I don't want to look back on my life when I'm, like, 80 or 90 and say, 'Man, I wish I would have done this, I wish I would have done that.' I basically go out and do it.
I didn't want to be the 40-year-old still on MTV doing 'Real World.' I loved the show. I loved the people on it, but I had a different set of goals.
I'm the bad guy in WWE, which I find hilarious.
Daniel Bryan is very good at being endearing.
As a kid, growing up, my heroes all had the Intercontinental Championship. Ultimate Warrior, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Mr. Perfect, Ric Rude, all of them. And they were the people I looked up to and wanted to be like.
I remember seeing an action figure of The Rock and going, 'You know what? I'm going to become a WWE Superstar.'
People have talked down to me, and that fuels my fire.
Me, I never consider myself a bad guy. I consider myself a good guy. Now, the audience thinks differently. They love to boo me.
Every time I'm a good guy in a movie, which is the 'Marine,' people are like, 'Wow, you can play endearing. You can play kind and nice and sweet but yet hardcore.' And I'm like, 'Yeah. Just because The Miz is a jerk and an egotistical maniac doesn't mean that there isn't a softer side to Mike Mizanin.'
That WWE Championship should be in the main event of every pay-per-view, and it upsets me when I see that it's not.
I want the Intercontinental title to be seen as more than just a 'mid-card belt.' The Intercontinental Champion used to be seen as a threat to the WWE Champion. My goal is to return the Intercontinental Championship to that level of importance.
I am awesome. I'm the most must-see WWE superstar: I'm proven inside the ring and outside the ring. I'm the best on the mic; I get the ratings.
I literally have a private jet on call at all times.
I am a winner, and I always look to win.
I've always enjoyed bad guys throughout all movies.
There was an interview that I actually listened to with John Cena where he says that he is an elite-level athlete - he is elite, and he needs to make people elite whenever he goes up against them - but I was like, gosh, as much as I hate to give him credit where credit is due, it is exactly right.
I walk, talk, and act like a star, and guess what? I am a star.
I was just a young kid from Parma, Ohio, and I went to college at Miami University of Ohio.
You can't do WWE forever; like, your body will just not hold up.
My wife and I make an awesome tag team.
My goal is to make the WWE championship as relevant and prestigious as it should be.
When I was a kid growing up, I ate my vitamins, worked out because Hulk Hogan told me to.
