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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Unbeknownst to the general public, the WWE has a legitimate underdog story\u2014one not that different from Daniel Bryan\u2019s\u2014in Mike \u201CThe Miz\u201D Mizanin.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CDaniel Bryan\u2019s underdog story was able to be told on TV,\u201D The Miz&amp;nbsp;said. \u201CMine was never told on TV. My story was that I was egotistical, arrogant, and an absolute jerk to everyone who brags about everything\u2014and I will\u2014but I\u2019ve been very fortunate to take everything and learn from it. I\u2019ve learned from all my mistakes, worked hard, and sacrificed blood, sweat, and tears to get to where I am today. My underdog story really hasn\u2019t been told.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Miz was once thrown out of the WWE locker room and forced to make his own makeshift dressing room in backstage bathrooms away from the WWE talent for six months, yet he is now one of the company\u2019s longest-tenured full-time performers.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CTen years later, I\u2019m still here in a WWE ring,\u201D he said. \u201CYou need to be a shark in this business, or you\u2019re going to be eaten up, swallowed, and spit out. I\u2019ve been one of those people who\u2019ve been eaten up, but I stuck with it, survived, and I\u2019m still here today. I remember the first time I stepped into a WWE ring, and I got critiqued and I was told I\u2019d be gone in three months. Here I sit ten years later, and I\u2019m the Intercontinental champion.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2022 &lt;strong&gt;Has WWE mishandled Bray Wyatt?&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Drafted by &lt;em&gt;Smackdown\u2014&lt;/em&gt;fittingly by former rival and current&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;Smackdown&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;GM&amp;nbsp;Daniel Bryan\u2014The Miz brings his Intercontinental championship to the USA Network every Tuesday night.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CIt\u2019s hard to keep these titles, especially nowadays,\u201D admitted The Miz, who is a five-time IC champion. \u201CSome people have them for one day\u2014ask Zack Ryder\u2014but others have them for longer, and I want to have this title mean something. I want to bring relevance to it and bring entertainment, and make the audience want to see what\u2019s going to happen next. That\u2019s the superstar I always wanted to be \u2013 and hopefully I can make some really engaging stories with it.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Miz admitted that the competitive nature of &lt;em&gt;Raw &lt;/em&gt;vs. &lt;em&gt;Smackdown &lt;/em&gt;will bring out intense rivalry from the two separate locker rooms.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CWe\u2019re competitive about everything,\u201D said The Miz. \u201CThe superstars that aren\u2019t high draft picks, I\u2019m sure they\u2019re going to be angry and mad and upset about it. That hurts your ego, and we have big egos as WWE superstars.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CWe perform in front of thousands, and millions at home, and you don\u2019t want to look stupid or like Mr. Irrelevant. You want to be the guy who hoists the company on his back and carries them. Especially now that there is going to be a huge rivalry between &lt;em&gt;Raw &lt;/em&gt;and &lt;em&gt;Smackdown Live&lt;/em&gt;, we want to have the highest ratings, the highest merch sales, the most people watching the show live, and that\u2019s what we want and aim for.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Based off his accomplishments over the past decade, The Miz thinks he should have been the first name off the board at the brand-split draft.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CI don\u2019t know why I [wasn\u2019t] the number one pick,\u201D he said. \u201CI have all the accolades, all the experience, all the knowledge you could possibly want from a WWE number one draft pick.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2022&amp;nbsp;\u200B\u200B\u200B&lt;strong&gt;Quiz: Can you match these WWE stars to their college football team?&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As one of only 46 men to ever wear the WWE world heavyweight championship, The Miz prides himself on bringing a world champion mentality to the Intercontinental title.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CI\u2019m a fourteen-time champion and a five-time WWE Studios movie star,\u201D said The Miz, who just finished filming &lt;em&gt;The&lt;/em&gt; &lt;em&gt;Marine 5: Battleground&lt;/em&gt;. \u201CI\u2019ve done a lot of things in WWE, as well as have my own talk show. I have a lot of things that a commissioner, like Shane McMahon, looks for in a talent. I\u2019m here \u2013 full-time \u2013 all the time. I don\u2019t ask for days off, I do all the media, and I do everything I possibly can to make the Intercontinental Championship as relevant as possible.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Miz retained the Intercontinental title against Darren Young on Sunday night at &lt;em&gt;Battleground&lt;/em&gt;, extending his reign as champion to 112 days.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CThe Intercontinental championship has such rich history,\u201D explained The Miz. \u201CMy favorite superstars growing up\u2014Bret \u2018The Hitman\u2019 Hart, Shawn Michaels, \u2018Mr. Perfect\u2019 Curt Hennig, Ultimate Warrior\u2014all held the prestigious Intercontinental championship. It\u2019s known as the championship for the workhorse of the company, and that\u2019s probably why I have it \u2013 because I am the workhorse of the WWE.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2022 &lt;strong&gt;Roman Reigns returns after suspension, set for Battleground&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Young and Miz have quickly developed an on-screen chemistry, particularly with the unpredictable Bob Backlund in Young\u2019s corner.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CWhen you have the Intercontinental championship, and someone is coming to take it from you\u2014and you feel like they could actually threaten your title\u2014that is a huge, real moment,\u201D explained The Miz. \u201CDarren Young is definitely someone to be reckoned with, and I could lose the Intercontinental championship to him, but I\u2019m not planning on it. I don\u2019t plan to lose, I plan to win. People are like, \u2018What if you lose?\u2019 I\u2019m not looking at losing. I am a winner, and I always look to win.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are very few people in WWE history more unpredictable than Backlund, who is training Young to defeat The Miz.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CI actually started reading Bob\u2019s book,\u201D said The Miz. \u201CI want to find out more information about what he could be teaching Darren. The fact is, Bob is a two-time WWE champion. He had the title for six years, which is unheard of. He\u2019s teaching Darren Young, who is one of those superstars that has all the athletic ability and is now gaining the knowledge, but the one thing he lacks is the experience I have and Bob has. Bob can\u2019t teach experience \u2013 you just have to go through the wars and the battles in the WWE ring, and that\u2019s my advantage.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2022 &lt;strong&gt;Randy Orton returns, takes dig at Brock Lesnar for failed doping test&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The beautiful Maryse, who is The Miz\u2019s real life spouse, adds another dimension to his character.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CI love having my wife with me,\u201D said The Miz. \u201CIt\u2019s one thing to be able to talk to your wife on FaceTime or over the phone, but touching her, hugging her, and holding her is a whole other feeling.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CWhen you\u2019re able to have your wife in your corner, you kind of want to show off for her. You don\u2019t want to lose. I never want her to say, \u2018Sorry babe,\u2019 I want her to say, \u2018That\u2019s my man.\u2019 You want your wife to be married to a winner, not a loser.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Genuinely in love with the business, the former reality television star who cut wrestling promos on MTV\u2019s &lt;em&gt;The Real World &lt;/em&gt;in 2001, insisted on bringing the Intercontinental Championship with him on set while filming &lt;em&gt;The Marine&lt;/em&gt;, as well as showed off his gold at the ESPYs.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2022&lt;strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;\u200BQuiz: Can you identify these WWE stars by their real name?&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CThere are so many people who helped me out, even the people that gave me a hard time,\u201D said The Miz. \u201CThat made me want to prove that I could be a superstar. The fans also couldn\u2019t stand me when I first started out, and they still can\u2019t stand me \u2013 and I\u2019m still trying to prove myself each and every day, trying to get better, to make sure I give them the best entertainment they can possibly get.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CWhenever I have a segment on television, I try to make it the best segment possible. I\u2019m never the type of person who\u2019s not going to give one-hundred percent out there \u2013 I\u2019m always going to give you everything I have. Sometimes they fall flat, and other times it\u2019s the greatest thing you\u2019ve ever seen. I also try to go for the greatest thing you\u2019ve ever seen, but sometimes you fail. I\u2019ve failed more than I\u2019ve succeeded in my life, but I\u2019ve learned from all those failures.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Miz is planning on leading the way for &lt;em&gt;Smackdown&lt;/em&gt;, beginning Tuesday night.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CI feel sorry [for &lt;em&gt;Raw&lt;/em&gt;] for not drafting me,\u201D said The Miz. \u201CI\u2019m a ratings spike, and that\u2019s a known fact. Look at when I was WWE world heavyweight champion \u2013 look at the ratings and you\u2019ll see they were the highest they\u2019d been in fifteen years. That\u2019s what I do. Even though people hate on me and can\u2019t stand me, they want to see what I do next.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Justin Barrasso can be reached at JBarrasso@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinBarrasso.&lt;/em&gt;\r\n&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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