The Miz says that he first declined the pitch to imitate John Cena’s “Total Bella’s” persona.
Jimmy Traina | Jan 19, 2018
WWE superstar, The Miz, tells SI.com that one of the most memorable moments of his career almost didn't happen.
To help set up last year's WrestleMania mixed tag team match that featured The Miz and his wife, Maryse, vs. John Cena and Nikki Bella, The Miz and Maryse became Cena and Bella for a spoof of their E! reality show, Total Bellas. However, when the idea was first pitched to The Miz, he was not feeling it.
"I didn’t want to do it at first," The Miz told SI.com. "I just didn’t know if it would be good. When I go out there, I set out to do something memorable. Something great. And when I first heard the pitch of 'Hey, do you want to imitate them?,' I was like, "I don’t know. I don’t know if it’ll be great. I don’t know if it’ll be good.' I kinda turned it down."
"Then I was driving with my wife and I was thinking about it and i was like, 'Maybe this could be good,' and I started doing how I would do John Cena and I just escalated it and Maryse just started dying laughing. If Maryse laughs at something, then it’s funny because she doesn’t laugh at anything. So I was like, 'Hmm, this is something. And then I started thinking of ideas on what it would be and I was like, 'alright we got something here.'"
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The Miz continued, "It became fun. When my wife started doing Nikki, I was like, 'Oh my God, this is gonna be really good.' A lot of the stuff we were doing wasn’t even written. We were just going off the cuff. And the way the editors did it, with the music, how it was shot, how it was filmed, everything clicked and it all worked out. When people first heard the match was John Cena and Nikki Bella vs. The Miz and Maryse, people couldn’t stand it. They were like, 'John Cena should be going up against The Undertaker. The Miz should be going against A.J. Styles.' Everyone was upset, but then cut to three weeks later and everyone’s talking about this match. Cut to WrestleMania, it’s one of the matches everyone’s looking forward to seeing."
"[Cena’s] proposal made it huge. If you look at the whole story, that was the perfect ending. And that’s what we do. We tell stories."
With Monday Night Raw celebrating its 25 anniversary this week, The Miz already revealed his favorite moments in show history to SI.com.
"Do you remember when Vince McMahon’s Corvette got filled with concrete? My dad had a Corvette and I would wash his car every week. And when Vince’s Corvette got cement poured into it, I was always thinking, 'What would my dad do if I did that to him?' I know I would not be here today. It resonated with me and the way that the glass popped out was incredible.
"I love Bob Barker. When Bob Barker was the guest host, I wish I was apart of that. [Chris] Jericho played off of him so well. Everyone watched Price is Right. People are like, 'that’s one of the moments?' These are memories I took away. As a superstar, I was like 'Wow, man, I wish I was apart of that.' A lot of people are gonna tell when you Mike Tyson came in and pushed Stone Cold and when Stone Cold came with the beer truck and Kurt Angle with the milk truck, but sometimes it’s just the simple stuff."
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The Miz, who is a Cleveland native and die-hard Browns fans, also shared his thoughts on fans holding a parade to celebrate the team's 0-16 season.
"I didn’t l like it. I'm all for 'do what you want,' it's fun and I get it was lighthearted, but I also sit there and think as a person in WWE, where if i was celebrated for that, I would not like it. I know these players worked hard. Dedicated themselves. Did not want to lose 16 games. They tried so hard. They did everything they possibly could to not lose, but it happened. And then for your city to almost, it's not even make fun of it, but, it was like. 'come on guys.' I just would not be seen there. Just because I'm a dedicated Browns fan and, I think there were dedicated Browns fans there, but, it stung me the wrong way."