Michael Gregory "Mike" Mizanin (October 8, 1980) better known by his ring name The Miz, a American professional wrestler, reality television star, and actor who started with WWE who currently signed under SmackDown brand.
In October 2004, Mike Mizanin entered the fourth season of Tough Enough, a televised competition which would award the winner a World Wrestling Entertainment contract and US$1,000,000. Despite coming last in an arm wrestling tournament on November 25, 2004, Mizanin outlasted six other wrestlers, and made it to the final round. At the pay-per-view event, Armageddon, Mizanin faced the other remaining entrant, Daniel Puder, in a three round "Dixie Dogfight" (boxing match). Neither man achieved a knockout, and the contest was awarded to Puder on the basis of crowd reaction. On the December 16, 2004 episode of SmackDown!, Puder was announced as the winner of Tough Enough by head trainer Al Snow.
Despite losing the Tough Enough contest, Mizanin had piqued the interest of WWE, and he was eventually offered a developmental contract. Mizanin was sent to developmental to train under Bill DeMott. In July 2005, he wrestled two dark matches for WWE, teaming with former Tough Enough champion Matt Cappotelli to face The Highlanders (Robbie and Rory McAllister). He continued his partnership with Matt Cappotelli throughout the second half of 2005 in WWE dark matches and house shows until Cappotelli was diagnosed with a brain tumor after an injury at a taping in December 2005.
On March 7, 2006, WWE's official website featured a video of "The Miz" stating that he was headed to SmackDown! and throughout April, SmackDown! aired vignettes hyping his debut. When Mizanin actually attempted to make his debut on the April 21, 2006 episode of SmackDown!, however, he was, in storyline banned from entering the arena by "network executive" Palmer Cannon who told him that he had been "canceled" before having security escort him from the premises.
On May 31, 2006, WWE's official website announced that he would serve as SmackDown!s "host". The Miz debuted as the "host" on June 2, 2006, announcing the planned card at the top of the show and attempting to hype up the crowd. Other "host" duties included backstage interviews and hosting a bikini contest. The hosting duties seemed sporadic at best, with some weeks having little to no involvement of Miz at all. Starting in July, Miz, along with Ashley Massaro, became host of the annual Diva Search competition appearing on both Raw and SmackDown!.
After the end of the Diva Search competition, The Miz returned exclusively to SmackDown! and as a villainous persona, starting his in ring competition with win over Tatanka in September 2006 episode of SmackDown!. After this win he, along with commentator Michael Cole, began to note whenever possible that he was "undefeated", though he only wrestled five matches over the next two months, defeating such superstars as Matt Hardy, Funaki, and Scotty 2 Hotty. At the same time he began a feud with Diva Search winner Layla El, who spurned his advances on more than one occasion, leading to Miz helping Kristal defeat her in various competitions. Soon, however, Miz and Kristal found themselves being stalked by The Boogeyman. This began a feud in which the Boogeyman ended the Miz's winning streak at December's Armageddon event.
Following a brief absence from television, The Miz returned to SmackDown! to host an interview segment called Miz TV. After the unsuccessful segment, the Miz returned to in-ring competition with a more intense style and began to pick up wins once again. On the June 11, 2007 episode of Raw, Mizanin faced off against Snitsky in a match to determine a draft pick for SmackDown!. Snitsky easily defeated the Miz to give ECW the draft pick, but after constantly assaulting the Miz after the match, the referee reversed the decision and awarded the match to Miz, thus allowing SmackDown! a draft pick. SmackDown!'s pick was then revealed to be Chris Masters.
Miz was drafted from SmackDown! to ECW on June 17, 2007 as part of the 2007 Supplemental Draft. He was absent from the first few weeks of ECW, though he was the subject of backstage mentions between matches and had several short Miz TV Crashes ECW video segments. He made his debut on the July 10 episode of ECW in a match against Nunzio, which he won.
Following this match, Extreme Exposé began expressing admiration in him and gave him a lap-dance, starting a new gimmick for him of a self-proclaimed "chick magnet". Extreme Exposé then became managers for The Miz. He then began a feud with Balls Mahoney, after Kelly Kelly began to fall in love with Mahoney on screen. On the October 2 episode of ECW, it was revealed that Miz owned the contracts of Kelly Kelly, Layla, and Brooke Adams, and used this excuse to stop Kelly from going out with Mahoney. He was voted at Cyber Sunday to face CM Punk for the ECW Championship but lost the match.
On the November 16 episode of SmackDown, he became one half of the WWE Tag Team Champions with John Morrison when they defeated Matt Hardy and Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) in a title match, which gave the Miz his first title within the company.
In February 2008, Miz and Morrison were given a streaming segment on the WWE website named The Dirt Sheet in which they mocked other wrestlers and facets of pop culture, showing off their promo skills. Morrison and The Miz co-wrote each episode of The Dirt Sheet each week. As the duo continued to hold the titles, WWE downplayed the angle of Miz and Morrison disliking each other, and portrayed them as friends. The team had many successful title defenses over the next few months, before dropping the championship to Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder at the Great American Bash in a Fatal Four-Way match which also featured Jesse and Festus and Finlay and Hornswoggle. Neither Miz nor Morrison were pinned, as Hawkins pinned Jesse to win the titles. Miz and Morrison soon followed a feud with Cryme Tyme (Shad Gaspard and JTG) as a battle of their webshows, "Word Up" and "The Dirt Sheet". The two would be victorious against Cryme Tyme in a match at Cyber Sunday where they were voted in. On December 13, 2008, Miz and Morrison defeated Kofi Kingston and CM Punk to win the World Tag Team Championship during a WWE house show in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The team then engaged themselves in a feud with The Colóns (Carlito and Primo). In a dark match at WrestleMania XXV, they lost the World Tag Team Championship to The Colóns in a Lumberjack match to unify the World Tag Team and the WWE Tag Team titles. On the April 13 episode of Raw, The Miz lost a match to Kofi Kingston due to Morrison's inadvertent interference, which gave Raw a draft pick in the 2009 WWE Draft. The pick was then revealed to be The Miz, and he subsequently attacked Morrison, ending their partnership.
Miz challenged John Cena to a match on the April 27 episode of Raw, but as Cena was out due to injury, Mike "Miz" claimed an unofficial win via forfeit and continued to do this over the following weeks, until Cena defeated him in a singles match at The Bash. On the August 3 episode of Raw, The Miz lost a match to Cena, which meant that, in storyline, he was banned from the Staples Center, Raw and SummerSlam. The following week, on August 10, Miz competed under a mask as "The Calgary Kid", and won a Contract on Pole match against Eugene, earning a contract in storyline, and revealing himself by removing his mask afterwards. After removing the mask to reveal himself. he cut a promo and debut his catchphrase "Because I am The Miz and I'm Awesome."
On the August 19 edition of Raw, The Miz announced his intention to challenge for the WWE United States Championship, and also debuted new ring attire and a new finishing move and defeated Evan Bourne. He challenged for the United States Championship at the Night of Champions, Breaking Point and Hell in a Cell pay-per-views, but was unsuccessful. On the October 5 episode of Raw, the night after Hell in a Cell, The Miz received a rematch for the championship, and defeated Kofi Kingston to win the United States Championship and his first singles championship in WWE. The following pay-per-view event, Bragging Rights, was themed with interpromotional matches and now that The Miz was the second-tier champion on Raw he was booked against SmackDown's Intercontinental Champion, his erstwhile tag team partner John Morrison. In the build up to their first match since splitting, the two hosted a one-off edition of The Dirt Sheet on the October 16 episode of SmackDown where the two compared themselves to '80s tag team The Rockers, debating over which is more comparable to the successful Shawn Michaels and which was the less successful Marty Jannetty. At Bragging Rights, Miz pinned Morrison to become the only member of the Raw roster to win an interpromotional match. The following month at Survivor Series, Miz captained a team of five wrestlers against Team Morrison in a five-on-five Survivor Series elimination match and once again bested his former partner.
In 2010, The Miz began a rivalry with MVP that began with a critically well-received verbal exchange between the two. The two met in an unadvertised match for the United States Championship at the Royal Rumble event with Miz retaining his title, but in the Royal Rumble match itself MVP eliminated both himself and The Miz. During the rivalry with MVP, Miz began showing signs of an allegiance with The Big Show and on the February 8 episode of Raw, the two defeated champions D-Generation X (Triple H and Shawn Michaels) and The Straight Edge Society (CM Punk and Luke Gallows) to become the Unified WWE Tag Team Champions, making Miz a triple champion (U.S., World Tag Team, and WWE Tag Team Champion).
On February 16, it was announced that he would be on the WWE NXT show as the storyline mentor of Daniel Bryan. At WrestleMania XXVI, Show and Miz defeated John Morrison and R-Truth to retain the title again. During the 2010 WWE Draft on the April 26 episode of Raw, ShoMiz lost the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship to The Hart Dynasty when Tyson Kidd made The Miz submit to the Sharpshooter. After the match, The Big Show knocked out The Miz, and was later drafted to the SmackDown brand, leaving The Miz on Raw. On May 10, Kidd defeated The Miz in a match, which earned any member of The Hart Dynasty a match for the United States Championship, and The Miz, who was allowed to choose his opponent, elected to face Bret Hart. On the following episode of Raw on May 17, Hart defeated The Miz to win the United States Championship, despite Chris Jericho, William Regal, and Vladimir Kozlov attempting to interfere on The Miz's behalf. The Miz had a tumultuous relationship with Bryan, who was eliminated from NXT on May 11, although he returned the following week to attack The Miz.
On June 1, The Miz announced that he would be returning as a Pro for the second season of NXT, to mentor Alex Riley, the only Pro to do so. On the June 14 episode of Raw, The Miz defeated R-Truth, John Morrison, and Zack Ryder in a fatal four-way match to win the United States Championship for the second time, and successfully retained the championship against R-Truth at the Fatal 4-Way pay-per-view.
On July 18, at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, The Miz won a Money in the Bank ladder match to win a contract for a WWE Championship match that he could utilize at any time over the next year. Over the next few weeks, The Miz attempted to cash in his Money in the Bank contract on the WWE Champion Sheamus, but was continually interrupted by other wrestlers before the matches could occur, which meant that he retained the contract for future use. Daniel Bryan returned to WWE at SummerSlam, taking The Miz's place on Team WWE, causing The Miz to attack him. This began a rivalry between the two, with The Miz losing the United States Championship to Bryan at the Night of Champions event in September. The following month, Miz defeated John Cena to become the captain of Team Raw, but at the Bragging Rights pay-per-view Team Raw—The Miz (with Alex Riley), R-Truth, John Morrison, Santino Marella, Sheamus, CM Punk, and Ezekiel Jackson—were unsuccessful in defeating Team SmackDown.
On the November 22 episode of Raw, following a successful WWE Championship defense by Randy Orton against Wade Barrett, he cashed in his Money in the Bank contract to become the new WWE Champion making him the first person from Tough Enough to win the WWE Championship. He successfully defended the championship against Jerry Lawler in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match on the following episode of Raw, due to help from Michael Cole and Riley, and again at the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view in December by defeating Orton in a Tables match following interference from Alex Riley. The Miz defeated Morrison to retain the championship in a Falls Count Anywhere match on the first Raw of 2011. He defeated Orton again at the Royal Rumble, after interference from CM Punk, in January 2011 and Lawler the following month at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view to retain the championship.
The night after Elimination Chamber, The Miz and John Cena were paired together by the Raw General Manager to challenge The Corre (Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater) for the WWE Tag Team Championship. The Miz and Cena were successful in winning the titles, but lost them back to Corre immediately afterward in a rematch, after The Miz turned on Cena. This made their reign the shortest in the championship's history. The following week, The Miz lost Riley as his apprentice after Cena defeated Riley in a steel cage match with the stipulation that if Cena won, Riley was fired from his job, but The Miz hired Riley back, this time as his VP of Corporate Communications, in mid-March. On April 3 in the main event of WrestleMania XXVII, The Miz successfully defended the WWE Championship against Cena, following interference from The Rock. At the Extreme Rules pay-per-view on May 1, The Miz lost the WWE Championship to Cena, in a triple threat steel cage match, also involving Morrison. The following night on Raw, The Miz failed to regain the championship from Cena in a singles match when he lost by disqualification, and failed to regain the championship again in an "I Quit" match at Over the Limit .
On the May 23 episode of Raw, The Miz fired Riley, blaming him for not being able to regain the championship because of Riley not being present at the Extreme Rules PPV when Miz lost the title, the following night on Raw when Riley held up the arm that Miz was holding the belt with leading to his disqualification and at the Over the Limit PPV when he left his phone behind that he used to trick the referee into thinking that Cena had said "I Quit". This led to Riley attacking his former mentor, sending him crashing into a barricade at ringside and then head first over the announce table and which turned Riley a fan favorite for the first time in WWE. On the May 30 episode of Raw, The Miz assaulted Riley after an interview from Michael Cole, but Riley gained the upper hand and Miz escaped through the crowd. At Capitol Punishment, Riley defeated Miz in a singles-match. He went on to lose to Riley in various singles and tag team matches. It was later announced that Miz would be a participant in the Raw's Money in the Bank ladder match at Money in the Bank, though he was unsuccessful in winning the match following a knee injury kayfabe and then returning but stopped from claiming the briefcase by Rey Mysterio. The following night on Raw Miz made it to the finals of the WWE Championship tournament defeating his former NXT rookie, Alex Riley in the first round. The following week on Raw Miz would be defeated by Rey Mysterio. At Summerslam,The Miz teamed up with R-Truth and Alberto Del Rio in a losing effort to Rey Mysterio, Kofi Kingston and John Morrison.
On the August 22 episode of Raw, Miz and R-Truth attacked Santino Marella before his match. They would then cut a promo agreeing there was a conspiracy in the WWE keeping the both of them out of the main event picture, and declared they would, together, seize any opportunity that came their way in the future. The duo would soon begin referring to themselves, on Raw and in other media, as "The Awesome Truth". On the August 29 episode of Raw, Truth interfered in Miz's match and the duo attacked CM Punk. The following week, Miz and Truth announced that they would challenge Air Boom (Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston) to a match for the WWE Tag Team Championship at Night of Champions. At the pay-per-view, following the referee being distracted while The Miz was attempting a pin, Miz would assault the referee, causing his team to lose by disqualification. Seeking retribution, Miz and Truth later attacked both Triple H and CM Punk during their no disqualification match in the main event. Because of their actions from the previous night, R-Truth and The Miz were fired by Triple H on the September 19 episode of Raw. At the conclusion of the main event match at Hell in a Cell, R-Truth and The Miz jumped the barricade wearing black hooded sweatshirts and entered the cell as it was being raised. They then used weapons to attack Alberto Del Rio, CM Punk, John Cena, the referee and camera men while the cell was again lowered. After this, the entire WWE roster led by Triple H came out to find a way into the cell, before New Orleans Police Department officers were able to get the door open and arrest them. The two later posted a video on YouTube apologizing to the WWE Universe for their actions. The Miz and R-Truth were reinstated by John Laurinaitis on the October 10 episode of Raw. At Vengeance, Miz and R-Truth defeated CM Punk and Triple H in a tag team match, after interference from Triple H's long time friend Kevin Nash. Later that night they assaulted John Cena during his WWE Championship match with Alberto Del Rio. On the October 24 episode of Raw, Awesome Truth attacked John Cena and Zack Ryder. On the November 7 episode of Raw, Miz and R-Truth defeated Cena and Ryder. At Survivor Series, The Awesome Truth were defeated by John Cena and The Rock.
On the November 21 episode of Raw, Cena instigated an argument between R-Truth and Miz, which resulted in Miz hitting his finisher on Truth as they were heading up the steel ramp, signaling the end of their alliance. This was a pretext to explain R-Truth's absence during his suspension as a result of his violating of the Wellness Policy.
On the November 28 episode of Raw, Miz defeated John Morrison in a Falls Count Anywhere match after he, once again, hit his finisher on ther steel ramp. On the December 5, episode of Raw, Miz qualified for a Triple Threat Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match against Alberto Del Rio and CM Punk at Tables, Ladders & Chairs for the WWE Championship after a win over Randy Orton via count out, but was unsuccessful. On the December 26 episode of Raw, R-Truth returned only to viciously attack Miz after a match and promised this will continue week-after-week. The following Raw, Truth would hide in the audience and attack Miz again during his match with Sheamus. On the January 9 episode of Raw, Miz would retaliate by attacking R-Truth until Truth turned the tables and chased him out of the ring. On the January 16 episode of Raw SuperShow, R-Truth defeated Miz, Wade Barrett, and Sheamus in an Over The Top Rope Challenge. The following Raw, Miz was defeated by R-Truth in a singles match with a stipulation in place where the loser of the match would enter the Royal Rumble match as the first entrant. In the Rumble match, Miz was the longest lasting participant, lasting over 45 minutes before being eliminated by former tag team partner, Big Show. At Elimination Chamber, Miz failed again to capture the WWE Championship after being eliminated last by CM Punk. Desperate for a spot on the card for the upcoming WrestleMania XXVIII event, Miz joined John Laurinaitis' team for the 12-man tag team match after saving Laurinaitis from Santino Marella. Miz picked up the win for Team Johnny after pinning Zack Ryder with the help of Eve, which ended his 20 match losing streak dating back to 2011. He again defeated Ryder the following night on Raw, thus ending his losing streak in singles matches. In the pre-show of Extreme Rules, Miz unsuccessfully challenged Santino Marella for the United States Championship. The following night on Raw, Miz was part of a Beat the Clock challenge to determine the number one contender for the WWE Championship match at Over the Limit; he defeated Marella in 4:18 before being beaten by Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan. At the pay-per-view, Miz was the last man to be eliminated in a 20-man "People Power" battle royal to battle for either the WWE United States Championship or the WWE Intercontinental Championship, being eliminated by the winner Christian. Later on in the PPV, he was defeated by Brodus Clay in a singles match. After a two month absence, The Miz returned on July 15 at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, as a last-minute participant in the WWE Championship Money in the Bank contract match sporting a new haircut that replaced his signature fauxhawk. However, he would be unsuccessful as the match was won by old rival John Cena.
On July 23 at Raw 1000, Miz defeated Christian to win his first Intercontinental Championship. With this, Miz also became the 25th Triple Crown Champion in WWE history. Four days later on SmackDown, Miz successfully defended his title against Christian in a rematch. At SummerSlam, Miz defeated Rey Mysterio to retain the Intercontinental Championship. At Night Of Champions, Miz successfully defended the Intercontinental Championship in a Fatal Four Way match against Cody Rhodes, Rey Mysterio, and Sin Cara. From September, Miz started hosting the "MizTV" talk show. On the October 17 episode of WWE Main Event, Miz lost the Intercontinental Championship to Kofi Kingston. Miz failed to regain the title from Kingston in two rematches, the first on October 28 at Hell in a Cell, and the second on the November 6 episode of SmackDown.
On the November 11 episode of Raw, The Miz started a face turn after being added to Mick Foley's Survivor Series team to compete against Dolph Ziggler's team, starting a brief feud with Ziggler. At Survivor Series, The Miz managed to eliminate Wade Barrett before being eliminated by Alberto Del Rio. On the December 4 edition of Raw, Miz had CM Punk take a polygraph, however, it went unfinished as The Shield interrupted the test and the show ended. At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, The Miz would host Miz TV with 3MB being the guests. After 3MB assaulted the Spanish announcers, he, along with Alberto Del Rio, and the Brooklyn Brawler would defeat them in a six man tag team match. The next day on Raw he and Del Rio teamed with Tommy Dreamer and again defeated 3MB. Miz teamed up with recent rival Kofi Kingston to defeat Wade Barrett and Antonio Cesaro. He then teamed with John Cena to win against the Rhodes Scholars. He continued to feud with Ziggler, when he mocked Ziggler's on-screen girlfriend AJ Lee, in order to get laid out by their "friend" Big E Langston. This led him to a match against Ziggler on 28 December edition of SmackDown which ended in a losing effort, after getting distracted by Langston. He then entered a feud with Antonio Cesaro, after Cesaro disrespected the USA. On January 14, 2013 during the Raw 20th Anniversary special, Miz hosted Miz TV with guest Ric Flair. They were interrupted by Cesaro but Miz hit the Skull Crushing Finale on him and Ric Flair gave The Miz the honor of applying his submission move, the figure-four leglock, on Cesaro. Miz would then go on to adopt the figure-four from Flair and use it as a new finisher. The Miz faced Cesaro for the United States Championship on the Royal Rumble 2013 pre-show but ended in a losing effort. He also competed in the Royal Rumble match that night being the 28th entrant in the 30-man match, only to get eliminated by Ryback. Miz continued his rivalry with Cesaro on Raw Roulette the following night when he was placed as the special guest referee in Cesaro's match with Randy Orton. Cesaro went on to lose the match and then Miz hit the Skull-Crushing Finale on him afterwards.
On the February 4 edition of Raw, The Miz invited Paul Heyman to appear on Miz TV, but after berating Heyman and Vickie Guerrero for what happened to Mr. McMahon at the hands of Brock Lesnar the previous week, he ended up being attacked and then getting an F-5 from Lesnar. On February 8 edition of SmackDown, Miz and Cesaro continued their feud, with both fighting a backstage brawl. The next week on Raw, Cesaro attacked Miz and repeatedly swung him into the barricade with a giant swing during Miz's match with Cody Rhodes, thus injuring Miz's shoulder (kayfabe). On the SmackDown episode on the same week, The Miz defeated Cody Rhodes by submission. The Miz faced Cesaro again for the United States Championship at Elimination Chamber, but was disqualified after he accidentally hit a low-blow to Cesaro. The next night on Raw, he defeated Cesaro in a No Disqualification match with the figure-four, which kept him in contention for the championship. That week on SmackDown tapings he again defeated Cody Rhodes by submission.
On the March 11 episode of Raw, The Miz faced Chris Jericho in a number one contenders match for Wade Barrett's Intercontinental Championship, but the match was ruled a no contest after Barrett interfered and attacked both men. As a result, both men were entered into the title match the following week on Raw, where Barrett retained his title after pinning Miz. The nex week on Raw, Miz defeated Barrett in a non-title match via submission to earn another shot at the Intercontinental Championship. On the pre-show of WrestleMania 29, The Miz would force Barrett to submit using the Figure-Four Leg Lock to secure his second Intercontinental Championship. However, he would lose it back to Wade Barrett the next night on Raw. After over a month of inactivity, Miz returned on the May 13 episode of of Raw, defeating Heath Slater. Six days later, during the pre-show of Extreme Rules, Miz defeated Cody Rhodes in a singles match. The following night on Raw, Miz and Chris Jericho defeated Fandango and Wade Barrett in a tag team match after Miz submitted Barrett with the Figure-Four Leglock. Four days later on SmackDown, Miz faced Barrett for the Intercontinental Championship and won the match by disqualification after Fandango interfered, but did not win the title as a result. On the next episode of Raw, Miz served as special guest referee in a match between Barrett and Fandango, where gave Barrett a Skull Crushing Finale which allowed Fandango to pick up the win. Afterwards, Miz attacked Fandango as well. In June, Fandango suffered a legitimate concussion, removing him from the feud between Miz and Barrett. On June 16 at WWE Payback, Miz again failed to recapture the Intercontinental Championship from Barrett in a Triple Threat match, that was won by Curtis Axel. The Miz was named #1 contender to face Curtis Axel for the Intercontinental Championship at the 2013 Money in the Bank. On July 14 at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, Miz unsuccessfully challenged Axel for the Intercontinental Championship.
The Miz then went on to feud with Fandango. The Miz was named the host of Summerslam 2013 and opened the show but was interrupted by Fandango, furthering the feud. The Miz had obvious problems with the dealing of the new group of Triple H and WWE Champion Randy Orton, and on the Smackdown, he was put in a match against Orton, but was defeated. The Miz defeated Fandango at Night of Champions 2013. On the September 16 edition of Raw in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, The Miz was brutally assaulted in a match by a more aggressive than usual Randy Orton, as Miz's parents watched it unfold from the front row. The end result was that both men were counted out, but The Miz wound up suffering a severe neck injury as the result of Orton placing a folded chair over his head and kneedropping on it hard in the ring. On the October 14 episode of Raw, Miz was defeated by Randy Orton after the Wyatt Family distracted him, allowing Orton to RKO him for the victory. On the next episode of Smackdown, Miz and Kofi Kingston lost to Harper and Rowan in a tag team match. On the November 18 episode of Raw, Miz turned heel by refusing to tag in to Kofi during a tag team match with the Real Americans. At Survivor Series, The Miz defeated Kingston in the pre-show. After the match, Miz offered a handshake, in which Kofi retaliated with a slap to face. On the November 25th edition of Raw, he apparently reversed his heel turn as he had a comedic session with Michael Strahan and Titus O'Neil and interacted with both Strahan, O'Neil and the crowd as a face. At Survivor Series, Miz defeated Kingston in the pre-show. After the match, Miz offered a handshake, in which Kofi retaliated with a slap to face. He tagged with Kingston on the December 2 Raw, but Kingston slapped him across the face after the match. On the December 13 Smackdown, Miz attacked Kingston before his match with Alberto Del Rio. At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, he was defeated by Kingston in a No Disqualification match, to end the feud.
On the January 27, 2014 episode of Raw, WWE once again returned to The Miz's hometown of Cleveland, where Miz lost a match against fellow Cleveland native Dolph Ziggler (who is billed from Hollywood, Florida, but was born in Cleveland). On the February 3rd episode of Raw, Miz stormed out to complain about a match with Zack Ryder and Titus O'Neil saying he should be in that match, saying Ryder is a "wannabe" and he should be in matches instead of him. The following week on Raw, Miz did a similar thing in a match between Fandango and Santino Marella. Four days later on Smackdown, The Miz got a match against Fandango in a winning effort, due to a distraction by Santino and Emma. participated in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania XXX but was eliminated by Santino, ending his WrestleMania undefeated streak.
He returned to WWE as a heel on the June 30 episode of Raw after a four-month hiatus filming The Marine 4. Claiming to be the only successful "multi-platform" superstar in the WWE, The Miz vowed to return to the main events. He was interrupted by the also-returning Chris Jericho, taking a Codebreaker. The following week on Raw, he suffered a loss to Jericho after a Walls of Jericho. The next night on Main Event Miz denounced his home town of Cleveland, where he had been billed since his debut; thus declaring Hollywood his new home. At Battleground, The Miz won a battle royal to become the Intercontinental Champion for the third time, after eliminating Dolph Ziggler. Miz dropped the title to Ziggler on August 17 at SummerSlam, ending his reign at just 28 days. Later that month, Damien Sandow became Miz's stunt double, and was subsequently billed as "Damien Mizdow". At Night of Champions, Miz would regain the Intercontinental Championship back for the fourth time of his career. The next night on Raw, Miz lost the title back to Ziggler in the rematch. On the September 29 episode of Raw, Miz once again unsuccessfully challenged Ziggler for the Intercontinental Title in a triple-threat match also involving Cesaro. Miz would then lose to Sheamus in a United States title match at Hell in a Cell. At Survivor Series, Miz and Mizdow won the WWE Tag Team Championship by winning a Fatal-4-Way match against defending champions Gold & Stardust, The Usos, and Los Matadores. This marks the record tying fourth reign as WWE Tag Team Champion for Miz. The following night on Raw, the duo would retain the titles against Gold & Stardust in a standard tag team match when the former champions invoked their rematch clause. Miz and Mizdow entered into a feud with the Usos on the December 1 episode of Raw - when after the Usos won a Tag Team Turmoil match to become number one contenders to the tag team titles - Miz interacted with Jimmy Uso's wife Naomi, offering to connect her with a Hollywood producer to distribute her music video. On the December 29 edition of Raw, Miz and Mizdow lost the titles to The Usos. On the January 9th episode of SmackDown, Miz and Mizdow were given a tag team championship opportunity against The Usos and Gold and Stardust, but The Usos ended up retaining. At Royal Rumble, Miz and Mizdow challenged The Usos for the titles once again in a losing effort. Later that night, both Miz and Mizdow competed in the Rumble match with Miz entering at #1, but was eliminated by Bubba Ray Dudley and Mizdow entering at #21. Miz would try to take Mizdow's spot, only for Roman Reigns to push him off the apron, allowing Mizdow to enter, where he would be quickly eliminated by Rusev.
On the February 9 episode of Raw, Miz would fire Mizdow as his stunt double after Mizdow began to gain more attention from fans, though he would quickly rehire Mizdow as his personal assistant. On the Fastlane pay-per-view The Miz had a pre show segment of MizTV with Paul Heyman. Mizdow then ceased being his assistant during WrestleMania 31. On the April 20, 2015 edition of Monday Night Raw, Miz defeated Mizdow in a match where the winner gets to retain the Miz brand.
After a short hiatus filming another WWE Studios movie (Santa's Little Helper), The Miz returned at the Elimination Chamber PPV, by holding a Miz TV segment with Daniel Bryan on the pre-show. Miz was scheduled to compete against Ryback for the WWE Intercontinental Championship on Raw the night after Elimination Chamber, but a returning Big Show knocked him out making the match a no contest. At Money in the Bank, Miz interfered during the Intercontinental Championship match between Ryback and Big Show, attacking Show and resulting in Ryback retaining the championship. Miz was set to face Ryback and Big Show at Battleground for the Intercontinental Championship, but it was later announced that Ryback would not defend the title at the event due to an injury. The match was, however, rescheduled for SummerSlam the following month, but Miz was unable to win the title. The Miz spent the rest of 2015 on the losing end of matches on SmackDown, Main Event, and Superstars.
On January 24, 2016, The Miz entered the Royal Rumble Match, but did not enter the ring until five minutes after he made his entrance, instead opting to join the commentary booth as a "strategy". He was eventually eliminated by Roman Reigns. The following night on 'Raw' Miz began complaining about being interrupted at which point he was interrupted by the United States champion, Kalisto. The two faced off in a singles match with Kalisto coming out on top. On February 1 Miz hosted an episode of Miz TV with guest AJ Styles. Miz would interrupt Styles every time he was about to speak. It was later announced that Miz would face Styles on the upcoming Smackdown. On the February 4 edition of Smackdown, Miz suffered a submission loss to AJ Styles. On the February 29, 2016 episode of Raw, Miz picked up a victory against Dolph Ziggler. On the March 21, 2016 episode of Raw, The Miz was announced to take part in a 7-man ladder match for Kevin Owens' Intercontinental Title at WrestleMania 32. He was ultimately unsuccessful, as he was kicked off the ladder by Zack Ryder, the eventual winner of the match. The following night on Raw, Miz challenged Ryder for the Intercontinental Championship, which he won after his wife Maryse made her return to the WWE and distracted Ryder, thus becoming Intercontinental Champion for the fifth time. Three days later on SmackDown, Miz retained his championship by defeating Ryder in a rematch, where Maryse (now serving as his manager) helped him again. Cesaro defeated Kevin Owens on the April 11, 2016 episode of Raw to become #1 contender for the Intercontinental Championship, and the right to face The Miz at WWE Payback. At the event, Miz retained after interference from Owens and Sami Zayn. On May 22 at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view, Miz successfully retained the championship against Cesaro, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens in a highly acclaimed fatal-4 way match, when Miz pinned Cesaro.
The following night on Raw, Miz failed to qualify for the 2016 Money in the Bank ladder match when he was defeated by Cesaro, setting up another championship bout between the pair set for the week's SmackDown, in which Miz retained yet again. Following this, he and Maryse began filming The Marine 5: Battleground, taking them out of action. Both returned on the 27 June episode of Raw, where he lost to Kane in a championship match via count out. On July 11th on Raw, Darren Young won a no.1 contenders battle royal for the Intercontinental Championship at Battleground. At the event, the match ended in a no contest after The Miz pushed Bob Backlund (Darren Young's mentor) and Darren Young attacked him. On July 19, at the 2016 WWE Draft, Miz, along with Maryse, was drafted to SmackDown with the Intercontinental Championship becoming exclusive to that brand. On August 21 at SummerSlam, Miz successfully defended the championship against Apollo Crews. At Backlash, SmackDown's first PPV, on September 11, Miz successfully defended the title against Dolph Ziggler after Maryse sprayed Ziggler's eyes during an distraction by the referee. On the September 20 episode of SmackDown, Miz retained his Intercontinental title over Ziggler in a rematch after he used the same spray on Ziggler from Backlash. On October 9, at No Mercy, Miz lost the Intercontinental Championship to Ziggler in a title vs career match after Maryse and The Spirit Squad (Kenny and Mikey), were ejected from ringside, ending Miz's reign at 188 days. On the SmackDown after No Mercy, the Spirit Squad lost to Ziggler in a 2-on-1 handicap match, which the Miz would attack Ziggler after the match, before being run off by Heath Slater and Rhyno. On the October 18th episode of SmackDown, The Miz and the Spirit Squad defeated Ziggler, Slater and Rhyno in a 6-man tag match. The Miz initially refused Ziggler's offer for a rematch for the Intercontinental title, but on November 8 episode of SmackDown, Maryse went on to speak in Miz's name due Miz refuse to speak with the Daniel Bryan. On that night, Maryse accepted Bryan's offer to Miz face Ziggler the following week for the Intercontinental Championship in the 900th episode of SmackDown. On the 900th episode of SmackDown on November 15, Maryse helped Miz to win the championship for the sixth time. Miz would go on to defend the title against Raw's Sami Zayn at Survivor Series, where Miz would defeat Zayn after Maryse prematurely rang the bell, causing a distraction. On November 22 edition of SmackDown, Miz successfully retained his championship against Kalisto after Kalisto was distracted by Baron Corbin and later Miz himself was attacked by Ziggler. Later that night, General Manager Daniel Bryan scheduled The Miz to defend his championship against Ziggler at TLC in a ladder match which Miz won, thus ending their feud. On the following SmackDown, Miz again had a successful title defense against Dean Ambrose after interference from Maryse and distraction from James Ellsworth.
The week after, Miz failed to become the number one contender for the WWE Championship after being the first man to be eliminated from a fatal-four way elimination match also involving Dean Ambrose, Dolph Ziggler, and Luke Harper. At Tribute to the Troops, Apollo Crews, with the help of comedian Gabriel Iglesias, defeated The Miz in a non-title match, earning the right to face Miz for the Intercontinental Championship the following week. On the December 20 episode of SmackDown, Miz retained the title against Crews. After the match he was interviewed by Renee Young who slapped him for sarcastically revealing Young's real life relationship with Dean Ambrose. On the January 3 episode of SmackDown, Miz lost the Intercontinental Championship to Ambrose despite interference from Maryse.
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