The Miz Talks John Cena, The Rock, Young Talent, More

Posted by Larry Csonka on 02.07.2012

See what the Miz has to say…

- Sky Sports recently interviewed the Miz, here are some highlights…

On Main Eventing WM With John Cena: Being involved in the biggest match of 2011 was pretty incredible. To main event WrestleMania was a dream come true and something every kid who is a WWE fan has thought about growing up. Not only did I do that but I retained my WWE Championship, not once but twice. I always set out to be the first person to do something and that's what I did at WrestleMania. I beat John Cena by pinning him, making me the first person to do that in WrestleMania history. That was another incredible feat.

On Being Overshadowed By The Rock: I was almost feeling like I was lost in the battle of The Rock and John Cena, but towards the end I really started picking up my pace. By the end of it, I truly believed that people weren't just talking about The Rock and John Cena, they were talking about The Miz. And now people are talking about The Miz more and more as a top-tier talent rather than a person who's trying to get to that level.

On His Wrestling Heroes: When I was a kid growing up in the '80s, I wanted to be the Ultimate Warrior. I would put the streamers on my arms, paint my face and cut promos like him. I also loved the Rockers tag team of Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty. When I teamed with John Morrison we always said we were like a new-age Rockers because we were fast and exciting. Unfortunately for Morrison, he became the Jannetty and I became the Michaels! Going into the Attitude Era, I liked D-Generation X because they were doing stuff that had never been done, while The Rock and Stone Cold were also exciting.

On Daniel Bryan: I take full credit for Daniel Bryan being World Heavyweight Champion having mentored him on NXT and Monday Night Raw. When he won the Money in the Bank briefcase he promised that he would do something that no-one else had done before and cash it in at WrestleMania. But then he did what everyone else did - what he watched me do the year before - and cashed it in at the end of another match. He followed directly in my footsteps.

On Some of the Young WWE Talent: I thought Alex Riley would be very impressive but then he left my side and all my coaching went out the window. He's gone his own way now and where has that got him? On Superstars every week! I think Brodus Clay could be very good. He is entertaining and he is a huge guy but he has a long way to go to be taken seriously. And while I don't consider Dolph Ziggler new, he is fresh to the main-event scene and I think he is doing an incredible job.