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The Miz Injury Rumors; Ziggler on Vince McMahon; Angle Talks Batista-Booker T Fight
May 18, 2021
Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.
Miz Reportedly Suffers Torn ACL
The Miz reportedly suffered the first major injury of his career Sunday during a Lumberjack match against Damian Priest at WrestleMania Backlash.
On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer reported that The Miz suffered a torn ACL on a spot that saw Priest land on him:
Meltzer noted that the severity of the tear isn't yet known, and that WWE is hopeful it is only a partial tear. If the tear is full, The Miz could be out anywhere from six months to a year.
The Miz, 40, has often mentioned over the years that his in-ring style has helped him avoid injury. That is why he has barely missed any time since making his full-fledged main roster debut in 2006 aside from taking hiatuses to film movies.
Now, The Miz potentially faces a long road back, which is something he has never dealt with during what has undoubtedly been a Hall of Fame career.
It wasn't long ago that The Miz became a two-time WWE champion earlier this year at Elimination Chamber. Although he dropped it to Bobby Lashley the next week, it made Miz WWE's first-ever double Grand Slam champion.
Since then, Miz has been a key cog in Raw's midcard, feuding with Priest. He was also part of one of the most surprisingly good matches at WrestleMania, losing a tag match alongside John Morrison to Priest and Grammy-winning musician Bad Bunny.
The Miz has long been one of the most versatile and reliable Superstars WWE has to offer, and if he is forced to miss months of action, it will represent a huge loss for the company.
Ziggler Talks Relationship with Vince McMahon
Dolph Ziggler made his WWE main roster debut nearly 16 years ago, and during that time, he has built a strong connection with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon.
Appearing on Out Of Character with Ryan Satin of Fox Sports (h/t Fightful's Robert DeFelice), Ziggler provided some inside information regarding his relationship with Vince:
"There is a trust that so few of your favorites have that I have and it's wild because, without complaining, I'm not the main event guy at the moment and a lot of times when it comes to something special, I'm the guy just a match away or so. But I know from that relationship--and, you have to earn it and it's not just, ‘I earned this a few years ago and now I'm fine.’ You've got to re-earn it every day, and I do. If I mess up, which I do all the time, I say, 'I screwed this up, it's on me. I will fix it for next time.'
"Even though those years, I would say of the 15 [years], eight, or nine of them felt like man, 'Vince hates my f'n guts. What the hell is happening here?' Then, there are those five or six where you go, 'I get it now. He's pushing me, he's challenging me because only I can do these things,' and I'm very blessed to be doing them and still kicking ass doing them."
While Ziggler has rarely been on top during his career, with the exception of two brief World Heavyweight Championship reigns, he has remained relevant in WWE for a remarkably long time.
The Showoff is a six-time intercontinental champion and two-time United States champion, and more recently he has thrived in a tag team alongside Robert Roode.
Prior to dropping the SmackDown Tag Team Championships to Rey and Dominik Mysterio at WrestleMania Backlash on Sunday, Ziggler and Roode held them for an impressive 127 days.
Ziggler is of great value to WWE due to his ability to do anything asked of him and do it well. That ranges anywhere from facing Seth Rollins in a 30-minute Iron Man match at Extreme Rules 2018 to losing to Goldberg in a few minutes at SummerSlam 2019.
Even at 40 years of age, Ziggler remains one of the best in-ring performers in the world, which is likely why he continues to be utilized regularly.
Earning McMahon's trust is an important thing for any WWE Superstar, and the fact that Ziggler has it means he can likely continue wrestling for WWE for as long as he wants to.
Angle Recalls 2006 Fight Between Booker T and Batista
One of the most famous backstage fights in professional wrestling history occurred back in 2006 between Booker T and Batista.
On a recent episode of the Kurt Angle Show (h/t WrestlingInc.com's Marco Rovere), WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle discussed the fight and what he remembers about it:
"I was there after the fight ended. I heard what occurred, Batista got there for a commercial shoot, I think it was for SummerSlam, and someone approached him and Batista said, 'Hey, when are you coming over to SmackDown because I have nobody to work with.' Booker took that as wait a minute, I'm on SmackDown? There's a lot of people to work with. I think Batista was just saying, because there were a lot of injuries going on and it was getting a little bare at the top and he was just trying to tell the person I'd love you to come over and work a program with you.
"I don't think it was anything personal against Booker T or anyone else on SmackDown. Batista said it and Booker confronted him and now the situation got hotter. Now Booker confronts Batista, makes Batista look like an idiot, Batista confronts Booker and now they end in a fight competition. The fight occurred, I got there afterward, I saw Booker T had a black eye and Batista was a little banged up and I just thought it was a big misunderstanding. I know they apologized afterward and made up and did whatever they had to do to move on, they just misunderstood each other about the whole situation. It was a shame, it didn't have to happen."
Booker T and Batista were two of WWE's biggest stars in 2006, which is likely why their fight has been talked about so often by wrestling fans over the past 15 years.
Both Booker and Batista made their mark on SmackDown and carved out Hall of Fame careers for themselves, and it doesn't appear as though any bad blood exists between them.
By all accounts, things have mellowed significantly in the WWE locker room in recent years, but fights were commonplace once upon a time. Based on Angle's memory, the Booker vs. Batista clash was simply a misunderstanding that was solved quite quickly.
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