WWE News: The Miz Is Officially a Bust as a Top Heel and Needs a Major Makeover

On last week's episode of Raw, former WWE Champion The Miz lost clean to under-used mid-carder (and Superstars regular) Kofi Kingston. It was a rather surprising outcome that shocked many, and likely served as no comfort whatsoever to Miz fans worried about the state of their man's career.

While the decision to put Kingston over may have had some logic behind it (the match was done to hype up the main event of WWE's Elimination Chamber which both men will participate in, and the victory helped give Kingston some credibility), it also served as a strong reminder as how far Miz's status in the company has fallen in the past few months. 

For anyone who has been paying scant attention to his career will know, in the past year Miz went from being WWE Champion and the top heel in the company to being a jobbed out mid-carder who rarely wins and is constantly made to look bad.

Indeed, at the recent TLC pay-per-view, which saw Miz take on Alberto Del Rio and CM Punk in the main event, scathing and belittling comments throughout the evening were made by Miz's opponents about his perceived lack of toughness and inability to be able to taken seriously.

While Miz undoubtedly has flaws as a performer, bringing up and calling attention to his imperfections is as unwise as it is embarrassing. Certainly, if WWE are shown on-screen to take the star seriously, how are fans expected to? 

This development was utterly mind-boggling. 

So, as the losses pile up and the harsh verbal digs continue, we can ask: What did Miz, well-knwon for being a company man and an extremely hard-working performer, to do become the recipient of such shoddy treatment? 

Well, no one can say for sure, of course.

But the turning point for Miz's career looks to have been the main event of last November's Survivor Series, which saw the former WWE Champion and then-friend R-Truth take on the "dream team" of John Cena and returning star The Rock, who was participating in his first actual match in the organization for seven years.

The build up to the supposed grudge match was absolutely abysmal.

Miz and R-Truth got no heat whatsoever and were treated like jobbers, with Cena even beating them both up single-handedly on more than one occasion (which raised the question of why the star even bothered recruiting The Rock, since he was more than capable of dealing the duo himself).

Worst still, Rock's in-person promos, which were hoped to be the selling point, focused more on getting stuff to trend on Twitter and making lame jokes than actually selling the PPV. Dwayne Johnson's out-of-this-world delivery may have been as impressive as ever, but that didn't much matter when he was talking complete nonsense.

Unsurprisingly, the buyrate was dismal (via Wrestleview.com). Bleacher Report's Imaan Jalali suggests Miz is shouldering most of the blame for the low number, hence his hasty demotion on WWE television.

Of course, the idea that the former Real World star is to blame for the Survivor Series buyrate is laughable. After all, he wasn't the one responsible for the poor booking or constant Twitter talk from The Rock, was he? Nor was he plastered all over the marketing for the event, like Rock and Cena were.

He was a supporting player in the whole angle, at best.

But, knowing Vince McMahon and WWE management, it is far easier to blame a lowly wrestler for their mistakes than actually hold themselves accountable for the Survivor Series failure and make the necessary changes. 

Of course, sooner or later, Vince's anger will dissipate and the company will see fit to give Miz a desperately needed makeover. In this case, what can be done?

Well, a move to Smackdown might be astute. On a brand dominated by John Cena and CM Punk and their various power struggles with management and the McMahon family, there's only so far Miz can go.

At present, the chances of him getting another title run on the red brand seem bleak, to say the least.

Smackdown, on the other hand, has far more available slots for top guys, and one could easily see Miz getting the push he deserves there. A change of scenery (he's been on Raw for years) may also do him some good and freshen up his increasingly stale character.  

Charismatic and extremely talented, the 30-year-old Mike Mizanin is still young enough in his wrestling career to turn things around, but he's going to need some major help from the WWE booking team in order to do so.

Let's hope they prove of more use to him this time around than they did at Survivor Series.