WWE Hell in a Cell 2012: What's Next for the Miz After Loss to Kofi Kingston?

Former Intercontinental champion The Miz came up short in his quest to win back his beloved belt from Kofi Kingston at tonight's Hell in a Cell pay-per-view.

He put up a good fight, of course, but ultimately lost clean to Kofi Kingston after being hit with Kofi's Trouble in Paradise finisher.

Graciously, the Intercontinental champion was nice enough after the match to thank Miz for bringing out the very best in him in recent weeks (per the storyline, Miz has blasted Kingston for wasting his potential and failing to elevate himself above the midcard during his time in the company).

So, what's next for Miz after the loss here?

Well, the obvious thing may be that he will continue to feud with Kingston. Let's hope the company doesn't go in this direction. While a continuation of the program would probably be fine—and the two have produced good results so far, with their match at last Wednesday's Main Event being particularly impressive—there's not really much of a storyline left to tell. Miz questioned whether Kofi could take the belt off of him, Kofi then accomplished this, and Miz is unable to defeat him and win it back.

Where else can this angle go? It was a decent, entertaining midcard feud, but both men need to go on and do other things.

It's also possible WWE has decided Miz is too good for a midcard belt like the Intercontinental Championship and want to elevate him higher up the card.

Certainly Miz, who continues to improve as a performer, has plenty of potential feuds for him in WWE. He could work a program with top babyface Randy Orton, or even do something with Sheamus (tension between the two has been hinted at on-screen before). At a time when WWE's main event scene has grown frustratingly stale, Miz would be a welcome fresh face.

Miz's character continues to grow and develop. For one thing, he's been given a new talk show—the hilarious Miz TV, which always seems to end with the nice black furniture getting thrown around everywhere and the set getting trashed. (Just think what poor Miz has to pay in furniture insurance premiums!)

Fresh off of filming The Marine: Homefront, an upcoming action-sequel from WWE's movie division, his character has also taken to bragging about being a big-time Hollywood star (considering this is a straight-to-DVD WWE Studios feature we're talking about, it may be intentional that he sounds totally and utterly deluded). At a time when most WWE heels are frustratingly similar—they are all really arrogant and think they don't get enough respect—egocentric Hollywood-wannabe Miz is an interesting, unique character.

In conclusion, Miz leaves the pay-per-view in an interesting position, with there being a few possibilities of where WWE can take his character going forward. At a time when WWE's booking is arguably at its most erratic, it's very possible that the company, rather than having a solid plan going forward, don't quite know what to do with him yet. But whatever they do, let's just hope they use the former Real World star to his fullest potential.