Another Opportunity Mizzed

Watching Monday Night Raw this week was once again an exercise in frustration... there were the usual logic-defying holes (Big Show backed out of a US Title Match at the last PPV, but now he's satisfied by Jeremy Piven giving him a shot at that very same belt?), poor booking (Hey, Mark Henry has sort of been getting over, and last week he was the runner-up for the WWE Title Match, so how do we build on that momentum to have fans view him as a legitimate threat to the strap? I know! Let's put him in a comedy match that ends with him dancing with Hornswoggle!)  and limited in-ring action.

However, this Raw should be most remembered as the day the booking team threw dirt on The Miz's chances of being a main event player on the flagship show.

Now, one could certainly argue very convincingly that his fate was sealed after back-to-back losses to John Cena at The Bash and then the following night on Raw, but some clever booking could've built him back up.

Instead, he was easily defeated in a match where the odds were stacked heavily in his favor even after a fair amount of outside interference. Plus, the stipulations effectively prevent him from wrestling at SummerSlam (or was it SummerFest?) or on Raw going forward.

Of course, in wrestling stipulations are made to be broken (or simply forgotten), but however it ultimately plays out this was just another in a long line of poor decisions in booking The Miz since he was drafted from ECW.

Given the current state of the Raw roster I simply don't understand the McDecision to bury The Miz, who on paper has almost everything the WWE looks for in their top-tier talent.

He has a good look (albeit without the prototypical body builder physique that the McMahons covet) and knows how to work a crowd both with his in-ring antics and his work on the mic.

The early returns were good as they threw him into a program with Cena, essentially a reimagining of the Jericho-Goldberg feud from WCW's glory days of with Miz claiming victories over Cena despite never facing him in the ring.

Unfortunately, things went south in a hurry when they had Cena act bemused towards Miz instead of enraged. They had him call Cena a coward to his face but then back down from the physical confrontation, reducing him instantly to just another cowardly heel, which has become the WWE blueprint for heels.

Where exactly is it written that a believable, physically imposing heel can't draw? Isn't that how Steve Austin started out? And didn't he draw pretty well?

It's like they saw what Edge was able to do playing the conniving, ultimate opportunist role and decided to make it a carbon copy for their mid-card heels.

Only they failed to take into account Edge's years of wrestling in some of the most brutal matches in the WWE, which give him credibility with the fans as a guy that may look for the easy way, but ultimately can wrestle and fight with the best of them.

Sure, he'll back down at times, but he's always looking for that opening to deliver a beating.

Having Cena win on the PPV was essentially strike two, though given that a relatively small percentage of the fan base orders the pay-per-views relative to the weekly Raw viewership they had a chance to get Miz's heat back by giving him a win the next night. They did not.

Even though Miz looked reasonably strong in defeat, the average fan was left seeing nothing more than a loudmouth heel that couldn't back it up in the ring (sadly, that's WWE Booking 101).

A win for Miz would've meant infinitely more to his career than a loss for Cena, who could probably drop 20 straight matches on TV and still be viewed as a plausible contender to the top belts, which is to be expected considering Cena has pretty much monopolized the WWE/World Title picture for the better part of four years.

Then, finally, last night was strike three. The death knell for someone that could've been presented to the audience as an upper-tier heel, but instead went the way of so many others in recent years.

His former partner, John Morrison, has been well booked on SmackDown!, and it now appears he may figure into the World Title picture at SummerSlam. Had Raw's "creative" team lived up to their billing maybe Raw could have some fresh talent at the top.

Instead, we're left with yet another Orton-Cena match, the umpteenth DX reunion (vs. Legacy no less, can you say Spirit Squad '09?) and a potentially intriguing mid-card feud with Jack Swagger and MVP.

Looking past SummerSlam things get even bleaker because we've got the same five guys (Orton, HHH, Cena, HBK and Batista) viewed as legitimate title contenders, and every one of those feuds has already been done.

Sooner rather than later WWE needs to warm to the idea that they need to elevate guys past the mid-card into the main event picture, and not just to be fodder for that top five. They missed another chance with The Miz, here's hoping they give MVP or Swagger that opportunity soon.