The Miz Deserves Credit for Doing the Best Work of His WWE Career Right Now

While the current lineup for WrestleMania 31 has the potential to be great, no storyline on the card has been better built than the one involving The Miz and Damien Mizdow, who will both be taking part in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at the event.

They've managed to take what was originally intended to be a throwaway gimmick and turn it into absolute gold.

After months of being utilized as an enhancement talent, the rechristened Damien Sandow debuted as Miz's "stunt double" on the August 25, 2014 edition of Raw. Since then, the dynamic between the two has taken off, and Mizdow is one of the most beloved characters in the entire company at the moment.

Of course, much of that can be attributed to Sandow's amazing ability to unintentionally get crowds to cheer him with his entertaining antics, but Miz also deserves equal credit for making this program what it has become.

Prior to last summer, Miz hadn't been involved in anything noteworthy in quite some time. He reached the pinnacle of his career when he successfully defended the WWE Championship against John Cena in the main event of WrestleMania 27, but after dropping the strap shortly thereafter, The Awesome One was relegated to the midcard, where he's resided ever since.

Miz underwent a few character changes in the years the followed, but nothing stuck. Coincidentally enough, he first showed signs of a movie star-esque persona in the summer of 2012 when he returned from filming The Marine 3, but his flop of a run as an intercontinental champion ruined his momentum.

By November, WWE began to "organically" turn Miz babyface for the first time in his career, as per a PWInsider report relayed by Wrestling Inc's Marc Middleton. Aside from another extremely brief reign as intercontinental champion, however, he was wasted for almost all of 2014 in forgettable feuds with Bad News Barrett, Fandango and Kofi Kingston.

There seemed to be potential in a Miz face turn, but due to WWE's poor booking of the character, it was a failed effort. It attempted to turn him heel again by late 2013, but its handling of him as a tweener made very little sense and caused fans to simply stop caring all together.

Coming out of WrestleMania 30 with zero direction, he took a leave of absence from programming to film The Marine 4. On the June 30 Raw, he made his "shocking" return to TV, sporting an all-new look and seemingly going all-out with his new Hollywood-oriented gimmick.

Sure, it's a moniker destined for the midcard, but it's a perfect fit for Miz. He's managed to make it his own and flourish for the first time in years, both in the ring and on the microphone.

Since his return, Miz has contested several solid matchups with Dolph Ziggler, Sheamus and The Usos, in addition to holding the intercontinental and tag team titles on a handful of occasions.

All that said, his best work to date has been as a foil to the likable Mizdow act.

It's no coincidence that Miz's most prosperous moments have come when he's been paired with someone else. Whether it's been John Morrison, Alex Riley or R-Truth, he has always thrived with a tag team partner, and his collaboration with Mizdow is no different.

Credit: WWE.com

Granted, their partnership is likely to reach its breaking point at WrestleMania, and where both men go from there remains to be seen. For now, though, there's no denying that they are two of the most consistently entertaining Superstars on the program each week.

The chances of the former Real World star to win back the WWE World Heavyweight Championship someday are slim to none, especially with only one world title in the mix, but that doesn't mean he can't have a nice run in the midcard for the remainder of his career.

Say what you will about his in-ring ability, but Miz has always found ways of evolving as an individual. As a "media machine," he's also been a valuable asset to the company these last few years from a promotional standpoint.

Damien Mizdow deserves all the praise he's been getting for reinventing himself and building a fan following, but in that same vein, The Miz does as well. He's done an exceptional job in his new role over the last nine months and should be recognized for everything he's done to get his career back on track.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, is a journalism major at Endicott College. Visit his website at Next Era Wrestling and "like" his official Facebook page to continue the conversation on all things wrestling. 

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