Evaluating the Long-Term Outlook For The Miz on WWE SmackDown Live

Few stars have benefited more from WWE's latest brand split than the Miz. Through his lengthy reign as the intercontinental champion and his heated rivalry with Dolph Ziggler, there is little doubt he has done the best work of his entire career over these past few months.

Although taking the title off him and giving it to Ziggler for a fifth time wasn't ideal, the move in no way killed his momentum. He continues to be involved in some of the best segments each week on SmackDown, and his return to the top of the card is merely getting underway.

Since cutting that phenomenal promo on Talking Smack where he ripped into SmackDown general manager Daniel Bryan, Miz has claimed the blue brand as his own. While he has always been a talented talker, it wasn't until that breakthrough moment (a la Austin 3:16) that fans started to take notice of how good he is.

A month removed from his Match of the Year candidate with Ziggler, losing the WWE Intercontinental Championship might have been the best thing for him. Granted, no one would have been a better choice to chase The Honky Tonk Man's record-setting reign than Miz, but he now has his sights set on something much more important.

Fans should not be alarmed by Miz's exclusion from the Raw vs. SmackDown Survivor Series elimination match. Instead, it should be seen as a sign that he is destined for bigger and better things.

Credit: WWE.com

On the Nov. 1 edition of SmackDown, Ziggler announced he will be defending his title—but not against The Awesome One. Instead, he will be issuing an open challenge to any member of the Raw roster.

Of course, there is the possibility that Miz is traded to Raw in order to accept the invitation to get the gold back, but that would be the worst-case scenario. And that would make little sense in the storyline, as Miz recently signed an extension to remain with SmackDown.

Besides, Tuesday nights are where Miz belongs for the time being. He has rejuvenated his once-stagnant career on SmackDown and would likely be overlooked on Raw if he were to jump ship.

That said, Miz should get his rightful rematch for the Intercontinental Championship, given he and Ziggler have been at odds for months. Their fourth and final faceoff for the strap should transpire at WWE TLC 2016, which occurs only two weeks after Survivor Series.

There, Ziggler and Miz can contest a ladder match and finally blow off their ruthless rivalry. If Miz were to lose, it would set him up for another main event run down the line.

Miz's initial main event run from 2010 to 2011 was largely considered a flop because he failed to cement his spot among the elite once his WWE Championship reign was over. Although he headlined WrestleMania 27 and defeated John Cena, it wasn't long before he was a midcard mainstay again.

He has been battling for the intercontinental title ever since. While that has been a solid role for him, he has proved in the latter half of 2016 that he has at least one more main event stint left in him.

As of this moment, it is more a matter of when than if Miz should get involved in the WWE World Championship picture for the first time in five years. AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose have already been confirmed to be fighting for the prestigious prize at TLC, and assuming Styles wins, he will need a fresh face to feud with after the event.

Other than Miz and Randy Orton, who could still be tied up with Bray Wyatt by that point, there aren't obvious choices for Styles to defend against at the Royal Rumble. Miz and Styles both being heels shouldn't matter, as the Rumble sells itself and doesn't need a strong title match to entice viewers to tune in.

WWE can wait until after WrestleMania 33 to pull the trigger on Miz as a main eventer, but it would be wise for it to strike while the iron is hot. Either way, the future is bright for The Hollywood A-Lister as long as he is a regular fixture on Tuesday nights.

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

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