The Miz Beats Randy Orton: 10 Lessons We Learned

Well Bleachers, the last PPV of the calender year turned out to be one of the best of the year. Though the results were predictable, it was still one worth watching from start to end.

The WWE Championship match this time was a Tables match between The Miz and Randy Orton, with The Viper out to seek revenge following The Awesome One's Money In The Bank cash in on him the day after Survivor Series.

Overall, the match was decent with booking that helped push Miz as the sneaky heel champion, especially when Orton put Alex Riley through a table when the referee's back was turned. The Miz seized the opportunity and gave Orton a Skull Crushing Finale before putting him in the rubble, fooling the ref for a split second.

The match was restarted and with help from his apprentice, The Miz tossed Randy off the apron and into a table and left Houston the way he entered it—as the WWE Champion.

Here are the 10 lessons we learned.

Hard Work and Determination Pays Off!

Who would've thought that the guy flubbing lines from the Diva Search four years ago would go on to become the face of the WWE today?!

Nope, none of us. In fact, I don't think anyone did apart from The Miz himself.

Say what you want about his wrestling, Michael Mizanin has worked his ass off for years to get to this point and deserves to be champion as much as anyone else.

We all know about the backstage stories about his early days in the WWE, being tormented constantly by his fellow Superstars, especially JBL.

Well, John Bradshaw Layfield, you can now officially SUCK IT!

No, but in all seriousness, The Miz has done what nobody ever thought he would and is the WWE Champion, whether you like it or not.

The Miz-Morrison Feud Is On Its Way!

We all predicted it. The second The Miz cashed in his MITB contract and won the WWE Championship, the entire IWC sat in front of their televisions nodding and going "Yep, he's going to feud with Morrison for this title. Yup."

When the match card for TLC was announced and JoMo was scheduled to be facing Sheamus in a battle for Number 1 contendership, we all knew he would win the match.

It all makes too much sense and that doesn't make it a bad thing by any means.

This feud is a good one because the two men have actual history and their rivalry isn't just made out of thin air. They were once a tag team and most believed it was Morrison carrying the entire team. Once they split, everyone was sure that Miz would go on to be the Jannetty and Morrison would become levelled with Shawn Michaels. 

To the surprise of everyone, The Miz reached the Main Event first and is of course, a World Champion.

This rivalry is the classic battle about former tag team supremacy but on a much larger scale. I honestly have no idea who will come out of the feud as the champion and I believe this is a great thing.

The Miz Is Not a Transitional Champ

The Miz made a promise to be the longest reigning champion in WWE history and while that probably won't happen, it looks as if he will be around for quite a while.

It's important to note that since winning the title a few weeks back, The Miz has been doing countless interviews and promo work, much more than the former WWE Champion, Randy Orton did. Miz makes such a good champion because he has that crossover appeal, mostly thanks to his time on Real World. People are talking about him and that is exactly what the WWE needs to increase thier popularity on the whole. 

This gives me reason to believe that the championship will not be taken off of him anytime soon. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if he is still the champ come Wrestlemania.

The Youth Movement Has Officially Begun

You could see the future all throughout last night's PPV.

The IC match featured three bright future stars in Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston and Jack Swagger; The Divas Tag Team Tables Match had Natalya, Layla and Michelle McCool, three of the best female wrestlers in the WWE right now who are all relatively newly pushed; Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel in the match for the Unified Tag Team Championships; John Morrison and Sheamus in their Ladder match; Alberto Del Rio in the Fatal Four Way TLC match for the WHC; Wade Barrett in his Chairs match against Cena and of course, The Miz in his match against Randy Orton.

One thing I love about the WWE is this exactly. Every single one of the matches from last night featured newer, younger Superstars/Divas who are potentially gearing up to take over the entire WWE in the next couple of years. 

Furthermore, there were only a select number of veterans and for the most part, they put over the younger guys very well.

The Miz being the WWE Champion right now puts the exclamation mark on this point. He is new to the main event scene, pretty young and shows signs of improvement constantly. He is also being given a chance to shine, despite not being as experienced as the Randy Ortons and the John Cenas of the WWE.

With this decade coming to an end in mere days, could the new one be the decade of the rising stars? 

WWE's Mid-Card Is Consistently Out-Performing the Main Eventers

While the Miz/Orton match was not bad by any means, it was certainly overshadowed by the Mid-Card matches earlier in the evening.

When thinking about the best PPV matches of this year, especially the last few, names such as Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler and Kofi Kingston are mentioned as performers of the night and all three men are mid-carders. Whenever these three and many other mid-carders are part of PPV's, their matches end up being Match of the Night candidates while the main events are usually a lot duller.

Last night was no different, as it was the match between mid-carder John Morrison and main eventer Sheamus who stole the show. Both men, especially Morrison, had a great showing and wrestled one hell of a match. Their only competition for Match of the Night was the Fatal Four Way TLC match between the Smackdown main eventers.

What I think this shows is that Raw's main event is pretty lacking. While The Miz/Orton match WAS good, it wasn't amazing like the many mid-card PPV matches we've seen over the past few months.

Funnily enough, the only time the Raw main eventers beat the Raw/Smackdown mid-carders is when it comes to mic skill and promos.

Alex Riley Is One of the Best Things To Ever Happen To The Miz

The Miz needs Alex Riley and Alex Riley needs The Miz. It is that simple.

Can you imagine what The Miz's title reign would be like so far if he didn't have his apprentice Alex Riley in his corner? 

Miz, being the classic sneaky heel he is, relies on A-Ri constantly to help him win matches and his presence alone has made The Miz look more like a main eventer than he would on his own.

Not to mention Alex Riley being partnered with The Miz saved his butt after he was arrested on DUI charges a little over a month ago. If A-Ri was sans Miz, he would've been fired, suspended or simply pushed down to the bottom of the barrel by now.

Alex Riley being partnered with The Miz has also made him look more like a Superstar than he would if he was alone. He has been given the chance to shine on the mic and prove himself to be a potentially great heel.

The Miz Will Not Be The Jannetty

He's the WWE Champion and one of the biggest names in the WWE right now. There is no way The Miz will be left to be the Jannetty of his tag team with John Morrison.

That being said, I think both men have the potential to be the Shawn Michaels, not when it comes to wrestling ability but sheer Superstar presence alone.

I don't see either of them fading away any time soon which is great because The Miz is amazing on the mic and JoMo is one of the most athletic and exciting Superstars to watch in the ring right now.

Randy Orton Does Not Have Many Places To Go From Here

Now that The Miz will be going on to feud with John Morrison, where does that leave Randy Orton?

There is a limited number of active Raw main event heels right now, with the only others being Wade Barrett and Sheamus. Whilst Barrett has his hands full with his Cena problems, Sheamus will probably feud with Triple H soon and besides, we've already seen an Orton/Sheamus feud.

One problem the WWE has right now is that their main event on both shows is very, very stale. There is not enough competition and the heel-face ratio isn't too great. It seems the only options they have right now are to bring up some talent from FCW like Mason Ryan and Tyler Black (or Seth Rollins, as he's known down there) and build one of them up to feud with Orton, push some mid-carders or have a draft early to switch the talent around.

If not, what on earth is Orton going to do now? 

Anything Can Happen In The WWE

Like I said earlier, who would've thought four years ago that The Miz, the "Jannetty" of Miz and Morrison, would go on to be a top heel main eventer?!

Yep, that's right, no one. It's weird to think that the "bottom of the heap" in the WWE right now could be main eventing and helping to carry the company in a few years time. Can you imagine Zack Ryder in the spot The Miz is in right now in a couple years time?!

The WWE is unpredictable with their twists and turns and pushes and it's never too late to count anyone out, no matter how insignificant they look now.

The Miz Is Going To Be The Top Despised Heel of This Generation

This much is obvious. Just look at Miz Girl's face.

We've had Edge, the late, great Eddie Guerrero and Ric Flair who've played this cheat-to-win character in the past, and while The Miz may not be of the same caliber as these men in the ring at the moment, he is definitely being pushed in a similar way.

The lack of clean victories and the need to have help to win titles and matches shows us that The Miz is going to be the big sneaky heel of this generation who surprises us constantly and is that guy that you just LOVE to hate.

He also has the mic skills of the three aforementioned men, so I have every reason to believe that there will be even more amazing promos on his cheap victories in the future.

Conclusion

Well, that's it for 2010 and TLC was one hell of a way to close an otherwise bland year for the WWE. Here's hoping the Royal Rumble at the end of January impresses and welcomes 2011 in the best way possible.

Thanks for reading and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!