WWE: CM Punk, the Miz and Unexpected Stars During the "Road to Wrestlemania"

For decades, it's been a running joke that the WWE only pushes bodybuilders to the main event.

From Hulk Hogan, to Lex Luger, to John Cena, it's been a procession of larger than life individuals that WWE has shoved down our throats (some with more success than others).

That's not to say that all big men are untalented.

Cena is one of the hardest-working, underrated ring workers of his generation, but his physique certainly helped his cause in being made the face of the company. 

If you aren't a muscle-bound gym rat though, you need to be related to somebody of wrestling fame to get a push, right?

The Rock ended up in wrestling because of his father and grandfather. Then you have Orton, Ted Jr. and Rhodes. Triple H married into the family. The last few years have been a revolving door of second and third generation performers. 

Through it all though, there are always a few who pushed past these presumed prerequisites for success.

They took the long road to the top—some with a more peculiar journey than others. This column attempts to highlight some of these stories that have been showcased recently in the Road to Wrestlemania. 

CM Punk

A few weeks ago, I wrote that Punk has the skill set to be Stone Cold; this drew the ire of many who think such a comparison is blasphemy.

My point though is that Punk came up the hard way. Traversing the indie scene is the closest thing we have left to the territories of yesteryear. Austin did the same, working small shows around the country and learning how to work intimate crowds as both a face and heel.

Punk's experience in this realm is what gives him the chops to do what he does every week. One unfamiliar with wrestling could see him walking through a mall or airport and not think he was a wrestler. His tattoos and piercings may have you thinking "rock band" or, well, "dead beat." 

I won't rehash too much of my old column, so in short, Punk has developed a natural connection with the audience through hard work and strong promos. His feud with Orton has been a highlight of Raw for the last month and a half, as his persistent attempts to vanquish Orton to avenge losing his title two years ago have been gold. It's truly elevated both performers, as Punk has never had such a prominent role on WWE's "A" show, and this is also by far the best feud Orton has had since turning face a year ago.

Miz

He may have come from MTV, but to be fair, reality stars are pseudo-celebrities.

When I was in college, it was an annual tradition to have two former Real World cast members for a Q&A session as part of the welcome back fall semester events calendar. These people were grasping onto their "fame."

The Miz though used his mainstream publicity to chase his dream.

Miz is and was a fan first. He didn't chase wrestling after realizing he had no other career prospects. It was his dream all along, and in an industry of Rocks who saw wrestling as a fallback from football and springboard to Hollywood, it's refreshing to see a guy like the Miz truly love his job and dedicate himself to improving. 

That brings me to the present.

Miz is the WWE Champion. He is not too big, particularly strong or even athletic. He's an everyman heel. He's a frat boy with a big mouth. He's completely legitimate in everything that comes out of his mouth, and that's what makes him so compelling.

Miz is dedicated to getting better every time he is out there and willing to learn. He wouldn't have gotten this far if he weren't.

Like it or not, the Miz is going to be a major star for a long time. 

Michael Cole

If WWE Creative realizes what they have on their hands, they will get Michael Cole out from behind the announcer table and into the locker room with a stable of wrestlers to manage.

If properly used, Cole could be the second coming of Bobby the Brain or Jim Cornette. He's not much of an announcer, but Bah Gawd does he draw heat.

As the evil genius character, he can bounce from guy to guy, trying to find the next big thing to get him the most power. Whether it's Swagger, Big Show, Mason Ryan or someone else, having Cole in their corner has the same impact as Vickie Guerrero. 

This evolution began a little more than a year ago when NXT launched, and he began shooting on Daniel Bryan. His heel-ish tendencies, despite not being a full-blown villain, made him interesting to fans for the first time. He has been with WWE for a decade, but it wasn't until now that he really found his niche as a smarmy, slimy, manipulative motor mouth.

He could spend the next five to seven years moving through the roster, aligned with various heels, antagonizing an assortment of faces and getting his ass handed to him once every few months to satisfy the crowd's appetite for Cole getting his comeuppance.