WWE: 11 Ways The Miz Can Return to the WWE Championship Picture

It was November 2010 when The Miz shocked the world and beat Randy Orton for the WWE Championship on an episode of Monday Night Raw.

Now, less than a year later, he’s been named the No. 1 wrestler in the world, according to Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s “PWI 500.”

Without a doubt, that’s quite the accomplishment. But, after losing the WWE title to John Cena earlier this year, The Miz has taken a bit of a bump down the WWE totem pole in recent months.

He’s still an upper mid-carder who can be a main-eventer at any moment, but working a program with Alex Riley isn’t exactly the same as headlining Wrestlemania 27 against the WWE’s No. 1 face.

If you’re a Mizfit, though, don’t fret. I’ve come up with some solutions for The Miz’s mid-card rut.

Here are 11 ways The Miz can return to the WWE Championship scene.

11. Lead His Team to a Win at Survivor Series

The Survivor Series buy-rate has been really, really low over the past few years, and I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that the five-on-five elimination matches generally have no impact on the bigger picture.

You win, you win. You lose, you lose. That’s it.

Well, how about this for a change? The stipulation of the 5-on-5 match: All the remaining members of the winning team are entered into a No. 1 Contender’s Match for the WWE Championship, and if only one wrestler remains, he automatically becomes the No. 1 contender.

I can just imagine this scenario: Team Miz vs. Team Mysterio at Survivor Series, and the match gets down to The Miz and Dolph Ziggler for the heel team and Rey Mysterio for the face team. With Ziggler and Mysterio in the match, Miz distracts Ziggler (yes, his own teammate) and allows Mysterio to eliminate him.

The Miz then immediately gets in the ring and hits the Skull Crushing Finale on Mysterio to get the pin and be named the new No. 1 contender.

Wouldn’t that be…awesome?

10. Continue to Improve in the Ring

Of all the wrestlers who have come and gone from the WWE in the past few years, no one has improved as much as The Miz has in the ring.

He was an absolute joke, the laughing stock of the locker room when he first started, and not a soul in the company thought he’d ever get to the level he’s already at.

The Miz worked his tail off to improve, and he continues to get better as time goes on. His WWE Championship match with John Morrison at the beginning of the year was one of the best TV bouts you’ll see in the WWE, and his WWE title match against Rey Mysterio a few weeks back was another very good showing.

The Miz has to keep improving and prove that he can deliver above-average matches on a consistent basis. If he does that, the table is set for him to get back in the WWE Championship picture.

9. Tweak His Gimmick

Before you freak out, let me start off by saying that The Miz doesn’t need  to change his gimmick whatsoever.

His arrogant, ultimate douchebag character works extremely well for him, and it gets him a ton of heat from the crowd even when he isn’t in the spotlight.

But, in most cases, it can’t hurt a wrestler to tweak his gimmick if he’s been largely the same exact character for the last year or two.

It’s worked for guys like Cody Rhodes and Zack Ryder in recent years, who have gone from nearly characterless wrestlers to a hated heel and a comedic face, respectively.

Though those guys obviously weren’t on the same level as The Miz prior to their character makeovers. Perhaps The Miz could benefit from a slight change in his persona. 

8. Become a Mini Mark Henry

Over the last few months, Mark Henry has single-handedly destroyed everyone in his path on SmackDown.

The highlights of his dominant run on the blue brand were when he demolished Kane and The Big Show on two separate occasions and sidelined them with storyline injuries.

Obviously, it’s a lot more realistic to see someone like The World’s Strongest Man take out his opponents. But why can’t The Miz clear out the competition, just in a different manner?

He’s not going to be able to physically decimate guys like Henry did, but it would certainly be believable to see The Miz use cheap, dirty tactics to sideline some of Raw’s top stars.

And, in that case, he’d be the “last man standing,” so to speak, and the only guy remaining to challenge whomever the WWE Champion is at the time.  

7. Keep the Heat

Even when The Miz isn’t in the main event or title scene on Raw, he does a fantastic job of keeping his heat with the crowd.

In fact, he got so much hate earlier this summer that he was able to turn Alex Riley into a very likeable face seemingly overnight.

I mean, you don’t really think Riley would have gotten over without The Miz, do you?

Truth is, Miz is one of the few heels in the WWE who doesn’t have to have the biggest feud on TV to generate a ton of heat.

If he continues to stay over with the crowd even when his role is slightly diminished, then it’s almost a given that he’ll make his way back to the WWE Championship scene.

6. Win the Elimination Chamber Match

The Elimination Chamber pay-per-view takes place in February, and there’s a good chance that The Miz will be in Raw’s EC match, with the winner becoming the No. 1 contender for the WWE Championship (or the actual WWE Champion).

It’s really not that complicated to explain what The Miz needs to do.

If he wins Raw’s Elimination Chamber match, then he’s headed to Wrestlemania 28 in Miami as either the WWE Champion or the No. 1 contender.

5. Lead a Stable

The last two major stables in the WWE—sorry, The Corre doesn’t count—were The Nexus and Legacy, so let’s take a look at what they did for their leaders.

Randy Orton last wrestled for a World title at Wrestlemania 25 in 2009, the same year in which he won the Royal Rumble. Oddly enough, that was the year when Legacy was at its peak and a big part of Monday Night Raw.

Now, fast forward to 2010, when Wade Barrett led the rebel group known as The Nexus.

Barrett was involved in major feuds with both Orton and John Cena that dominated Raw’s main event scene for a good chunk of last year and turned Barrett into a star (at least temporarily). When the Nexus disbanded, however, Barrett was left in a wasteland—pun intended—over on SmackDown.

The point I’m trying to make here is that stables can really help heels get huge heat from the crowd, and I’m not sure there’s anyone currently on the WWE roster—aside from CM Punk—who would make a better stable leader than The Miz.

A faction with The Miz and guys like Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger and Tyson Kidd would make for excellent TV. Not to mention, it would be very good wrestling-wise as well.

4. Make Sure Raw’s Top Stars Have Bigger Things to Worry About

OK, so this one really isn’t in The Miz’s control. It’s actually up to Vince McMahon and the creative team.

But if The Miz just goes about his business and lets the WWE storylines play out, there’s a good chance he’ll naturally fall into the WWE Championship scene.

Think about it.

John Cena’s already penciled in for a Wrestlemania 28 match with The Rock, and it appears that we could be headed for a CM Punk vs. Triple H match at the show as well (if it doesn’t happen sooner).

That eliminates three of Raw’s top stars from the WWE title scene, leaving only a few others—Alberto Del Rio, Rey Mysterio and maybe guys like Dolph Ziggler or John Morrison—as legit contenders for the WWE Championship.

You have to think that The Miz has as good a shot as anyone to battle for the WWE title at that point, or possibly even sooner.

3. Stay in Vince McMahon’s Good Graces

A recent report says that Vince McMahon is extremely impressed with The Miz, and a push is on the horizon for the former WWE Champion.

The Miz has seemingly done everything right since being thrust into the main event scene—promoting the WWE in interviews, appearing on radio and TV talk shows, getting the company plenty of exposure on MTV, etc.

Naturally, Vinny Mac has really liked what he’s seen from The Miz since he became the “most must-see WWE Champion in history,” and it’s just a matter of time before The Miz moves out of the mid-card and into the main event.

All he has to do is stay out of trouble and in McMahon’s good graces, and it should be smooth sailing from there.

2. Turn Face

CM Punk recently turned, John Cena has been wrestling’s ultimate baby face since I can remember and Triple H is playing the role of the fan favorite boss.

So, at least on paper, now may not seem like the best time to turn The Miz—who is obviously one of Raw’s top heels—face. But you never know what the Raw main event scene may look like down the road and when more baby faces might be needed.

As good as The Miz is as a bad guy, there are plenty of wrestling fans who think he can pull off a face character, including me.

For the most part, the wrestlers who have been able to work in the main event scene as both a face and a heel have one main thing in common: They can talk.

You don’t need me to tell you that The Miz is great on the mic, and therefore, he might not have as difficult a time getting the fans behind him as you might think. 

1. Win the 2012 Royal Rumble

Each and every year, the winner of the Royal Rumble is guaranteed a World title shot at Wrestlemania.

It was Randy Orton in 2009, Edge in 2010 and most recently, Alberto Del Rio in 2011, and all three of these guys went on to challenge for the WWE or World Heavyweight Championship at the granddaddy of them all.

Generally speaking, there are only a few names that have a legit shot at winning the Royal Rumble each year, and in 2012, you can scratch off John Cena and whichever two wrestlers are holding World titles around that time off the list.

In that scenario, The Miz—if he isn’t already WWE Champion—will have to be one of the three or four favorites to win the match, and if he does, then he solidifies his spot back in the main event scene.

In fact, I’m going to go on a limb right now and say that The Miz will indeed be your 2012 Royal Rumble winner.