WWE Champion The Miz recently appeared on Renee Paquette’s podcast Oral Sessions. They discussed his second reign as WWE Champion, internet critics and some interesting stories about their parents embarrassing them backstage. Here are the biggest points from the show.

On finding out about winning the WWE Championship at Elimination Chamber:

“I didn’t think that I would ever have the title again. I’m not one of those superstars that are always in the mix. I’m in the mix, but you don’t believe that I’m ever going to win the Championship. I had no idea [on the day of Elimination Chamber], I walked in and no one from creative was talking to me. I’m like is anyone going to tell me what is going on? And then I went in and figured out what is going on, and you don’t believe it’s going to happen until you hear 1,2,3. When the 1,2,3 happened, by the way this was against Drew who is on fire right now. He is hard to beat and has grabbed the brass ring. But being Mr Money in the Bank, there’s a fear that you are going to cash in and lose

On the internet reaction to his shock win:

“Last time I cashed in, it was 100% hate. This time it was 50/50. One half was saying “He is weak, he doesn’t deserve it blah blah blah.” But then there was the other half that said “No, he deserves it, we are proud of him.” When it was over, I went backstage and I talked to all of the people in the chamber. They were all very receptive and proud, it’s cool to get it from Twitter, but it makes you feel good when it’s your peers. You’ve worked with these people and they see all the work you’ve put in that nobody else sees.”

On his dad and how it influences his character:

“I’m really good at making people hate me. I think I get it from my dad, he’s a really good button pusher. You know you are going to get aggravated and mad at him. I didn’t realize he could do it until Wrestlemania in San Francisco. We were out and eating afterwards and he said to me “I need to have a conversation with Vince.” I said “Dad, you’re not going to talk to Vince, you’re my dad.” You don’t want your parents to have a conversation with your boss. My dad was once in an elevator with Vince. He said:

“Do you know who I am? I’m The Miz’s Dad!” Vince responded “It’s nice to meet you sir, it’s a pleasure.” He then walked out of the elevator, but my dad could have made it really terrible for me. Every Monday my dad tells me what I need to do in the ring. He has been in the ring once in his life, it might have been the worst thing that has happened to me. I was facing Shame McMahon in a No DQ, anything goes match. My dad got in the ring, and the way he put up his hands became a meme. It was like a 1940’s boxer, it was the most talked about thing at Wrestlemania. My dad then says:

“I was in the ring for a minute, and I created such an impact. So I know what I’m talking about.” These are the type of things he does to me. I said back to him “No you don’t! You don’t get it, you don’t know what you are talking about!” I then realized the pleasure that he was getting a rise out of me. I then had the realization that I do this. I had no idea I had this talent to find a button and just keep pushing it.”

Renee’s Vince story:

“My mum did this to me twice. I was not paying attention, I was busy preparing for interviews. My mum, much like your (Miz) dad, can be a real busybody. SHe wants to hang out, shoot the sh*t with everybody and let them know that she is my mom. I look away for 2 seconds and Vince was walking out of his office. She goes here is my opportunity to meet him and she goes to him.
“Hi! I’m Renee’s mom.” Vince looks at Jim Kelly like who is this woman? Get her out of here. Jim is Vince’s security guard. She did it again in Manchester England. I told her to just please hang in catering and stay out of the way. Next thing I know, she is hanging outside of gorilla (position). I had to pull her aside and move her into another room. Having parents backstage is so nerve racking.”

On his famous Talking Smack Promo:

“I was waiting to get hit [by Daniel Bryan]. I didn’t know if he was going to hit me or not. Even if he did hit me I would have hit him back (Bryan has concussion history and at this point in time could not engage in physical contact). That day was a bad day for me. I just got drafted to Smackdown, I had the Intercontinental Title, and I wasn’t on the show. I really wanted to make the Intercontinental Title relevant again. I wanted to make it as big as it was when I saw it in the 80’s, when Shawn Michaels or The Ultimate Warrior had it. The title was the workhorse title and I wanted it to get back to that. Then you walk into TV and they said I am in the dark match tonight. The reason was because they were introducing 2 new titles that night.

I was so angry, I went to Road Dogg and said put me on Talking Smack. I’m going to unleash all of this on Daniel Bryan, because he was the general manager. He called me coward on the show, in my head it was different to when someone else calls me it. There was something underneath it, and I knew where he was going with it. I was so infuriated because I knew I could still do the thing I can do and he couldn’t. You can sit there and hate the way I wrestle, but I guarantee I can entertain an audience. I won’t do all the flippy stuff and the dangerous stuff that gets you injured. But I am going to be there day in and day out, each and every week. I feel it right now, talking to you. It made me think of everyone that doesn’t get me and doesn’t understand me. I was trying to make people understand what I go through. When he walked off, that was even more disrespectful. If he punched me, that would have been better than him just walking off. This is the guy that was loved by everyone, why don’t they love me?

I don’t think he was trying to be mean, he was just trying to get under my skin, and he did. Then it created this whole thing where I was successful in making the Intercontinental Title relevant again. Sometimes you just need those moments and those opportunities when things are not going your way. Talking Smack wasn’t anything before I went on it. I made an opportunity for myself. A lot of up and coming superstars need to understand this. If you are not on television, WWE has a lot of different avenues where you can showcase your talents. Back in 2007, no one knew who me and John Morrison were. So I cut a promo on Stephanie McMahon, who was head of talent at the time. I pitched The Dirt Sheet to her and it ended with a really heated promo. In the end I said “be jealous” and she liked that. The next day I get a call from creative saying that Stephanie wanted us to do it. So every week, we were writing and editing The Dirt Sheet. This was before YouTube was a thing. We created this thing and it showed the world exactly who we are.”

On being a 2 time grand slam champion and what he hopes to accomplish:

“It’s incredible. I saw the stat online and didn’t think it was true, so I started looking through others championship reigns to see if it was true. The thing is, no one assumes they are going to be champion all of the time. I go in there, I do the best I possibly can and hope that I entertain the audience as best I can. As much as I say I’m the most must-see superstar I try to make it the most must-see. Now, my goal is to make sure that this title is represented in the way that it should be. I know how to represent WWE as a company and as a champion, and I plan on doing that. As a champion I also plan to elevate everyone that I am in the ring with, because that is the ultimate goal.”

The Miz can be found on Twitter here and Instagram here.

Full podcast audio can be found here.

Podcast logo image credit:

The Volume