WWE superstar and former world champion The Miz recently appeared on Johnny Bananas on Death, Taxes, and Bananas program to discuss a number of pro-wrestling-related topics, most notably how the A-lister isn’t afraid to show a little emotion as he believes that makes his character have that much more depth. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
Says he’s not afraid to show a little emotion:
“It was my armor that, literally, you could say anything about The Miz, ‘I don’t care, it doesn’t hurt my feelings.’ Mike, on the other hand, he’s a baby. He’s very sensitive. The reason I have such good comebacks and I’m so loud and brash is because whenever I do get made fun of, I am able to make fun of you even harder so it takes it all off of me,” Miz told Johnny Bananas on Death, Taxes, and Bananas. “The Miz, now in WWE, I don’t mind The Miz being vulnerable because it adds layers to the character and you. Miz & Mrs. adds a whole new lawyer to me because it’s really me. You want Mike Mizanin? You will see me with my wife and kids.”
On putting down his dog Mocha and how having access to those emotions made him a stronger performer:
“I never knew what it was like. have you ever seen people uncontrollably cry? I never felt that, I never knew what that feeling was. I had no idea. Acting, sure, I can cry on cue, but I never knew that feeling. When I had to put her down, my wife and are I sitting there and I couldn’t stop. My eyes would not stop watering. I had my hat on, I was looking down, my eyes were bawling. When the people left, ‘we’ll give you a minute,’ I was uncontrollably yelping and crying and holding her and smelling her and feeling her for one last time. I had to talk about that. I’m choking up right now, trying to hold it in, because I never experienced anything like that. That’s the kind of vulnerability that, usually, on The Challenge, you didn’t want to let out because we’re sharks and when you’re around sharks, you don’t want to put blood in the water. Now, I look at it like I’m an untouchable shark. In WWE, I am so confident in my ability that even if I give emotion like that, it will make it that much more and will make it more powerful. It makes me more powerful.”
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)