Two years ago, The Miz set a clear goal: return the Intercontinental Championship to relevance. He nailed that objective and now he has a similar plan for AJ Style’s WWE Championship.
In an interview with SI.com, The Miz officially declared his championship intentions.
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“My goal is to make the WWE championship as relevant and prestigious as it should be. Do I think AJ Styles is doing a terrific job as WWE champion? Absolutely.
However, the WWE Championship didn’t close the show at Backlash. Rather it aired around the midway point, in favor of the much-maligned Roman Reigns and Samoa Joe match. To The Miz, this is unacceptable.
“But that WWE championship should be in the main event of every single WWE pay per view. It upsets me when I see that it is not,” said Miz.
The Miz was last WWE Champion in 2010 and for the most part, has yet to return to that stage. However, in his time away from WWE’s main event, he’s arguably become the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time. And now, he’s ready to graduate.
“My goal is to not only win the Money in the Bank contract, cash it in and become WWE champion. I want to put that title back where it belongs: the main event,” he asserted.
These quotes are a bright way for Miz to insert his name into WWE Championship discussion. Given his contributions in recent years, The Miz is absolutely ready to hold bigger prizes in WWE, but he’s joined a crowded main event scene on SmackDown.
Along with champion AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Daniel Bryan, and Samoa Joe, The Miz will have to carve out an opportunity to nab Tuesday’s biggest stages. For him, that starts with Money in the Bank, but he may not need it to justify his main event presence.
Right now AJ Styles is embroiled in a feud with Shinsuke Nakamura. what started out with heavenly expectation has flopped into the realm of sophomoric themes and underwhelming matches. It looks like we may get one more match between them, but MITB will likely put the WWE Championship picture on pause until July’s Extreme Rules.
It looks like WWE is ready to give Samoa Joe a crack at Styles, but that’s little more than speculation at this point. For The Miz, his WWE Championship opportunity may depend on how things go with Daniel Bryan. WWE knows they have a highly bankable feud waiting between the old rivals but when should it happen? And does it involve the WWE Championship?
We’ll have to wait and see, but don’t be surprised if The Miz is WWE Champion by year’s end, if not sooner.
