Last week, I asked the Miz if he saw parallels between his meteoric rise to becoming the only two-time WWE grand slam champion in history and Logan Paul’s current trajectory in pro wrestling.
He sees them. And he also sees reality TV’s void to the youth of yesterday being filled by YouTube streamers today.
“Today’s YouTuber is the reality star of the 2000s. When I came into WWE and even Hollywood, I was looked at as a no-talent hack who was from a reality show. I think a lot of people look at Logan in that same aspect. But what they don’t realize is how talented he truly is. The people I talk to who have actually been in the ring with him are absolutely shocked at how fast he is able to pick up what we do in a WWE ring,” the Miz said about Paul during media availability ahead of the 2025 American Century Championship.
“It’s not easy. If it were easy, everyone would do it. He is not only able to do the moves, do the character, the in-betweens. Things that really make or break you in the WWE that the audience can see through. He’s able to succeed at.
“He’s an absolute marketing genius. He knows how to market himself and he knows how to play with an audience.”
The Miz knows first-hand about Paul’s acumen between the ropes. Paul’s first match took place at WrestleMania 38 from Arlington, Texas, in a tag team match against Rey and Dominik Mysterio with the Miz as his partner.
Paul and the Miz also battled in an Elimination Chamber qualifying match in February 2024 and at the 2022 edition of SummerSlam in Nashville.
The Miz would go on to explain the “industry outsider” label he felt before breaking through amidst a stellar 2016 that included his infamous WWE Talking Smack segment with Daniel Bryan and his Intercontinental Championship Career vs. Title Match against Dolph Ziggler in the main event of the 2016 edition of No Mercy – a breakthrough he agreed with when I floated it.
“I don’t know that I ever shook (the industry outsider label). But also, I feel like I’ve been able to do so many things in WWE where you can look at it and go, ‘Wow, what an absolutely incredible career. He’s been able to win every single title there is to win.’ I feel like I’ve gained the respect I’ve always wanted,” the Miz said.
The Miz sees the same trajectory for Paul.
“The Maverick” has been wrestling ex-world champions Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso in recent months, teaming alongside John Cena. He’s also battled Roman Reigns for the WWE Championship.
It’s far from impossible to see Paul win world titles like the Miz someday.