Pro Wrestling Contract Season

[Mr_Danger]

52 minutes ago, Chili said:

Bring him in as MJF's annoying uncle then have him get beaten up for driving a cybertruck. Then don't sign him like when Matt Cardona had a tryout.

Was gonna say AEW already have a much better version of The Miz in MJF.

I get the curiosity of seeing the most WWE of guys contrasting with the AEW style. I don’t imagine it’s beyond his skill set but he’s spent so much of his career being the mid guy doing mid stuff I just don’t see him offering them much at this point.

[DCW]

Was it Miz who was fucked out of the locker room for the heinous crime of spilling crumbs on Booker T's bag? think it was by those level headed locker room leaders like Benoit & Taker too. I don't particularly like Miz, but fair play for going on to have the career in WWE he's had after falling foul of those twats right at the start.

[Snitsky's back acne]

Apparently Karrion Kross is near the end of his contract and there have be n no talks yet of a renewal.

I truly think they missed something with Kross. In his Covid-era NXT run he looked like a monster, a sure fire can't miss main eventer...and then the gimp mask happened.

He gets released. He gets brought back in a main slot, looking the business and...nothing. 

He's not the best wrestler in the world but when has that ever stopped someone from succeeding in wrestling? He seems to have a presence and charisma about him, a decent look and a sexy valet. His merch sales are apparently doing well and he seems to be getting strong crowd reactions yet he has been hanging around backstage talking to people for, seemingly, years now.

I don't get it. What's missing? 

[DavidB6937]

No one cared once the bell rang.

[Supremo]

It’s getting silly now. Not everyone is an underutilised talent. Not everyone needs to go to AEW. Some people are just shit and are lucky to have had a contract for as long as they have.

I dare anyone to name me their top three Karrion Kross or Miz matches. 

[BomberPat]

I do find it very telling that whenever people try to argue that The Miz is actually good, they always point to the Wrestlemania video package and one promo on Talking Smack. Two hits, one of which was more a triumph production than his own input, in a twenty year run doesn't exactly scream out that there are untapped depths. Does anyone remember that babyface run where people started acting as if he was secretly a super-worker because he did a bad springboard occasionally? 

He's a guy who's been around forever, in every possible role, given every possible opportunity. There's no unfulfilled potential or great prospects - we've seen everything he can do, multiple times. Outside of WWE, his ceiling would be, at best, a TNA run where he'd most likely be doing the same schtick. If WWE hadn't bought AAA, I'd say he'd be in the Nic Nemeth position of Konnan bringing him to win the title in his first match and then not get booked for six months.

He did have a good ladder match with Jerry Lawler, though.

[WyattSheepMask]

He’s been getting by ever since he tricked people into thinking he was good with that Talking Smack “shoot”. I can’t even remember when that was exactly, but I know that Bryan was still retired at the time and he came back at WM34 so we’re talking at least 7 years of Miz living off of past glories 

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

Miz is someone who will never shit himself in a promo but is never going to be more than OK. He's adequate filler when you need it. 

The best thing about Kross is the impression that he can do of Jesse Ventura. Outside of that he's a big lad with a nice looking valet. They are easy to create more of. 

Neither will be missed. 

[RedTwoster]

36 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

I do find it very telling that whenever people try to argue that The Miz is actually good, they always point to the Wrestlemania video package and one promo on Talking Smack. Two hits, one of which was more a triumph production than his own input, in a twenty year run doesn't exactly scream out that there are untapped depths. Does anyone remember that babyface run where people started acting as if he was secretly a super-worker because he did a bad springboard occasionally? 

There’s much more to Miz than that, to be fair. Match wise, he had an excellent match with Dolph Ziggler of all people during his fantastic IC title run at No Mercy 2016, his matches against John Morrison were really good and his tag match against John Cena/Nikki Bella was a lot of fun.

And speaking of which - his performances in the feud with Cena/Bella were great too, especially the spot-on impersonation he and Maryse did.

His stint on Smackdown in 2016 was excellent - and there are plenty of moments that were really good, and his tag teams with Big Show and John Morrison were also entertaining.

I’d say that of course people are going to point to the Talking Smack promo - it’s an example of what he can do when thinking on his feet. Outside of that, he’s working with scripted material during an era when WWE was often awful; and you’d struggle to pick out highlights for a good number of features wrestlers. Yet there are plenty examples - I believe - of Miz doing a great job with what he’s had to work with.

If he’s not your cup of tea, that’s fair. But I also think it’s fair to suggest it’s simply not true to suggest he’s only ever really stood out on very limited occasions, or even just in one promo. 

[WyattSheepMask]

4 hours ago, RedTwoster said:

There’s much more to Miz than that, to be fair. Match wise, he had an excellent match with Dolph Ziggler of all people during his fantastic IC title run at No Mercy 2016, his matches against John Morrison were really good and his tag match against John Cena/Nikki Bella was a lot of fun.

And speaking of which - his performances in the feud with Cena/Bella were great too, especially the spot-on impersonation he and Maryse did.

His stint on Smackdown in 2016 was excellent - and there are plenty of moments that were really good, and his tag teams with Big Show and John Morrison were also entertaining.

I’d say that of course people are going to point to the Talking Smack promo - it’s an example of what he can do when thinking on his feet. Outside of that, he’s working with scripted material during an era when WWE was often awful; and you’d struggle to pick out highlights for a good number of features wrestlers. Yet there are plenty examples - I believe - of Miz doing a great job with what he’s had to work with.

If he’s not your cup of tea, that’s fair. But I also think it’s fair to suggest it’s simply not true to suggest he’s only ever really stood out on very limited occasions, or even just in one promo. 

But isn’t that the point? The ones I’ve bolded were nearly a decade ago, (although I agree with you that that Ziggler match is very good). You mentioned his tag team with Big Show (Showmiz was it?), that was 15 years ago! The Romans have done more for us lately than Miz has

Edited June 5, 2025 by WyattSheepMask

[FLips]

Miz is a safe pair of hands with a lot of experience, a better injury track record than most of the roster, and is solid if unspectacular on the mic.

The issue is he’s old, he’s one-note and while i’m sure the right person could get a great match out of him, why would he or anyone else bother attempting that?

He’ll be with WWE until he’s not and then he gets to go home to Maryse and his kids. When it comes to the wrestling world he’s maybe the biggest winner that it’s ever had.

[Snitsky's back acne]

2 hours ago, DavidB6937 said:

No one cared once the bell rang.

True. In the days of 'smoke and mirrors' that never would have mattered. Accentuate the positives, hide the negatives.

Anyway, it is what it is. 

[Chris B]

2 hours ago, BomberPat said:

 He's a guy who's been around forever, in every possible role, given every possible opportunity. There's no unfulfilled potential or great prospects - we've seen everything he can do, multiple times. 

I think this is one big difference between him and, say, a Ricochet or Christian or even a Finn Balor or Nakamura. To differing degrees, these were guys some of us had seen elsewhere who then disappointed in WWE or who went out and did more interesting stuff elsewhere.

If Miz, say, had a couple of years elsewhere where he definitely had his fans and he was seen as less of a fit in WWE, I'd probably be more interested. Same with Strowman. But it feels like we *have* seen the best of them. We haven't had a Prince Devitt NJPW run or a Christian Cafe TNA run. 

They may have another gear, but it feels like they'd have had the opportunity to show it by now.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, RedTwoster said:

There’s much more to Miz than that, to be fair. Match wise, he had an excellent match with Dolph Ziggler of all people during his fantastic IC title run at No Mercy 2016, his matches against John Morrison were really good and his tag match against John Cena/Nikki Bella was a lot of fun.

And speaking of which - his performances in the feud with Cena/Bella were great too, especially the spot-on impersonation he and Maryse did.

His stint on Smackdown in 2016 was excellent - and there are plenty of moments that were really good, and his tag teams with Big Show and John Morrison were also entertaining.

I’d say that of course people are going to point to the Talking Smack promo - it’s an example of what he can do when thinking on his feet. Outside of that, he’s working with scripted material during an era when WWE was often awful; and you’d struggle to pick out highlights for a good number of features wrestlers. Yet there are plenty examples - I believe - of Miz doing a great job with what he’s had to work with.

If he’s not your cup of tea, that’s fair. But I also think it’s fair to suggest it’s simply not true to suggest he’s only ever really stood out on very limited occasions, or even just in one promo. 

Twoster, part of the reason you're not swaying anyone with this stuff is that everything you've listed there is from 9 years ago. And I'm not convinced we'd all agree they're as big a highlight as you would. To really date it, that feud with Cena and Bella had the moment after Wrestlemania where Shinsuke Nakamura debuted on Smackdown. This isn't stuff in his recent history. The man is 44 years old, and he wasn't a brilliant, or even especially good, wrestler in his 30s. He's declined since then, and in no way could keep up with the pace of AEW.

I'd also be slightly more controversial and say he's not actually a particularly good promo. He can show some good fire, but all he knows how to do is bug-eyed shouting, and it rarely makes you want to actually see a match that he's in. That Talking Smack promo is an exception and he's never shown the ability to do that before or since. 

He's so far off the pace for what AEW would want from someone. 

[Carbomb]

39 minutes ago, Chris B said:

Christian Cafe

Teamed up with Dave Barista and Joe Coffey