That was a money promo and anyone familiar with Bryan beyond the show knows how scathing that truly was. Bryan cracked that door open and Miz kicked his fucking face in.

Bryan had a valid criticism but Miz had the perfect counter:

I do what I do in that way because it helps ensure I can do it every day.

Which translates not so loosely to:

“HOW THE FUCK DID YOUR APPROACH WORK OUT FOR YOU, MR. BRAVE AND BOLD? WHO IS STILL WORKING IN THAT RING EVERY NIGHT AND WHO IS PLAYING A SECOND FIDDLE AUTHORITY FIGURE?

WE’RE THE SAME AGE AND I’M STILL GETTING VALUABLE TICK BECAUSE I WORK THE WAY I WORK.

YOU’RE HALF A FUCKING INVALID WHO ISN’T ALLOWED TO WORK BECAUSE YOU’RE A LEGAL AND FINANCIAL LIABILITY BECAUSE YOU WORKED LIKE YOU WERE TRYING TO GET OVER LONG AFTER YOU GOT OVER AND WERE TOO STUBBORN TO TONE IT DOWN AND TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF AND And and an………..”

And, well, he’s right. Love Miz or hate him, he’s one hungry motherfucker and managed to make himself valuable to WWE in several ways and has set himself up for longevity in a way that most guys don’t. Bryan freely admits to lying to his doctors over the years just so he can be cleared to wrestle that same style.

The problem with something like this Miz promo though: Bryan gave a hungry dude with a bat (ahem: great mic ability) an slow pitch softball and that dude smashed an out of the park homer.

We’ve seen Miz do quality mic work throughout his career so this wasn’t a surprise to me. In fact I was cool with his title run because I was such a big fan of his mic work.

The key here is whether or not they can capture what he did and bottle it without such a perfect pitch down the plate. On one hand, if it was a true shoot, they need to just give him a live mic. I think Vince trusts him immensely but if that was a true shoot Vince might be a little hesitant so who knows.

If it was a worked shoot or a work that got out of hand they probably already have something in mind for a follow up. I was thinking and realized Bryan has been taking shots at Miz on air since the draft so this could be 100% worked.

Still, I’d open with him and see how the crowd responds and have two plays set depending on the response. If they cheer him I’d have a worked shoot prepped with bullet points and take no prisoners. I don’t think you take this situation and just run with it, I think you feel out the crowd response and take a measured approach to work the crowd the right way.

My favorite thing about this is I genuinely don’t know if this is a work or not and really, is there anything more blissful as a smart wrestling fan than becoming a mark again? For now they can just take my money on the next Miz segment and I’m excited about that for the moment.