The Miz recalls being rejected by Japan before WWE career
Before starting out his WWE career on Tough Enough, The Miz had hopes of making it in Japan.
A new episode of The Undertaker’s Six Feet Under podcast premiered today with Miz discussing his early days in wrestling. When he was contemplating trying out for Tough Enough, Miz — already a reality star from MTV’s The Real World — was worried that he would never earn respect within the wrestling industry. He had attempted to go to Japan but was rejected while training at UPW in California. Advice from Simon Dean (WWE/ECW wrestler Nova) ultimately convinced Miz to go through with Tough Enough.
“Before trying out, I called Simon Dean,” Miz said. “Do you remember Simon Dean? I called him because he was part of UPW and I said, ‘Hey, I want respect in the business. And I know if I go on Tough Enough, I won’t get any respect. Like, I didn’t do it the right way.’ And he goes, ‘It’s for a million dollars. Like, it’s for a million-dollar WWE contract. How many opportunities do you think you’re going to get? This is your opportunity, this is your time.’ And so I said, ‘Okay, I’m going to try out, I’m going to do it.’
“Because I tried to go to Japan, they wouldn’t take me. Like, every time I tried going to Zero1, they would come in and we would wrestle, we’d do a match. I’d think my match would go great. It wasn’t, but I thought at the time I was really special. But, yeah, Japan would never take me. So I was like, ‘I mean, this is the opportunity.’ So, tried out and then gave it full force and didn’t win, but got a contract to go to developmental.”
Zero1, founded by the legendary Shinya Hashimoto, is a Japanese wrestling promotion that had a working relationship with UPW where Miz trained.
The Miz lost out to Daniel Puder on Tough Enough season four but was still signed to WWE, where he has now been a fixture for two decades.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.