WORLD Wresting Entertainment (WWE) superstar Michael Greg “Mike” Mizanin aka The Miz, was in town last week to promote the upcoming WWE Live in Malaysia event. And just our luck, we were invited to have a quick chat with the formidable multiple championship-winning wrestler! Well, we call him “the formidable multiple championship-winning wrestler” but he calls himself many things ranging from awesome to “the moneymaker”.
A little too confident? Maybe. But he has loads to show for!
Check out our interview with him for the dirty deets:
Hi Miz! Welcome to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, finally.
Did you have any Starbucks this morning? Cause I didn’t – they wouldn’t give me any.
Aww I would’ve gotten you some, you should’ve told me.
Haha that is so nice of you!
What’s your choice of a Starbucks beverage?
Skinny green tea caramel macchiato. At least here, it’s my beverage of choice.
What else have you tried in Malaysia so far?
Durian!
Liked it?
I did! You know the thing about durians is..you wouldn’t expect me to like it and I didn’t notice the smell right away. But when the guy cut into it and opened it up I went like, “Oof!” because there it is, very pungent. Then they made wear gloves to eat it and so I wore gloves, ate it, thought it tasted really good. I was actually shocked at how good it tasted. But 10 minutes later, the after taste was just wretched. It’s just bad! But I did enjoy it.
I think if you burped though..
That’s what I’m talking about! I was like, “Well, that’s what people were talking about. Okay, now I get it!”
Let’s talk a little bit about your career – do you remember the first time you were exposed to wrestling?
It was as a child – I remember having a jacket with the Ultimate Warrior’s face on the back of it, I remember watching a Royal Rumble..I don’t remember which one but we were probably in 4th grade, like, I think I was 10 maybe and we were all just wrestling around in the living room. There was about 50 of us! It was a birthday party and it was cool.
Did anybody get hurt?
Nah. But kids are always gonna be kids and we always tell kids not to try what we do at home. Because what we do is very, very dangerous.
At which point in your life did you know that you were gonna do this for the rest of your life? What was the turning point for you?
When you’re a kid, you look at WWE Superstars and they’re larger than life, there’s no way you can possibly do that. You can dream it – but dreams are what they are..they’re dreams. But once, I got on this show called “The Real World”, and once I got on that show..it made me realise that I could do whatever I wanted and not just what I’m supposed to do. Where I was from, you go to school then you go to college then you go to university, and after that you graduate you go back to your city and then you’d probably get a job or start a family..and that’s what you’ll do for the rest of your life. But “The Real World” made me realised that I could do whatever I wanted or be whatever I wanted and that’s when I decided that I wanted to be a WWE Superstar.
What did your parents say about that at that time?
They weren’t too happy with me! They said I wasn’t 6’6″, 300 pounds, and full of muscle. Thanks Mom, thanks Dad, whose fault is that? And then once I started doing it and they starting seeing me become successful, now it’s just ridiculous. Now every time I go to Cleveland, I need 200 tickets for my Dad..for him and his friends. And I’m like, “Dad, you don’t know 200 people!”.
How do you prepare before going on WWE – is there a strict diet that you follow or a workout regime that you stick to?
Of course! I have some sort of diet, I just can’t eat everything that I want. If I ate everything that I wanted, I’d be very very fat (laughs). I’d stay away from all bad food such as fried foods, I try to eat less carbs on days that I don’t work out but on the days that I do work out I eat a little bit more, I try to fill myself up with as much protein as possible so that I can build my muscles. Working out is always extensive! We’re always working out non stop every day – sometimes I feel like I need a break. But you gotta keep yourself in shape for what you need to do in that ring so you can entertain that audience.
What can Malaysians expect from WWE Live in Malaysia?
October 10th and 11th is going to be absolute mayhem in Malaysia! It’s going to be amazing, it’s going to be fun, it’s going to be exciting, and I know these are just words but if you really want to experience something that you’ll remember for a very long time and have moments that will last a lifetime then I would say..go for the show. Because it’s a soap opera, there’s a storyline, there’s comedy, there’s drama, there’s action, it’s interactive with the audience because you boo who you hate and cheer who you love, or you start chants. You can do what you want because you’re a part of the show! There’s nothing like WWE in the world and the last time we were here was 12 years ago. Who knows when the next time is going to be? So Malaysia, if you bring your A-game, we might just make this a yearly thing!
And we’re done. Thanks Mike for the chat!
Thank you and I’ll see you at the show.
WWE Live in Malaysia will take place in October this year! Deets are as follows
Date: 10th & 11th October (Friday & Saturday)
Time: TBC
Venue: Putra Stadium, Kuala Lumpur
Ticketing:
Source: TicketPro
Tickets are available via TicketPro.
For more information, visit their website.