The WWE just aired one of its best promos of the year, and it took place on a WWE Network exclusive show.
Tonight on Talking Smack, the SmackDown aftershow, The Miz crashed the program towards the episode’s conclusion. It didn’t take long for Daniel Bryan to begin throwing shade, saying that he isn’t personally a fan of the way The Miz wrestles and calling him boring. Bryan added that he prefers Apollo Crews and sees The Miz’s style as cowardly.
This immediately set off a nerve for The Miz, who began to passionately defend himself and say that he wrestles in a way that ensures he is never injured in the ring. This was in contrast to Bryan, who recently had to retire from wrestling due to extensive injuries. There was clear emotion in Bryan’s voice when he told The Miz that he would come back to the ring if the WWE let him.
The segment ended with Daniel Bryan walking off the set dejected as The Miz continued to rant straight into the camera.
Like many of the best WWE promos, this segment has caused fans to debate whether it was a work or a shoot. We don’t know for sure yet, but it certainly seems that The Miz’s rant was at the very least not completely scripted, considering he stumbled over his words quite a bit. Talking Smack also wrapped up unexpectedly early, which could potentially be a sign that things didn’t go off exactly as planned.
Even though the basic idea of the argument was almost certainly planned in advance, though, some fans are wondering if they were seeing a bit of genuine resentment on The Miz’s part that he isn’t more appreciated, and sadness on Daniel Bryan’s part that he will never wrestle again.
Although Talking Smack is a WWE Network exclusive show, comments made on it have been replayed on the main show before, and so this Miz promo will almost certainly be revisited on SmackDown next week.