Mike Mizanin

The Miz met Maryse Ouellet (ring name Maryse) in 2006 on the set of ‘WWE Diva Search’. They started dating a year later. In 2013, he proposed to her in the same room they originally met. They got married in the Bahamas on February 20, 2014.

The couple has been associated with ‘N0H8 Campaign’, a charitable organisation that promotes LBGT marriage, gender, and human equality.

Michael Gregory Mizanin was born on October 8, 1980, in Parma, a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States, to parents George Mizanin and Barbara Pappas. Growing up, he was an athletic child, playing baseball, basketball, and practising karate, in which he even received a black belt.

He attended ‘Normandy High School’, Ohio, before enrolling at the ‘Miami University’. His parents divorced when he was 11. His mother remarried and through her, he has a step-brother, Jimmy, and a step-sister, Tonia.

His first job was as a cook at his father’s ‘Mr. Hero’ sandwich shop, where he worked for six years before going to college.

Mike Mizanin left college and the pursuit of a business degree when the opportunity to be on the 10th season of MTV’s ‘The Real World’ presented itself in 2001. He created the character ‘The Miz’, a brash, arrogant version of himself to cope with the aggressive, unforgiving environment of reality television. He subsequently starred in its spin-off series, ‘Real World/Road Rules Challenge’ and won the fifth season’s challenge, ‘Battle of the Seasons’.

In 2004, Mizanin took part in the WWE’s competition show ‘Tough Enough’. Though he ended up as the runner-up of the season, losing to mixed martial artist Daniel Puder, WWE’s interest in him was evident, and the competition served as a springboard for his career.

He was offered a developmental contract by the WWE sometime in 2005 and was sent to ‘Deep South Wrestling’ (DSW) and after that, to ‘Ohio Valley Wrestling’ (OVW) to hone his skills. He wrestled for the promotions and appeared in WWE dark matches before getting a call to be a host on ‘Smackdown!’.

Miz’s debut as a host came about on June 2 episode of ‘Smackdown!’ in 2006. He hosted the annual ‘Diva Search Competition’, and appeared on both ‘Raw’ and ‘Smackdown!’

After the show concluded, he exclusively returned to ‘Smackdown!’ and began to wrestle, defeating Matt Hardy, Funaki, and Scotty 2 Hotty and building up an unbeaten streak. He suffered his first loss in WWE against Boogeyman at the December ‘Armageddon’ event.

The Miz won two ‘Slammy Awards’ in 2008. He and John Morrison were the winners of the ‘Tag Team of the Year’ award and ‘Best WWE.com Exclusive’ award.

He was named by ‘Wrestling Observer Newsletter’ as the “most improved wrestler” in 2008 and 2009.