chris benoit

The Miz is a WWE veteran at this point in his career, but at one time he was just trying to make a name for himself, and he apparently wasn’t making many friends in the locker room when he first arrived in WWE.

During a recent episode of Grilling JR, Jim Ross discussed The Miz’s early days in WWE, and he noted that Miz wasn’t well liked by others and that Chris Benoit threw his bag out of the locker room due an incident that had occurred.

“Chris Benoit policed his territory. Benoit represented the business as best he knew at the time, but he didn’t take it to the next step and put the crossface on The Miz or beat the sh** out of him. If he beat the sh** out of him, none of the talents would’ve said anything, but nobody deserves to be physically assaulted at the workplace. The verbal thrashing? Have at it. Exile? Have at it. Physicality? Ain’t going to happen.”

Eventually The Miz worked his way up the ladder in WWE and won the WWE Championship. He even ended up defending the title against John Cena in the main event of WrestleMania 27.

The match isn’t exactly one of the most beloved WrestleMania main events, but Ross noted that Miz earned his respect that day.

“Miz worked his ass off to become that heel,” Ross said. “He was never going to be a killer heel, he was never going to be a monster heel, but he can be an amazing chicken s**t heel. It’s kind of the same characterization to MJF in AEW, he’s going to be a chicken s–t heel for the rest of his career. He’s never going to be 6’4”, he’s never going to look like some of these big monsters. Miz has done that tenfold. I still wasn’t totally sold with the booking. I liked it from the standpoint that it was different and new, it let your baby face John Cena chase [the title]. I wasn’t sure what kind of match they would have, but the bottom line is they delivered. I was wrong in that regard; I gained a lot more respect for The Miz on that day.”

H/T Wrestling Inc.

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