Michael Gregory Mizanin (born October 8, 1980), better known by his ring name the Miz, is an American professional wrestler, actor, and television personality. As a wrestler, he has been signed to WWE since 2004, where he performs on the SmackDown brand.
Mizanin first gained fame as a reality television participant, appearing on The Real World: Back to New York in 2001 and its spin-off, Real World/Road Rules Challenge, from 2002 to 2005. He won Battle of the Seasons and The Inferno II. He reached the final of Battle of the Network Reality Stars, and won a Reality Stars-themed episode of Fear Factor in 2006. After finishing as runner-up in the fourth season of Tough Enough and subsequently launching his wrestling career, Mizanin appeared on Diva Search, Total Divas, Tough Enough, and hosted several seasons of The Challenge. He also starred in the reality television series Miz & Mrs. alongside his wife, Maryse Ouellet, and has starred in films produced by WWE Studios, namely The Marine franchise, Christmas Bounty (2013), and Santa's Little Helper (2015).
Mizanin signed with WWE in 2004 and has been on the main roster full time since 2006. He has won numerous championships, including the WWE Championship twice and the Intercontinental Championship eight times. He is WWE's 25th Triple Crown Champion and 14th Grand Slam Champion, as well as the first wrestler to accomplish the latter twice under the revised 2015 format. He is the first, and to date only, WWE wrestler to simultaneously hold three championships in WWE, holding the United States Championship, the WWE Tag Team Championship, and the World Tag Team Championship (the latter two as part of the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship) in 2010. He also won the 2010 Money in the Bank ladder match. Among WWE's most prolific pay-per-view event performers, Mizanin headlined WrestleMania XXVII in 2011, and was ranked No. 1 on Pro Wrestling Illustrated's annual PWI 500 list that same year.
Michael Gregory Mizanin was born in Parma, Ohio, on October 8, 1980. His parents are divorced; he has a step-father and two half-siblings. He attended Normandy High School, where he was the captain of the basketball and cross country teams, participated in swimming, was a member of the student government, and edited the yearbook. He then attended Miami University, where he was a member of the Theta Chi fraternity and studied business at the Richard T. Farmer School of Business before being chosen as a cast member on The Real World (2001).
Mizanin dropped out of college, where he was pursuing a degree in business, in order to appear on the 10th season of MTV's reality television program The Real World in 2001. He went on to appear in multiple seasons of its spin-off series, Real World/Road Rules Challenge, along with contestants from both Road Rules and The Real World, including Battle of the Seasons, The Gauntlet, The Inferno, Battle of the Sexes 2 and The Inferno 2. Except for Battle of the Sexes 2, Mizanin made it to the end of all the Challenges on which he competed and won both Battle of the Seasons and The Inferno 2.
It was during an episode of The Real World that Mizanin first displayed an alter ego known as the Miz. In contrast to Mizanin's usually placid demeanor, the Miz was angry, combative and headstrong. Mizanin later realized that the Miz would make an excellent professional wrestling gimmick.
In 2004, he appeared on the Bravo reality show Battle of the Network Reality Stars, in which his team finished second. Mizanin was also a contestant in the "Reality Stars" episode of Fear Factor. His partner was his former girlfriend and castmate, Trishelle Cannatella, and the two won the competition. In April 2007, he appeared on the game show Identity, where he appeared as a stranger, and contestant John Kim correctly identified his identity as a professional wrestler by the odd way he added "Miz-" before most words. On October 5, 2011, Miz starred in an episode of H8R.
After a seven-year-long absence from The Challenge, Mizanin returned to the reality show on April 4, 2012, as the host of The Battle of the Exes season finale event and reunion special. It marked the first time he appeared on the series since becoming a main-event WWE Superstar. Since then, he had become a mainstay reunion host as well as the host of The Challenge: Champs vs. Stars mini-series.
In 2018, Mizanin and his wife Maryse began starring in a USA Network reality television series titled Miz & Mrs.. In 2020, he starred on a second show on USA, serving as host of the reality game show Cannonball.
In 2008, Mizanin appeared on the Sci Fi reality series Ghost Hunters Live as a guest investigator. In 2009, Mizanin appeared on two episodes of Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?, which were both aired on September 29. He appeared on an episode of Destroy Build Destroy on March 3, 2010. He also appeared as a guest star in a March 2012 episode of Psych. On March 31, Mizanin appeared in the first ever Slime Wrestling World Championship at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, losing to Big Show and therefore being thrown into a tub of slime. In 2012, Mizanin appeared on the Disney XD show Pair of Kings as a guest star. In 2013, Miz along with Francia Raisa, were in a movie together called Christmas Bounty.
In September 2021, Mizanin was announced as one of the celebrities competing on the thirtieth season of Dancing with the Stars. He and his partner Witney Carson were the seventh couple to be eliminated, ultimately placing 9th. In 2022, Mizanin was briefly featured in archival footage in the Netflix docuseries Trainwreck: Woodstock '99.
On May 1, 2023, Mizanan appeared as part of a team with Alexa Bliss on the American show That's My Jam on NBC hosted by Jimmy Fallon. They won the final round, therefore the game and the money was donated to children's charities.
Ultimate Pro Wrestling (2003–2004)
Pursuing the goal of becoming a professional wrestler, Mizanin joined Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW), where he trained in the Ultimate University. He made his in-ring debut in 2003 as the Miz. During his time with UPW, the Miz competed in UPW's Mat War's tournament, making it to the finals before losing to Tony Stradlin.
World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE (2004–present)
Tough Enough and developmental territories (2004–2006)
In October 2004, Mike Mizanin entered the fourth season of Tough Enough, a televised competition which awarded the winner a World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) contract and US$1,000,000. Despite coming last in an arm wrestling tournament on November 25, Mizanin outlasted six other wrestlers and reached the final round. At Armageddon on December 12, Mizanin faced the other remaining entrant, Daniel Puder, in a three-round "Dixie Dogfight" (boxing match). Neither man achieved a knockout, and the contest was awarded to Puder on the basis of crowd reaction. On the December 16 episode of SmackDown!, Puder was declared as the winner of Tough Enough by head trainer Al Snow. Despite coming up short on Tough Enough, Mizanin had piqued the interest of WWE and he was eventually offered a developmental contract.
Mizanin was sent to Deep South Wrestling (DSW) to train under Bill DeMott, relocating to McDonough, Georgia in the process. In July 2005, he wrestled two dark matches for WWE, teaming with former Tough Enough champion Matt Cappotelli to face The Highlanders (Robbie and Rory McAllister). On December 1, Mizanin defeated Mike Knox in the finals of a tournament to determine the inaugural Deep South Heavyweight Champion. He continued his partnership with Matt Cappotelli throughout the second half of 2005 in WWE dark matches and house shows until Cappotelli, nominally of Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), was diagnosed with a brain tumor after an injury at a taping in December 2005. After Cappotelli's death from brain cancer in June 2018, Miz revealed they were to be called up to the SmackDown roster as a tag team known as Reality Check in 2005, but these plans were halted due to Cappotelli's cancer diagnosis.