The Miz says he has taken on a genuine leadership role in the WWE locker room, and credits his own difficult early experience in the company as the reason why.
“A lot of old timers hate WWE Unreal. I love it because it shows exactly how hard it is to be in WWE. Every single person counts, whether you’re the microphone person, lighting, cameras, every person that works for WWE matters, so we’re all trying to put forward the best product we can on television.”
Miz said his own ostracization when he first arrived in WWE drives how he treats talent today.
“My job right now as a WWE superstar is to make sure that when new people come into WWE. It’s a gimmick that I’m a locker room leader, but I take it very seriously. I was ostracised, I was thrown out of the locker room, I was not wanted because everyone was like ‘he’s from the Real World and wants another 15 minutes of fame’, they didn’t understand how much I loved this business as a child. I don’t want anyone to ever feel that coming into WWE.”
He also singled out Trick Williams, Je’von Evans, and Oba Femi as the next big things in WWE.
“Trick and Je’von and Oba, they are I would say the next big things. They are doing such superb things out there.”
The 2026 WWE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony goes live tonight from Dolby Live at Park MGM in Las Vegas, immediately following SmackDown. Here’s everything you need to know before the show, along with the full list of inductees.
How to Watch the 2026 WWE Hall of Fame
The ceremony streams at 12 a.m. ET / 9 p.m. PT on Friday, April 17 on the ESPN App in the United States and on YouTube for international viewers. That’s technically Saturday morning on the East Coast, kicking off right after SmackDown wraps at 11 p.m. ET.
Michael Cole and The Miz are handling hosting duties. It’s Cole’s signature WWE broadcast voice paired with one of the most reliable utility players on the roster, a combination that should help keep the show moving.
The Class of 2026
This year’s class covers multiple eras and categories, from a business architect and a recently retired modern great to long-overdue posthumous honors and an NBA icon.
Stephanie McMahon headlines the class and will be inducted by The Undertaker. The former Chief Brand Officer, Chairwoman, and Co-CEO spent more than two decades as an on-screen authority figure and is a one-time WWF Women’s Champion. She recently admitted she wasn’t sure she deserved the honor when she first got the news.
AJ Styles retired at the 2026 Royal Rumble after 28 years in the business. The Phenomenal One is a two-time WWE Champion, Triple Crown Champion, and Grand Slam Champion. The Undertaker personally delivered the induction news on the February 23 episode of Raw.
Demolition (Ax and Smash) are finally getting long-overdue recognition. The three-time WWE Tag Team Champions held the titles for a combined 698 days during their peak run from 1988 to 1990, including a record 478-day reign.
Dennis Rodman enters the celebrity wing. The five-time NBA champion made his WCW debut alongside Hulk Hogan at Bash at the Beach 1997 and became a fixture on the nWo side of the Monday Night War.
Sid Eudy, known to fans as Sycho Sid and Sid Vicious, will be posthumously inducted into the Legacy wing. The two-time WWF Champion and two-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion passed away in August 2024.
Bad News Brown joins Sid in the Legacy wing. A 1976 Olympic judo bronze medalist, Allen Coage brought real-deal combat credentials to his WWE run in the late 1980s and famously won the battle royal at WrestleMania IV. He passed away in 2007.
The Immortal Moment goes to Hulk Hogan versus Andre the Giant at WrestleMania III, the slam heard around the world in front of a reported 93,173 fans at the Pontiac Silverdome. The honor makes Hogan a three-time Hall of Famer and Andre a two-time inductee.
The Hall of Fame has taken fair criticism in recent years for running too long. Speeches sprawl, musical cues get ignored, and fans in the building are often looking at a four-plus-hour night that starts after SmackDown wraps. With a midnight Eastern start, viewers on the East Coast aren’t finishing this show until 3 or 4 a.m. at the earliest.
That pace punishes the inductees themselves. When the show runs long, speeches get played off, video packages get cut short, and genuine moments get rushed because earlier inductees went over. The talent earns this night, and they deserve the breathing room to enjoy it.
The Cole and Miz pairing suggests WWE is at least thinking about pace. Cole is a pro at bridging segments cleanly and Miz has the chops to keep energy up between inductions. Here’s hoping the inductees get the time they’ve earned without the show turning into a marathon.
This is a deserving class. Stephanie, AJ, Demolition, Rodman, Sid, Bad News Brown, and the greatest spectacle match in WrestleMania history all belong. The only thing standing between the ceremony and a perfect WrestleMania weekend kickoff is the clock.
The Miz and Michael Cole have been announced as the hosts of 2026 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony.
It takes place on April 17 at Dolby Live in Las Vegas during WrestleMania 42 week. WWE announced the hosting duo on social media on Monday.
Cole currently serves as the lead commentator on Monday Night Raw. The Miz is a two-time WWE Champion and one of the company’s most recognizable personalities.
The Hall of Fame ceremony streams live Friday at 12 a.m. ET/9 p.m. PT on the ESPN App in the United States and YouTube internationally. The event takes place during WrestleMania 42 week in Las Vegas.
The Miz will also officiate five weddings the same day as part of the WWE/ESPN collaboration project.
2026 Hall of Fame Class
The inductee class includes Stephanie McMahon, AJ Styles, and tag team Demolition (Ax/Bill Eadie and Smash/Barry Darsow). Dennis Rodman will also be inducted.
The Legacy wing will honor Sid Eudy and Bad News Brown. The Immortal Moment honor goes to Hulk Hogan vs. André the Giant for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania III.
The rap star got involved in a storyline with Kit Wilson while making an appearance on The Miz TV on last week’s SmackDown. Roll ended up hitting the A-Lister while trying to take out Wilson for some harsh words.
The Pretty Deadly star called out Jelly Roll for a fight on this week’s episode of the Blue Branded Show, but he then proposed a Slam Poetry contest when the Grammy-nominated artist did show up.
After some jokes about Jelly Roll’s dick and Kit Wilson’s mom, the segment ended with the former NXT star attacking JR and laying him out with an elbow drop.
Unhappy with how things turned out, Jelly found Nick Aldis backstage later on, and demanded a match with Wilson. The SmackDown General Manager obliged and made the match official for next week’s episode of the show from Pittsburgh.
Jelly Roll made his wrestling debut at SummerSlam 2025 when he teamed up with Randy Orton to take on Drew McIntyre & Logan Paul.
The Miz was seen chatting Wilson backstage before tonight’s developments, and it’s likely that the former World Champion will get involved in the match next week.
The music star would need a tag team partner if this set up leads to another tag match at WrestleMania. You can let us know your prediction on his partner in the comments below.
Two-time WWE Grand Slam Champion The Miz recently admitted that YouTuber-turned-WWE wrestler Logan Paul is doing his \”outsider\” gimmick. The A-Lister believes Paul is doing it better than most.
During his appearance on Six Feet Under with The Undertaker, The Miz highlighted how he joined WWE from the Real World when that path was heavily criticized, compared to today when YouTubers are more easily embraced. He further jokingly added that he felt someone else was \”stealing” his gimmick and pulling it off nicely. He said:
\”When he said, \’Yeah, I\’m an outsider,\’ I was like, I wonder who the first outsider was,\” The Miz said. \”I was on the Real World coming to WWE when it was hard to do that. Now you\’re a YouTuber and we applaud it, oh, he\’s in here. But our audience won\’t. But everyone else is like, yeah. But I was like, oh man, this dude\’s stealing my gimmick. And he\’s doing a really good job of it too.\”
Fastest Learner Miz Has Ever Seen
The Miz labeled the former WWE US Champion Logan Paul the fastest learner he has ever witnessed in WWE. He said:
\”Logan trained as well. But Logan was the fastest I\’ve ever seen anyone pick up WWE in my life. I\’ve never, and I like, I know I\’ve said this before, but it still blows my mind how good he is and how good he can be. I do feel he\’s the future of this business.\”
Bad Bunny\’s Unmatched Commitment
The Miz also praised Bad Bunny\’s dedication during the pandemic era shows at the Tampa baseball field. The former WWE IC Champion said:
\”Bad Bunny, every time I would come to the show during COVID at the baseball field in Tampa, he was there early in the ring. Then he would go sing at the Grammys, he\’d be right back in the ring. He\’d go to SNL and he would have the 24/7 title, with that title in his arm. And I was like, man, this dude just loves what we do.\”
Bad Bunny\’s commitment also extended to his own car.
\”He let us spray paint his $500,000 car, real spray paint. And it was his idea. He goes, \’No, no, you spray paint.\’ I think it was like a Bugatti.\”
Bad Bunny, who took WWE by storm, is expected to return to the company for WrestleMania 42.
Dominik Mysterio\’s Transformation
The Miz further highlighted Dominik Mysterio\’s heel turn as another example of next-generation talent thriving.
\”Dom has a baby face now. Like, can you even see it? Like, remember he was cleanly shaven, short hair, just a smile on his face. So young. So happy to be here. Now you look at him, he\’s just Eddie Guerrero. Just like a dirt bag.\”
The Miz recently reflected on one of the most difficult periods of his WWE career. He opened up about a six-month exile from the locker room stemming from a chicken incident.
During a candid conversation on Six Feet Under with The Undertaker, the A-Lister recalled eating a piece of chicken over someone\’s bag, which was then reported as him \”throwing chicken everywhere\” in the locker room. Here is what The Miz said:
\”I got yelled at probably the worst I\’ve ever been yelled at in my entire life. And then that night I went to Chili\’s and I got a gift card and I gave it to the person. Person that yelled at me goes, chewing on a straw, \’I think you need to be kicked outta the locker room just for live events.\’ Then the next day was TV. I see the person chewing his thing, \’Hey, you\’re kicked out of the locker room, TV and this.\’ It was like six months, I think it was even longer than that.\”
The Miz\’s Backstage Struggles
The Miz explained that he was forced to change in broom closets and backstage areas during the exile. When the person who had the power to let him back in left the company, he had no way to return.
\”I would find places to go and then the person told me, \’You can come in when I tell you can come in.\’\”Something happened to that person and that person went away. And so I had no way of getting back in.\”
The story is part of a larger pattern of adversity The Miz overcame early in his career. He also discussed being labeled a \”no talent hack\” for coming from MTV\’s The Real World, surviving grueling conditions at Deep South Wrestling, and turning down his father\’s offer to be \”king of Cleveland\” to pursue wrestling instead.
Unexpected Allies
Despite the hardship, The Miz noted that some veterans, like JBL offered support. He recalled:
\”JBL gets a lot of flack for like bullying and like, was an ass or whatever. It wasn\’t really him. He was the person that would take me aside and go, \’Hey kid, you\’re doing a good job. You know what? Keep doing this, keep doing this, do this, this, this, this and this and this, this. But keep it up.\’\”
The Undertaker himself endorsed The Miz during a Performance Center speech, with Vince McMahon present. According to the former WWE Champion, Taker said,
\”The Miz, he is the guy. Every last one of y\’all need to study what he is doing. He is the top heel, he is master.\”
R-Truth has opened up about his future plans in WWE, revealing he wants The Miz to be his final opponent when he decides to hang up his boots.
In an exclusive interview with SEScoops correspondent Scott Fishman for TV Insider, the 53-year-old veteran discussed how watching John Cena\’s farewell tour has shaped his own retirement vision.
\”Watching Cena\’s end game gave me ideas about mine. I want to articulate mine creatively,\” R-Truth said. \”We\’re all on a ride. The ride stops at some point. And it was great seeing him have some control and go, \’I want to get off right now.\’ That\’s what I want to do.\”
R-Truth\’s Retirement Plans
When asked who he envisions standing across from him in his final match, R-Truth didn\’t hesitate.
\”The Miz. I have a story with The Miz. I have an outside-the-ring story with The Miz. I have a relatable story with The Miz. The history,\” he explained. \”I will have that with The Miz.\”
The two have a storied history together as Awesome Truth, dating back to their 2011 heel run that culminated in a Survivor Series main event against John Cena and The Rock. They reunited in 2024 and captured the World Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania XL, giving R-Truth his first WrestleMania victory after over two decades in the business.
Under Contract Through 2028
R-Truth also confirmed he signed a four-year deal with a three-year option following his dramatic return at Money in the Bank 2025, where he shocked fans just six days after announcing his release from WWE.
WWE Unreal Season 2 premieres January 20 on Netflix and will document R-Truth\’s release and return saga, along with the Road to SummerSlam 2025.
The Miz was considered a poster child of everything wrong with WWE during the PG-era, and fans did not appreciate his work for a long time. Only in the last few years have people started showing respect for everything the former World Champion has done in his career, though this has created a new problem for him.
The WWE star spoke about his career in detail with Chris Van Vliet in a new interview. Discussing his on-screen persona, The Miz explained how being a heel comes naturally to him, and it works with his character because he can lose matches and still be taken seriously as a villain. Though he noted how things have been weird for him the last couple of years because people do not want to boo him anymore:
\”It’s been weird these past couple of years, though. I would say this past year has been weird. So the things I do that I know in my rolodex of being a heel and being a bad guy, I’ll do and it doesn’t get the boos anymore. If you’re gonna cheer me, cheer me. If you’re just gonna go Ah! He’s so good. I don’t want that. I don’t want that. That’s the death, because that’s just, I don’t know what to really do.”
When asked, The Miz accepted that he does feel like the fans and his peers show him more respect than they used to. Though the wrestling veteran does not feel like this works out in his favor, claiming that the flowers he is receiving are half dead:
“Yes, I feel the respect. I feel it in the locker room. I feel it in the crowd, but I’ll hear you say it. ‘Oh, Miz has gotten his flowers.’ You know what kind of flowers I get? I get the ones that are half dead, that you give to me and they’re gonna die the next day. You don’t give me a full bouquet of flowers that are like, here are your flowers. John Cena gets the flowers. I don’t get the flowers. I get the half-dead flowers that are like, Here you go, here’s your flowers. We’re giving you your flowers. It’s the half-assed flowers.”
Apart from this, The Miz discussed things such as how losing to John Cena early in his career helped change his perspective, the day he won his first WWE title and more.
The Miz dropped his WWE persona to speak honestly about John Cena’s final match, revealing the emotional weight of witnessing wrestling history at Saturday Night’s Main Event.
“I kind of was just speaking from the heart. I even said it on there—’Yo, I’m not coming as the miz. I’m coming as Mike. I’m going to let you know exactly how I feel, exactly what I think,\’” The Miz told “Unlikely with Adrian Hernandez.”
His candid commentary, which included insider wrestling terms and honest analysis, drew boos from the crowd—something he didn’t mind.
The Whirlwind of Wrestling History
“That day was like a whirlwind, right? I mean, it’s Cena’s last match. You don’t get too many shows quite like that,” The Miz reflected. “You never do. We’ve never had the first time ever to see the way he went out and then the reaction to the crowd and what people were talking about.”
The Miz praised the platform Saturday Night’s Main Event provided for NXT talent.
“I loved the whole fact that a lot of NXT people looked really good in that show. I thought there were a lot of eyeballs on that show for those NXT up-and-coming talents to really showcase exactly who they are, exactly what they can do. Oba did a great job. Sol was incredible.”
A Personal Touch: WrestleMania 27 Gear
The Miz added a symbolic element to the historic night by wearing his WrestleMania 27 gear—the same outfit from his WWE Championship defense against Cena.
“I just moved, and when we were moving into our new house, I started putting stuff in storage and lo and behold, what did I find? My old WrestleMania 27 gear,” he explained. “When I found out I was going to be a part of Saturday Night’s Main Event, I was like, ‘I’m going to wear that. I think that’ll be a nice touch.\’”
The Twitter Poll That Stung
The Miz admitted feeling hurt when WWE fans chose AJ Styles over him for Cena’s opponent via Twitter poll.
“I was kind of crushed because it was like a Twitter thing. So the audience can have a say in who they want and they got that and they didn’t ask for me,” he said.
Still, he appreciated Cena paying tribute by using The Miz’s Skull Crushing Finale during his final match.
The Miz isn’t just creating wrestling history—he’s meticulously preserving it. The WWE veteran revealed he’s kept virtually every piece of gear from his 20-year career, organizing an impressive personal archive that documents his journey through sports entertainment.
“All of them. I have everything. I literally just found it all and was putting it in storage,” The Miz told “Unlikely with Adrian Hernandez.” “I’m kind of documenting it now, putting it all through. Like I have a Miz versus Cena kind of bin that has the WrestleMania gear. It has the gear I won the tag team titles with him with. It has my first match ever with him where I went up against him at The Bash. I have the fedora that I wore out. Like I have all that stuff.”
The Battle With Trading Card Companies
The Miz’s collection has attracted interest from Topps and Fanatics, who constantly request pieces for trading cards. “Topps wants all that stuff. Fanatics, they want all that stuff. Like Topps is always like, ‘We want to put it in the card,\’” The Miz explained. “And I’m like, ‘Look, I get that that’s a cool thing for the fans, but this is kind of a cool thing for me.\’”
He does strategically donate special items, like a headband from his second WWE Championship reign. “I gave them that headband that they’re going to cut up and put into a card. So I think that’s pretty special,” he said.
The Calgary Kid Gear That Got Away
One regret in The Miz’s otherwise complete collection is his Calgary Kid persona gear. “You know what I don’t have that I was a little upset about? Calgary Kid. I don’t have that mask or the gear and I was like ‘darn, I wonder what happened to that.’ Like I’ve never seen it again,” he admitted. WWE requested it back, and it disappeared from his collection.
John Morrison: The Favorite Partnership
When asked about his favorite tag team partner, The Miz immediately named John Morrison. “John Morrison was kind of my first intro to WWE tag team. It’s my first tag team title. We literally made The Dirt Sheet, which now WWE’s YouTube channel is number one,” The Miz said. “We started the YouTube channel for WWE. We had a show on there when it wasn’t popular, when it wasn’t the thing to do.”
The Miz has revealed that there was a discussion of him potentially facing John Cena in his retirement run, but a change of plans stopped it from happening.
The A-Lister talked about not getting the final match with his former rival during his appearance on the SI Media podcast. He recalled tagging with the Cenation Leader during a Raw episode back in April 2024, and discussed how he never thought it would be the last time he shared the ring with the wrestling legend:
\”Literally two years ago, I was in the ring at, I believe, Barclays, actually tagging with him, which kind of brought everything full circle. I didn\’t think that would be my last match with John Cena, but I guess it will be. It\’s a little upsetting.\”
John Cena faced a number of his former rivals in his retirement run, including names such as CM Punk, Randy Orton, AJ Styles, and Sami Zayn. Cena recently praised Natalya\’s book, saying he \”bawled his eyes out\” reading it.
The Miz mentioned that he was the first to put his name out there for a match when Cena announced his retirement tour. He claimed that certain circumstances stopped it from happening:
\”It\’s not even that it was shot down. There were instances where it could have happened, right? And things happen in this industry that nobody really knows about — and you don\’t need to know about. There was a moment where it could have happened, and then that moment went away because of certain circumstances, and it never came back.\”
Though the former World Champion later claimed that he is not angry about the situation. He\’s been in WWE long enough to know that things can change, and he likes to focus his energy on making the best of any given situation. Gunther has promised to break Cena\’s spirit at Saturday Night\’s Main Event.
WWE aired a taped episode of SmackDown this week to allow talent an extra day off for the Thanksgiving holiday before being back on the road for the Survivor Series: WarGames event.
The show featured a backstage segment with Nick Aldis and The Miz, with the A-Lister pleading to be let back in the tournament to determine John Cena\’s last opponent. This came after Sheamus was removed from the competition due to a shoulder injury.
Aldis said that he has to do things the right way and drew a new ball from the tumbler. Before he could read the name inside it, however, R Truth made an appearance, once again pleading with The SmackDown GM to take his balls. The distraction allowed The Miz to replace the name in the ball with his own.
Nick Aldis sortea quién va a reemplazar a Sheamus en el Last Time is Now Tournament mientras The Miz se queja… y aparece R-Truth. Que pide respeto a sus bolas. Mientras Nick dice que respeta las bolas de Truth, pero él tiene sus propias bolas.
The former World Champion went on to face LA Knight later in the show. He delivered a Skull Crushing Finale but could not get the pin on Knight, and it was the former Max Dupri who picked up the win.
Elsewhere in the show, \’Main Event\’ Jey Uso faced Rusev in the other quarterfinal match of the night, and the Yeet Man picked up the victory over the Bulgarian Brute.
The two winners from tonight will now face each other in the semi-final of the Last Time Is Now tournament on the SmackDown side. On the side of Raw, Gunther will be taking on Solo Sikoa to determine the other finalist.
