The Wrasslin' Essay: What The Miz-Bryan Promo Shows About Both

Tuesday’s edition of Talking Smack scored a huge victory for WWE Network by finally proving that something of substance can occur on one of their talking heads shows. When the Miz and his on-air supervisor Daniel Bryan got into a heated argument that turned host Renee Young into a helpless observer, the emotions felt so raw that the wrestling equivalent of the miracle of transubstantiation occurred: experienced fans bought it as real.

Let’s get this out of the way: it doesn’t matter if Bryan and Miz’s argument was a shoot (, brother). If it was, and it might have been, it tells us more about both men’s insecurities than anything else. However, as a supplement to WWE’s SmackDown Live television show (which is exactly what Talking Smack is supposed to be), the blow-up brought more depth to both the Miz and Daniel Bryan characters than hundreds of hours of exposure on Raw and SmackDown have done.

Shoot or work, the argument with Bryan was good for the Miz. Regardless of whether or not he made the more salient points, the heel always wins a long, circular argument based on the Proverbs 26:4 principle: “Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be just like him.”

What made the Talking Smack confrontation so intriguing, however, was the insight it offered into aspects of Daniel Bryan’s personality that have not been explored on WWE TV to this point. He displayed a hipsterish arrogance and gave off the impression that it isn’t just the fans who consider him the best wrestler of his time. His “soft WWE style” comments were nothing more than an attempt to cut Miz’s legs off and poison the viewing fanbase against him in a way that would make Triple H blush.

Bryan revealed that his inability to wrestle isn’t just heartbreaking for him, it’s a gnawing black hole at the core of his being, gradually dragging more and more of his light-hearted attitude and “aw, shucks” personality into its bottomless depths. For the first time in WWE, there was a hint of something truly heelish in his eyes—an envy for someone who he had always felt he was better than.

When he tried to condescend to what he thought was Miz’s level, though, Bryan got a nasty surprise.

Instead of falling back on his movie star character’s “too cool for school” attitude about wrestling, Miz let loose with a fiery monologue about his passion for the wrestling business, also revealing a part of his makeup that has been severely underrepresented. The outburst finally provided Miz with the competitive drive his character has always lacked. For years, the Miz has felt like a wrestler who would rather insult an opponent than beat him, but on Talking Smack, he asserted himself as deeply competitive.

By receiving Bryan’s insults with indignation rather than hauteur, Miz asserted himself as a serious, title-holding wrestler. In an instant, the WWE Intercontinental Championship transformed from a prop that’s a part of his act to his very raison d’etre, a talisman in his life whose power and importance is second perhaps only to his wife. His horse-voiced cry of, “I’m the one who loves everything!” was the battle shout of a wrestler willing to destroy his opponent to prove he’s the best.

Since the moment he arrived in WWE, the Miz has always been portrayed as a man who thinks he is a wrestler rather than an actual wrestler. On Talking Smack this week, however, he went toe-to-toe with one of the great workers of his generation and took him to school. Daniel Bryan, on the other hand, who built so much of his charisma fighting bullies, seemed like he was inches from stuffing Miz in a locker out of frustration.