The Miz and Alex Riley told skysports.com why 'The Awesome One' will soon be WWE Champion.
The Miz and Alex Riley spoke to skysports.com
He's Mr Money In The Bank, he's a former United States Champion and, if you believe what he says, he's a future WWE Champion.
It's perhaps no surprise that The Miz has a bit of an ego.
The self-proclaimed Awesome One was in the UK recently, as part of the Raw World Tour, and stopped by the skysports.com office to explain why WWE Champion Randy Orton should be looking over his shoulder.
The Miz brought with him his Money In the Bank briefcase - which contains a contract guaranteeing him a WWE Championship Match wherever or whenever he wants in the next year - and he "guarantees" he will take the title at some stage.
But the briefcase isn't the only weapon he brought with him. He also brought his NXT Rookie Alex Riley along, having signed him to a 'personal services contract' to help him win the WWE Championship.
The Miz claims to be training his protégée to be the next big WWE Superstar, but it's an arrangement that has not gone right for him in the past. A previous NXT Rookie, Daniel Bryan, turned on The Miz and eventually beat him for the United States Championship.
However, as we soon discovered, The Miz has made it very clear to Riley who's the senior partner in the relationship.
skysports.com: Welcome to the UK. What have you made of your visit to our shores?
THE MIZ: I love the UK. I get to see your airport; I get to drive by Big Ben in rush-hour traffic, take a picture and send it to my friends; I get to see the O2 Arena, which is always very beautiful. And the hotels are always very clean. The people are always very nice. Manchester was great, everyone was cheering me at the beginning and booing me at the end. There are a few switch-hitters there, but the fans are always amazing! [To Riley] You have your hand up. Go ahead...
ALEX RILEY: I thought I'd better raise my hand, so you don't call on me. I managed to get out in Cardiff in Wales, which I personally really enjoyed. I got down to the castle, which was beautiful and I went to a store called 'King of Trainers'. I'd never seen anything like it before and I'm a shoe guy.
THE MIZ: Did you buy a pair?
ALEX RILEY: I did not because they didn't have American size 13 in anything! I almost bought a rugby jersey instead, but that was too small as well.
skysports.com: Alex, The Miz was your mentor on the second season of WWE NXT. What have you learned from him?
ALEX RILEY: What haven't I learned? He's a tremendous human being - and that's on top of all of his talent. It's about the way he handles things and the way he approaches matches; he studies, he prepares and he takes advantage of opportunities when he needs to. He incorporates me and I help out where I can. I'll make sure he does become WWE champion as soon as possible.
THE MIZ: He also knows what king of protein I like, what T-shirts I like, how I like my dry cleaning to be done. He also knows how I like my stuff folded and put away into drawers.
ALEX RILEY: I chain up his refrigerator at night, so he doesn't sneak in there for some cookies or brownies.
THE MIZ: I enjoy that type of stuff. However, he keeps me on my diet and that's one of his jobs. I have chosen him to be my protigee and I will build him up to take my place in the very far, far future. But he needs to learn everything first.
skysports.com: You were previously the mentor to NXT rookie Daniel Bryan and that didn't exactly end very well, did it? He ended up taking your United States Championship...
THE MIZ: Daniel Bryan is a nerd, he's a geek and I don't like him at all. I think he should be at home at midnight on Saturday playing World of Warcraft and watching Star Wars and doing absolutely nothing. He is a geek, he does not deserve that title and the only reason he has that title is because he cheated and I was injured.
skysports.com: Are you worries that lightning might strike twice and that Alex might turn on you at some stage?
THE MIZ: He would never do something like that because I am bringing him up to my level and he appreciates that. Daniel Bryan never appreciated me the way that he appreciates me. He understands what he has to do, but Daniel Bryan thinks he's above and beyond everything.. OK, he's talented , I'll give it to him in the ring. He can make people tap out here and there if you make one mistake with him. However, he's not great. I'm going to make Alex Riley great.
ALEX RILEY: Daniel Bryan was jealous. Me and Miz are one and the same. I share some of the qualities he has and I need to learn some things from him, but there's absolutely no jealousy here between the two of us.
skysports.com: Survivor Series is the next big PPV, coming up live on Sky Box Office HD on November 21. Are you going to be involved?
THE MIZ: Are you kidding me? It's Survivor Series. It's a pay-per-view. Is the Miz going to be involved? I have Money in the Bank. You never know when I'm going to cash this bad boy in. There's a lot of speculation going around. Think about it, you've got Wade Barrett and Randy Orton going at it and you've got John Cena as the special guest referee. It's going to be insane and I'm going to be watching all of that match.
skysports.com: Everybody is talking about the Money in the Bank briefcase. All of our readers want to know when you're going to cash it in?
THE MIZ: If I told everyone when I was going to cash it in then that would mean Randy Orton is going to know. Why would I let him know - or whoever the WWE Champion is? I'm not telling anyone. The element of surprise is the reason why this thing is so great. Alex tried to blow my stuff up one time and I had to scold him for it.
ALEX RILEY: Wade Barrett was a fellow NXT guy - he was from season one and I was from season two - and I think I was quite a bit better than Wade Barrett. I thought it would have been nice and embarrassing if The Miz gone and cashed it in against him. I almost blew the element of surprise that night - and I have been scolded for that!
skysports.com: Everyone who has held the Money In The Bank briefcase in the past has cashed it in and gone on to become a champion. Do you feel under pressure that you might be the first to fail?
THE MIZ: Bite your tongue, bite your tongue. How dare you even bring that up. Of course there's no pressure on me. This is a guarantee. I'm one of the smartest Superstars out there, one of the fastest rising stars, I've been the United States champion, a Unified Tag-Team champion and I'm Mr Money in the Bank. That's all in the matter of a year. In one year I have done all of this. I'm like a triple-crown winner, I'm the future of the WWE and I'm the poster child of the WWE. And I'm probably going to be... no I AM going to be WWE Champion.
WWE Survivor Series comes to Sky Box Office and Sky Box Office HD on Sunday November 21. Click here for booking details
