10 Awful WWE Backstage Hazing Stories
5. The Miz Gets Singled Out
It seems like those who don’t come from a traditional wrestling background are often singled-out by WWE’s more bullish personalities, with The Miz standing as one of the most notable examples. A contestant on MTV’s reality series The Real World in 2001, Miz also participated in Tough Enough, and while the latter was created by WWE, it took him a long time to shake the “reality TV star” sigma.
The locker-room rejected him outright (you can probably guess who the ringleader was), and disgusted by his lack of wrestling experience, they made Miz an outcast. The aggressors bullied Miz to breaking point, hoping that he’d quit the business completely, and JBL was happy to admit it in 2010:-
“Did I haze The Miz? Hell yes! A lot of people want to talk about me and my hazing. Yes I did. I make no apologies about it whatsoever.”
At one point, Miz alleges he was exiled from the locker-room for six full months, with Chris Benoit leading that particular campaign. His crime? Eating fried chicken near Benoit’s bags and accidentally dropping a couple of crumbs on his gear. Forced to dress in bathrooms, janitorial closets, or anywhere else he could find, Miz eventually overcame the hazing, but his early career was full of awful backstage moments.