10 Bold Predictions For WWE In 2018
1. The Miz Becomes WWE Champion
When The Miz cashed in his Money In The Bank shot on Randy Orton in 2010, WWE was a very, very different place. It's a testament to the man's talent and hard work then that he was afforded the shot with bloodthirsty sharks such as John Cena and Orton still circling the deep sea he'd just been flung into.
Unfortunately, he'd indeed be chewed to pieces by them in 2011. A maiden feud with 'The Apex Predator' was a pitiful kick-off for the new Champion, and 'Big Match John' made him look completely small-time in their atrociously mishandled WrestleMania 27 main event. He'd only been on the main roster four years, but losing the industry's top prize a month later had rendered him less relevant than he'd been on his own reality TV-inspired debut.
The Miz of 2017 hasn't just benefitted from seven more years toil, though the experience hasn't harmed him either. He carries an unbridled confidence understandably lacking from his youthful past, and an in-ring style ironically now unique in the era of superworkers becoming the default.
Since an early 2016 on-screen union with real life wife Maryse, his work has commanded the respect he once rather desperately sought, with three separate Intercontinental Title reigns spanning over 400 days. Admired but despised, he was the perfect heel to cement Braun Strowman as a babyface, and there seems no superstar better suited to lay down for 'The Monster Among Men's first Universal Championship victory than the 'A-Lister' himself.