14 Ups & 2 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Mar 19)

3. Fired Up

The night's opening segment belonged to The Miz, who, one week after Shane McMahon had "justified" his Fastlane turn, was full of hellfire. This was his big opportunity to follow-up on his former tag team partner's bullsh*t, and he did so with a fantastic babyface promo.

If we have one complaint, it's that Miz, one of the best heels in the company, didn't spend more time showing remorse for past actions. That's splitting hairs, though. He did cover that ground at the start of his spiel, albeit in shortform. Afterwards, we got tremendous face material from 'The A-Lister,' who once again spoke on his desire to make his father proud, and McMahon being the one to make that happen, before getting to the turn itself.

Miz said that while people warned him about Shane, he didn't want to believe them. Then Fastlane happened. McMahon battered him in front of his dad, and Miz told Shane that he was just as rotten as his own father. He was "born the worst, not the best," and while his family may own the company, they don't own him.

The closing act saw Miz espouse his own work ethic ("hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard enough"), putting a neat little bow on a segment that fully cemented Mr. Mizanin as a wrestler the fans can get behind at WrestleMania 35. This programme is working out just fine.