20 Most Underrated WWE Stars Of The Past 20 Years

Where do you start with a man like the Miz? Coming into the WWE after achieving a kind of Z-list notoriety as the irritating star of a couple of MTV reality TV shows, the forgettable runner-up in the fourth Tough Enough competition, and the hapless host of the fourth Diva Search competition… well, few future WWE Champions have been held in that level of contempt, by fans or by fellow superstars.

In the intervening decade, many have revised those initially low opinions from ‘worthless’ to ‘mediocre’... which is an improvement, if you’re willing to settle for being damned with faint praise. But Mike Mizanin has never been willing to settle for anything.

His six months with the WWE Championship in 2011 failed to set attendance records - but then the company weren’t really trying to make a star of the Miz back then, and nothing’s changed since. A company man through and through, the Miz does all the press and media that John Cena and the WWE world champions can’t get to, expensive three-piece suit perennially pressed.

But just because the company recognise the man’s worth as a grass roots ambassador doesn’t mean they acknowledge his worth as a contender for best performer on the card: and on numerous occasions the Miz can legitimately lay a claim to that unofficial title. Most recently, that happened a couple of months ago when he delivered the promo of the year to Daniel Bryan on Talking Smack, and proceeded to transform the prospect of yet another angle with Dolph Ziggler (a man he’s wrestled a shade under nine zillion times) into the company’s hottest feud.

If his failed babyface run threatened to derail his career, he’s developed into one of the best heels in the business. His promos are articulate, explosive and perfectly judged, his in-ring work is exemplary, even contrasted with the indie-friendly style the newer WWE superstars are bringing to the table these days - and unlike so many of his peers, raised on the ‘cool heel’, he’s never been afraid to be a coward, to look utterly ridiculous or to be truly, truly hated. In fact, he thrives upon it, squatting atop the midcard like the frat boy bully from some Hollywood teen flick.

Bryan may have decried his wrestling style as ‘safe’ (and may or may not have meant it); CM Punk may have poured scorn on the idea of the Miz headlining WrestleMania XXVII. Over the years, countless colleagues and critics have written Mike Mizanin off, yet he’s still here, with his supermodel wife, his dream career and that permanent sh*t-eating grin on his perma-tanned mug. He’s the Pepsi Max to Cena’s Classic Coke, and that’s no bad thing.