5 Biggest Winners & Losers From WWE SmackDown Live (23 Aug)

2. Winner: The Miz

His SmackDown Live contributions were limited to a daft Heath Slater segment last night, but The Miz killed it on Talking Smack.

It may have been the best promo of his career, work or no work. The Miz was fired-up, angry, and upset, and channelled those emotions to create what should become one of his career’s defining moments. Regardless of what this does for Daniel Bryan’s credibility, Miz became one of WWE’s biggest talking points in a matter of seconds, and his message was clear: he’s mad as hell, and he’s not going to take it any more.

The best thing about Miz’s anti-Bryan diatribe? Most of it was true. Miz has been under-featured and under-utilised since the Draft, and has mostly been used as a tool to get the brand’s main event feuds over. SmackDown (and Bryan) have done nothing but devalue their Intercontinental Champion in recent weeks, and whether he’s a “coward” or not, Miz has every right to be annoyed by his diminishing status in WWE.

This could be the jolt of energy that Miz needs to revive his career. The next few days are going to be incredibly interesting, particularly with regards to finding-out whether this was a shoot or a work. One thing’s for sure, though: Miz has the attention of everyone in the wrestling industry at the moment, and it’s been a long time since we’ve been able to say that about the guy.