20-year veteran achieved "impossible" WWE feat after tough start, JBL says

John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL) wrestled for WWE between 1995 and 2009. The Hall of Famer recently showered praise on his former on-screen rival, The Miz, for adjusting to the company's main roster after a difficult start.

In 2004, The Miz made his first WWE appearance as a contestant on the Tough Enough reality show. The A-Lister was kicked out of the locker room in 2006 after Chris Benoit took exception to him dropping chicken on referee Scott Armstrong's bag. Seven months later, he returned to the locker room and established himself as a top future star.

On the Something to Wrestle podcast, JBL named The Miz when asked about wrestlers who surprised him:

"Miz. No doubt about it. The Miz, when he came in, and not because The Miz didn't have talent. He did. But how do you learn on national, global television? That's impossible. What Miz did is almost an impossibility. He had his first matches on global television. By the time I got to WWE, I probably had a thousand matches. Most of the guys did." [1:05:37 – 1:05:58]

One of The Miz's biggest accomplishments came in 2011 when he beat John Cena in the WrestleMania 27 main event to retain the WWE Championship. In 2021, he defeated Drew McIntyre to win the title for the second time.

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JBL on The Miz's WWE Hall of Fame credentials

Over the last two decades, The Miz has captured more titles than almost anyone else on the WWE roster. The 44-year-old has also appeared in several films and television shows, including Dancing with the Stars and Miz & Mrs.

JBL has been impressed with the eight-time Intercontinental Champion's success and believes he is a guaranteed future Hall of Famer:

"Miz was having to learn on global television without that educational background of having to work a bunch of territories and all the things that we got to do, and he has built a Hall of Fame career from that moment, and I think that's incredibly remarkable that he's been able to do that because he didn't have that background like we had." [1:05:59 – 1:06:21]

In the same episode, JBL recalled how Vince McMahon rejected an Attitude Era figure's request to return to WWE television in the mid-2010s.

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Please credit Something to Wrestle and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.