JBL has offered emphatic praise for The Miz as the longtime WWE star marks 20 years with the company, calling his body of work one of the most impressive and unusual career arcs in professional wrestling.
Speaking on Something To Wrestle, the WWE Hall of Famer focused on the factors that have allowed The Miz to remain valuable across two decades: his intelligence, his nonstop workload, his ability to be trusted in different assignments and the fact that he developed under circumstances far different from those experienced by many wrestlers of JBL’s generation.
For JBL, the key part of The Miz’s story is not simply longevity. It is the route he took to reach that longevity. The Miz entered WWE through Tough Enough, the reality-show environment that placed him on a path to learn the profession after arriving in the company rather than building years of experience through the territory system that shaped many earlier performers.
That distinction led JBL to make an especially strong assessment of The Miz’s place in company history.
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“He is a great person, but he's a really smart guy. They're able to trust him in so many different places. He works nonstop. He's a lot like John Cena. The fact they send him all over the world because he's so talented,” JBL said.
JBL’s comparison to Cena centered on dependability and versatility. Rather than limiting his comments to what happens between the ropes, he highlighted the range of places where WWE can use The Miz and the confidence the company has shown in putting him in those roles. In JBL’s view, that level of trust is a major indicator of The Miz’s standing.
The Miz has spent his WWE career in a position that requires flexibility. A performer can be asked to carry a prominent in-ring role, represent the company in broader settings, handle a demanding schedule or shift with the needs of a changing roster. JBL’s remarks portrayed The Miz as someone who has repeatedly met those demands while continuing to work at a high volume.
Why JBL views The Miz’s path differently
JBL explained that his admiration comes in large part from how The Miz entered the wrestling industry. For many wrestlers from previous eras, the path involved accumulating a substantial number of matches before reaching WWE. That experience offered time to develop instincts, gain confidence and make mistakes outside the intense spotlight of national television.
The Miz did not have that same traditional runway, as JBL described it. Instead, he came through Tough Enough and had to grow as a wrestler in a far more visible environment. JBL stressed that The Miz joined WWE at a time when the roster was already loaded, making the task of finding a place and sustaining momentum even more difficult.
“I've always thought that The Miz had one of the best careers in the history of this business because he didn't learn in the territories,” JBL said.
The statement is notable because it measures The Miz’s career against the development systems that preceded modern WWE. JBL was not suggesting that The Miz avoided the hard work associated with learning the craft. His point was the opposite: The Miz had to learn while facing a degree of exposure that many wrestlers did not encounter until much later in their careers.
For JBL, that makes the former world champion’s rise particularly remarkable. Developing on television means every stage of the process unfolds under immediate scrutiny. There is less room to quietly refine an act over hundreds or thousands of matches before reaching a major platform. A wrestler must adjust quickly, find a character that connects, improve in-ring execution and earn the trust of a roster and audience in real time.
“You know, he came in when we had a pretty loaded roster 20-odd years ago, and he didn't have the benefit of having, like we did, a thousand matches before we got there. He came through Tough Enough in a reality show, and all of a sudden he's now learning on television,” JBL said.
That reality-show beginning is central to the perspective JBL shared. The Miz was not presented as someone who followed the most conventional developmental trajectory. Yet he established a lengthy WWE run, became a world champion and reached his 20-year milestone with the company. JBL sees those outcomes as evidence of rare adaptability as much as talent.
Learning under the brightest spotlight
JBL expanded on the unusual pressure of that situation by noting that The Miz learned on global television. The phrase captures why he places the career in such high regard. It is one thing to arrive in WWE after an extended period of preparation; it is another to build the necessary experience while performing for a worldwide audience.
“Miz learned a lot on global television and still built a Hall of Fame career. There are very few people in the history of the business — I don't think I could have done it — that could have had the trajectory that Miz had,” JBL said.
JBL’s self-comparison underscores the scale of his praise. As someone who came up in a different era and later became a WWE Hall of Famer, JBL understands the advantages that came with having more matches and more time to develop before reaching WWE’s biggest stages. He said he does not believe he could have matched the particular trajectory The Miz navigated.
That trajectory required The Miz to keep evolving after his arrival. JBL’s comments did not reduce his success to one opportunity or one defining moment. Instead, he described a sustained ability to work, travel, represent WWE and fill a variety of needs. In an industry where roles can change quickly, the capacity to remain trusted in multiple settings is often as important as any single accolade.
The Miz’s status as a former world champion is part of that record, but JBL’s evaluation went beyond championship credentials. He emphasized the combination of professional reliability and a nontraditional development story. The result, in JBL’s estimation, is a career that deserves to be considered alongside the most notable WWE runs.
A first-ballot Hall of Fame case
JBL did not hedge when discussing The Miz’s eventual place in the WWE Hall of Fame. He called him a sure-shot first-ballot Hall of Famer and said there is no one else quite like him. It is a declaration rooted in the full picture JBL laid out: two decades in WWE, a world championship reign, constant work and a career built after beginning through Tough Enough.
Calling someone a first-ballot Hall of Famer is not merely a compliment about popularity or a short period at the top. It is an endorsement of long-term significance. In The Miz’s case, JBL sees significance in the way he entered the business, adapted to its demands and became a figure WWE could deploy in numerous situations.
The remarks also offer a reminder that wrestling careers are not defined by one standard path. Traditional experience remains valuable, and JBL openly acknowledged the benefit of gaining extensive match experience before reaching WWE. But he views The Miz as an exception whose career demonstrates how far talent, preparation, intelligence and work ethic can carry a performer even when the learning process begins in public.
As The Miz celebrates 20 years in WWE, JBL’s assessment is clear. He regards the run as “one of the most remarkable” in professional wrestling history, not despite its unconventional beginning, but because of what The Miz accomplished after that beginning. For JBL, the former world champion’s ability to learn on a global stage and build a lasting legacy makes him a uniquely compelling Hall of Fame case.
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Darryl Polo
Darryl Polo is a passionate wrestling fan covering WWE, AEW, TNA and beyond. He loves great rivalries, breakout stars and the moments that keep fans talking long after the bell. How we work.