25 Years Before Becoming WWE Royalty, The Miz Debuted on MTV’s ‘The Real World’

Wrestling fans love The Miz for his “awesome” skills in the ring and on the mic. However, before his sensational debut in the WWE Universe, he first appeared to TV audiences as Mike Mizanin on MTV’s The Real World: Back to New York.

In 2001, the Real World franchise’s 10th season kicked off with a return to New York City, where the hit reality TV series first began. Longtime fans of the show may remember Mizanin’s love of wrestling back then, which left his roommates both amused and skeptical of his dreams of becoming a WWE Superstar.

Reflecting on his journey from college student to Real World fame, Mizanin told Bleacher Report in 2017, “I’m 20 years old. I move to New York City, the biggest melting pot in the world. You go in there. You have these cameras on you. You have roommates you’ve never met before, people from all walks of life. Right from the start, it felt like I was the outcast, the person that nobody was going to like.”

To feel more comfortable in front of the Real World cameras and his housemates, Mizanin decided to lean into his Miz persona. “The Miz came in as a way to say exactly what I was feeling and not have repercussions for it because it was a character I was playing. That character became very popular, not only with fans but with castmates,” he recalled.

Fortunately for the Ohio native, this approach encouraged him to pursue his professional wrestling dreams. After his stint on Real World: Back to New York, Mizanin trained at wrestling school and grappled for promotions such as the now-defunct Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW) in Southern California and Impact Zone Wrestling (IZW) in Arizona. Then, in 2004, he was cast on the fourth season of the wrestling reality competition series, Tough Enough. Although Mizanin didn’t win the competition, even after making it to the final round, his gumption and tenacity caught the attention of WWE higher-ups, who offered him a developmental contract with the company.

Fast-forward 25 years, and The Miz has become one of the world’s greatest wrestlers in WWE. Since joining the top-ranked wrestling promotion, the WWE Smackdown star has earned countless championship titles, appeared as a character in WWE video games, taken on film and television roles, and much more. He has also returned to reality TV as the current host of the American Gladiators reboot and has appeared on WWE-centered shows such as Total Divas, Total Bellas, and his own series, Miz & Mrs., alongside his wife and two-time WWE Divas Champion, Maryse Mizanin.

After all these years, Mike Mizanin credits his time on The Real World for his astronomical success in WWE. “The Real World is the reason that I became a WWE superstar,” he told TV Guide‘s Keisha Hatchett in 2018.

“If it wasn’t for The Real World, I’d probably be working at my dad’s Mr. Hero flipping burgers and dropping fries. It made me realize I could do anything that I wanted.”