WrestleMania XXVII seemed like the start of something different for WWE. John Cena had finally lost a singles match at WrestleMania, and The Miz had finally won the big one (albeit with help from The Rock). Regardless of the quality of the match (it wasn’t a classic) and the fact that the match acted as a mere catalyst for John Cena and The Rock to build to a great match at ‘Mania XXVIII, The Miz looked set to light up 2011 and become the next big star of WWE.

As we all now know, a combination of CM Punk dominating the summer and some backstage politics have seen The Miz drop to the pre-show of Extreme Rules exactly a year after he dropped the WWE Championship back to John Cena.

Survivor Series 2011

Touted as ‘never before, never again’, the real selling point for the PPV was The Rock and John Cena teaming together for the only time in history, and more so for the in-ring return of Rocky. This reason alone makes me wonder why the poor buying/viewing figures were blamed on The Miz? Throughout the year Miz played his role perfectly well, and even made a tag team with R-Truth (which I thought was going to be a disaster) work – if there’s one thing The Miz can do it is carry a tag team as the protagonist. The fact that WWE blamed The Miz for the poor figures is obscure, and from there on it only got worse.

Royal Rumble 2012, Miz enters at number one

Entering at number one, The Miz was already at a disadvantage. Faced with Alex Riley as his first opponent, Miz looked like he could potentially job in light of his track record over the previous two months. Fortunately for Miz and the fans (who really wants to see Alex Riley go far in the Rumble match?), the Awesome One went on to spend 45:31 seconds in the match – the longest of any competitor. It looked like WWE may have forgiven Miz for supposedly causing Survivor Series to garner poor figures, but it still wasn’t the highest point in Miz’s career. It was good to see that WWE hadn’t forgotten that Miz is a decent superstar.

The R-Truth sidestep incident

On February 7^th 2012’s edition of Monday Night Raw, R-Truth took a dive over the top rope onto Miz and, to be blunt, Miz panicked and messed up. For the whole match Miz looked to be off centre, and while Truth didn’t suffer any serious injuries it was clear that Miz would be buried ruthlessly for a while until he proved himself again. I agreed that Miz should have been buried following this event, but I didn’t know how long it would go on for.

Elimination Chamber 2012, Miz almost wins WWE Championship

The Elimination Chamber is usually reserved for the champion, four genuine contenders, and one high-flyer (to make the Chamber itself part of the match). This year’s PPV saw those same elements and a few shocks – Jericho eliminated unconventionally, and The Miz surviving until the last two. As we all know, Miz was never likely to win this match due to the build of Jericho versus Punk at ‘Mania, but he put on a solid performance in the match and made me believe he could actually win it on a few occasions. Two PPVs and two main event performances, but no rivalry heading into WrestleMania XXVIII.

WrestleMania XXVIII, an Awesome victory for Team Johnny

Whilst it wasn’t the best match of the night, this match delivered a lot more than it was expected to. Team Johnny’s victory was never really in doubt, but after some high spots and the standard brawling at the end of the match, it served as a double push for Eve and The Miz. Eve finally went over as a heel, and Miz finally staked claim for a Championship match. It looked like Miz was finally going to go back over.

Extreme Rules, pre show on YouTube

Really? Really?! From three PPVs of proving himself endlessly The Miz has been demoted further down than the dark match, and will instead be featured in a United States Championship match against Santino – on YouTube. I think Miz has more than proven his worth in the situations he’s been placed in over the past six-nine months, and should be forgiven for his earlier mistakes.

Thank you for putting up with the regurgitation of details of what we all know - it was the best way I could express Miz’s accomplishments since WrestleMania XXVII. My point is that WWE have seriously dropped the ball with what was a great heel gimmick for The Miz, and have left themselves with no option other than to bury Miz to the point of sympathy from the fans. A face turn is all WWE can really do to salvage the wreckage of Miz’s recent run in my opinion.

One last note I have on this is that if Miz’s last twelve months are any sign of what working yourself to the bone and performing well on the big stage can get you in WWE, it’s a harsh reward. It also explains the plethora of great mid-card talent that have suffered over the past three years – Ziggler, Kofi, Morrison (whilst he was there), and various others should be lucky that they haven’t been given a shot at the big time.

C-O-N-spiracy!

Follow me on Twitter (@ComingToCinemas) for more WWE views and sarcasms.