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The Miz took the road less traveled to WWE stardom

The WWE recently released 11 talents from its roster, nine of which were in-ring performers.

Of those nine wrestlers, there were a couple of them, specifically Drew McIntyre, that some very important people within the company thought would eventually become the next big star. Unfortunately, their time with the company came to an unceremonious end.

When former reality television star Mike Mizanin entered the WWE back in 2005, he did not garner such hype. In fact, there were more detractors than supporters.

Despite all of that, Mizanin took his alter ego, The Miz, and has carved out a near decade-long career with the biggest wrestling promotion in the world.

The Miz has taken his gift for gab and his natural charisma and athleticism to not only become WWE Champion, but a reliable person the WWE can turn to as an ambassador for the company outside of the squared circle.

Whether it's appearing on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon or speaking out against bullies at a B.A. Star rally, the Cleveland native has become one of the most well known WWE superstars on the roster.

"I remember coming into the WWE and people saying, 'you're not going to last three months in the WWE. You're going to be fired and you'll be gone,' and here I am eight years later still going strong and still having fun and living my dream," The Miz said during an interview with philly.com. "It just goes to show that hard work pays off. Those people that told me I wasn't going to make it three months, now tell me, "You shocked me. You really did and you proved yourself,' and now I gained the respect of hopefully everybody."

The Miz will continue to live his dream when he, along with John Cena, Rob Van Dam and The Wyatt Family, come to the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia Sunday for a WWE live event. The show is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.

For more information on the event, click HERE.

Part of the reason why The Miz gets to live his dream of being a WWE superstar on a daily basis is because of his drive and determination. The Miz prides himself on taking on any all opportunities that are presented to him. He simply doesn't know how to say no.

"When I first came to the WWE, I went to the talent relations department and I said, 'Listen, if you have any interviews that nobody wants to do, if you have any TV spots, anything, I will fly anywhere, anytime to do every radio spot," he said.

"This is going to sound very cheesy, but I remember watching to Justin Bieber's movie," The Miz recalled. "I was on a plane watching the Bieber movie and the guy was like, 'There's not radio station that Justin Bieber has not went to in the United States,' and I was like, 'Man, there's not radio station I think in the world I have not been to or to a TV news place."

Being the go-to guy to represent the company is a role that The Miz embraces.

"That's one of those things I really take pride in because I love the WWE so much," he said. "I think the product is so amazing. It's such a great entertainment. It's such a value that everyone should be able to share these kind of moments. I try to display that by doing every kind of radio, print, TV spot I can do."

"The way I look at it is grassroots," he added. "The only way people are going to get to know you is if you're out there and any media is good media, so I'll take it all so that everyone knows my name and someday it might pay off or it might not. But the fact is that I get to create relationships and talk to as many as possible about something I'm passionate about."

One opportunity The Miz surely wasn't going to turn down was starring in a WWE movie, which he has gotten to do on multiple occasions. The Miz starred in The Marine 3: Homefront and is the first WWE superstar to reprise the main character in the series in The Marine 4: Moving Target. This time, he stars alongside fellow WWE superstar Summer Rae and the film recently wrapped up production.

"When you're a kid, you always dream of these sort of situations happening, but you never really truly believe," The Miz said. "Then something sets you off where you say, 'You know what, I'm going to do this. No one is going to stop me,' and that moment was getting on The Real World."

"It allowed me to say, 'You know what, no matter what people say I can do any dream I want to do,' so that's when I became a WWE superstar," he added. "Then being a WWE superstar it's like, 'Now I want to venture out and do everything I've wanted to do,' so I'll do movies. I'll do radio shows. I'll do TV spots. I'll do panels. I'll be a commentator. I'll be a WWE superstar, a little bit of everything. It's just sowing your oats everywhere."

With every dream, however, there are peaks and valleys. Among those valleys are seeing your friends lose their jobs. The recent round of cuts wasn't the first The Miz has gone through, but it's still tough nonetheless.

"That's the nature of business," he said. "In any business, people get fired and people get hired, so you just got to take it with a grain of salt and know that they're talented enough as individuals that they'll be able to do whatever they pursue after the WWE."

"Everyone would be doing it if it wasn't tough, so absolutely it's tough, but it's something you have to do deal with and you have to go through and you just keep trucking along," he added. "I know those people that got released aren't going to tell me, 'Well, you should come with me.' They're going to be like, 'Dude, go steal the show, go be as amazing as possible and I'm going to go do my thing and be as amazing as possible.' I think that's the mentality."

As with everything else, life goes on and for The Miz, that means figuring out the next phase of his career. Since he began filming The Marine 4: Moving Target, The Miz has been off WWE television. While he is working untelevised events, including the one Sunday in Philadelphia, The Miz is taking time figure out what type of role he'll play once he returns in front of the cameras.

Whatever The Miz decides on, he'll more than likely tackle it with the same drive and determination he has everything else in his career so far.