The Miz fires shot at Raw but dismisses WWE Wrestlemania match with John Cena and Nikki Bella

Smackdown Live superstar The Miz has fired a stinging broadside the way of rival show Monday Night Raw, hailing the efforts of the blue brand since the company’s talent split.

Miz has been one of the stars of Smackdown over the last few months, his stellar feud for the Intercontinental championship with Dolph Ziggler producing some of the best WWE matches of 2016.

Talking as he looked ahead Wrestlemania, the April extravaganza that sees the two brands share the same card, the former reality TV star was confident that he and his colleagues had out-performed those on Raw on a regular basis.

Despite this, he says that Raw is still being unfairly heralded as the company’s top show.

Speaking to The Independent he explained: “Smackdown Live is the reason I have been able to showcase my talents and showcase everything I am able to do.

“Smackdown Live is the better show.

“As a collective group, I feel as though the ‘blue side’ [of WWE] has always been known as the second show.

“I feel like Raw has always been the coveted one but with the talent that WWE brought over to Smackdown Live, everyone looked at that and decided to make it the must-see show where everyone would want to see what was going to happen next.

“That’s what we set out to do and that’s exactly what we’ve done – people have stepped up.

“You look at someone like Baron Corbin; he was just a blip on people’s radar screen when he first came, but now he is someone to be reckoned with and is a main-event calibre talent.

“Dolph Ziggler and I had that programme for what felt like forever… whenever we get opportunities we are going to knock a home run.

“Look at the year AJ Styles has had. He’s been here for what feels like forever, but it has only been one year and he’s already been WWE Champion and main-evented countless pay per views.

“He’s been doing a spectacular job.”

Rumour and speculation had paired the Miz and Maryse, his real-life and on-screen wife, with a mixed-tag encounter with John Cena and his partner, Nikki Bella.

While WWE programming in recent weeks has teased a build toward that match, Miz laughed off the idea.

Asked if it would be of interest, he added: “No. Not at all.

“Maryse is by my side and hasn’t been in the ring for six or seven years so I don’t even know whether she’d want to do that.

“I have been hearing rumours and all this stuff and I just laugh.

open image in gallery

“You can get all of your rumours and whatever you want but, until it happens, I have no idea what I’m doing at Wrestlemania 33.

“I don’t know what John and Nikki want to do, either, and I don’t care what they want to do.”

Miz’s history with Cena is another interesting caveat.

Seven years ago, Miz headlined Wrestlemania with the 16-time world champion and retained his own gold, albeit with a little help from The Rock.

Now 36-year-old Miz, a relative veteran in the company, clearly sees himself as above Cena – though he did insist he’d be desperate for another run at the company’s top title.

“I can definitely beat him once again,” he added.

“I beat him once at Wrestlemania 27 in front of 70,000 fans at the Alamo Dome and now I’m focused on making heads turn.

“You always want to win the WWE Championship again and again – that’s the ultimate goal that everyone has and, if you don’t, I don’t know what you’re doing here.

“I’d want to be WWE Champion a million times.”

Don’t miss WrestleMania 33 live on the award-winning WWE Network on Sunday, 2nd April. For more information on WWE Network and to sign-up for your first month free, visit http://www.wwe.com/wwenetwork

Catch The Miz this May when WWE Live returns to the UK! For more information regarding all WWE Live Events in the UK visit www.bookingsdirect.com