The Miz Just Told the Behind-the-Scenes Story of His Most Famous WWE Segment — and It Almost Never Happened

The Miz has shared a behind-the-scenes story about one of his most talked-about WWE moments — his impersonation of The Rock on the March 14, 2011 episode of Raw ahead of WrestleMania 27 — revealing that he was convinced the bit would fail completely before it became a genuine highlight of the WrestleMania 27 build. Speaking on Games with Names with Julian Edelman, Miz walked through exactly how the segment came together.

“The week before WrestleMania, I dressed up as The Rock. I remember going to Vince going, ‘This isn’t going to work. No one is going to believe I’m The Rock. I don’t look like The Rock. I have blue eyes. I’m not bald. I’m not a 6’7″ Samoan.’ He’s like, ‘It’ll work.’ We put a bald cap on me. I ended up putting on a t-shirt and The Rock’s music hits. The crowd goes nuts. In my head backstage, I’m going, ‘This is going to be horrible,'” Miz said.

He then described the moment he stepped out and realized it was working in exactly the way Vince had predicted. “I walk out and did the best Rock impression I possibly could. There is another eruption, bigger than the one before. I take the sunglasses off and they pop again. As I’m walking down, they start realizing it’s me, and the pop goes into a huge chorus of boos, which is exactly what we wanted. I beat up John Cena, cut a promo on Rock, fans, Cena, and we are ready for WrestleMania.”

The segment became one of the more memorable moments of the WrestleMania 27 build and a genuine highlight of The Miz’s reign as WWE Champion — proving that Vince McMahon’s instinct to push past his own doubts was exactly right.