The Miz has opened up about one of the most humbling and difficult chapters of his early WWE run, recalling the period when he was banned from the locker room and forced to change in public areas backstage.
Speaking with Chris Van Vliet, The Miz detailed just how isolating the experience was at a time when he was still trying to establish himself in the company.
“I’m a grown man, a WWE superstar, and I’m changing in a broom closet. I’m going to the bathroom with fans around, and they’re going, ‘Hey, I think I saw The Miz just go in the stall,’ and meanwhile my music is about to play in five minutes.”
Miz admitted there were moments where the treatment left him questioning everything, but he refused to quit.
“But man, there were so many times where I was just like, ‘Why are you doing this? What are we doing?’ If they’re kicking you out of the locker room, they’re not going to teach you inside the ring. But I just kept going because I knew I could do this.”
When asked whether he was ever given a timeline for being allowed back, Miz said there was none.
[Did you have any idea of when you might be invited back into the locker room?]
“No.”
[A week? Two? A month?]
“I had no idea. The person who told me, ‘Hey, you’re kicked out of the locker room,’ said, ‘You’re not coming in until I say so.’”
Miz clarified that the decision did not come from The Undertaker, though confusion followed once that individual left the company.
[Was that The Undertaker?]
“No. That person went away. And when that person went away, I thought, ‘Oh boy, how am I going to get back in the locker room? I’m never going to.’ I had to wait another three months before I finally asked Taker, ‘Man, I’ve been out of the locker room for a long time.’ He goes, ‘Oh, you have?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’ve been out for like six months.’”
According to Miz, the situation stemmed from a locker room misunderstanding that quickly spiraled out of control.
“You know, I ate a piece of chicken in the locker room, and it got all over—and I still believe it did not. But other people will tell you differently, and they can have their opinions. I was under a microscope: ‘Let’s get this guy.’”
He explained how rumors escalated through the locker room’s “telephone game.”
“Then another guy walks in: ‘Oh, you ate chicken over his bag?’ Another guy walks in: ‘He did what?’ Then someone outside the locker room hears: ‘He threw chicken all over.’ By the time the telephone game played, it sounded like I was smearing chicken all over the place. That’s what it felt like.”
Eventually, Miz addressed the issue directly with The Undertaker.
“So yeah, I went to Taker and said, ‘I ate chicken over a bag.’ How silly is that sentence? Really. I’m glad you’re laughing at my torment—six months of being kicked out of a locker room. But you have to realize how ridiculous that must have been. It was so ridiculous. I’m a grown man.”
Despite criticism from fans who wonder why he didn’t confront the situation physically, Miz explained why standing his ground wasn’t an option at the time.
“People are always like, ‘Why didn’t you fight him? Why didn’t you stick up for yourself?’ Because back then, if I had done that, I probably would have been fired.”
The story serves as a reminder of how far The Miz has come—from being ostracized backstage to becoming one of WWE’s most durable and successful performers, and a future Hall of Famer in his own right.
