The Southeast Texas Examiner recently interviewed The Miz, here are some highlights…

On Getting Into Wrestling: "After I left The Real World in New York, I moved back to Cleveland to live with my dad. I looked at myself in the mirror and asked myself what I wanted to do with my life and my first thought was to become a WWE superstar. I went on the Internet and found a good wrestling school in Los Angeles called UPW (Ultimate Pro Wrestling) and at the time had some guys who had ties with the WWE. I've played every sport you can think of and this is the toughest sport I've been associated with. It's tough. You got to have great conditioning, but not like the conditioning where you run a few miles, it's like a sprint and stop, sprint and stop."

How Was He treated When He Started?: "Everyone hated me. It felt like I had to walk on eggshells and everyone was waiting for me to do something wrong. It was a different locker room back then and it wasn't very fun for me, but I wanted to stick with it."

On Where He is In His Career: "Even right now, I think I am progressing. I honestly feel like the Rock going from the WWE to the movies. He had to make an incredible transition where he's no longer known as The Rock, but Rock the movie star. Granted, I love the reality stuff I've done and had a blast doing it, but I don't want to be known as that guy, I want to be known as a WWE superstar. I am not at the level I want to be at. I don't think I have arrived yet. When I arrive, that's when I am on every WWE poster and every time you turn it on Raw, you just want to see what The Miz is going to do. Winning the U.S. title puts you into a category with the likes of Bret Hart, John Cena, Curt Henning, Eddie Guerrero, Lex Luger, Ricky Steamboat, Dusty Rhodes and Stone Cold Steve Austin. For me to hold that title in the ring and get to say "I'm The Miz and I'm awesome' in front of millions, it gives you goose bumps."

On LeBron James: "It makes my stomach turn to what he did to us. I live in Los Angeles now but I am from Cleveland and I am a big sports fan. The Cavaliers, Browns and the Indians are all my teams and LeBron left us. So all we have now is Mo Williams. Gee, thanks."