10 Best WWE Tales From Wrestlers’ Court -4

4. The Miz Will Never Eat Chicken Again

WWE.com

Mike ‘The Miz’ Mizanin has been pretty open over the years about the horrendous hazing he received from the WWE locker room after his debut with the company. As much as traditional, more old school wrestlers didn’t appreciate those who’d arrived on the roster via WWE-based reality television like the Diva search or Tough Enough, they despised the Miz, who’d made his name on multiple seasons of reality television shows on MTV like The Real World and Road Rules Challenge – none of which had anything to do with wrestling at all.

Imagine the heat from wrestlers and crowd alike today, if a cast member from Jersey Shore began wrestling full time for WWE. That’s the position Mizanin found himself in when he debuted on the main roster in 2006 – despite having been in WWE developmental since the beginning of 2005, and in training since 2003.
In his early months in the WWE, Mizanin made the mistake of eating chicken over Chris Benoit’s bag, allegedly getting ‘crumbs’ inside it. Hauled up into wrestlers’ court for this flagrant abuse of the privilege of eating fried food, Miz was sentenced to be banned from using locker room facilities with the rest of them for six months. He was forced to use the toilets of the arena – on one memorable occasion, having to change into his wrestling gear in the public toilets, with fans murmuring to each other, “isn’t that the Miz?”
Apparently Benoit changed his mind several times about the punishment. Originally he said Mizanin wasn’t allowed to dress in the locker room for house shows but could still use the facilities for television tapings… then he changed the length of the sentence. Eventually Benoit told Miz he simply couldn’t dress with them anymore.
You might recall this story from WWE television: the Miz has cut promos that mention it in the past, to use his genuine grief he’s been given over the years to advance his character. When he did so, he mentioned a referee’s bag and JBL punishing him – that’s because the use of Chris Benoit’s name was forbidden by WWE management.