After spending half the summer preparing for his feature film debut in WWE Studios’ “The Marine: Homefront” and the other half defending the Intercontinental Championship he won at Raw 1,000, The Miz finally achieved a Hollywood ending.
The Awesome One successfully defended his title at Staples Center in Los Angeles, a few miles from his Hollywood home, on Sunday night by defeating Rey Mysterio at The 25th Anniversary of SummerSlam. The reigning Intercontinental Champion withstood a feisty Mysterio and his aerial arsenal long enough to find an opening and finish off his opponent with a Skull-Crushing Finale.
While they had less than a week to prepare for this bout, the match combatants’ recent history against each other certainly provided ample motivation to bring their best to SummerSlam. It was just more than one year ago, in the finals of an eight-man tournament to crown a new WWE Champion, when Mysterio pinned Miz to become the new WWE Title holder. One month later at SummerSlam, The Ultimate Underdog sealed another victory in a Six-Man Tag Team Match by once again pinning The Awesome One.
Mysterio, decked out in a mask and cape reminiscent of the comic book superhero Batman, heard the cheers of the capacity crowd of 17,482 fans as he made his way to ringside at the bout’s outset. However, he struggled throughout the match to build on that early momentum. Every quick counter and high-flying attack doled out by Mysterio was met with a strong response from Miz, who simply overpowered his challenger with a brutal backbreaker and a devastating sit-down powerbomb among other maneuvers.
Miz’s momentum appeared to be on the ropes late in the match as The Biggest Little Man successfully dialed up the 619, but Mysterio’s inability to Drop The Dime left the champion with the opening he needed. The Awesome One slid behind his weary challenger moments later and planted him face-first into the ring apron with a Skull-Crushing Finale to seal the victory.
The result gives the reigning Intercontinental Title holder his first win in two tries at SummerSlam, with his only other battle at The Biggest Event of the Summer ending in defeat in 2011. The Awesome One also becomes only the sixth Intercontinental Champion to successfully retain his championship gold of all 20 who tried in SummerSlam’s storied history, putting Miz in elite company that includes WWE Hall of Famers Shawn Michaels and Edge as well as Mysterio himself.
