The Miz Talks WWE Backlash PLE, Browns, Cavs & More with Rich

The Miz arrived on the show ahead of Saturday's WWE Backlash carrying every Cleveland sports headline of the week, and he had a take on each one. The conversation went exactly where you would expect a wrestler-slash-Browns superfan-slash-Cavs apologist to take it.

Start with the Cavaliers, who dropped Game 1 to Detroit.

"The Cavs lost Game 1, sloppy game, a lot of turnovers, but I think the Cavs beat themselves," The Miz told Rich. "The Pistons did not beat the Cavs. The Cavs beat the Cavs."

His confidence held that, as long as Cleveland fixed itself, the team was still bound for the NBA Finals.

Rich asked about Donovan Mitchell publicly saying he is not a flopper and therefore not getting calls. The Miz refused to entertain a Cleveland flopping conversation in any form.

"In Cleveland, we don't flop," he said. "We don't need to flop. We're not a bunch of floppers in Cleveland. We are hard workers."

The longest section was the Browns. Rich pulled up the now-infamous photograph from a year ago, The Miz reacting in real time on a plane to news that Cleveland had passed on the chance to trade up and draft Travis Hunter. Angelo Dawkins took the picture to troll him.

One year later, the trade has happened. The Browns came out with Mason Graham and Quinshon Judkins among the haul. The Miz wanted credit for being humbled in the right direction.

"Thank you for being more knowledgeable than me, Andrew Berry, to know that the future is what we're looking for," The Miz said. He praised the Browns general manager for what he framed as the best draft anyone ran in 2026.

The Miz declared a Super Bowl prediction unprompted. Cleveland is going.

Rich could not help laughing.

"That's the level of delusion I have," The Miz said. He paused. "It's not delusion."

His quarterback opinion was unambiguous. He does not want Deshaun Watson back. He wants Shedeur Sanders to start, and he wants the franchise to commit a full season to finding out what they have. Sanders, he argued, has already shown he is embracing Cleveland the way Baker Mayfield once did.

Rich offered the counter Cleveland fans will hear all summer. With one year left to evaluate the Watson investment, it is going to be too enticing not to start him Week 1.

"I think you got a flat tire and you just need to put it in the trunk and get that new tire in," The Miz said.

Then came the Backlash preview, and The Miz's grievances against Danhausen, the wrestler he faces in a tag match Saturday. A referee with a sudden shoulder cramp cost him a tag title. A pyro mistake hit him in the face. A vow renewal at WrestleMania ended in cake. Danhausen, in The Miz's telling, also stole his daughter's bike.

"You don't want Danhausen," The Miz said. His daughter, he added, finds the man hilarious.

He praised Bron Breakker as a product of the work being done at WWE's NXT Performance Center, called Seth Rollins the new Mr. WrestleMania, and flagged Asuka against Io Shirai as a match worth showing up early for.

The segment took a turn when Rich, pressed for a favorite guest of the week, picked Jacob Fatu over The Miz. The Miz refused to accept it gracefully. He spent the rest of the appearance pitching a possible tag team with TJ at Backlash, mainly so he could deliver a finisher to him personally.

Backlash streams Saturday, May 9 at 6 p.m. Eastern on the ESPN app. The first hour airs live on ESPN2.