| INTERVIEW: WWE'S MIZ ENJOYS IRAQ HOLIDAY TRIP | |
 World Wrestling Entertainment's seventh-annual "Tribute to the Troops" program will air on NBC on Saturday at 9 p.m. Eastern, 8 p.m. Central.The event, which has become one of the most important on the WWE calendar, chronicles the four days that the WWE Superstars and Divas spent in Iraq, along with a live performance in a makeshift arena, built by and filled with U.S. military personnel. "The Miz" Mike Mizanin, 29, wrestled on the tour for a second consecutive year and the United States champion was proud to once again be a part of the show. I spoke to Mizanin by phone on Thursday afternoon about his experience in Iraq, as well as his career. Miz: It's an eye-opener. The first time I went was last year. Just flying over there on the air cargo plane, where you can see all your luggage and everything, was a new experience. I'm used to flying on American Airlines and stuff and we're flying over in this big humongous cargo plane. It's insane. Getting over there, at first, you're kind of scared, but you know you're safe with soldiers all around you. They talk about these things that you just don't hear about in America. Like a mortar. We hit a mortar over there. It's a bomb. A freaking bomb! And you hear them talking about it non-chalantly. You always look at the news and things on CNN and in the newspaper and you don't really realize until you actually get over there and talk to the soldiers that some of these experiences are incredible. One camp we visited didn't have running water. They had to live without running water the entire time. We asked them what they did and they said, 'work out, work and sometimes when the internet works, we can go online and talk to our families.' They had to pee in tubes and also burn their own poop, because they didn't have any running water. All that and talking about bombs and guns non-chalantly. I mean, I come from a neighborhood in Cleveland where not everybody has a gun. PS: I think you're a little bit younger than me (I'm 30 and Miz is 29) Does it mean more to you to be able to do it because there are a lot of soldiers around your age? Miz: It brought me a whole new respect for our armed forces. It was incredible seeing them and seeing the smiles on their faces. They don't get to see their families during Christmas and birthdays. It was incredible to meet these people and bring smiles to their faces. The morale there can get kind of down. In a desert, there's nothing to do. I was signing an autograph for one guy, whose kid was having a birthday and he said, "Oh my God, my kid is going to love this.' I made phone calls to some of their kids. And just seeing the dads' faces while their hearing their kid's laughter, was great. Especially when the kid's missing his dad. It's really, really incredible. And to have an actual WWE show there is priceless. Read Full Interview | |
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Posted by Kristy, 17 Dec 2009. Post Discussion: (8) Comments Posted » | |
THE MIZ
