The Miz reflects on working with Pee-Wee Herman.
The Miz has main-event WrestleMania; he has wrestled The Rock and won the Intercontinental Championship almost a record number of times. However, his father's favorite moment of him in a WWE ring comes from when he shared the squared circle with Paul Reubens, better known as Pee-Wee Herman, in 2010.
The Miz reflected on his time with Pee-Wee Herman and the friendship they developed during a recent interview with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated.
The Miz reveals that even outside of his dad's very own WrestleMania moment trying to square up with Shane McMahon during Miz's match with McMahon at WrestleMania 35, that moment with Pee-Wee is George Mizanin's favorite WWE moment featuring his son.
“That’s my dad’s favorite thing I’ve ever done in WWE,” said Mike “The Miz” Mizanin. “It’s not main-eventing WrestleMania, it’s not winning the WWE championship–not once, but twice. It’s me getting in the ring and getting in a verbal argument with Pee-Wee Herman.”
Miz reveals that Paul Reubens' publicist had said that the comedy Legend wasn't trying to come out and address the crowd as Pee-Wee Herman, which is something that The Miz would not stand for.
“Earlier that day, his publicist said that he wouldn’t come out as Pee-Wee and that Paul would be himself,” said Mizanin. “I was like, ‘I can’t believe this.’ So I found him and asked, ‘Can we please do Pee-Wee?’ And he said, ‘Of course.’ Then I was all fired up. I asked, ‘Can we do ‘I know you are but what I am? And the secret word?’ I knew it would work, especially if I was the bad guy playing the gag.
“That was my childhood. I grew up watching Pee-Wee, I wore the suit. I knew it would be so great.”
Paul Reubens sadly passed away on July 30, 2023. Aside from his appearance on the November 1, 2010 episode of WWE Raw, Pee-Wee also appeared at WrestleMania 27.
Poppy, who has appeared at numerous WWE NXT events, previously stated that Pee-Wee Herman inspired her to work with WWE. Read her comments here.
