SmackDown drafts Intercontinental champ The Miz

Here is all you need to know about The Miz and his wife Maryse, who are now officially members of the SmackDown roster thanks to Tuesday’s WWE brand split draft.

When Miz first showed up in WWE, he was an extremely raw and extremely annoying character straight out of the reality shows that put him on the map. After spending time in the tag team division and in the singles midcard, he was thrust into the main title scene, eventually winning the WWE title and successfully defending it against John Cena at WrestleMania 27.

That championship reign was poorly received, though, because Miz was still very much not a finished product as a wrestler and his character was so utterly unlikable. Instead of getting beaten by that reception, though, The Miz took it to heart and made his character into a despicable, arrogant jerk, eventually settling into the role of the “A-lister” actor-slash-WWE superstar who wins titles and makes people hate him more with every breath he takes, cutting every corner he can to success and drawing heat to himself in waves.

In an industry that needs high-quality bad guys to make the good guys look even better, there may be no greater bad guy right now than The Miz -- and when he’s on his game, it’s an absolutely wonderful thing to watch.

Recently, The Miz has been working with his real-life wife Maryse, herself a former WWE wrestler and two-time winner of the now-retired Divas Championship. The French-Canadian superstar is the perfect compliment to her husband, amplifying his ability to make people hate him with her own antics, both during matches and away from the ring.

Just look at how she came back to the WWE. In the middle of an Intercontinental championship match between champion Zach Ryder and The Miz on the RAW after WrestleMania 32, Maryse confronted Ryder’s father and, in so doing, helped The Miz win the title. Since then, she’s served as his valet and helped her husband retain the title several times through distractions, interference and numerous other devious tactics.

Maryse’s work during promos and backstage segments helps make Miz even more unlikable, playing up his “Hollywood megastar” character in all the worst possible ways. From bizarrely specific water demands to French-language tirades at production assistants to helping The Miz into the fuse that starts a massive food fight, Maryse has been a big part of some serious bad-guy moments over the last few months, and it’s been absolutely perfectly done.