The Miz recently spoke with Brian Fritz of SportingNews.com to promote WWE’s Tribute to the Troops, which airs tonight on the USA Network. The full interview is at this link and below are highlights:

What’s it like for you when you’re not a part of a big show like TLC?

You always want to be a part of every show when you’re a WWE superstar. You want to be the main event. You want to be the talk of the entire the entire show. But, sometimes, you’re left off because that’s just the nature of the beast. Sometimes you’re needed, other times you’re not. I looked at it as I need to work harder. I need to try harder but to be completely honest, I don’t know how to work harder because I don’t think anyone works as hard as me.

You’ve always been known for having a great work ethic. You’ve told the story plenty of times about how you had a hard time being accepted at first in WWE considering that you came from reality TV. You’ve been there for 14 years now and have been extremely successful. You’ve been WWE champion. You main evented WrestleMania. You’ve won the Intercontinental Championship eight times. You’re a Triple Crown winner. What’s the perception like for you now in the locker room among all your peers considering everything you’ve done and how long you been there?

I think that everyone gets that I work very hard. I think I’m starting to get the respect that I fought for since day one and it took a long, long time. But not only do I feel like the locker room is seeing it but also I’m seeing it from the WWE Universe. I can’t actually believe it because I never thought they would actually respect me. One thing that I always thought was that I’d always be looked at as a reality star and, in my opinion, reality stars were viewed as the scum of the earth. They were they were the worst type of entertainer. All they did was live their life on TV. Me, myself, I loved it. I loved reality TV. I loved The Real World. I loved MTV. I loved everything it did for me but the thing about it is the perception of what people will look at it. But now, everything’s reality TV.

You look at social media: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. You know what everyone’s doing at any given time and so now I look at it differently. And not only do I look at a different, I think people look at it differently. With “Miz and Mrs.,” now I’m not only the star but I’m also the executive producer and it’s one of those things where I look at our reality show and I call it a hybrid reality because you get an inside look of what it’s like to be first-time parents in the entertainment industry. The number one thing I always got when I was on “The Real World” was whether or not it was real? The number one thing I got when I was in WWE was whether or not it was real? And the number one thing I’m getting right now on Miz and Mrs. is if it is real?

What I’ve learned is that we’re like magicians and we’re not going to show you our hand. You just need to be entertained by it. Look at it like it’s a movie, like a television show. Look at it like its “Seinfeld” or “Curb Your Enthusiasm” or any type of other show that you wouldn’t necessarily go oh, is that real? You don’t care if it’s real because entertaining and that’s what it’s all about. And that’s what I think “Miz and Mrs.” does. And you should check out the marathon Thursday night right after the Tribute to the Troops.

On “RAW” on Monday night, we saw the McMahons talk about a fresh start for “RAW” and for “SmackDown.” Other than you having a bigger role, what changes would you like to see within WWE?

I want you to look at the past. Go look at every time there’s been a superstar shake-up. Every time there has been one, I have been moved and whatever show I leave becomes the show that needs a little work. The show that I go to becomes the must-see show, the show that everybody’s talking about. Right now, it’s “Smackdown.” “Smackdown” wasn’t having the problem, “RAW” was. Every time I was on “RAW”, “SmackDown” was having the problem. When I was on ‘Smackdown”, “RAW” was having the problem. So, obviously, I believe it is the superstar and it’s me.

That’s the person that’s needed I think that you know me being myself, I believe that I deserve to be the top superstar. The person that everybody’s talking about. And you might say that I am. But I am not. I’m not on every poster. I’m not front and center like John Cena was in everything. My picture isn’t on every poster or every chair. I was left off the TLC pay-per-view. I’m the type of superstar that feels like he should be needed at all times and should be front and center in every poster in everything.