The MIz Shouts Out Released Former WWE Star Who 'Always Brought The Best Out Of Me'

The Miz and Dolph Ziggler's careers will always be intertwined with one another, for a multitude of reasons. For starters, they're both natives of Cleveland, Ohio who joined WWE around the same time in the mid-2000s. Furthermore, neither wrestler came with high expectations at the time of their WWE debut, but despite their humble beginnings, went on to become Grand Slam Champions in the promotion. Most importantly, Ziggler and Miz delivered some of the best singles matches on WWE television over the past decade or so, most notably their Title vs. Career match at No Mercy 2016, and their epic encounter on an episode of "WWE Raw" in September 2014. In the aftermath of Ziggler's WWE release, Miz took to Instagram to pen a heartfelt tribute in recognition of his greatest WWE rival.

"I consider one of the best matches of my career the Career vs Title match at No Mercy against @heelziggler," Miz wrote. "Everything leading up to that match was great. Dolph always brought the best out of me every time we worked together. I don't know if I've faced any one person more than him in my career. I'll miss those times but excited to see what comes next for him."

Miz is accurate to suggest that he never wrestled more matches with any other WWE superstar. According to CageMatch, Miz and Ziggler had a whopping 23 singles encounters on WWE television, starting with a match on "WWE Main Event" in November 2012, all the way through their last bout on "Raw" in December 2019. While Ziggler finished with a 13-10 lead, Miz won the final three clashes, including a TLC match in December 2016. Others such as John Cena, Trinity Fatu, Matt Cardona, and Big E also posted tributes to Ziggler after "The Showoff's" 19-year run with WWE came to an end.