Miz and Maryse: Pulling off one of life’s greatest juggling acts [Exclusive]

They’re back! America’s “It Family” returns to television tonight when season 3 of Miz & Mrs debuts on the USA Network. The two-episode premiere will air after the conclusion of Monday Night RAW.

This season will document the day-to-day chaos that takes place inside the Mizanin household, as The Miz and Maryse do everything they can to balance their careers with raising two toddlers.

Ask anyone with young children and they’ll tell you that life is exhausting. Heck you may be reading this sentence right now nodding along, because you know firsthand. You’re living that life right now. I hear my kids upstairs running amuck as I write this very article.

On top of family life, I have two (sometimes three or more) jobs and a home renovation project I’m trying to get done. Which means, I don’t sleep. There just aren’t enough hours in the day. I could not imagine handling all that with a camera in my face the entire time. It’s truly one of life’s great juggling acts that Miz and Maryse can handle everything on their plate and raise two daughters, all while chronicling everything for the viewers at home.

“Yes, we’re doing a lot and it is a lot of work to do this show. But it’s a show that we’re passionate about. We said if we’re gonna do this show, we’re gonna be all in and we’re gonna give everyone our lives. And show them, kind of, what it is really like to be WWE Superstars behind the scenes and just to be parents,” The Miz said. “I think any parent can relate to what we are going through, because if you’re a parent your kids don’t care what you do for a living. They don’t care. All they care about is ‘I wanna play’ and ‘I wanna play with you right now.’ And that’s what we’re gonna do. And anything you have on your mind, any drama that’s going on, I don’t care. Play with me.”

Cageside Seats had a chance to catch up with Miz and Maryse ahead of tonight’s premiere, and the “It Couple” did outline one major benefit to doing a show like this. They’ll get to watch their daughters, Monroe and Madison, grow up all over again, anytime they want. That’s on top of The Miz’s unpaid profession as a full-time child photographer.

“We get everything on video and tape. Like, I barely have any photos of me when I was a kid.” Maryse said. “I have maybe a photo or two. Our kids have... my phone camera has 50,000 photos of just my kids.”

“The show, we’re gonna be able to look back in 10, 15 years. I’ll be able to just watch the show and go, ‘Wow! That’s what you guys were doing,” That’s something The Miz is already doing. “I’ll sometimes go on Peacock and look at season one, episode one where there were no kids. It was just me and you and you were pregnant with Monroe, and then I’ll go into episode 10 and I’ll see baby Monroe. And now they’re four and two and a half. It’s crazy to see and have these almost photo albums, but they’re videos, episodes of our kids and seeing them grow.”

While Monroe and Madison will dominate their fair share of screen time, because what adorable toddlers wouldn’t, season 3 of Miz & Mrs will also follow the titular characters through some big and unexpected career decisions.

On tonight’s premiere, The Miz is presented with an opportunity to do ABC’s Dancing with the Stars. A decision that wasn’t as easy to make as one might think. It turns out the former WWE Champion had to be talked into doing the show by Maryse.

The Miz didn’t view Dancing with the Stars as an opportunity as much as he saw it as a competition. And when it comes to competitions, he is very hesitant to do it if he doesn’t feel like he has a chance to win. In Maryse’s own words, when it comes to dancing, Miz checked absolutely none of the boxes. But she pushed him to go for it anyway, feeling it would great for their daughters to see him take a challenge like that, head on.

“When she said you’re doing it, I started thinking about it. And I was thinking about my daughters. And I was like, you know what? Okay. Even if I don’t think I have a chance to win, I’m still gonna do it. But then I started realizing. I was like, you know what? I’m gonna win this thing. I’m gonna do everything I possibly can to win it,” The Miz said. “And then I found out who I was competing against and I was like, I have no shot. I have no chance. Jojo Siwa literally has been dancing her entire life. Amanda Kloots was a Rockette. A Spice Girl is on this show. How the Hell am I going to win? When I dance at weddings. That’s what I do. I do the robot and I body roll. That’s what I do and now I gotta go against these guys?”

To his credit, The Miz did put everything he had into the show. He danced all day, every day during his seven week run in the competition, according to Maryse. And there’s absolutely no question that he went the extra mile in presentation. That included a 7-hour make-up job to look like the Genie from Aladdin for Disney villain's night.

That’s just the time it took to put on the paint. That doesn’t include the extra time it took to get it all off, which included an hour long drive in traffic so his daughters could see the entire costume in person. You can hear that entire story in the Tweet below:

The Miz told Cageside Seats that entire experience gave him a whole new respect for the show. Fans will get to see insights of what it’s like to be on Dancing with the Stars, that they normally wouldn’t, during tonight’s premiere episodes of Miz & Mrs.

Fans will also get a behind-the-scenes look at Maryse’s big comeback this season. The two-time WWE Divas Champion stepped back into the ring for the first time in four years when she and the Miz took on Edge and Beth Phoenix at Royal Rumble.

Again, going back to difficult decisions and balancing acts. With everything else going on in her life, suddenly Maryse had to the find time to get back to form. A task that was much more challenging this time around, as opposed to her returns in 2017 and 2018.

“It was because I have two kids. It’s hard to be on the road and do what we do when you have children. You don’t wanna be away from home. And also getting back in the ring after having two kids, there’s a difference between working out and being in ring shape. It’s a sport. It takes time. And I was told about two months before Royal Rumble.”

When asked whether fans could expect to see Maryse step back into the squared circle one day, Cageside Seats was met with a laugh and a non-answer. Apparently, that was a rather popular question during the media rounds for the “It Couple” and they would not tip their hand one way or another. So as with anything in WWE, let’s just leave it at never say never.

As for the Miz, he’s had a banner year when it comes to his in-ring work. Getting to step into the ring with the likes of Edge and Cody Rhodes. He also picked up a big win at WrestleMania 38 when he and Logan Paul defeated the Mysterios — His first win on the main card of the Show of Shows since 2012.

“It was amazing. Anytime you can win at WrestleMania, it feels great. What felt even better was after we won, Logan Paul and myself, I felt the audience needed a little bit more than just me being victorious at WrestleMania. They needed a moment that they could literally, snapshot in their brain for the rest of their lives. And I gave it to ‘em. I Skull Crushing Finaled Logan Paul. And it was a real good feeling because it was the first time I think the audience celebrated me, rather than booing me.”

You can catch up on the first two seasons of Miz & Mrs ahead of tonight’s two episode premiere by streaming them on Peacock. You can also catch Miz and Maryse tonight on Monday Night RAW as the “It Couple” celebrates the launch of season 3.

Rick Ucchino can be reached at Rick.Bleav@gmail.com. You can follow him on Twitter @RickUcchino and make sure to subscribe to the Bleav in Pro Wrestling YouTube Channel.