Found this article while cleaning out my mailbox. Article on the Real World season The Miz was on, from right before when the season in question debuted, which singles him out as far as his presence on the show embodying how far the franchise had fallen in terms of the franchise becoming formulaic and cliched.
I only watched a couple of episodes of the season in question when it first aired (Real World pretty much jumped the shark around Seattle/Hawaii and Hawaii itself pretty much was a clusterfuck of fail that broke the franchise) but I'm curious, given the retroactive fame issue and that that The Miz is one of the ultra few Real World cast members to go on to amount to anything, why the WWE never really mentioned or brought up his Real World days when he became a centerpiece of the company. Even when he was going toe-to-toe with John Cena, we never got to see Cena throw the Real World into Miz's face to mock him. Is the Real World off-limits by the WWE (which is insane given that you've had other wrestlers be upfront with their pasts and dirty laundry) or is it a matter of Vince, ever being several years behind the curve, not even knowing Miz was on the show, let alone what Real World is?
Jesse Baker
I never watched or even knew what the Real World was until many years after it was gone, but perhaps one had to be of a certain age and disposition to pay attention to it in the first place. Might have also had to do with not getting MTV in Canada at the time it would have been airing.