By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

Reflecting on the end of Season One of WWE NXT, The Miz says he made Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson) a star in WWE. He believes the attention he created around Bryan helped elevate him in the eyes of viewers.

"I created attention toward Daniel Bryan by me berating him and telling him he's not doing well and yelling at him every week. That made it interesting, made him interesting, and if you watch, you've seen new things come out of Daniel Bryan that you've never expected," said Miz in an interview with Jim Varsallone of the Miami Herald. "That's what I do. I bring things out of people, and I make them better."

Miz was in-character for most of the interview talking about Daniel Bryan, but he did complement Bryan for taking advantage of having most of the attention on him during the first season of NXT.

"I'm the reason people are talking about him," Miz continued in-character. "I'm the reason that he has attention. Granted, has he taken the ball and rolled with it? Absolutely. But the fact is he would never been as big as he is now, which isn't that big, if it wasn't for me."

In media interviews talking about his goals in WWE, Miz has regularly described major title aspirations. Miz said it's not a matter of if but when he becomes a top champion in WWE.

"I still think I have a ways to go. I think, no matter what, I'll always have that cliche that he's a reality star. He's not one of us. He's an outsider, but I could care less," Miz said.

"When I am WWE champion or the World Heavyweight champion, I still don't think I'll get the respect that I deserve. But do I care? No, because then I'll be at the top of my game."

Miz also talked about getting over his "I'm the Miz and I'm Awesome" catchphrase. He said it was something ridiculous he thought of as a way to close his promos.

"When I separated from John (Morrison), I had to cut a promo, and always in a promo, you want a strong finish. The best way to have a strong finish - no matter what - is to have a catch phrase," Miz said. "It was absolutely one of those things that I thought, 'Man, this is ridiculous, but it could get over,' and it has since. So it worked out well."

Link: Miz has plenty of quotes (mainly in-character) in the interview available on the Miami Herald in an interview worth reading.

We suggest these recent related articles...

WWE NEWS: Superstars SPOILERS - Results from Chicago Raw

WWE NETWORK: Monday, Oct. 12 Schedule - Raw pre-show, Sting DVD preview

WWE NEWS: Lana & Rusev reportedly engaged - follow the interesting 2015 timeline