What is The Miz’s mission now that he’s returned? Watch the latest edition of “Backstage Fallout” now, only on WWE on YouTube!

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BY RYAN MURPHY

NEW YORK CITY — Think Sunday’s WrestleMania showdown between WWE Champion The Rock and John Cena is the most exciting bout in the New York/New Jersey area this weekend? Then you must have missed out on the eighth annual WrestleMania Reading Challenge Finals.

A bright group of schoolchildren gathered in City College’s Aronow Theater in the Harlem section of New York City on Saturday morning to take part in a battle of brain power for WrestleMania Reading Challenge trophies — and ringside tickets to WrestleMania.

The students had turned a lot of pages during this year’s WrestleMania Reading Challenge and written letters to a WWE Superstar or Diva to qualify for the finals. More than 25,000 students read more than 110,000 books during WWE’s annual drive to increase literacy, but only 18 kids made it to Manhattan for the big event.

Three tense, “Jeopardy”-style quiz games tested the contestants’ knowledge of a book they had read that year — “Over Sea, Under Stone” by Susan Cooper for fifth- and sixth-graders, “The Chronicles of Harris Burdick” by Chris Van Allsburg for grades seven and eight, and “This Dark Endeavor” by Kenneth Oppel for grades 9 through 12.

With an overly anxious Miz playing the role of judge and the lovely Natalya keeping score, Josh Mathews fired off questions like a veteran game show host while ably sidestepping The Awesome One’s many barbs. Josh asked each group 20 questions with the student delivering the most correct answers being declared the winner. The competitors who misspoke had to deal with The Miz and his “wrong answer” buzzer.

“I wanted the wrong buzzer, because the kids were so good that I barely had to use it,” The Awesome One said. “The less work I have to do with my hands is always better for me, because I enjoy talking.”

After some incessant buzzing from The Miz and a few very tough questions, three WrestleMania Reading Challenge winners were left standing — Dianna Nielsen , Harneek Kapoor and Kenyan Gustafson. Not only did the young readers receive shiny trophies, but they also will be only feet away from the ring when John Cena challenges The Rock for the WWE Title at WrestleMania.

One year ago, these kids picked up books in their school libraries and chose to take the WrestleMania Reading Challenge. Now, they’re headed to The Grandest Stage of Them All. Their unbelievable accomplishments were summed up nicely by grade 9 through 12 winner Kenyan Gustafson, who said, “I never imagined reading a book would take me to WrestleMania!”

For more information, visit wrestlemaniareadingchallenge.com.

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Thank you to Ann over at Wade Barrett Network for HQ scans of The Miz from the WWE April 2013 Magazine. Miz is featured in the Body Shop edition in this issue so be sure to head over to the gallery and check out the scans.

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» Gallery: Magazines & Publications > WWE Magazine > 2013 > April

BY ANTHONY BENIGNO

Staten Island was full of stars on Thursday morning when WWE Superstars paid a visit to Edwin Markham Intermediate School for the latest Be a STAR rally. Flying the flag for WWE were Layla, The Miz and Josh Mathews. They were joined by comedian Judah Friedlander of NBC’s “30 Rock.” They all took to the stage and spread the message of peace and tolerance among the young students in attendance.

“There’s nothing more important to WWE than giving back to the community,” Mathews said.
Friedlander talked about how important it is for the children to help each other out in the face of bullying.

“People think bullies are the tough guy,” he said. “They’re not. They’re scared. The non-bullies outnumber the bullies. If everyone says something, the bullying will stop.”

Layla explained cyberbullying to the sixth- to eighth-grade students and how they can combat it.

“Ignore it, don’t reply to their posts. Tell a trusted adult,” the former Divas Champion said.

She also had the kids turn to their left and promise the person next to them that they would help put an end to bullying in their school within the next year.

“Everyone is made different in this world,” Layla said. “Embrace what makes you different from everybody else, because that is what makes you special.”

The Miz then took the stage to share a personal story of how he dealt with bullies as a youngster. When trying out for a basketball team, he was teased for being too slow and short. But he used the negativity as motivation, working hard and making the team.

“If anyone ever tells you that you can’t follow your dream, believe in yourself,” he said. “Use the negativity to fuel your fire.”
He then issued a challenged to the kids to help stop bullying.

“Anytime you have something negative about someone, transform it into something good,” The Miz said. “Do something positive every day for someone else and I guarantee it’s going to be an amazing thing.”

For more information on the Be a STAR Alliance’s crusade to end bullying, check out www.BeASTARAlliance.org.

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