LYT: Can you define the new catchphrase, "Haters Love Me"?

MM: It's not really a catchphrase; it's more of a statement. The reason that I say that is because haters love to hate me. They love talking about me, whether it's on the IWC (Internet wrestling community), or it's in the audience, or it's on Twitter or Facebook or YouTube, haters love to hate me. No matter what you do, how great you are, you will always have haters, and I embrace them. That's why haters love me.

LYT: Getting the nod from Ric Flair, that's got to be something.

MM: Yeah! Imagine this: a reality star, coming into WWE, and then having a living legend like Ric Flair kind of pass the torch down of the figure-4 leg lock, the leg-lock that he has won numerous world titles with, to The Miz! Oh, man, did the IWC have a field day with that, and will have a field day for the rest of their life, and will always continue to hate on me, and I will always embrace that. But the fact that I even had Ric Flair on my talk show, to have him do a Woo-off, to have him say "Please put on the figure-4 leg lock for me"-it's like, what an honor for me, and I will continue to do the figure-4 leg lock to pay tribute to Ric Flair.

LYT: Do you feel like continuing in movies after this? Was this an experience that you want to repeat?

MM: Are you kidding me? I have a movie that I have to go film in April called The Christmas Bounty that I'm really looking forward to, so I can't wait.

LYT: Is it safe to assume you play a bounty hunter?

MM: I don't know exactly yet, but we'll soon find out! Definitely tune in this Christmas on ABC Family for the 25 days of Christmas.

LYT: What can you tell us about the Scooby-Doo movie?

MM: I play myself in it, and I get to be...if you had told me when I was a kid that I would be a WWE superstar, I'd have laughed at you. But to be in a Scooby-Doo movie? A legendary cartoon? It's just incredible to me, and I can't wait to see it and to hear my voice in it. It's going to be awesome!

LYT: Is there anything you can tell us about your performance in it, like doing voice over, was it different?

MM: Oh, yeah, it's completely different. You're standing there in a room with other WWE superstars, and you're saying these lines, and you're saying them in 20 different ways, and playing with it, you're having fun. Like, you're punching, going "Huh! Huh! Huh!" -10 takes of that, or "UGH!" if you're getting hit, it's the little things that you don't realize are in there, that you have to do.

LYT: Is that different than recording for one of the video games, for example?

MM: No, I don't have to do that in the video game. Well yeah...actually, I do. I do do that. It's different in the sense that you're doing a cartoon. Video games have always been really, really cool in my book. When I first saw myself in a video game, I was like, "Oh my god, this is awesome!"

LYT: Seeing as we're a geek site, I've got to ask you: What do you geek out about the most? Do you have any favorite comic books, video games, toys other than yourself?

MM: I don't really look at comic books. I love The Avengers, I like watching the movies; I was never really a comic book guy. I always loved video games. I like old-school video games, though. I have a 60-in-1 arcade in my house that has Galaga, Super Mario Bros., Marble Madness, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, those old-school classic games. Those are the ones I'm really into, and I remember playing Nintendo with my dad, and he goes "There's so many buttons!" Now I play the PlayStation 3 and I'm like my dad - there are SO many buttons! Oh my god, I cannot sound like my father! But I love the old-school video games; I love the classic stuff.

As much as I love the graphics and the realism and the story lines of the video games nowadays, and I love what they did with WWE 13 - I mean, I just look incredible! I could always say they could make me bigger and more ripped, but it's OK. Those are always incredible, but I love the classic video games.

LYT: How about Angry Birds? I'm all over that.

MM: Who isn't?

LYT: Wasn't there a WWE version of Angry Birds, where you slung them from the ropes?

MM: There was! There still is - I think you can still get it.

LYT: Do you have any idea who you want to take on at WrestleMania this year?

MM: WrestleMania 29, April 7th! MetLife stadium is where it all happens! We're so big now that we can't even do it at Madison Square Garden because it's too big. Is there any idea? I'd love to take on Antonio Cesaro for the United States championship. I would love to put that around my waist, along with having The Marine 3 come out on DVD and BluRay on March 5th - it goes hand-in-hand, doesn't it? So I would love to take on Antonio Cesaro, and I would love to have an opportunity so that people will remember The Miz, and what The Miz did at WrestleMania 29 on Monday at RAW, rather than what Cena or Rock or CM Punk did at Mania, they're going to remember what I did.

LYT: Speaking as a fan, I'm looking more forward to original match-ups as opposed to rematches.

MM: Yeah, but these matches are going to be absolutely incredible! You have The Rock vs. John Cena for the WWE Championship. I mean, who knows what's going to happen? The WWE is always filled with surprises. We think we know, we really do, and we're such marks for ourselves, and we think "I know what's going to happen!" But when you get that "pop" like, oh wow! That shocked me, I had no idea! That's what Mania's all about.

LYT: So they surprise you a lot of the time?

MM: All the time.

LYT: Who's been your favorite guy over your career to work a program with?

MM: I always enjoy working...I loved working with John Cena. There was such a heated rivalry there. And believe it or not, Cena taught me SO much in that ring of what I had to do to become a top talent in the WWE.

LYT: I interviewed Santino Marella about 2 years ago, and asked him if he ever saw himself transitioning from a comedic character into a main-eventer, and he said it was something he questioned all the time himself. You made that transition pretty well. What's the secret?

MM: I'll tell you this, and this is the truth: Santino is arguably my favorite WWE superstar to watch, and I hope he never changes, never transitions, because that's what I grew up loving! I loved the "gimmicks" of people coming out with, like, pets, like Jake the Snake, Koko B. Ware, and British Bulldog had a bulldog, that's so cool! And Santino has a sock puppet of a cobra, and I love Santino! What's the trick from going to comedy to main-eventing? You have to completely revamp yourself. Jericho has done it, numerous times, and that's kind of what you have to do, but there's a huge risk if it's going to fail. If I was Santino, I wouldn't take that risk, because I love the Santino character. I guess I'm being selfish saying that.

LYT: Those are the ones that people remember. They just put out that Big Boss Man T-shirt that says "Like a Boss", and I put that up on the site and it got a good reaction, because people remember the prison guard outfit.

MM: Absolutely! That's what people remember, man. They remember the different characters.

LYT: Doink the Clown: never a world champion, but everyone remembers Doink the Clown.

MM: Look at the new ones: I like Damien Sandow - he's like the new Genius. He's great, man! It's just funny, some of the stuff he says, oh my god, is SO annoying, but this is great, I hate you!

LYT: They use the Titantron so well, with the red curtain...

MM: Ah! "Hallelujah"?? Coming out to "Hallelujah"?? As soon as I heard that song, I thought "Why didn't I think of that?"

LYT: You've got the inflatable letters, though.

MM: I know, the marshmallow letters! My friends made fun of me for that, and still make fun of me for that to this day! In WrestleMania is where they first debuted it, and everyone had huge pyro, smoke coming up, Cena had a choir, and I had marshmallow blow-up letters. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world, and I still think it's cool, and that's why I still use them on some of the pay-per-views, because I think they're cool.

LYT: The last time I was at an event and they did that, there were these guys in full white body suits. What's that costume about?

MM: They have to hold them in place, so they have to wear the white costume or you will see them. So they're trying to be hidden, but obviously you're smarter than everybody else.

LYT: Or just had a seat way at the back.

MM: Exactly.

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The Marine 3 is out on DVD and Blu-ray starting today.