Speaker 1: This is How Men Think with growthsl and Gavin de
Speaker 1: Grab and I Hear Radio Podcast. Welcome to another episode
Speaker 1: of How Men Think Podcast. We do not have the
Speaker 1: very lovable Mr Gavin DeGraw today, but we do have
Speaker 1: We also don't have Rich Dmitria Ryan but filling their place.
Speaker 1: This guy. I've been reading up a ton on him.
Speaker 1: I'm a huge fan from what I've gained in the
Speaker 1: knowledge of reading him, what he's done with his life,
Speaker 1: his journey, and obviously his success speaks for himself. But
Speaker 1: we have and I'm gonna grant you the esteemed privilege
Speaker 1: of co host of How Men Think. Mr Mike mazzan
Speaker 1: in with us. Mike, what's that buddy? Hey, I'm doing
Speaker 1: very very good. I see how important I am to
Speaker 1: you guys. When Gavin DeGraw doesn't want to show up
Speaker 1: and no one else wants to show up, but you
Speaker 1: know what, we'll make this the best episode that has
Speaker 1: ever been created. And literally they'll be so mad that
Speaker 1: they were not involved with this podcast. See. Here's the
Speaker 1: thing that is, here's the thing. I have to say
Speaker 1: that they didn't show up, but really, we gave them
Speaker 1: the boot so that we could have you. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: but they it's a good trade. It's a solid trade.
Speaker 1: It's a solid trade. They tune in. They're big fans
Speaker 1: of the show as well as participants in the show,
Speaker 1: so they're always listening. So I gotta give them a
Speaker 1: shout out at home and make them feel good. But really, Tori,
Speaker 1: our producer, Tor and I, we just devised and hatch
Speaker 1: this little plan, like I get these guys out of
Speaker 1: here so we can get the MSS in here all
Speaker 1: by ourselves, all by ourselves. Dude, dude, I wanna. I'm
Speaker 1: I'm so fascinated by your story. Most people will know
Speaker 1: you from one of two things, from either reality TV
Speaker 1: or mostly from your success as a w w E
Speaker 1: absolute superstar. You have literally one everything there is to
Speaker 1: win in the w w E that's true, and which
Speaker 1: is when is it you? It's funny you see you
Speaker 1: say that I'm more known for w w E like
Speaker 1: in two thousand five. Was not the case. Like when
Speaker 1: I got signed to w w E in two thousand five, six,
Speaker 1: seven eight, I was on the Real World. I did
Speaker 1: like five challenges. I was like on every reality show,
Speaker 1: fear Factor, you name it, and uh and literally anywhere
Speaker 1: I would go, it was always the real world, always
Speaker 1: the real world. And then I would say probably in yeah,
Speaker 1: two ten, maybe maybe even a little bit after like
Speaker 1: two eleven twelve, that's when it started changing to more
Speaker 1: w w E than MTV or any type of reality. Um.
Speaker 1: Because two thousand ten you headline was it WrestleMania, you
Speaker 1: headline Wrestling and WrestleMania twenty seven against John Cena, the
Speaker 1: Rock comes out, helps you retain my title as a
Speaker 1: bad guy in the main event. To win and retain
Speaker 1: the w w E Championship, it's absolutely unheard of. It
Speaker 1: just does not happen in w w E ever, and
Speaker 1: it happened that year, and it was luckily me of
Speaker 1: all people, and uh, it's one of the shining moments
Speaker 1: of my life. I love it. So I want to
Speaker 1: get more into this journey because that is I mean,
Speaker 1: winning that is that's the pinnacle of sports entertainment, right,
Speaker 1: that is that is the top of the mountain in
Speaker 1: the sports entertainment world. Winning the w w E Championship
Speaker 1: is top. But then retaining it or winning it at
Speaker 1: WrestleMania in the main event, that's where it's at. UM.
Speaker 1: So I want to get to this. So you are
Speaker 1: because for our listeners, they see you, they see this
Speaker 1: ultimate success, and they don't see it and just see
Speaker 1: it in you. They'll see it in many people, especially
Speaker 1: on social media, on TV wherever. You see people's ultimate success,
Speaker 1: but you don't see the years and often decades of
Speaker 1: the grind and the rise to that success. So I
Speaker 1: want to go back to the beginning for you, I
Speaker 1: mean reading through your bio. In high school, you were
Speaker 1: basketball and track and field, weren't you. I was in basketball,
Speaker 1: I was in cross country. I was captain of the
Speaker 1: baseball team, cross country team. I played every sport like
Speaker 1: I just loved competition. I loved being involved, uh in
Speaker 1: in team sports. I like the camaraderie in the locker room.
Speaker 1: And so yeah, I was really involved with any type
Speaker 1: of sport. So the fascinating thing for me, though, is
Speaker 1: when I look at those two things. Okay, you did basketball,
Speaker 1: you did track and field or a cross country Um,
Speaker 1: I believe you were a swimmer too. He did some
Speaker 1: of that and then to rise to w w E
Speaker 1: UM superstar and champion of the world. Um, you didn't
Speaker 1: wrestle in high school? No, you didn't had a wrestling
Speaker 1: You didn't like so that's the thing for me. I'm like, Wow,
Speaker 1: this guy achieved amazing things, but it was his journey
Speaker 1: that brought him to that achievement versus he wanted that
Speaker 1: from the get go. That was in high school. I
Speaker 1: went to Normandy High School, public school in uh in Parma, Ohio,
Speaker 1: and I, uh, I was involved with cross country. The
Speaker 1: reason why I wanted to do cross country was just
Speaker 1: to stay in shape for baseball and basketball. That's that
Speaker 1: was the number one goal. So I was cross country
Speaker 1: just so I can stay in shape. And I liked
Speaker 1: I liked running, like, I really enjoyed it. And then
Speaker 1: with basketball. It's actually a funny story. The reason why
Speaker 1: I got involved with swimming was so basketball. My sophomore year,
Speaker 1: I was put on the varsity team, and uh then
Speaker 1: my junior year, I got cut from the team. How
Speaker 1: does that happen? Yeah, your sophomore year you make the
Speaker 1: varsity team, and then the junior year you don't. So
Speaker 1: I forget somebody off. Watch this so you'll see where
Speaker 1: I get all my miss from. I go home and
Speaker 1: it's oh, my dad, I'm my dad. I like, I
Speaker 1: don't understand how I got cut. He goes, Oh, I
Speaker 1: know I knew you would. I go, what do you mean?
Speaker 1: He goes, Oh, I saw the coach out. I almost
Speaker 1: got a fight with him, and uh. I was like, man,
Speaker 1: I wonder if this is gonna affect that my son
Speaker 1: is playing for that coach and uh, well it did. Sorry,
Speaker 1: And so that so not basketball is in the season
Speaker 1: of swimming and and wrestling. I had a choice. I'd
Speaker 1: always see the wrestlers like shaving weight, not eating so
Speaker 1: they can get lower. I was like, man, I don't
Speaker 1: want to do that, Like, there is no way I
Speaker 1: want to do that. So and I was a really
Speaker 1: good swimmer. So I went on the swim team and
Speaker 1: uh I became one of the best swimmers on the
Speaker 1: swim team. And uh that was my junior year. Then
Speaker 1: my senior year, that coach got fired. So I went
Speaker 1: and played basketball for my senior year and I made
Speaker 1: the team. So I mean it just goes to show
Speaker 1: like my junior year I didn't make a team because
Speaker 1: my dad got me cutting. People when you tell that,
Speaker 1: like you say that story like okay, yeah, your dad
Speaker 1: got you cut, Like no, really, my father got me
Speaker 1: cut from the basketball team. And my senior year that
Speaker 1: coach got fired, and I got and another coach was
Speaker 1: on and I made the basketball team once get. So
Speaker 1: I mean that just goes to show and I was
Speaker 1: just I was the captain of the baseball team. So
Speaker 1: I was always involved with sports. I never realized like
Speaker 1: I could be a w W superstar. I was a
Speaker 1: huge fan growing up. Like I loved Ultimate Warrior. I
Speaker 1: loved the energy, three clothes lines, splash, panting the stage.
Speaker 1: Well there's Spaceship with the rock pit fuel. I mean
Speaker 1: I could recite that promo verbatim. And so I was
Speaker 1: a huge fan. And uh, you know, I I would
Speaker 1: eat my vitamins because Hulk Hogan told me to eat
Speaker 1: my vitamins, and uh, but I never thought I could
Speaker 1: do it. I mean, these guys were six five pounds
Speaker 1: of pure solid muscle and just ooze charisma. I mean,
Speaker 1: these were my heroes, and you never believe that you
Speaker 1: can be your heroes. So I I just went on
Speaker 1: with my life and just kind of didn't even think
Speaker 1: about it. The first time I thought that I wanted
Speaker 1: to be a w W E superstar was after the
Speaker 1: real world. The real world gave me the confidence to
Speaker 1: actually say, you know what, I could do anything. I
Speaker 1: want with my life. If I sent my mind to
Speaker 1: it and I sacrifice everything, then I can do this.
Speaker 1: So when everyone else on the RAILAD was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I want to be a VJ. I want to be
Speaker 1: a host, I want to be an actor, I want
Speaker 1: to be a model. I said, I want to be
Speaker 1: a w W superstar, and everybody laughed at me. Everyone
Speaker 1: was like, there is no way because at the time
Speaker 1: it was you had to be six five and like
Speaker 1: three pounds of pure solid muscle. And how is I
Speaker 1: gonna do it? I don't know. But I found a
Speaker 1: school in um in Los Angele. I want to move
Speaker 1: to Los Angeles just because I when I when I
Speaker 1: look at something, I go all right, what are the
Speaker 1: tools that I need to be successful in this? And
Speaker 1: the tools are for w w E. I said, Okay,
Speaker 1: I need to get learned the art of professional wrestling.
Speaker 1: There was an independent wrestling school called a Pro Wrestling
Speaker 1: that was associated with w w E. They weren't signed
Speaker 1: with w w E, but they had they had the
Speaker 1: opportunity to talk to w W and say, hey, we
Speaker 1: got this kid here and get you know my name
Speaker 1: in the mix. I guess you could say. So I
Speaker 1: started training there. When I moved to Los Angeles, then
Speaker 1: I started in acting at school because I was like,
Speaker 1: all right, what is w w E? W w E
Speaker 1: is not only athletically gifted, but you must be able to,
Speaker 1: you know, tell a story. And how can I figure
Speaker 1: out how to tell a story? I went to acting
Speaker 1: classes and then I was like, it's a lot of improv.
Speaker 1: When you're on the microphone. You better know how to
Speaker 1: handle yourself on there. If someone says something you, you
Speaker 1: better be able to say something back really fast. So
Speaker 1: I went to Improv Olympics, where I learned the art
Speaker 1: of improv. And then UM I was also when I
Speaker 1: when I get off the Real World, Beau to Murray.
Speaker 1: The production company that um that that produces the Real
Speaker 1: World sent us to like Sonoma State to learn how
Speaker 1: to talk in front of an audience. Now, I don't
Speaker 1: know if you remember Pedro from Real World San Francisco?
Speaker 1: Remember him? Here it was there was Puck and there
Speaker 1: was Pedro. Pedro what had HIV? He was HIV positive
Speaker 1: and he was basically showing the world what it was
Speaker 1: like to live with being HIV positive. This guy created
Speaker 1: something I don't I don't think many people actually talk
Speaker 1: about this, but he would do speeches at colleges about
Speaker 1: his experience with being HIV positive, and then after that
Speaker 1: a lot of other real worlders would talk about their
Speaker 1: experiences to colleges, Like colleges would hire us to go
Speaker 1: to their school and talk. Because what is real world.
Speaker 1: Real world is basically kind of like leaving your parents,
Speaker 1: leaving your family, leaving your friends and going somewhere like
Speaker 1: unknown and living somewhere different. We are experiences on the
Speaker 1: real world. And since kids in college where it was
Speaker 1: so huge with colleges, colleges would hire us to go
Speaker 1: and speak in front of an audience. So I used
Speaker 1: I utilized that saying, Okay, I can speak in front
Speaker 1: of a thousand people here, and if I can get
Speaker 1: this crowd motivated, then I can definitely get the w
Speaker 1: w E crowd motivated. So it was basically my practice.
Speaker 1: So that's kind of where that all came about. Because
Speaker 1: also in in in your line of work in the
Speaker 1: w w E UM, you said, um, the ability to
Speaker 1: speak in front of people or to be witty, to
Speaker 1: be an engaging conversation with somebody that you're talking to,
Speaker 1: your competitor or your opponent, whatever, but also the ability
Speaker 1: to play to the crowd or to manipulate or interrogate
Speaker 1: or not interrogate, irritate the crowd. You know, like that
Speaker 1: is such a really good irritating your crowd. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: that energy transaction from you to them, and that's kind
Speaker 1: of sometimes what UM Gavin does on our show, or
Speaker 1: like the polarity between Gavin and I resonates differently with
Speaker 1: our listeners, you know, so um the ability to either
Speaker 1: be a good guy and have the crowd behind you,
Speaker 1: or be the bad guy and just irritate the crap
Speaker 1: out of the crowd. Either way, you perk their interests
Speaker 1: and you have them invested in you. They are fans
Speaker 1: of you, even though they might despise you. You have,
Speaker 1: of course, there's attention. You have the currency of their attention. Good. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean that's that's the whole thing about being a
Speaker 1: w w E superstar. You have to know how if
Speaker 1: an audience when you walk out and your entrance music
Speaker 1: hits and you hear crickets. You have to know how
Speaker 1: to get an audience behind you, whether they're booing you
Speaker 1: or cheering you. You have to figure out a way
Speaker 1: and their tricks to it I mean, there are easy
Speaker 1: ways where you just say, you know, uh, if the
Speaker 1: fans are channing you suck, It's like I couldn't possibly suck.
Speaker 1: I'm not from Los Angeles and you're in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: I mean that's an easy way. Those are easy ways,
Speaker 1: but then there's also the difficult ways where you just
Speaker 1: you kind of develop a character. And that's what I said.
Speaker 1: You know what, I'm gonna be a character. I'm going
Speaker 1: to beat someone that literally you can you can be
Speaker 1: next door, like you could be your next door neighbor
Speaker 1: and you just can't stand him and you want to
Speaker 1: punch him in the face. I'm gonna be that guy
Speaker 1: that that you know, John Cena is gonna be able
Speaker 1: to punch me in the face for you, because I
Speaker 1: know you're not gonna be able to do that to
Speaker 1: your neighbor, but you can in visualize this face as
Speaker 1: your neighbor and let John Cena just punched it a
Speaker 1: bunch of times. So I want to get into that.
Speaker 1: I'll dive into that right now because it's current, but
Speaker 1: I also want to get into what you said before
Speaker 1: and and the steps prior to getting to real world
Speaker 1: even and then the w W e. Um, but how
Speaker 1: do you? Because it's so much easier to want to
Speaker 1: be loved, Like as a professional athlete, playing at home
Speaker 1: is so much fun. When people are chanting your name,
Speaker 1: wearing your jersey and everybody is just loving on you.
Speaker 1: It's I I also really enjoy when we go to
Speaker 1: Philadelphia or Pittsburgh and people who and you were getting
Speaker 1: spit on walking out of the bus into the arena,
Speaker 1: like people just hated you. That's also getting spit on
Speaker 1: is not fun. But um, people just hated you. That's
Speaker 1: also kind of fun to be the villain. But I,
Speaker 1: given the options, I'd rather play at home, you play,
Speaker 1: I would I would rather. I would rather be booed.
Speaker 1: And I think it derives from my dad. My dad
Speaker 1: was always the type of person growing up. Whenever he
Speaker 1: would walk into the into the room, my dad would
Speaker 1: be like George is here, and be like, oh God.
Speaker 1: But they loved seeing him, love hearing but that the
Speaker 1: initial reaction was always ah, he's here, okay. Because my
Speaker 1: dad was loud, he was obnoxious, and but he has
Speaker 1: an infectious thing that you just want to be around
Speaker 1: him and he's fun. But he's all I'll never forget
Speaker 1: that the initial reaction to people was always ah, and
Speaker 1: it's like that that that reaction in w W E
Speaker 1: like I am able to make sure that an audience
Speaker 1: absolutely despises me and that that like you say, you'd
Speaker 1: rather be playing for the home I'd rather be your
Speaker 1: biggest rivals team, like I would rather be the Cleveland
Speaker 1: Browns in Pittsburgh and and beat the hell out of
Speaker 1: the Pittsburgh Steelers. That's what that, That's what thrives me
Speaker 1: getting food out of the building, being hated, uh and
Speaker 1: nothing like. So I'll give you for instance, yesterday it
Speaker 1: was my I think I think it was ten year
Speaker 1: anniversary of when I lost the United States Championship in Toronto,
Speaker 1: Canada to Breadth the hit Man Heart. And it was funny.
Speaker 1: It came up on Instagram and I was like, oh wow,
Speaker 1: like I remember that. And the reason why I remember
Speaker 1: that is because I was the United States Champion and
Speaker 1: I when I lost, I never heard a happier crowd.
Speaker 1: I know, kids went home and talked about the moment
Speaker 1: that Breadth the hit Man Heart came back and beat
Speaker 1: the miss for the United States Championship in that arena.
Speaker 1: I guarantee there were people have moments that they will
Speaker 1: remember for a lifetime. And that's a moment. It's a
Speaker 1: moment that I remember because I remember being a kid,
Speaker 1: like a ten year old kid, and wanting the sunglasses
Speaker 1: of Breath the Hitman Heart, and I, you know, every
Speaker 1: time he would come out in his entrance, he'd always
Speaker 1: give his sunglasses some lucky kid, and I was just
Speaker 1: wanting to be that kid. And then there I was
Speaker 1: in the middle of the ring getting a sharpshooter by
Speaker 1: Breadth the Hitman Heart, tapping out and hearing the crowd erupt.
Speaker 1: And there is no bigger compliment to a bad guy
Speaker 1: than hearing the crowd erupt when you lose a title,
Speaker 1: and it's it's oh, it's been like my m O
Speaker 1: ever since I first started. Like when I won the
Speaker 1: w w E Championship, I cashed in this money in
Speaker 1: the bank contract where you could have a w w
Speaker 1: E Championship match anytime, anywhere, and I chose Randy Orton
Speaker 1: as the w W Champion, who was the biggest good
Speaker 1: guy at the time. Everyone loved him. And it was
Speaker 1: just after he faced nine superstars and went through a
Speaker 1: gauntlet match and he's barely standing and I cashed him
Speaker 1: the money in the bank contract and I beat him
Speaker 1: and I'm ever forget. There was a little girl in
Speaker 1: the audience that had a face that they call her
Speaker 1: the angry miss Girl, and it's solidified my w W
Speaker 1: E championship like that face. It was just like it
Speaker 1: was the meanest, maddest little girl face, like a pouty mean,
Speaker 1: I'm so mad at the miss face, and it was
Speaker 1: just it was perfect. I was like, great, and listening
Speaker 1: to this man, there's a there's a huge component in
Speaker 1: unselfishness in what you're doing. Oh yeah, Like I love
Speaker 1: what you said they're about Because breta hitman. Heart was Canadian, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: so he win he wins it in Toronto. He was
Speaker 1: beloved in Canada. Um. But the fact that you said that,
Speaker 1: the joy that you get out of allowing a favorite
Speaker 1: or whatever to to get that eruption from the crowd,
Speaker 1: it's got to be so internally fulfilling. In almost the
Speaker 1: quietest way, the cheer isn't for you, but in a way,
Speaker 1: the cheer is for you. Yeah, there's no bigger like
Speaker 1: whenever you, as a bad guy are a champion, whether
Speaker 1: it's intercontinental, United States Tag Team or ww A. Your
Speaker 1: job is to be so despised, so hated that whenever
Speaker 1: you win that title, whenever you retain that title, the
Speaker 1: people are so angry when you do. So, when you
Speaker 1: finally lose those titles, the crowd goes electric and whoever
Speaker 1: beat you for that title is elevated because of what
Speaker 1: you just did. And so that's where that's the art
Speaker 1: of where I guess, I play, where I go, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is my job. My job is to elevate this
Speaker 1: title so much that no matter who I lose, this
Speaker 1: title two is elevated more than they already are. Which
Speaker 1: is an incredibly unselfish thing when you actually really look
Speaker 1: at it. Yeah, it truly is, dude, it's it's truly
Speaker 1: an incredibly You win by it, to write like you
Speaker 1: in in in the grand scheme of things, you win career, successful, notoriety, fame,
Speaker 1: finances everything. Um, so you win by it too, but
Speaker 1: it is laced with a huge sense of unselfishness. Um,
Speaker 1: take us to where, take our listeners to where this
Speaker 1: personality because this isn't this isn't the norm for a
Speaker 1: lot of people. They don't want to be the villain.
Speaker 1: You are the Emily, I believe amongst most people. UM,
Speaker 1: take us to where the myths, which is this w
Speaker 1: W E personality, this extreme personality, this business or villain.
Speaker 1: Take us to how that is born and birth and
Speaker 1: how all of a sudden you have the insight like whoa,
Speaker 1: this is something that I can utilize to achieve a goal. So, UM,
Speaker 1: I tried out for the Real World back in gosh,
Speaker 1: it had been August of I would say, so a
Speaker 1: knowledge at this point right theta kai at Miami University
Speaker 1: of Ohio, and I was in my I was in
Speaker 1: my college fraternity in my room, and I was watching
Speaker 1: The Real World New Orleans, and a commercial came on
Speaker 1: and said, hey, do you want to try out for
Speaker 1: the Real World? Now? Back then, it was The Real World, Survivor,
Speaker 1: Big Brother, Fear Factor. That's it. Those were all the
Speaker 1: and and that. That was all the reality shows that
Speaker 1: were out there. Now everyone has a reality show YouTube.
Speaker 1: There was no YouTube. There was no there was There
Speaker 1: was barely internet. There was no my Space, no Instagram,
Speaker 1: no Twitter, no social media, no nothing. Okay, we didn't
Speaker 1: have camera phones back then. By the way, you want
Speaker 1: to take something, it was a VHS tape on your shoulder.
Speaker 1: So um, so it said try out. And so, you like,
Speaker 1: I would film a lot of stuff with my handheld
Speaker 1: VHS camera, always filming our parties, filming, you know whatever.
Speaker 1: And so I had a lot of tapes. So I
Speaker 1: edited up a tape. And by the way, editing, I'm
Speaker 1: not talking about going on my my my Apple like
Speaker 1: computer and doing it on you know whatever, you know
Speaker 1: program you had. We didn't have that note. I used
Speaker 1: a VHS um like uh, a VHS tape recorder and
Speaker 1: then my camera. I inserted it into one into my
Speaker 1: VHS tape and you would press record on it and
Speaker 1: then press play and then stop and then fast forward
Speaker 1: it and then you'd have like little squiggles in between.
Speaker 1: I didn't It was the worst editing job you could
Speaker 1: possibly think of, but it worked. I sent in a
Speaker 1: like a two minute tape of just who I was,
Speaker 1: sit down interview, a little bit of splicing in between
Speaker 1: of things that I've done. I put pictures on the
Speaker 1: on the cover of of the envelope of just me
Speaker 1: with all my friends, me with my family, and me
Speaker 1: with a bunch of girls, like whatever it was, you
Speaker 1: know that I thought would get their attention. So I
Speaker 1: I drew on it like kick me and so uh
Speaker 1: they did. I got a call a week later and
Speaker 1: it said, hey, gonna send you an application. We want
Speaker 1: you to fill it out. I thought maybe three or
Speaker 1: four pages, right, fifty pages asking everything and anything about
Speaker 1: my life? You ask it and I wrote, and it
Speaker 1: took me a good three days to write. Great, because
Speaker 1: you want great answers. You want these answers that are
Speaker 1: like gonna spark something that they're gonna see and go,
Speaker 1: we need this guy. So I sent that back. Um,
Speaker 1: I got a call again and it was for a
Speaker 1: sit down interview, but not like this. There was no zoom,
Speaker 1: so I had to put the VHS camera on my TV.
Speaker 1: I had to have a speaker phone and they would
Speaker 1: ask me questions on the speaker phone and I would
Speaker 1: speak to my VHS tape. Then I would take the
Speaker 1: tape out of the UH and send it to them.
Speaker 1: So that's how you kind of did. So I did
Speaker 1: two of those interviews. Then they had an in personal review.
Speaker 1: Now did they come to my own university of a hiole. No,
Speaker 1: they came to Detroit. So I had to drive four
Speaker 1: hours to Troy and do a sit down interview. By
Speaker 1: the way, I'm not gonna pay for any of this.
Speaker 1: This is all for free, because I thought I really
Speaker 1: want to get on the show. And mind you, back then,
Speaker 1: sixty people tried out for this show, and all my
Speaker 1: friends were like, what's gonna stand you out? And I
Speaker 1: was like, I don't know, but I'm gonna make this show.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get on this show. And so after the
Speaker 1: in person interview I'll never forget. I was trying to
Speaker 1: figure out how people cry on TV because I was like,
Speaker 1: why are people always crying on TV? This is so stupid,
Speaker 1: so annoying. After that interview, I understood finally, I was like,
Speaker 1: oh wow, this is how people Actually, this is what
Speaker 1: people cry, because they just they dig into you. They
Speaker 1: want to talk about things that that you don't normally
Speaker 1: talk about. Like my parents got a divorce when I
Speaker 1: was in fifth grade. It never affected me. I looked
Speaker 1: at it like two Christmas is two birthdays. But they
Speaker 1: started in going in depth with it, saying like, you know,
Speaker 1: how do you think that affected your father, How did
Speaker 1: that affect your mother? How did it affect you? And
Speaker 1: then you start thinking about these things and you go, well,
Speaker 1: I don't know, like, and then you start thinking about
Speaker 1: and you're like, oh, wow, this is how they get
Speaker 1: people to like cheer up a little bit. Now I
Speaker 1: didn't cry, but um, finally, uh they called me again.
Speaker 1: And now, by the way, this is August all the
Speaker 1: way until December. This is how this is all taking place.
Speaker 1: And now I don't know if I'm making the show
Speaker 1: or not. But finally they call and say, hey, we're
Speaker 1: gonna put you with five other people in Palm Springs
Speaker 1: and only uh thirteen of you are going to make
Speaker 1: it to either the Real World or road Rules. And
Speaker 1: so they were like, well, which one would you rather
Speaker 1: be in? And I was like, oh, I'd much rather
Speaker 1: be on the real world and then I'll do the
Speaker 1: challenges and so that would be like doing road Rules
Speaker 1: until I'd have the real world and road Rules and
Speaker 1: it'd be great. And so uh so finally I went
Speaker 1: to Palm Springs. And when I went there, it was
Speaker 1: the fakest thing I've ever seen in my life. Everyone
Speaker 1: was like as soon as you meet somebody, people were
Speaker 1: talking about like, uh, like whether they how how are
Speaker 1: they politically? Uh, do they believe in abortion or do
Speaker 1: they believe in uh you know, it was just it
Speaker 1: was things you would never talk to about with people
Speaker 1: and now and it wasn't the show being fake, it
Speaker 1: was the people being fake. But then we were there
Speaker 1: for four days. So after the second day, people started
Speaker 1: getting real and people started acting how they normally would act.
Speaker 1: And I was like, oh, wow, this is what it's like.
Speaker 1: Because when I first got there, I was like, God,
Speaker 1: this is this sucks, like this isn't this isn't that fun.
Speaker 1: But then after after two days, I was like, Wow,
Speaker 1: this is something I need in my life, Like this
Speaker 1: can teach me a lot about, you know, life. Because
Speaker 1: I was from Parmer, Ohio, I never I never ventured
Speaker 1: anywhere like, I never I never went to like New
Speaker 1: York City or l A like, but I always wanted to.
Speaker 1: And so this was my prospect of that. What's that.
Speaker 1: I love the dreamer aspect of that because I'm from
Speaker 1: a small rural community up in Canada as well. And
Speaker 1: you have to have that dreamer aspect of that. The
Speaker 1: world is bigger than the place you currently live, yeah,
Speaker 1: and you have to have the confidence to know that
Speaker 1: you can actually do it, that you that. So everyone
Speaker 1: in my fraternity I was like, why are you trying out.
Speaker 1: Why why this Now? Granted they were still supportive, but
Speaker 1: they were kind of in denial that I was gonna
Speaker 1: make it. In my mind, I was making it. And
Speaker 1: it was funny because after the third after the third interview,
Speaker 1: they started believing. They were like, dude, I think I
Speaker 1: might try out, And so the next year everyone was
Speaker 1: like trying out, you know, And it was funny. And Uh,
Speaker 1: I'll never forget. When I first got casted, I didn't
Speaker 1: know if I was going on the real world or
Speaker 1: if I was gonna be on road rules. They wouldn't
Speaker 1: tell me. So I flew to Staten Island and they
Speaker 1: gave me a pager. Yes back then, we had pagers,
Speaker 1: and they said, you're gonna get a page and you're
Speaker 1: gonna have to call this number and it's gonna tell
Speaker 1: you where to go. So I went on this on
Speaker 1: the Saten Island ferry. Uh is where my PAGEOT told
Speaker 1: me to go. So I get I get on the
Speaker 1: ferry and I first meet up with I believe it
Speaker 1: was coral Uh and Uh, we have no idea where
Speaker 1: we're going. We don't know if we're gonna see the
Speaker 1: RV for being on rodals or We're gonna go into
Speaker 1: a house and be on the Real World. And it
Speaker 1: took me to Hudson and uh, that was the Real
Speaker 1: World house. And I was on the tenth season of
Speaker 1: the Real World back to New York. Was picked seven
Speaker 1: strangers picked to live in a house. And it was
Speaker 1: a true dream come true. Now to go all the
Speaker 1: way back a half hour before where you asked me,
Speaker 1: where did the miss come from? The miss on the
Speaker 1: Real World? The reason I created the miss on the
Speaker 1: Real World was because I I wasn't comfortable. I hadn't
Speaker 1: I was saying the wrong things to everyone. I was
Speaker 1: bumping I was bumping heads with everyone in the house.
Speaker 1: Nobody liked me, and I wasn't used to that because
Speaker 1: I used to being the person that everybody liked, believe
Speaker 1: it or not. Uh and uh, I just didn't understand.
Speaker 1: And I was saying the wrong things, doing the wrong things.
Speaker 1: You know. But I was like a sponge like I
Speaker 1: wanted to learn. I wanted to know about, you know,
Speaker 1: these people and where they're from and what they're like,
Speaker 1: and what their lives were like and what they've been
Speaker 1: through and and nobody was giving me a chance until
Speaker 1: I started creating a character called the Miss, and the
Speaker 1: Miss didn't care what you thought. The Miss just said
Speaker 1: exactly what was in his head and exactly what was
Speaker 1: on his mind. And normally I was drunk at the time,
Speaker 1: but everyone started liking the Miss, everyone started respecting the Miss,
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, my roommates, my castmates, were
Speaker 1: starting to tell me like, Hey, do the miss, Hey
Speaker 1: do the miss? Hey do them is? And I was like,
Speaker 1: all right, all right, all right, I'll do the Miss.
Speaker 1: I'll do the Miss. I'll do the Miss. So the
Speaker 1: Miss was my coping mechanism for being on the real
Speaker 1: world and not being comfortable in an area where I
Speaker 1: was at. And once I got off the real world,
Speaker 1: I started thinking, like what do I want to do now,
Speaker 1: Like I'll never forget. I went home to Parma, Ohio,
Speaker 1: and I looked myself in the mirror, and I said,
Speaker 1: what do you want to do with your life? And
Speaker 1: on my shelf was a Rock was the Rock action
Speaker 1: figure that my castimates got me. And I looked at
Speaker 1: that and I go, I want to be a w
Speaker 1: W superstar. So I go over to my computer. I
Speaker 1: go on Yahoo and I look up an independent wrestling school.
Speaker 1: Found one in in Los Angeles, and from then on,
Speaker 1: I set my goal. I sacrificed. I was in pain
Speaker 1: all the time at my independent wrestling school I had,
Speaker 1: I was there was there were moments of doubt. There
Speaker 1: were moments where I didn't believe. There are moments was like, well,
Speaker 1: what am I gonna do with the rest of my life?
Speaker 1: But I kept going and kept fighting, and kept and
Speaker 1: kept doing it. Like my first month of wrestling school,
Speaker 1: I broke my ankle and it was the only time
Speaker 1: I've ever broken anything in in in my career of wrestling.
Speaker 1: But imagine going and into wrestling school your first month,
Speaker 1: you break something and you're out for two months. But
Speaker 1: I said, you know what, this is just a minor setback.
Speaker 1: I used that time to find a trainer, find a
Speaker 1: nutritionist that can get me in shape while still having
Speaker 1: a broken ankle, but also going to acting school, improv school,
Speaker 1: and still doing challenges. Because I wanted to get my
Speaker 1: name out there, I developed a T shirt line that
Speaker 1: people could go on. You know now you can get
Speaker 1: T shirts everywhere. Back then I was I was the
Speaker 1: first real worlder to put his name on a T
Speaker 1: shirt and have a logo, and people would I would
Speaker 1: literally be anyone that has those original miss T Miss
Speaker 1: T shirts, like I was packing those in. I made
Speaker 1: a website where you could buy them, and I was
Speaker 1: the person packing it. I would go to the post
Speaker 1: office every day without like a hundred shirts sending them
Speaker 1: out like I did everything I possibly could to get
Speaker 1: w w e's attention. And uhh, And here's another thing.
Speaker 1: When I was on the Real World and doing challenges,
Speaker 1: I tried out for Tough Enough season two and they
Speaker 1: said I wasn't allowed to try out because I was
Speaker 1: already on MTV. Back then, you weren't allowed to be
Speaker 1: on two different reality shows. You could only be on one.
Speaker 1: And MTV wouldn't allow me to be on Tough Enough
Speaker 1: until Tough Enough went to the c W where it
Speaker 1: was part of SmackDown. That was the first time that
Speaker 1: I was able to try out for Tough Enough. And
Speaker 1: I'll never forget. I was on the independent wrestling scene
Speaker 1: and I knew that if you go on Tough Enough,
Speaker 1: it's not looked it's like frowned upon. And as a
Speaker 1: w w E town like w W talent, like wrestlers,
Speaker 1: real wrestlers frowned upon it because you're cheating. You didn't.
Speaker 1: You didn't like go to the territories. You didn't. You didn't.
Speaker 1: You weren't an independent wrestling scene. You weren't developing your
Speaker 1: skills and making it on your own. You were used
Speaker 1: using a reality show to get a contract that was
Speaker 1: bigger than half of the the w w WE superstars
Speaker 1: is contracting. So I remember calling a guy that I
Speaker 1: met and I asked him, I said, Hey, should I
Speaker 1: do this? And his name was Simon Dean and uh
Speaker 1: and the guy said, dude, you have a chance and
Speaker 1: making a million dollars if you win this thing. It's
Speaker 1: a no brainer. I go yes, But I wan't respect
Speaker 1: and and and in my mind I didn't think about
Speaker 1: this like I didn't. I wasn't thinking about the money.
Speaker 1: I was thinking about the longevity of my career, because
Speaker 1: I know when people from tough enough go into w
Speaker 1: w E, they don't make it. They don't make it
Speaker 1: because whether back then, it was a whole different mindset,
Speaker 1: whole different mentality in the locker room, and you were
Speaker 1: shipped out like you were you were you were cast
Speaker 1: aside as an outcast, and nobody wanted you there. And
Speaker 1: so in w w E, you have to be wanted there.
Speaker 1: So it was a million dollar tough Enough and I
Speaker 1: was asking Simon Dean if I should do this, and
Speaker 1: he's like, dude, you have a chance. When a million dollars,
Speaker 1: that's it's it's a no brainer. Like who cares what
Speaker 1: everyone else thinks? It doesn't matter what other superstars take now,
Speaker 1: this is his mentality. Uh and a lot of other
Speaker 1: I knew going in to Tough Enough, I was gonna
Speaker 1: have hell to pay. But it was my way in
Speaker 1: the door to get to w W eight. And if
Speaker 1: you have if you have even an inch of that
Speaker 1: door open, you need to open it wide open. You
Speaker 1: need to just open that door as far as you
Speaker 1: possibly can. Dude, I love it that story. It's inspiring.
Speaker 1: You're you're not You're a dreamer and a doer, and
Speaker 1: I think you have to be both in order to
Speaker 1: achieve success. You have to have a massive dream and
Speaker 1: then you have to take action. And you have done
Speaker 1: both of those. So I want to get into more
Speaker 1: of this, and also I want to get into your
Speaker 1: your personal success, because that's career success that we've seen
Speaker 1: for you, but also you are a husband and a father,
Speaker 1: a family man. I want to get into a little
Speaker 1: bit of that right after this quick break back from
Speaker 1: break with Mike Zanan w w superstar achiever, dude of
Speaker 1: all things in the world. Um, I love I love
Speaker 1: your story, I love your hustle. I love people that
Speaker 1: one when I listen to your story. I love people
Speaker 1: that create circumstance in the world. And I always say
Speaker 1: that to two people, to my friends, people in my community.
Speaker 1: Create the life you want. And you're literally a living
Speaker 1: example of that. You're in in university. You dropped out
Speaker 1: of that to pursue. You hustled and literally managed created
Speaker 1: the opportunity on real world. You use that to your
Speaker 1: advantage to literally create a w w E career. Um,
Speaker 1: I just think you're a shining example of somebody that
Speaker 1: creates circumstance in the world. Um. So I want to
Speaker 1: get funny, like you say that. It's like with w
Speaker 1: w E, Like I look at it and I still
Speaker 1: think I'm not done. Like I'm still not where I
Speaker 1: want to be unless I am the poster child of
Speaker 1: w w E. I'm hosting every single show out there.
Speaker 1: I'm an animation. Like I look at the Rocks career
Speaker 1: and it's like my God and now now even John Cena,
Speaker 1: Like they are the biggest movie stars out there right now,
Speaker 1: Like they put butts in seats, people will pay tickets
Speaker 1: to see them in whatever movie they are, whatever they're doing,
Speaker 1: like you want to know what it is that they're doing. Like, uh,
Speaker 1: now I'm a I'm the new host of a show
Speaker 1: called Cannonball on USA that's gonna come out this summer.
Speaker 1: And I was like, wow, now I'm hosting something. What
Speaker 1: else can I do? And then you know there's Miss
Speaker 1: and Mrs. My own reality show. And when I got
Speaker 1: miss and when when when Miss and Mrs Was presented
Speaker 1: to me, I said, I don't think I want to
Speaker 1: do this. And the reason I said I didn't I
Speaker 1: didn't think I wanted to do this was because when
Speaker 1: you were back in the day, when you were on
Speaker 1: a reality show, you were the worst thing on TV,
Speaker 1: Like no one respected you. And when I was on
Speaker 1: the real world, I had no respect. I had to
Speaker 1: fight for everything I got. Nowadays, everything is a realit.
Speaker 1: They show Instagram's a reality show, YouTube's a reality show.
Speaker 1: Everyone knows everyone's life. But back then, you weren't allowed
Speaker 1: to be on any of that stuff. So I was
Speaker 1: frowned upon, so I always have that stigma. Like I
Speaker 1: loved being on the real world. I love everything the
Speaker 1: real world gave to me. I think MTV and Beauty
Speaker 1: Murray for putting me on those shows, like, I wouldn't
Speaker 1: change anything, but I can't. I'm not gonna lie to
Speaker 1: you and say I was thrown. I was like, I
Speaker 1: don't know if I want to do miss and misses
Speaker 1: because of the real world, like the stigma that you
Speaker 1: get when you're on reality. I thought to get rid
Speaker 1: of that that reality stigma and hopefully make it cool
Speaker 1: to be on reality. And then I realized I was like,
Speaker 1: you know what, I'm gonna do it because I'm gonna
Speaker 1: do what I want to do. It's something that I think.
Speaker 1: My family is interesting, my wife and my my dynamic
Speaker 1: is amazing. My daughters are absolutely incredible. They're the best
Speaker 1: things I've ever done in my entire life. And I
Speaker 1: want to I want to show that, like I want
Speaker 1: to show what it is to be a hard working father,
Speaker 1: but not only that, be a hard worker in w
Speaker 1: w E and in in hosting whatever I have to host,
Speaker 1: whether it's Cannonball or an MTV reunion show, whatever it
Speaker 1: may be you know that I'm hosting. I want to
Speaker 1: make sure that people know, like, you can do it all.
Speaker 1: You can be a great father, but you can also
Speaker 1: do the job that you want to do and the
Speaker 1: dreams that you want to pursue. Yes, I love it.
Speaker 1: And the same goes for a mother, same thing for
Speaker 1: a mother. You don't have to sacrifice personal or career
Speaker 1: for the other. You can achieve both. My wife is
Speaker 1: is living proof. She's still with w w E along
Speaker 1: like she was a w w E superstar as well.
Speaker 1: That's how we kind of met. And uh, I'll never
Speaker 1: forget when she first walked in. I was hosting a
Speaker 1: show called the deva search for w w E and
Speaker 1: it's like finding the next w w E, the woman's
Speaker 1: w w E superstar. And she walked in and I
Speaker 1: was My mouth was to the floor because she was
Speaker 1: the most beautiful person I've ever seen. And then hearing
Speaker 1: her talk, she didn't speak English, she only spoke French,
Speaker 1: so I didn't even understand her the first year talking
Speaker 1: to her, and uh, she had me at at right away.
Speaker 1: And um, and you know we've created this family and
Speaker 1: now watching her with our daughters, she hasn't stopped working,
Speaker 1: Like we're still filming Miss and Misses and making it
Speaker 1: the most entertaining, funny show that a family can watch
Speaker 1: each and every every every week. I mean, if you
Speaker 1: haven't seen it, definitely go watch Miss and Mrs on
Speaker 1: demand or on USA Network dot Com. I believe it's
Speaker 1: still on there and Hulu has it as well. Um
Speaker 1: you definitely want to, Uh definitely don't want to do that? Awesome?
Speaker 1: UM So can I ask you this? And I ask
Speaker 1: you this out of one appreciation and to curiosity for myself, Sure,
Speaker 1: I believe that w w E superstars are better at
Speaker 1: using their platform and creating other opportunities outside of their
Speaker 1: profession or sport than any other professional sport out there.
Speaker 1: Better than way, better than hockey players, better than football players,
Speaker 1: better than basketball players, better than baseball players, um, race
Speaker 1: car drivers. It's almost unfair though, by saying that, because
Speaker 1: we we utilize our audience. We we tell stories in
Speaker 1: in hockey, in basketball, and baseball, like when you're out
Speaker 1: in the court, you're out on the ring the rink,
Speaker 1: like you're not trying to create a story, you're trying
Speaker 1: to win at all costs. We we drive our w
Speaker 1: w E is all about story, larger than life characters
Speaker 1: and telling an incredible story, whether it's in the ring
Speaker 1: or outside the ring. And that's what we learned. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, we're performers, like we only get one take.
Speaker 1: We are alive, so if we fumble a word or
Speaker 1: stumble on something or get lost out there, like you're
Speaker 1: witnessing it. So I feel like that's a reason that
Speaker 1: that we excel at at almost everything because w W
Speaker 1: E is athletics, it's it's it's entertainment, it's it's Hollywood,
Speaker 1: it's acting, it's it's entertaining, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: It's all these different things all wrapped up into one.
Speaker 1: So when you put us in, say a movie like
Speaker 1: I'll never forget when I first did The Marine, I
Speaker 1: was a lead in a movie and I was like,
Speaker 1: oh my god. And the director couldn't believe the work
Speaker 1: ethic of of of me. And I was like, well,
Speaker 1: isn't everyone liked it? He goes absolutely not, because I
Speaker 1: wanted to make sure that, like this whole movie was
Speaker 1: derived was was revolving around my acting ability and my
Speaker 1: Thank goodness, I you I spent so much time in
Speaker 1: acting school because it led me to where I am
Speaker 1: today and where I was with Marine three. So it's
Speaker 1: it's it's one of those things, like you know, we
Speaker 1: are incredibly hard working. We never take days off. We
Speaker 1: we we go year round. We don't make excuses if
Speaker 1: we we Sometimes we wrestle injured. I'm not saying hurt,
Speaker 1: I'm saying injured. Whether it's a bruise, whether it's a sprain,
Speaker 1: you know, we'll still go full force because that's the
Speaker 1: type of dedication it needs for our w w E audience.
Speaker 1: These people pay a lot of money, hard earn money
Speaker 1: for their tickets, and we want to give them the
Speaker 1: show that they want and the show that they deserve.
Speaker 1: And w w E fans, I've been to a couple events. Um,
Speaker 1: because I also grew up loving it. I grew up
Speaker 1: loving it. My mom never let us watch it, but
Speaker 1: because she thought it was too violent, and then her
Speaker 1: son goes into professional hockey. We're fighting is legal, um Um.
Speaker 1: W w E fans are as rapid of fans as
Speaker 1: any sport or even more intense they are. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean they're incredible. I mean if if we if we
Speaker 1: say something is cool, our w w E audience will
Speaker 1: literally say it's cool, uh and so, or if we
Speaker 1: say something terrible we at the same instance, like art,
Speaker 1: we have a very, very um loyal fan base. And
Speaker 1: that's the incredible part about it. Whether they hate me
Speaker 1: or they love me, they are incredibly loyal to me.
Speaker 1: I love it, my friend, UM love the topic for loyalty.
Speaker 1: I just love to hear how being a family man, um,
Speaker 1: how that feels to you because you've had so much success.
Speaker 1: I've had success in my career. I'm not yet a father,
Speaker 1: but like, what is a being a husband and a
Speaker 1: family man like to you? And in relation or perspective
Speaker 1: to your career, what's that dance? Like hardest thing I've
Speaker 1: ever done in my life, really being a dad one
Speaker 1: hundred like to all like and I couldn't imagine if
Speaker 1: I was a single dad or to any single mother
Speaker 1: out there, like, I don't know how they do it.
Speaker 1: My wife is the rock of this family and she
Speaker 1: keeps us all together and going and being a dad
Speaker 1: is the hardest thing because you worry all the time,
Speaker 1: like you want to be like you see you know,
Speaker 1: like say my daughter Monroe, she's too she jumps on everything,
Speaker 1: she tries to crawl on everything, like you keep her
Speaker 1: out of your vision for even a second. She's into
Speaker 1: something and you don't know what is and and you're
Speaker 1: always like, oh my god, what will happen? But you
Speaker 1: also want to guide them, you want to teach them,
Speaker 1: you want to make sure that that that they're given
Speaker 1: everything that maybe you didn't have as a kid. And
Speaker 1: and these are all things that I think every parent
Speaker 1: goes through. And it's it's the toughest thing I've ever done.
Speaker 1: And I've been choke slammed by the Undertaker, you know,
Speaker 1: So I mean undertaker. Yeah, so I mean like I
Speaker 1: uh and but I'll tell you what, it's the most
Speaker 1: rewarding thing I've ever done. To see my daughter's face
Speaker 1: when she is be when whenever I leave and she
Speaker 1: goes dad da dad da dad dad hug and then
Speaker 1: she just gives me a hug. It's it warms my heart, like, uh,
Speaker 1: in my heart. I didn't know there was that much
Speaker 1: love there until you know, you think it's there with
Speaker 1: your wife like you think. But once you have a daughter,
Speaker 1: and I don't know what it's like to have a son.
Speaker 1: I have two daughters. But once you have a daughter,
Speaker 1: and then your second daughter like it just fills your
Speaker 1: heart with so much love, and you just want to
Speaker 1: make sure that you protect them and you give them
Speaker 1: everything they could possibly want. You always want to make
Speaker 1: them smile when they cry, and you try to use
Speaker 1: all these tricks to stop them from crying, and it's
Speaker 1: not working. It breaks your heart and nothing was ever
Speaker 1: able to break my heart. Um, and my daughter, if
Speaker 1: I hear her like just cry for even a split second,
Speaker 1: it just breaks me. Dude. I have the ultimate respect
Speaker 1: for that. I admire. I admire anybody who's in a
Speaker 1: parent It's it's to me, I think the ultimate dream
Speaker 1: in my life one to get married and to to
Speaker 1: to have life beyond my own and serve and impact
Speaker 1: that life. So I admire you as a parent. I
Speaker 1: also admire the the dance and the walk that you
Speaker 1: have done in your life as being a creator of circumstance,
Speaker 1: achieving your own career aspirations and dreams, and making the
Speaker 1: way for yourself. And also, and even more importantly, as
Speaker 1: you stated, being fulfilled and happy in a loving relationship
Speaker 1: and being a family man. You are a shining example,
Speaker 1: my friend. That's why I was so excited for this
Speaker 1: interview because some a lot of people believe you can
Speaker 1: have one or the other. I can be successful at
Speaker 1: the cost of my um personal relationship, or I can
Speaker 1: have a great personal relationship at the cost of my
Speaker 1: career success and desires and aspirations and your living proof
Speaker 1: that that. But it's all It's all dedication, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. Like, I am a dedicated husband and
Speaker 1: a dedicated father. No matter how many things I am
Speaker 1: doing at work. When I am home, I am there.
Speaker 1: I am present. I'm not on my phone. I'm not
Speaker 1: instagramming or twittering, you know, I am. I am literally
Speaker 1: there and I'm present, and I am with my family
Speaker 1: as much as humanly possible. And trust me, as a
Speaker 1: w W superstar, we travel all over the world. Our
Speaker 1: seasons never end. And not only am I doing w
Speaker 1: W E, but I also have Cannonball, which I'm hosting.
Speaker 1: I have miss and Missus which I am my wife
Speaker 1: and I are executive producer, and we want to make
Speaker 1: sure that we are giving a television show that audiences
Speaker 1: are going to love and enjoy. And on top of that,
Speaker 1: I'm still trying to be bigger and better at everything
Speaker 1: that I am doing. Yeah, I love it. Always happy,
Speaker 1: never satisfied. I love the hustle, my friend. Exactly, where
Speaker 1: can people find you? Where can our community are listeners
Speaker 1: that are inspired by you? Where can they connect with you?
Speaker 1: And where do you spend most of your your off time?
Speaker 1: The time when you're there is no off time. But
Speaker 1: you can find me on Instagram at at Mike them
Speaker 1: Is as well as Twitter at Mike the m Is,
Speaker 1: and you can see me on the USA Network, uh
Speaker 1: for miss and Missus. It's my wife's and my family
Speaker 1: reality show. If you want something for the whole family
Speaker 1: that you can laugh at, that you can have fun with,
Speaker 1: then you definitely don't want to miss this show. And
Speaker 1: also Cannonball is a new show. It's the biggest, wettest
Speaker 1: and wildest water sports competition that you will ever see.
Speaker 1: It's funny, it's fun I'm the host of it, and
Speaker 1: it comes out this summer on the USA Network as well.
Speaker 1: And then you can also find me on SmackDown Friday night,
Speaker 1: eight o'clock on Fox. Throwing is awesome. Drowing guys very
Speaker 1: much for having me, Um dude, I appreciate you so much.
Speaker 1: Best of best wishes to you, your wife and two daughters.
Speaker 1: Stay safe, stay active, uh, and I can't wait to
Speaker 1: see what you do just as a fan, as a
Speaker 1: person transitioning from professional sports into other opportunities. You've been
Speaker 1: a guiding light for me and I'm gonna follow your
Speaker 1: story more. Um. And also, I just want to say
Speaker 1: I've always thought it was the coolest thing ever, the
Speaker 1: inter Continental Champion. I just I love me too. Intercontinental
Speaker 1: title is my favorite title of all time. And it's
Speaker 1: amazing that I am like twenty days away from having
Speaker 1: the most days of having the intercontinental title ever in
Speaker 1: the history of w w E. And all I need
Speaker 1: is like twenty more days. I love it. My man.
Speaker 1: You know what I feel about you. I feel you've
Speaker 1: accomplished so much. But dude, I truly feel your your
Speaker 1: best days are still ahead. You will do more. And
Speaker 1: three I've got I've got a two year old and
Speaker 1: a seven month old, so my my, my best days
Speaker 1: are definitely ahead of me. It's amazing. What a blessings.
Speaker 1: Man so much. I appreciate you being on the show.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Thank you. It's been awesome, buddy.
Speaker 1: That was awesome, man. And I just loved Mrs story.
Speaker 1: I love the success career wise, I love what he's
Speaker 1: created career wise, and I also love more the personal
Speaker 1: success that he's had and the father and the relationship
Speaker 1: that he's built and how he's um developed that side
Speaker 1: of his life as his priority. And with that in mind,
Speaker 1: we have another special guest to us or with us,
Speaker 1: we have Spike van Briese in here to talk about
Speaker 1: a new show about love, about connection, about building a family.
Speaker 1: Um So, Spike, welcome to how Man Think. How are
Speaker 1: you my man? Well, thank you, thanks for having me. Um.
Speaker 1: By the way, your home office slash garage slash bunker
Speaker 1: is super clean, super tidy, and I'm like, kind of
Speaker 1: you're probably hoping you actually don't go back to work.
Speaker 1: That looks like an amazing workspace. My brother's right. I
Speaker 1: can take the new normal this way. Um So, tell
Speaker 1: me a little bit about this new show that's coming out.
Speaker 1: So it's um new show on Fox. It's called Labor
Speaker 1: of Love. Give myself and all the listeners the low
Speaker 1: down on why we're tuning into this thing as soon
Speaker 1: as it comes out. Well, I think you know, Labor
Speaker 1: of Love was a labor of that was kind of
Speaker 1: born out of the question of what is the pathway
Speaker 1: to parenthood? In right, Like, I think that's really where
Speaker 1: it came from. I think, Um, you know, so many
Speaker 1: unscripted series cover being a parent, but if you be
Speaker 1: coming one, they don't discuss that a lot, right like
Speaker 1: we we we it's kind of just set out there.
Speaker 1: So what we set out to do is it's kind
Speaker 1: of a national uh conversation that's shifting, I think, right,
Speaker 1: I think there was a place where it was all
Speaker 1: dependent upon your marital status and that kind of thing.
Speaker 1: And I think what we really see Labor of Love
Speaker 1: being is a first and foremost a show that says
Speaker 1: everyone can have it all, um, and it doesn't matter
Speaker 1: your marital status, it doesn't matter, you know, you know
Speaker 1: what what what however you get that to that journey,
Speaker 1: you can do that and a lot of people are
Speaker 1: taking a lot of alternative roads to do this. So
Speaker 1: we have our leading lady, Christie Katzman, who is just
Speaker 1: an unbelievable UM woman. She is um. She has a
Speaker 1: really successful career. Uh she graduated with her masters from
Speaker 1: Northwestern UM. Really smart really you know, just just building
Speaker 1: a great life. The one thing she found that she
Speaker 1: was missing when she turned forty was a baby, right,
Speaker 1: so she really set out that that that's something that
Speaker 1: that's something else that she wanted. And I think that
Speaker 1: a lot of women, um, and maybe and men too.
Speaker 1: Is what we find out in the series is that
Speaker 1: a lot of women come to this point in their
Speaker 1: life where they go, oh, this, I gotta do this,
Speaker 1: this is this is it's time for me to do
Speaker 1: this and um, because because they we have biological clocks
Speaker 1: and and I think that's really what this show is about,
Speaker 1: is about one woman's journey to parenthood, to becoming a mother,
Speaker 1: but also to find love. Right. I think that what
Speaker 1: we're trying to say is that we've all seen a
Speaker 1: lot of reality shows where everybody's looking for love, everybody's
Speaker 1: looking to you know, get married and proposals and all
Speaker 1: these things. But what we wanted to do was to say,
Speaker 1: I think that this show is really saying, let's go
Speaker 1: out there and find women that want to have it all,
Speaker 1: including love, including a baby, and those two things can
Speaker 1: be intermixed. Wow, it's it's yeah, yeah, but it's it's
Speaker 1: I applaud you because it's a different conversation. Traditionally, they
Speaker 1: would say you have to find love, you know, then
Speaker 1: you can believe or then you can have the concept
Speaker 1: of a family and and modern life is a little
Speaker 1: bit different. You hear of single people adopting, you hear
Speaker 1: of just there's different ways to becoming a parent. You
Speaker 1: do not have to be traditionally married and in love
Speaker 1: to be a parent, to give love to another human being.
Speaker 1: So I think I think the world is sort of
Speaker 1: challenging this quote unquote prerequisite of the traditional marriage to
Speaker 1: be a parent. Um. But I love that you're you
Speaker 1: guys are undertaking a journey to help what was the
Speaker 1: young lady's name, Christie Katzman Risty to help Christie with
Speaker 1: this in the pursuit of this. So what is the
Speaker 1: format of the show? So you have Christie and then
Speaker 1: you have gentlemen that are also in the same stage
Speaker 1: of life looking to find love and looking to build
Speaker 1: a family exactly. I mean, I think that it's it's
Speaker 1: you know, I think that it mirrors a lot of
Speaker 1: similar kind of reality shows, dating shows. There's basically one woman,
Speaker 1: fifteen men. Um Uh, they are all. We've brought them
Speaker 1: to a location, We've kind of set them inside of
Speaker 1: this bubble um and we've had them pursue this conversation
Speaker 1: along with Will they find will is their chemistry, is
Speaker 1: there a connection? Is all all those things. But but
Speaker 1: like I said, the big through line in the conversation
Speaker 1: is all about parenthood, what that means, about becoming a parent,
Speaker 1: what that means for Christie. But all so, what is
Speaker 1: just absolutely fascinating is what the men started to think
Speaker 1: about and how the men really started to think about
Speaker 1: what becoming a parent is and what that's all about.
Speaker 1: Can you touch on that, because I I really want
Speaker 1: to be a parent, Like that's that's in my grand
Speaker 1: scheme of things. I did life goals in two thousand nine.
Speaker 1: I did a life goals thing and the very first
Speaker 1: goal I had was to be a loving husband and
Speaker 1: loving father. That for me is the ultimate destiny in life. Um.
Speaker 1: But I think there's a stereotype that men aren't as
Speaker 1: family oriented as women and it's more important to women
Speaker 1: to have kids. But I want to challenge that. I
Speaker 1: want to say, no, it just depends on the individual.
Speaker 1: It's not gender related, it's individually related. Um. But the
Speaker 1: men that you're seeing are they like being a family man,
Speaker 1: being a father, having life beyond themselves their own? Is
Speaker 1: that one of the paramount values in their life? Or
Speaker 1: was not when they entered this and it has become that.
Speaker 1: I mean, yes, one of the what we needed to
Speaker 1: find were men that wanted to become fathers, right So
Speaker 1: setting out that was that was the that was the standard.
Speaker 1: We were like, look, this is you're coming into this show.
Speaker 1: You know what this is all about. This is about
Speaker 1: you know what that's about. So, yes, they knew that
Speaker 1: that was part of it. I think what um, what
Speaker 1: they found out is that I think, like most of us,
Speaker 1: we think about yes, like you're saying, I would love
Speaker 1: to become a father, I would love to be a dad,
Speaker 1: I would love all those things. I think that when
Speaker 1: you are put into an environment where that is what
Speaker 1: you start to think about and that is the discussion
Speaker 1: that you're having, what we saw in what You'll see
Speaker 1: is that that conversation starts to get a lot more real,
Speaker 1: it starts to get a lot bigger. So I think
Speaker 1: that that was you know, one of the things that
Speaker 1: I said to them while we were interviewing them to
Speaker 1: come onto the show is because all of them are
Speaker 1: very successful. Right there. We have a Harvard doctor, we
Speaker 1: have a WOW CEO, a guy from Yale, like just
Speaker 1: really businessmen people that you know, really successful guys that that.
Speaker 1: And I said to them, what is it? How much
Speaker 1: time and effort have you put into your careers, into
Speaker 1: your education, into your businesses? And they were, you know,
Speaker 1: it's night and day, right. And then I said how
Speaker 1: much thought have you put into about becoming a father? Right?
Speaker 1: And that was kind of the cold water moment for them,
Speaker 1: because yes, we think about it. But what they really
Speaker 1: got asked in this journey was to go, this is
Speaker 1: this is all you're thinking about. I'm taking your phones,
Speaker 1: I'm taking to your devices. This is the conversation that
Speaker 1: you guys are going to be in and it really
Speaker 1: it gets very real, real fast for that. I really
Speaker 1: I'm excited to tune into this. UM. Just today, Spike,
Speaker 1: just today, I've spoke to two friends, UM, two of
Speaker 1: my best friends, and one found out that they were
Speaker 1: pregnant today, pregnant with their first UM. As soon as
Speaker 1: I woke up, I got the text message from my
Speaker 1: buddy and it was just a pregnancy test that said pregnant. UM.
Speaker 1: So that was just this morning. And I spoke to
Speaker 1: another friend, a guy that I played a decade with
Speaker 1: professional hockey, and he's awaiting his second baby about a
Speaker 1: month from now. So it's been the timing of this
Speaker 1: podcast is amazing. The timing of this show is so relevant.
Speaker 1: And then when I was fishing this morning at my
Speaker 1: lake house and I was fishing, I was just thinking
Speaker 1: about Um, yesterday there was a father and a son
Speaker 1: who pulled into our bay here and this dad was
Speaker 1: fishing with his son and they caught a fish right
Speaker 1: in front of my bay. And I was watching this
Speaker 1: and I was talking to these guys. And my dad
Speaker 1: grew up taking me fish. I grew up with my
Speaker 1: dad taking me fishing. It was something that I shared
Speaker 1: with my father and I Instagram story that I was like,
Speaker 1: this is life goals. A father out in the boat
Speaker 1: teaching his son, sharing the experience with his son um
Speaker 1: to fish, and I was just like, that is life goals.
Speaker 1: To me. That is so fulfilling and rewarding. And I
Speaker 1: so look forward to that day. Um. So I'm excited
Speaker 1: to see other men along this same sort of journey,
Speaker 1: and it's starting to become more real in my life.
Speaker 1: Like the pursuit of also the pursuit of want to
Speaker 1: be wanting to be a father is one thing, but
Speaker 1: then the actual like like, when I spoke with my
Speaker 1: friend this morning. I'm not going to mention his name
Speaker 1: because everybody doesn't always they're pregnant yet, but um, when
Speaker 1: I spoke with him this morning, I was like, he
Speaker 1: was so like excited and jittery and terrified and nervous
Speaker 1: and just like everything because like the pursuit of it
Speaker 1: is easy, and then the stepping into becoming a father. Wow,
Speaker 1: the realization of dreams, real big dreams is sometimes scary.
Speaker 1: So I'm excited to see like the journey that these
Speaker 1: men go on, and then excited to see at the end. Um,
Speaker 1: does this common bond of values of being wanting to
Speaker 1: be a parent, does that actually lead to more intimacy
Speaker 1: and connection with with the lady? Like maybe maybe the
Speaker 1: intimacy or maybe the connection and chemistry isn't strong or
Speaker 1: is strong right off the get going, but maybe the
Speaker 1: shared common values leads to furthering a connection. I don't know,
Speaker 1: it's funny that you say that too, because I think
Speaker 1: that what you get and and look, I love reality
Speaker 1: dating shows obviously, I think that they're great. I think
Speaker 1: that that you know, there's so many really great ones
Speaker 1: out that they're super entertaining but I think that what
Speaker 1: we have with Labor of Love is that you usually
Speaker 1: watch two people pursue each other on their chemistry, on
Speaker 1: how they feel, and all those things adds a whole
Speaker 1: other layer of steaks. Right, So no longer you just
Speaker 1: king at this person to go you know, I'm attracted
Speaker 1: to them. They seem to like some of the same
Speaker 1: things that I like. This is more of like you're
Speaker 1: looking at their each looking at each other and going
Speaker 1: is this a good is it? Would this be a
Speaker 1: good partner first of all? Right? And second or first
Speaker 1: of all parent and then second of all partner, Like
Speaker 1: can I bond with this person and and raise a
Speaker 1: child together? Which I think is you know, that's that's
Speaker 1: got a lot of steaks in it, right, Like you
Speaker 1: are choosy and you're really thinking about it, and you're
Speaker 1: asking questions that you normally wouldn't ask, right, Like you're
Speaker 1: you're getting to the to the depth pretty quickly. Yeah, wow,
Speaker 1: I can't wait. I gotta tune into this. So um
Speaker 1: oh Tori, which producer Tori has a question. Well, in
Speaker 1: the first episode, we see them get their seamen tested,
Speaker 1: So was that something not done prior to them going
Speaker 1: on like when they see guys get sent home right
Speaker 1: off the bat because of that. Um, well, I'm not
Speaker 1: going to give anything away, right, um. I think that
Speaker 1: when we did that, that that's a dent um um authentic.
Speaker 1: It was one of the scariest things I've done in
Speaker 1: my career because you know, you go into a network
Speaker 1: meeting and you promise a lot. This is not giving
Speaker 1: a problem. On the day, I realized when I had
Speaker 1: the trucks pull up, I didn't know what they were
Speaker 1: going to do, and I was willing to. You know, look,
Speaker 1: if they were gonna bail, they were going to bail.
Speaker 1: But having you know, grown men on national television go
Speaker 1: give a sample, um, I was. I was in My
Speaker 1: heart was pounding. I didn't know what they would do.
Speaker 1: But because men are men, as soon as one went,
Speaker 1: the other guys were a little bit like you know,
Speaker 1: they they straighten their neck. They jumped right into it.
Speaker 1: And what it really told me out of the gate
Speaker 1: is that they were all there for the right reasons,
Speaker 1: that they all wanted this, and it's you know, but man,
Speaker 1: I don't know if I could do it, to be honest,
Speaker 1: you out, I don't know, But I guess if it's
Speaker 1: part of the process. And like you said, I think
Speaker 1: that right there is a good filter, that's a good
Speaker 1: that's a good barrier to entry. Is like, Okay, somebody
Speaker 1: not here for the right reasons. I'm not going to
Speaker 1: subject myself to this, but somebody they're truthfully seeking out
Speaker 1: a true partnership and to become a parent. They're like, Okay,
Speaker 1: that's that's what it takes. Let's go line me up. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Do you see any of these dad's being stay at
Speaker 1: home dad's or were these all men who are just
Speaker 1: kind of working towards being somebody that could fit the
Speaker 1: raising a baby roll. I think what you find out
Speaker 1: good question, Tory. I think that what you find out
Speaker 1: during it is that it becomes a conversation, right like
Speaker 1: it's not it. That's what I like about this. The
Speaker 1: rule books are kind of thrown out. I think that
Speaker 1: that Christie and the men all had those different conversations
Speaker 1: to go, what would we want? How would it work? Right? Like?
Speaker 1: What what? And then you really see two people instead
Speaker 1: of going you know, look, you're super cute, blue looks
Speaker 1: really nice on you, blah blah blah. Right, you know, honeymoon,
Speaker 1: you see two people start working it out from a
Speaker 1: place of going, how do we want to do this?
Speaker 1: Like your career is super important to you, My career
Speaker 1: super importance to me like that, and all of those
Speaker 1: conversations come come up. I'm a single dad and and
Speaker 1: I love it, right like, it's that's my journey. And
Speaker 1: it's been like co parent really well with with my
Speaker 1: mother's uh, with my daughter's mother, and we have a
Speaker 1: we have just an amazing relationship and you know, we
Speaker 1: both just love our daughters so much and and but
Speaker 1: that's how that's our journey and that's how we worked
Speaker 1: it out. That takes a lot of communication, that takes
Speaker 1: a lot of you know, how is this gonna work?
Speaker 1: Like she's she's you know, we're in this whole thing.
Speaker 1: She's been accepted into a couple of really amazing private schools.
Speaker 1: She really wants to go to public. Like there's a
Speaker 1: lot of conversations that we're talking about that you know,
Speaker 1: we work out as a family now because she's going
Speaker 1: to be fourteen and god week and a half, And
Speaker 1: it almost makes me tear up telling man like because
Speaker 1: because being a father is the most amazing experience for me,
Speaker 1: right like, and you gotta taste of that when you're
Speaker 1: looking at that, that that father and their son on
Speaker 1: the dock, right, Like, you look at that and you
Speaker 1: kind of go it starts to go ship. That's something
Speaker 1: I want. And I think that what men realize from
Speaker 1: this show, and you will realize, is that we also
Speaker 1: have biological clocks, right like we Yes, there's a theory
Speaker 1: that we can have, you know, babies up into a
Speaker 1: certain age and all these things, but the truth of
Speaker 1: it is is that everything slows down a little bit,
Speaker 1: everything stops working different the same way that it did.
Speaker 1: And and I knew for me, I didn't want to
Speaker 1: be kind of an old dad, right like I wanted to.
Speaker 1: I wanted to be a younger dad so I can
Speaker 1: move with her, so I can do things with her,
Speaker 1: so I can do all of that, right. And I
Speaker 1: think that's part of that biological clock too, right. I
Speaker 1: think it's great when dads have, you know, kids in
Speaker 1: their fifties or whatever. But you know that that was
Speaker 1: that that's not the journey that I wanted to have, right,
Speaker 1: And that's what these men really started to get into too,
Speaker 1: because all of them, including Christie, are I think the
Speaker 1: youngest person we had on the show was thirty eight, right,
Speaker 1: So that's a whole different thing to like, we're not
Speaker 1: seeing you know, you know, young fit trainers and you
Speaker 1: know that. I mean, you know what I mean. Like
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to put anything down, but it's like
Speaker 1: a lot of these shows are just like really good
Speaker 1: looking people and they're like if you you know, if
Speaker 1: you saw there, if you saw where they lived, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be an apartment with the roommate, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, versus it being like these are all established
Speaker 1: men and and you know, um are are thinking about
Speaker 1: things a little bit differently. So yeah, I think that
Speaker 1: that that was a big wake up call to a
Speaker 1: lot of the guys too. This like they wanted to
Speaker 1: start this journey. Once they got into this, they were like,
Speaker 1: I've never seen fifteen guys want to impregnant one woman
Speaker 1: so bad in their life really, And um, I think
Speaker 1: it's super I'm super interested in it. I just am.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm I'm fascinated by that journey. I want to
Speaker 1: see what these men go through. I was curious on
Speaker 1: which was what was the youngest man that you had
Speaker 1: on the show. Um, I'm also I agree with you
Speaker 1: that maybe biological clock for men is maybe a little different,
Speaker 1: but and it's energetic clock. You know. Like you said,
Speaker 1: you want to be a young father, you want to
Speaker 1: be active with your daughter. Um, I'm thirty six. I'm
Speaker 1: not yet a father, but I feel the same way
Speaker 1: like my I look at fatherhood as my purpose is
Speaker 1: to give this new being the best possible life ever.
Speaker 1: I do it with my dog, who, if you can
Speaker 1: see right back, is right back here, sleeping right there, spiking.
Speaker 1: See my dog just sleeping on the couch. It was comfortable. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was raining, It's pouring rain here at my LG house.
Speaker 1: But I was like, we're running this morning like we
Speaker 1: are because he loves being outside. He doesn't care about
Speaker 1: the rain. Um. Maybe not ideal conditions, but who cares.
Speaker 1: My off as a parent is to give him the
Speaker 1: greatest possible life. So, um, I'm gonna be active forever. Um.
Speaker 1: It's one of the reasons why I'm not worried that
Speaker 1: I'm thirty six and not yet a father. I'm going
Speaker 1: to be an active father at sixties, seventy eighty whatever, grandfather. Um,
Speaker 1: So I want I'm interested just to see I'm also
Speaker 1: interested to see how these men feel about their careers
Speaker 1: and the success that they've had and now the lack
Speaker 1: of fulfillment that they truly have in life. Successes in
Speaker 1: career is one thing, but a fulfilled life is happiness
Speaker 1: across the board and and life beyond ourselves, or a
Speaker 1: connection with a partner, A lifelong partnership is such an
Speaker 1: immeasurable amount of joy in a being in a person
Speaker 1: that you're it's I I don't know that it would
Speaker 1: be possible to be truly fulfilled in life without that,
Speaker 1: with just career achievements, a very successful man, which you mentioned.
Speaker 1: So I'm super excited to tune into this. How and
Speaker 1: when can I tune into Labor of Love this Thursday? Yes? One,
Speaker 1: I believe it's nine pm depending on where you're at
Speaker 1: on Fox on Fox? Oh yes, any um, any little
Speaker 1: insider tidbits you can give me, Spike, just you and
Speaker 1: I talking now, nobody's listens. Just you know, it's it's
Speaker 1: easy to kind of get in the weeds on this
Speaker 1: thing to go. You know, this can be feel like
Speaker 1: a very earnest show, right Like it can be like
Speaker 1: like all these things. But the truth of it is
Speaker 1: is also it was important to me that it's an
Speaker 1: entertaining show, right and and um, what we really I
Speaker 1: tried to me and the team really tried to do
Speaker 1: is make it feel more like a rom com, right
Speaker 1: and that and it does that really well. So I
Speaker 1: think it's a really fun, enjoyable watch. But I also
Speaker 1: think it makes you sit on the sofa, maybe with
Speaker 1: a partner, and think about life, right. And I think
Speaker 1: it's a perfect time being in in these very strange
Speaker 1: times that we're in. I think, um, it's going to
Speaker 1: help people reflect and start to go you know, what's
Speaker 1: what's what's important and what do I want? You know,
Speaker 1: we all get like can you can look at this
Speaker 1: as quarantine or you can look at this is solitude? Right,
Speaker 1: and this is some solitude that we're all getting to
Speaker 1: reflect and you know what we want in life? And
Speaker 1: I think that a lot of us want to become parents.
Speaker 1: So I think this this show really has a lot
Speaker 1: of people look at it that way. I love that, Um,
Speaker 1: the purpose of our show of how men think podcast
Speaker 1: is should try to um have discussions that maybe men
Speaker 1: generally don't. And I love I almost see a parallel
Speaker 1: mission with Labor of Love is I'm sure we're gonna
Speaker 1: watch this journey of One woman and fifteen men. But really,
Speaker 1: you're hoping that the show actually encourages couples and encourages
Speaker 1: even individuals single people to really have an open and
Speaker 1: honest discussion with either themselves or their partner about the
Speaker 1: topic and truth behind being a parent. Because yeah, you
Speaker 1: say you want to be a parent, that's great to
Speaker 1: say it, But the truth behind the commitment, the journey, um,
Speaker 1: stepping into being a parent. You are one, you could
Speaker 1: attest to it. But that, I'm I'm sure is a
Speaker 1: whole different level than just saying yeah, I want to
Speaker 1: be a parent. So I'm sure the show is going
Speaker 1: to inspire deeper, more thoughtful, more present, real conversations. Um,
Speaker 1: and maybe you see a huge baby boom. Well you know,
Speaker 1: yeah for sure, Oh incredible my brand. Well, spike any
Speaker 1: other little tidbits or not get to you you want
Speaker 1: to share with me this, dude, I'm excited to watch this.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna put on a fire. I'm gonna go catch
Speaker 1: some fish, some clean fish. Put it on the barbecue.
Speaker 1: Put on a fire, have myself just a little self
Speaker 1: date with labor love. Like I think the only little
Speaker 1: tidbit I can give you is that in this show,
Speaker 1: you're gonna be able to watch men experience the physical
Speaker 1: pains of labor. So the best of our ability. Oh man,
Speaker 1: oh boy, I bet too. At the end of this,
Speaker 1: because only one guy is gonna get selected, or however
Speaker 1: it ends up, these other fourteen guys are just gonna
Speaker 1: they're just gonna get bombarded. Tori is gonna be messaging
Speaker 1: all of them. That's right, that's right. Here's you're gonna
Speaker 1: get some man tears in this as well, because I
Speaker 1: think a lot of the guys that didn't get selected,
Speaker 1: it impacts right like you're if you're in that bubble
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, you're like, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Like it's an impactful one, right. So because like as
Speaker 1: a if you're there one, if you're there as a man,
Speaker 1: you want to be a family man. That's the reason
Speaker 1: you're there, and to getting close to that being a reality.
Speaker 1: You have a potential person, a partner, looking for the
Speaker 1: same thing, and you're close to that that this is
Speaker 1: potentially a reality. I could see myself with this person,
Speaker 1: I could become a family man. Step into that chapter.
Speaker 1: The greatest being of our version of ourselves and then
Speaker 1: to have that not happen, it's got to be deflating
Speaker 1: for these men. So um wow, I'm I'm super intrigued
Speaker 1: by this. Spike, thanks for Sharon labor Love. Thursday nights,
Speaker 1: nine pm Eastern on Fox nine pm Eastern on Fox. Dude,
Speaker 1: Thank you, buddy. I appreciate you so much. Best to
Speaker 1: luck to you and the show. Um, and I can't
Speaker 1: wait to watch absolutely Thanks you guys, Thank you my friend.
Speaker 1: Appreciate you have a good one too, super powerful episode today.
Speaker 1: I missed my buddy Gavin, I missed my buddies Rick,
Speaker 1: Dmitri and Ryan. But I want to thank the MSS
Speaker 1: for coming on and Spike for coming on, and I
Speaker 1: want to thank you guys for listening. Um, I miss
Speaker 1: you guys. I wish we could connect. No, that was sorry,
Speaker 1: I was just rambling. Thanks. Super powerful episode today. I
Speaker 1: want to thank the MSS for coming on. Just a
Speaker 1: huge fan of his journey what he shared and just
Speaker 1: encouraging and inspiring UM to hear that you can have
Speaker 1: everything you want in fulfillment, in career and in family,
Speaker 1: and that you can have both of them. So I
Speaker 1: want to inspire and encourage our community. If that's a
Speaker 1: debate going on inside your head, follow them is check
Speaker 1: out his story. UM, that's something that you two can
Speaker 1: have in your life. And then I also want to
Speaker 1: thank Spike for coming on and sharing labor of love. UM.
Speaker 1: Super excited to watch the show. I know what I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be watching here every Thursday night, UM on Fox.
Speaker 1: So thank you guys for listening. I'm sending you guys
Speaker 1: love wherever you're listening to this. I hope you're staying safe.
Speaker 1: I hope you're staying active. I hope you're staying creative,
Speaker 1: and I hope you're still finding ways to connect with
Speaker 1: loved ones and give love and receive love. So until
Speaker 1: next week, take care of one another, love one another,
Speaker 1: and we'll see you back here for another episode of
Speaker 1: How Men Think