I was diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder at 19, which I thought would derail my career. Thankfully, I was able to get help and continue the path, and I think, for me, the buzzword is perseverance.
For me, at a very young age, I knew I wanted to be in the entertainment industry; I wanted to be an announcer. I was very smitten at an early age with the voice I heard coming from a radio.
As an announcer, I have nothing but respect for the fighters, and I want to make sure I do my job to let the people know who these courageous warriors are, because they are putting their lives on the line for our entertainment, and there's something to be said about that.
I actually think I suck. I think I'm one of the worst announcers, one of the worst performers there is. It blows my mind that I keep getting hired. But when I'm doing it, yeah, I'll admit: No one can do it like I can.
I will always be thankful to WWE for letting me be the voice of SmackDown Live and bring it to the USA Network.
One of my first heroes was Jim Robson, the hall-of-fame broadcaster with the Canucks and Hockey Night in Canada, and Jim Ross with the WWE and Howard Cosell was a big influence on me.
I'm a fan first and foremost. I get caught up in the drama, the emotion of what is happening, whether it's a boxing match, an MMA fight, a kickboxing contest, or a WWE matchup. I want to tell the story and paint more pictures.
I was brought into the life of one Bas Rutten in 2001 at a grappling tournament that I was attending to support a friend of mine. I had never met Bas before but, of course, knew who he was: the King of Pancrase, UFC Heavyweight champion, and the commentator with Pride.
I was discovered at 16, so all I've done is be a communicator and an entertainer all my life, and my energy is who I am in real life.
I'm going to call WWE like I call everything. Yes, I'm going to be passionate. Yes, I'm going to be excited, but at the same time, I'm hoping to get better as a storyteller, and I'm hoping to complement the people I work with who have been doing this a lot longer than I have.
I am a bit of a dynamic personality and have the ability to use my vocabulary in some creative ways.
Jerry 'The King' Lawler might be the most talented man I've ever worked with. He comes in, he's cool as a cucumber, and then all of a sudden, as soon as the camera comes on, it was a dream. It was an absolute dream come true to spar and share the same airspace with a guy I've respected for a long, long time.
I'm a highly intelligent, highly articulate, very empathetic, down-to-earth person. But man, my thoughts are incredibly dark. Incredibly dark.
I know my energy level is unlike others. I know that my capacity to really think fast is unlike others, but I also know the price that comes with it.
I was as much at first probably against Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather as anyone else but... as soon as I turned off the purity of the combat sports thing, this is a business. Guys, we're all trying to make a living, we're all trying to entertain people and guess what, it's the second-biggest PPV in history regardless of how you feel about it.
I've always loved kickboxing.
No matter what job I've undertaken, whether it was Glory Kickboxing or Strikeforce or Pride Fighting Championships or Showtime Championship Boxing, you have to play by the rules of the company you work for.
My job, live television, broadcasting, there's mania involved in there, too, but it's the good stuff.
Vince McMahon is an intimidating individual because of the amount of respect he commands because of what he's done for entertainment, turning the business into a billion dollar success story. He rarely sleeps. He's a workaholic. He's passionate. He loves what he does.
People can say what they want about WWE. Paul Levesque, Vince McMahon, Michael Cole - they all gave me another life by bringing me back to call NXT. That's where I should have been in the beginning.
