Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Mark Nash: WWE's Newest Ring Announcer, "Never Seen 17", John Cena, Cody Rhodes

Episode Date: September 23, 2025

Get tickets for Insight LIVE in San Diego on November 28! https://cvvtix.com Mark Shunock (@MarkShunock) is a WWE ring announcer performing under the name Mark Nash. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Las Vegas to discuss his journey from the theater stage to professional wrestling, playing Timon in "The Lion King" Broadway show, how he went from announcing Top Rank Boxing to WWE, providing the introductions for John Cena and Cody Rhodes, the origin of his WWE name, winning the Stanley Cup with the Las Vegas Golden Knights and more!  Please help support The Space: https://thespacelv.com/the-space-v2/ Quote I'm thinking about: “You cannot control the behavior of others, but you can always choose how you respond to it.” ― Roy T. Bennett Please support our sponsors! PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/?ref=tibcloux   SUPERPOWER: Go to https://Superpower.com and use code CVV to get $50 Off your annual Superpower subscription. Live up to your 100-Year potential. #superpowerpod   SEAT GEEK: Use my code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/CVV2025 Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount PRIZEPICKS: Download the app today and use code INSIGHT to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup!  TIMELINE: Go to https://timeline.com/insightto get 20% off your order of Mitopure!   VUORI: Get 20% off your first purchase! Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet at https://vuori.com/cvv   ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and reach your financial goals faster: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv MIRACLE MADE: Upgrade your sleep with Miracle Made! Go to https://trymiracle.com/CVV and use the code CVV to claim your FREE 3 PIECE TOWEL SET and SAVE over 40% OFF   ZOCDOC: Instantly book a top-rated doctor today at https://zocdoc.com/insightFAST GROWING TREES: Get 15% off with code INSIGHT at https://fastgrowingtrees.com   BONCHARGE: Use the code CVV to save 15% off your infrared sauna blanket at https://boncharge.com/cvv   BLUECHEW: Get your first month of BlueChew for free with the code CVV at https://bluechew.com   For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you have ever enjoyed any of these episodes, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast or Spotify? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.    Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Fleet. And welcome back to another one here on Insight. I'm CVV. Chris Van Fleet, thank you for hitting play on this episode. And thank you for making Insight the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. Hit a super kick on that follow button on Apple or Spotify or whatever the podcast app of your listening pleasure is. I want to make sure you don't miss out on any new internet. interviews every Tuesday and Thursday and Ask CVV every single Friday where I do my best to answer

your burning wrestling questions. We've got WWE's newest ring announcer on the show today. You know him as Mark Nash. He was the first one to announce John Cena's Never Seen 17. His real name is Mark Chinook. What a background he has. And what a great conversation this was. He also works as the inn arena host for the Las Vegas Golden Knights, the NHL team. And before WWE, he was the ring announcer for top-rank boxing, which is also where Smackdown commentator Joe Tessator, Joe Tessitore, used to work. Before that, Mark was an actor, actually starred as Timoan in the Lion King Broadway show. So lots to get into here.

But man, he has been crushing it since he made a Smackdown debut in March. And I've done a little ring announcing myself, dating all the way back to when I lived in Toronto. I was ring announcing for a few different indie companies there in like 2008, 2009, did some guest spots in Cleveland and Miami. I recently did some ring announcing like, I guess two-ish years ago for Circle 6 in Los Angeles. So I always love talking to ring announcers and just hearing what their process looks like how they break everything down. And like, I love how Mark, like, keys in on, like, his job isn't just to get the audience excited. Like, his job is to hype up the superstar as well. Amazing.

Snap a screenshot and let us know you're listening and tag us. He's at Mark Chinook. That's S-H-U-N-O-C-K. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. And here we go. Please welcome Mark Chinook, aka Mark Nash. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Listen, bro, this is huge.

Thank you for coming to the space. Yeah, this is your space. This is your studio space in Las Vegas. So thank you for having us. Man, I'm honored to be sitting with you, bro. And we got the memo,

the black T-shirt. This is great. This is like become my uniform. Yeah. Yeah. Me too. And I'm sure we'll talk about it. I'm always in black.

And I'm going to give them a shameless plug. It's a Calvin Klein three pack. Sometimes you can get lucky and get them at Costco. Like these are like the undershirts? That's it. Yeah. Yeah. They look great.

Yeah. Just two Ontario boys. just hanging out. Canadians. Two Canadians. So you're from Sue St. Marie. I'm from Pickering. We're like, would that be like six, six, seven hours away maybe?

Yeah, too long of a drive. That's a long drive. I'll meet you in Toronto. Okay. 40 minutes for me, a long drive for you in Toronto. I'll fly in. You fly into Toronto. But how amazing is it that two guys like us from Ontario, from Canada, are able to do what we're

doing now? And like, you're doing it in so many different spaces. brother i'm a kid in a candy store humbled every day gracious for every opportunity that's come my way but i'm sure you would you know say the same thing to yourself you've worked hard to get where you are nobody gave you anything especially because of where we're from you know sue st marie is five hours north at detroit michigan right on lake superior and it's an incredible city but um just to be sitting here with you little surreal right you know here we are having a conversation and never in a million years, but I ever have thought that I'd be on your show. So I'm incredibly grateful for this

opportunity. I don't know if it was the same experience for you growing up, but like the idea of doing anything in the States was huge. Like we would drive into the States to like go shopping because there were like stores that didn't exist in Canada that we could get there or restaurants there. It was a two hour drive for us to go into like Niagara Falls, New York or Buffalo, went to Watertown a lot. So like that was a big thing for us. And like, The idea for me of working in the U.S. didn't even seem real. How was it for you? We grew up on a border town.

So there's a Sioux-St. Marie, Michigan and a Sioux-St. Marie, Ontario. So Michigan was a big part of my childhood. My mother is from Windsor, Ontario. So pretty much. Another border town. Detroit, Windsor. So pretty much every summer was spent driving 75 south. You'd cross the border into Sioux-St.

Marie, Michigan, take 75 South through Michigan into Windsor. Yeah. And so I was a big Detroit Red Wings fan and a big sparky Anderson, Kurt Gibson, Detroit Tiger fan. And that's back in the 80s, right? Like late 70s through the 80s was my childhood. I'm aging myself. But, you know, Detroit was much different back then and we'd go through the tunnel into Windsor. But yes, the answer is yes.

Going into the United States as a kid growing up in Canada was always a big deal. and it's something that we always looked forward to as kids. But I'm a U.S. citizen now, and I've been in the United States since 96 full time, and I love it. I love it. What's the biggest thing you miss about Canada? Just my family. My family and friends are all still there. There are things that I love about Canada.

The things I don't so much love about Canada, but... The weather is at the top of the list for me. Yeah, my father, 86 years old, his birthday's in January. And so we've sort of adopted a number of. new birthday month for my father. It starts with a J. It's just July, you know, because I say, hey, dad, I love you. I'm not coming home again. You get off that plane and your nostrils freeze, and it's like a wall of death that welcomes you home. So, yeah, you know, there are things that I love about it, but it's all about family for me. Yeah. I miss Swiss chalet. Outta boy. For those listeners,

that is a wonderful chicken restaurant. Rotisserie chicken restaurant with the greatest sauce ever. Little soapy, right? Like, it's hard to describe the sauce. Soapy. Like, it's got that little... No, but it's got a little, like a little... What was that? I would...

It's delicious. I will drink chalet sauce. Yes. No, I'm saying it's great, but it's got that little, like... The thing I love about Swiss chalet as well is like, after the meal, they bring you a little hot bowl with the lemon in it. Rinse your fingers. Rinse your fingers.

Which nobody knows what we're talking about. I think it's because they're so environmentally friendly, right? Like, they could just get it. give you a little packet that you rip open with a wet nap, but no, in Canada and Swiss L.A., you get a bowl with really hot water that probably came out of the hot water coffee dispenser, you know, the tea dispenser with a fresh slice of a living. A lot of my friends are like, how much do you miss Tim Hortons? I'm like, I mean, kind of. But Swiss Alet is the real one. Yeah, I would agree with you. I think Tim Hortons is the most popular Canadian brand, but I think

Swiss L.A. and not far behind it for me is a Harvey's hamburger. Oh my gosh. Yes. Love Harvey's. Okay, we're done. Thanks for coming. Yeah, well, that's so good. Look, we could talk about Canadian stuff all day. I love that so much. What brought you to the U.S. in 96? Aha. You know, chasing an acting career. So, you know, like every other Canadian kid, I wanted to play hockey. And, you know, I made it as far as I could. And there's that tough choice. Do I go over to Europe to play and continue to chase the dream? Or do you get crazy and pick a different career to chase? that's even more difficult and go into entertainment. And so I moved to New York City as a 19-year-old to chase a Broadway career. And I just got lucky, man. I surrounded myself with some of the best in the business. A goofy kid, I was a goaltender.

I was a goalie in hockey. So I think all goalies are a little kooky to begin with. But that gave me the sort of the drive and the, I don't know what you call it, the balls to just go up to people and say, hey, can I learn from you? And I think that's something that, you know, I still carry with me today for not learning. We're dead. But yeah, I literally surrounded myself with the best of the best in the theater world in New York. Williamstown Theater Festival in Massachusetts. A highly respected festival went out there for a couple summers to just watch and I'm watching stars on stage.

And the Lion King came calling once. So I got to play Hakuna Matata. I was Timoan and the Lion King. And that sort of changed the trajectory for me. and casting directors didn't need to be convinced that you could perform eight shows a week on stage night after night after night. And so that was it, you know, and I got lucky. I just got lucky. You were Tome in the Lion King.

Chris, you're not talking about a lion. Lions eat guys like us. But he's so cute and all alone. Yeah, but he's going to get bigger. So, uh, Hakuna Matata. So if I said to you, I can see what's happening. That's it. That's it.

I probably sang that song, and they don't have a clue. They'll fall in love and here's the bottom line. Our trio's down to two. Chris, we're going on the road. We're going on the road. It's Chris and Mark singing show tunes. You're going to lose all of your wrestling subscribers. Everyone just stopped the episode.

And you're going to get a bunch of Broadway followers from New York. But yeah, I probably sang that song, I don't know, 3,000 times. Wow. I don't know. Couldn't know that. Yeah, sure. But, you know, I was a part of that show. three years. And it, again, being surrounded by some of the best in the business, right? Julie

Tamor, who created pretty much the entire everything you see about the lion came from the puppets to the costumes. She collaborated with the best of the best. Michael Curry made the puppets. We all know who Michael Curry is in entertainment. So just to be a part of that as a 20-something-year-old, you know, getting painted green, walking around with a puppet, going into classrooms with that puppet with kids was such a big, big thing. for me, you know, seeing how kids' faces just come alive when this puppet comes alive. And yeah, just memories. And they're part of me now.

Like that the Lion King is in my DNA. And the fact that we could be sitting here on a wrestling podcast. Yeah. And we just do two-part harmony with Can You Feel the Love Tonight? It says a lot, right? It's pretty cool. So if we take it back before that, you said you played hockey. There was maybe the chance to do it on a professional level.

You played in the OHL. which for people they don't know, that's the Ontario Hockey League, some of the all-time greats in hockey played in the OHL. When you're 16, 17, 18, if you're playing in the OHL, there's a chance you could get drafted and go on from there. So you played for the Belleville Bulls? Belleville Bulls, Southern Ontario. The connection there was my oldest brother also played for the Belleville Bulls.

I'm the youngest of five. And so hockey's in our DNA. In 1988, our local team in Sioux St. Marie is the Sue St. Marie Greyhounds, part of the same league. At that time, it was owned by Phil and Tony Esposito, two legends in the sport of hockey. They are from Sue St. Marie originally. They owned the Sue St. Marie Greyhounds, and they were going to sell the team in 1988 to the Compiware organization in Michigan. And my dad was like, listen, Sue St. Marie is known for the Greyhounds and a steel mill. It's a badass, awesome community in Northern Ontario.

you can't get rid of this team. So let me match the offer. And so he rallied some guys together. They put up some money. The city raised the rest. I think I was 11 or 12 years old at the time, standing on the corner. And it was not long after the dollar coin, the loony came out. The loony.

That was 1987. Yeah. So we had a loony drive in 87 to help raise money to save the team. I was on the corner of Queen Street, which is our main drag, with a bucket saying, let's save the hounds. I need a loony. And believe it or not, we raised 250,000. Loonies as a community.

And my dad, being the guy that he is, he gave part of the ownership to the city. And it's been in our hometown ever since. He still owns a small piece, but that's how important hockey is to our family. It just became, as you know, it's a part of the culture in Canada. It is our sport. It's our baseball, right? It's our football. You come out of the womb with skates on, basically.

Exactly. And so I wanted to raise a Stanley Cup just like anybody else. And, you know, we'll talk about that in a second because that's a cool. Pivot, but yeah, man, Sue St. Marie is just a big part of who I am and grateful to have grown up there. I still call it home. I'm there twice a year, three times year to see family and friends. In the warmer months. Yeah. We already talked about that. I'm never going near it in the winter. So it comes full circle where you don't get to play in the NHL, but you get to work for an NHL team.

And the crazy thing is you worked for an NHL team here in Vegas, which I think there was a point in time when people didn't think that Las Vegas was going to get a hockey team. Crazy, crazy, crazy, dude. It is to this day one of the highlights of my life. And I would probably say my family's life as well, you know, to have your name on a Stanley Cup ring, which you brought, I asked you to bring it with you because I've never got to hold a Stanley Cup ring. Look at this box.

And it's spitting. Oh, my goodness. see everyone hold it up to this camera yeah there you go look at this you take it off put it on wear it for the rest of the show i get to wear this thing no i don't why not there you go you can get rid of the wow always advance never retreat Vegas born your name is on here Chinook 2023 the score of oh it's four one four two those were the series you got to win you know you got to win four series best of seven and that's the rounds see where can i which finger should i put it on. I don't want to get stuck. Or like a pinky ring. Like I'm the godfather here. Look at that thing.

So it's crazy, dude, is, um, I'll give it back to you. I don't want to damage this thing. No. I don't want to be responsible at all. Yeah, perfect. There you go. Beautiful. We, uh, I got a call to do Rock of Ages, the big Broadway musical out here in Vegas. Is that what brought you to Vegas? Yeah, that's what brought us here. So my wife and I were living in LA. And, you know, I, I love telling this story because Vegas has been so good. to me with opportunity. 13 years ago, on Halloween, I moved to Vegas. 13 years ago, a week ago, I was bartending, downtown Los Angeles chasing an acting career.

And I got a call saying, hey, you want to do Rock of Ages in Vegas? And I was like, yeah, let's go. My wife and I looked at each other, we're like, we'll do six months. We'll do a year. We've been here 13 years. I'm in my dressing room one night. I got the 80s wig on. And Rock of Ages changed my life, essentially, because it brought us here.

and I was introduced to this incredible city and what makes Vegas so incredible are the people. We're still here. But I'm in my dressing room. And 745, I'm about to walk on stage and I had a great room. TV bar was awesome. And Bill Foley, our owner of the Vegas Golden Knights,

goes on the news. And at that time, it was just an idea. And he said, I think I want to bring professional hockey to Vegas. You know, just like everybody else had my head tilted and I'm like, oh, this guy's full of it. And to put things in respect, there were no pro sports teams in Vegas. No, no, nothing.

So the crazy guy that I am. Now there's three. Yeah. And they're more on the way, as we know. The crazy guy that I am, the next day, the next day, Chris, I literally called Fidelity Financial. And I said, hey, my name is Mark Chinook. I'm an actor on the strip. I love hockey.

I played the game. My father owns a junior franchise. How can I help make this a reality? And at that time, there was a campaign called Vegas wants hockey. And there was one employee. dedicated to this campaign and they transferred the call to him. And he goes, are you a funny guy, goofy dude from Rock of Ages? And I go, yeah. He goes, man, I love you. I bring all my dates to your show. You're funny as hell. He goes, join this campaign. I said, okay, what do I got to do?

He says, just help us sell season ticket deposits. So I would call you and I'd be like, yo, Chris, I need a thousand bucks. And you'd be like, what for? For a hockey team? Which one? And it doesn't exist. But don't worry, it's refundable. And that's what we did. And we sold 14,000 season ticket deposits to prove to the National Hockey League that we had a fan base. They were already building Team Mobile Arena. So it was a win, win, win, win, win, win. And they awarded them a franchise. And they were like, hey, come work in the front office.

I'm like, I'm an actor. I'm an actor. I'm an actor. Yeah. But this is how crazy small this world is. Dude, they ended up hiring a vice president of entertainment. The first ever VP of Entertainment for the Golden Knights, his name was Johnny Greco.

And he worked for the WWE. and he called me out of the blue and he said, hey, everybody in the office is talking about you. You're on this hockey, Vegas wants hockey campaign. Come meet with us. I said, okay. And they offered me the job as the in arena hype guy. And I was like, I don't know, what does this even mean?

I'm an actor. I love hockey. What does that mean? And they're like, handed me a microphone. And I just said, okay, I guess I'm a fan who loves hockey with a microphone. And that's how it started. That's how my introduction to working in professional sports started. was taking that job

with the Golden Knights. And then that led to you being able to live that childhood dream of hoisting the Stanley Cup. Fast forward to the sixth season. We make the Stanley Cup finals for the second time. We made it in our first inaugural season, which is unheard of,

but we made it into the sixth season, into the finals again. And it was a home run. We knew we were winning. I flew my dad out, two of my brothers, game five, Stanley Cup finals, and we win it all. It was over after like the first period because we ended up winning the game like 9-3.

It wasn't even close in game five. So I'm on the ice doing interviews with the players, the ownership group, management, trainers, all the staff. And then families and wives and girlfriends and kids are on the ice. And my producer just says into my ear, hey man, you're wrapped. So I pop my earpiece and I'm just standing there with a microphone, just enjoying the most. moment. I see my family up in the stands and one of the trainers says, Chinook, it's your turn. I said, what are you talking about? He just hands me the cup. Wow. And I'm like, oh my God, and there it was over my head, this 33 and a half pound holy grail of all things Canadian for us, right, as kids. And I got

this thing over my head and I'm screaming. And it's a moment that I'll never forget. Immediately after we celebrate that night. You got to plan a parade. So it didn't really set in that we won because we got to go back to work and we're planning a parade for 300,000 people to line the streets in Vegas. And it really, really didn't set in until about three weeks later after the parade. All the dust is settled. My wife is away on a gig. She's doing an acting gig. I don't even remember what it was. And just like everybody else, I look at my phone in the morning. And there was an email from the team staff wide saying, please click the link and go. get fitted for a ring. And that's when I was like, there were some tears. I'm not going to lie. I'm not embarrassed to say it. I'm in bed by myself with a couple dogs. And I knew at that moment that I was getting a Stanley Cup ring with my family name on it. And the minute I got the ring, it was in a FedEx box to Sue St. Marie to my dad. What a great photo that is, too. Yeah. Sick. Yeah. It's in my office, bro. As it should be.

Yeah. This episode is brought to you by fast-growing trees. Fall is planting season. And did you know that many plants and trees actually do better when they're planted this time a year? But you have to know where to start. And that's why I love fastgrowing trees.com. It doesn't matter if you live in the sunny south or if the air's getting a little chilly

where you are, their plant experts can help you find the perfect fit for your space. They have all the plants that your yard needs like fruit trees, privacy trees, flower trees, shrubs, and so much more. And they're alive and thrive guarantee ensures your plants arrive happy and healthy. I just made an order. They should be arriving any day now. And the thing I love about it is convenience. I went on their website. They have more than 6,000 plants to choose from. So whether you have a big yard, small yard, or no yard at all, there's lots to choose from on there. Boop, boop, boop, you make your order and it arrives at your doorstep. And like, let's be honest here. nurseries have strange hours. So instead of trying to figure out are they open, are they closed,

carving out time on a weekend, on top of that, getting all that soil in your car, these just arrive and they're ready to go. So this fall, they have the best deals for your yard, up to half off on select plants and other deals. And listeners to our show get 15% off their first purchase when using the code Insight at checkout. That's 15% off at fastgrowingtrees.com using the code. Insight at checkout. Now's the perfect time to plan. Use that code Insight to save today. Offer is valid for a limited time.

Terms and conditions may apply. Check out the link below or in the show notes. And please support the show. The United States Soccer Federation present the U.S. Soccer Podcast. My name is David Goss, and I'm joined by my co-host, Megan Klinemberg. And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup. Time's ticking. I think you can feel the intensity.

All the guys are. wanting to really take their claimant, and they want to be on that World Cup roster. There's no doubt about it. Hosting the World Cup on the home soil comes with its pressures, but we're just really excited just as the people are. The U.S. Soccer Podcast, presented by Hencoe. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. How did working with the Golden Knights lead to doing what you were doing with top rank boxing? That's amazing question.

Thank you for asking it. Todd DeBuff, president of Top Ranked Boxing, Top Ranks, based in Las Vegas. season one it goes right back to season one three weeks into the season of season one this is now nine years ago um i'm doing my thing in the stands with the microphone acting goofy getting the fans going crazy and he literally said to his agent that represented top rank hey we should call this kid he should probably come and work for us so a few weeks later i get a call from Kirsten Polly at CAA Sports, who is Nick Kahn's assistant, saying, hey, we represent ESPN and top-rank boxing. Would you be interested in coming to meet with us? I went to my wife, and I said,

absolutely. So we still have an apartment in L.A. flew back to L.A. I go to Century City, go to CAA Sports. I walk into the mecca of agencies. And at this point, I've been in entertainment almost 20 years. And I'm like, I can't believe I'm walking into CAA, the agency, right? I walked down the hall and I get to meet Nick Con for the first time. I walk into his office and I was blown away. And he said, hey, man, we love what you do. Would you be interested in working in boxing?

And I was like, absolutely, do you want me to work in boxing? He was like, yeah, we think you should work in boxing. And so my career started, you know, immediately with the Golden Knights, top rank ESPN. And I got to say, I loved working for top rank. It was an unbelievable experience, some of the best people in the business working for that company. And they really held my hand. And I don't think I'd be where I am today if it wasn't for that incredible group of people who really brought me on and nurtured me and shoved with love, as we say, in entertainment, you know, to get me to where I am today.

And, you know, here we go. How did WWE come about? Well, we all know Nick Kahn as the president of WWE. and they lost a ring announcer, and there was an opening, and I got a text message out of the blue from Triple H. And I looked down at my phone, and it was right around the time of the election in last year. Yeah.

So I looked at it at first, and I don't even know if he knows this, but I looked at it at first, and I said, oh, this has got to be a solicitation text for a candidate, right? Because you didn't see, like there was no name. It was just numbers. It was just numbers, right? And it started out, hey, it's Paul, Vec, H, H with WW. And so it was like, you know,

When you see that, you know, you know they're not really texting you. That's a bot texting, right? Like, hey, it's Morgan Freeman. I want you to vote for me for the Screen Actors Guild or whatever. Sure, yeah. That's what I thought it was when I first glanced at it. And I looked down on my own, whatever. Look, but my phone, like many people have, is connected to my computer.

And I was working on my computer and I could see the text message also pop up on my screen. Yeah. And I read the first bit. And I was like, oh, no, no, no. This is actually him. This isn't somebody pretending to be triple. H. And I read the text and it was like, hey, man, we're big fans of your work over here. You got time for a call. Yeah, hold my beer. Of course I got time for a call. The greatest mind and

wrestling of all time is texting me. And I'm like, wow. And that's how it started. We started a conversation and the timing was perfect. My contracts were up with top rank. And I graciously said, hey, I think I'm going to move over here. And I will say this about top rank. Brad Jacobs, who is my point, is probably one of the most incredible human beings on the planet. His words to me, when I called him, were, it sucks for us. This is incredible for you. Congratulations. And that's, to this day, you know, I have the utmost respect for Brad. And I'm sure, I don't know for fact, but I'm sure Nick had something to do with this when that vacancy presented itself, because he's the one who brought me over to boxing. And I'm sure he had something to do with

bringing me over to the WWE. And, you know, Joe Tess is with the WWE, and he was the voice of top rank forever. So we have a wonderful relationship. And I can say that Joe has been remarkable in holding my hand. And same. Everybody. Everybody has been. So again, and Ken the Candy Store, humble as hell, grateful for everything. Sometimes WWE fans can not be so kind. And when you debuted, I was like, oh, my gosh, I wonder what they're going to say. You knocked it out of the park. And everybody was like, man, he crushed it.

Thank you for that. And it's so true. It Triple H tweeted, actually, after your debut. There was the photo of you in Triple H. And he said, welcome to the team. Mark Shinnuk crushed it. I can say to that that I didn't crush it alone, right? Like there's no way I'm crushing my debut in the WWE without people like Alicia Taylor and Lillian Garcia and Berkeley Ottoman and Christian Klein.

And just so you guys know Berkeley and Christian are the timekeepers. They're on the bell. You all know who Alicia and Lillian are. Mike, you know, everybody from Leaf Fitting. Lindsay, like these are people that literally ensured that I was okay. And a lot of companies are not like that. There was no rush to the launch of Mark Nash. There was absolutely no rush to that.

And they just wanted to make sure that I was comfortable being me because that's also was the directive. Like, Triple H Cup came out to me and he said, just be you. Have fun. And that was it. You know, and when they called and said, how are you feeling? You want to go?

I was like, yeah, I want to go. And my go was the O2 arena in London at the end of March. So what an iconic place for Mark Nash to walk out of a tunnel. And the very first superstar that you introduced. You start right at the top. Let's go. Cody Rhodes. Yeah, my first hit was ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the American Nightmare Cody Rhodes.

And I'll never forget it. Amazing. Can you curse on this show? I was scared shitless. I was scared shitless. And, you know, it was just. I had been to the O2 with other events, but not with the WWE universe. And after that show was over, man, the fans were awesome.

And if I could have, I would have hugged everybody. That's how much of a high I was on because they were so gracious. And they all wanted to know who the hell I was. And that's just wrestling. It's just the WWE universe, man. They want to know. And I'm happy to let them know. So having this opportunity, this is so cool, dude.

Thank you. Of course. My pleasure having you on here. Do we call you Mark Chinook or do we call you Mark Nash? Nash. This is a wrestling podcast, the greatest wrestling podcast I might add. Oh, that's very kind. No, dude, listen, come on. Todd you get to Nash. Listen, the name game in wrestling as we all, and let me preface too, I'm a fan, right? Just like when I got my gig with the Golden Knights, I was a massive fan of hockey. Yeah, so where does your fandom for wrestling date back to? Yeah, listen, I'm 48 years old, right?

So my wrestling fan was Hogan and King Kong Bundy and Snooka and all of our Canadian icons, right? So I was a fan. So to see that text message, like even right now, dude, like. I see. Yeah, even right now. Yeah. Like, when you look down at your phone and you're getting a text message from the go to WWE and Triple H is like, hey, man. I'm like, what?

Hey man, we're a fan of your work. Yeah, what? So again, you get nervous, right? You start overthinking, analyzing things. That's just who I am. I'm over-prepared in all walks of my life. I'm OCD. I got my hand in a lot of pots, as you know, and I'm prepared.

And so I just started over-analyzing and overthinking. And again, going back to what I said with them letting me just sort of find my way before they launched me into the world was amazing. And so to answer the question about the name, there's a process there. And it's awesome, right? Like that's a big part of wrestling is finding out who this person is now and where this name is or how they're finding that name. And so it didn't come overnight. And there was a lot of conversation about it back and forth with options.

And Nash was, believe it or not, something that I came up with. It's my mother's maiden name. and my father's last name squished together. So my father's last name is Chinook, as everybody knows, S-H-U-N-O-C-K. My mother's maiden name is Nassar, N-A-S-S-R. So I took N-A-S-H and put it together. And I just threw it in an email.

It wasn't like anything like I didn't even need an explanation. I just said, hey, what do you guys think about Mark Nash? It's my mom's name and my dad's name squish together. And they're like, awesome. It's a great story. And I was like, wow. And so again, as much as it's not my real name, it is. And so when I walk out, I am so proud of Mark Nash on that screen because you're allowing me now to tell the WWE universe that that's my mom and my dad on that screen with me.

And I'm just like yourself and probably all of your listeners. We all have families. We all have mothers and fathers. And I love mine, just like everybody else. and they're with me every Friday night. You've had some big shoes to fill. When you think of all the legends that have come before you and the incredible voices, Howard Finkel,

and Lillian Garcia, Justin Roberts, Mike Rome, Samantha Irvin, Alicia Taylor doing her thing now, Greg Hamilton, those are a lot of huge names. They all had their own style. How do you pay tribute to the people that have come before you but put your own spin on it as well? My thing in the ring, and I guess I was four, because I didn't just step into ring announcing with the WWE.

I was fortunate enough to work in boxing, professional boxing, for seven years on ESPN with, in my opinion, one of the greatest boxing promotional companies that will ever be. So, you know, I found my voice in boxing. And it's never been about the ring announcer in my world. And that started in boxing. You know, you asked about the black t-shirt, right? Yeah, you're always wearing black. Always wearing black, and it's for a reason because it's not about me. It's about the fighter or the superstar.

And so... You don't want to take the attention away from them? Never. That's their moment. So you're saying you don't want people looking at you when they should be looking at the stars in the ring. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. You can look at me a little bit.

I'm not going to hate that, but that moment is not about me. Well-dressed man? The moment is about them. The moment there and my job is to get the crowd so fired up for what's about to go down. But we also have to remember it's also to get that superstar fired up. They're about to throw down. And when I look back at my boxing days, a boxing ring introduction is a lot longer

and more elaborate than what we do in the WWE. So I had a little bit more arc and build with the fighter where I can really talk about the color of their shorts and where they're from. and their record and maybe what they're doing and let's go. And it had this progression in wrestling. You got to come out of it. You got to come and bring the stank right away. It's name weight hometown.

If you're lucky. That's it. You know, sometimes it's just like, that's who it is, let's go. Yeah. But for me,

it's about making sure that if you're standing in that corner, waiting to go rip that guy's head off, I do whatever I can to pump you up. As much as I want to pump the crowd up. So sometimes I think as fans, we forget that some of these moments, as much as they are for the audience and the fan, there's somebody that's getting ready to go to battle.

And I want to make sure I'm doing that man or woman justice in my delivery and in my ring introduction. So listen, I'm still learning the WWE ways, and I will probably learn the WWE ways for the rest of my life. But it's never been about me in that moment. And that's why I joke I'm the Johnny Cash of ring announcing because I wear black. All black.

So would that be the biggest difference between boxing, ring announcing, and WWE is that like you're telling much more of a story in boxing, right? Yeah. Whereas in WWE, it's, you've got to get this out pretty quick. And also, too, there are so many other elements in WWE that are instantly recognizable, right? So the minute the song drops, we know who's coming. Sure. Right?

So I don't need to, I can lay out. But also, like, you're a little bit of a nays. narrator in WWE. Like, you have to explain the rules of the match sometimes. And then also, if anybody's been to a WWE live event, you're the one talking to the audience during the commercial breaks. And you're telling people about when tickets go on sale or this item of merchandise or the signs or things like that. You're a little bit like an MC in that way. See, and I love that, right? Because that's basically what I do still, to this day, at the Golden Knights. Like, I still have my role with VGK here on time. How many jobs do you have?

many. How long is this show? We can talk about it. But yeah, like, that's, that's kind of what started me off, right? And that's what attracted top rank to what I was doing was all the, the goofy stuff that I'm doing with fans, because essentially, I'm a fan with a microphone. And if there is one thing that I want people to take away from today, I'm a fan with a microphone. I'm just so grateful that I have this opportunity to be able to sit ringside and root on my favorite superstars too quietly. I can't pick favorites. But, you know, like, I'm a fan, man, and I love what I do. So when those moments happen when we're off camera, I love that. Because I can sort of be me a little bit even more and high five fans and walk around and say

hi to people. I live for that. Your first real introduction on camera to fans was the raw after WrestleMania because you were the first person to announce John Sina as the 17th time champion. what a moment. I'm going to just say it. This ring is pretty special, and that's an iconic moment for me. The Stanley Cup ring. The Stanley Cup.

So in hockey, that's that. I don't know that I will ever be a part of a moment. Let's knock on wood that they keep happening as amazing. I don't have another word for it. Just unreal, amazing, incredible as this last three months that I've had with John Cena. And again, what? Like, what is life?

Right? Like he points at you and calls you into the ring and tells you your announcement sucks, reads this, read this instead. And then I'm like, okay. And then I get this elaborate ring announcer or announcement for John and it goes bananas and viral and everybody loves it. And I've had the privilege of now repeating it for three months. And, you know, that came to an end a week and two weeks ago, his last appearance on Smackdown. And I had a moment with him where I just, I literally just looked him in the eyes and I said, thank you so much for this incredible opportunity. Again, I don't, I don't even know that we'd be sitting here if it wasn't for that, right? Because it propelled me in the WWE universe in a pretty cool way. What was the conversation like earlier in the day when John came to you and said, I've got this idea. Here's what I want you to say. That's pretty much it.

What am I going to say no? Yeah, I was like, cool, man. You're looking at going, I get to say that. Yeah. Never seen seven. That sounds amazing. Yeah. It was pretty remarkable.

And that just shows you just how amazing the teams are behind the scenes at WWE and how great they are at what they do. What's really cool about that moment. And John's amazing. And I've always had such incredible conversations with him, both on camera and off camera. I love how he is very self-aware that the spotlight is on him. It's one of the greatest of all time. He's a massive Hollywood star. But he's allowing you to come into that spotlight and going, oh, there's enough of this to share with you.

And that's such a cool thing that he's able to share that moment with you. Again, there's a picture on my office wall right beside the Stanley Cup picture already. Like, I didn't have to wait for that one. And to your point, the answer to all, everything you said is 100% yes. He is that guy. He understands that moment. But even when I said, hey, man, this is thank you so much, I'm still learning. His answer to me was, so am I.

Oh, I love that. You know what I mean? Yeah. Mad respect and so grateful that, again, that's a moment that I will have for the rest of my life. And I don't care what anybody thinks. I got to be in the ring with John Cena. And on his last show, he came up to me and put his arm around me. We had a moment.

We smiled together. And it was great. You know, and I'm an actor, right? Like, I spent 20 years on stage performing all over the country. So I want those moments. I want more of those moments. Those are what we live for. Did you feel the weight of having the responsibility of doing John Cena's final announcement on Smackdown?

Yeah, I think after the show. I didn't realize, you know, in the moment because I just wanted to be in that moment with everybody. So how did it come together? You're about to announce Sammy Zane. And then Sammy says something to you and things get switched up. That was not planned. That was, and I just shared it on my Instagram because that moment took place in commercial break. So it actually didn't go to broadcast.

And that was not planned. Sorry, you were going to announce Sina, obviously. He's the challenger. He's the challenger. So, you know, I just prepared it as I would normally prepare. It's a United States championship match. We call them old school introductions. The ring announcer gets into the ring and you introduce the challenger and then a champion.

Yeah. So I'm prepared. I'm ready to go. And I'm excited, right? Like, I get to do this incredible ring announce for Mr. Sino one last time. And Sammy, being the good Canadian kind man that he is, in the middle of the start, I'm like, introducing first the challenger. He comes up, scares the shit up. He puts his hand on. I'm like, what is going on? And you can see it in my face. I'm like, what is happening? And he's explaining it to me. And true Sammy Zane Fash. in 15 sentences. Like he just kept talking. I was like, okay, I got it. I got it. You want, oh, fine.

I'll introduce you first. And so, you know, I just, I made it up on the spot. I was like, I apologize. The champion out of respect for the challenger would like to be introduced first. And what a gracious thing for Sammy to do. And that speaks volumes about who he is. The crowd started booing like it was a heel move. No.

They didn't get it. They thought it was like a heel move. Yeah. But when you go back and watch it, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, see Sammy, he actually gets on the ropes, he claps, he, you know, almost bows down in that moment. So it was just a classy move. And I knew what he was doing. So I just rolled with it. I introduced the champ. And John knew too. Like he acknowledged that you see Johnny puts his hands together and gives Sammy a little a nod. And then when I got to John, I think that I think it was

just kind of like everything just, it was like a baseball moment, right? Where the pitcher just tunes out. everything. I just, I was done with Sammy and I turned and I saw John and he had that little scene of smirk on his face. And I said, here we go. And I said, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the greatest of all time. And by the time I got to that first phrase, he was right beside me with his hand around my shoulder, big smile on his face. And you can see him actually chuckle a little bit because he's hearing it. And he chuckles a little bit. And then he He goes into his bit and it was legendary. Like, I'm just, again, goosebumps.

How cool is that that you get to be a small part in that moment? Very cool. You can't explain it, man. There are moments in life that just happen and we have to find time as human beings to take a step back, take a deep breath and acknowledge what happened. And that's one of those moments for me. And I've been noticing that John scene's been doing that a lot, especially in the back half of this farewell tour.

Like he had that one moment where he had SummerSlam, he took a picture and was like, I'm. Yeah, it's there. It's in the hard drive. Yeah, and I love that he's like taking that mental image of like looking around a little bit, taking it all in, okay, I'm not going to have this much longer. I've only got a handful of dates left. It's so cool to see that.

Yeah. So what's the process look like? if you're announcing someone in WWB for the first time and you have a conversation with them, what does that look like? You know, it goes back to what I was saying before. Just making sure they understand my understanding of my position, you know, and I've been very candid with the superstars walking around going, hey, just so you know, is that good? Like, I'll ask for feedback.

You want any other, you want some different stank? Because it's about you in this moment. I want to make sure that you're getting what you want, right? And it's been very, very refreshing because a lot of them have just been like so welcoming and appreciative. And they like what I'm doing. They like my voice. They like my passion behind the mic. And so that's been wonderful.

Do you have them all memorized? I noticed you had cue cards at one point in time. Yeah. Which is unheard of. Well, that's a boxing thing, right? Yeah. And I'm glad you brought that up because I got, you know, like you mentioned, some fans are not so friendly. It's a safety blanket for me and has been.

A lot of ring announcers will write things out and they'll have an actual big binder book. Have you seen Bruce Buffers ring cards? I've seen Bruce Buffers ring cards. Highlighted with little notes and arrows and circles. Yeah. Incredible. Yeah. And when I was doing boxing, I would have two cards per fight.

I would have the introduction card and the results card. Like just crazy prepared. Sure. Because at the end of the day, in boxing, if you mess up a split decision announcement or a majority decision, a majority of drug, like there's six, I forget how many there are in boxing, six ways you can announce a fight result. If you mess that up, you're done. Right. And there's, you've got one job, sir. Exactly. So read it. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, just read it. There's no reason to try and risk memorizing a result in boxing simply because you want to memorize it and not. Hold a card. Read it because again, it's not about you. It's about telling Chris he's and still and new.

So don't screw it up. Read it. Here, there's no scores. So it's a little easier to announce a result, much easier. But to answer the first part of your question, no, I'm still learning. There's a lot of talent in the WWE, NXT, Raw Smackdown. I think this is now my sixth month with the company. I'm starting to feel comfortable with the blue, right? That's funny that this room is blue. Smackdown, I'm starting to feel comfortable. Yeah. Right? Don't quiz me. Cody Rhodes.

No, don't. Come on. You know Cody Rhodes. But I just, I want, I'm a perfectionist, right? And I want to be perfect for you. I don't want to be perfect for me. But what are Cody Rhodes stats? Settle down.

You're making you nervous. I just, it's just. So did you then approach them and say, I'd be more comfortable. I could put them on a card. Well, I still do. Like I said, there's sometimes you write things down and you just keep notes on your table. Sure.

I don't like carrying big, clunky things. So that's why I put things on cards. So you'll see some ring announcers walk out with the binder just like the announcers do. And that's all of our notes. I just prefer to condense my notes downward to click quick glance if I need to do it. Yeah. Right. But again, that's just preparation.

It's no different. My dad taught me an amazing phrase as a kid. Everybody wants to win, but the will to prepare to win is more important, right? So you got to prepare. So if I want to knock something out of the park, I got to prepare. So just like you see superstars rehearsing their promos or whatever, I'm at rehearsal rehearsing the old school introductions because I don't bring cards into the ring anymore. But if I could, I would.

And that's not a selfish thing. Well, that is kind of a selfish thing because I don't want to mess up your moment. So if fans wrap their head around the idea of a ring announcer holding a card is not because they're not memorized per se. It's more about not wanting to mess up your moment. So that's why I do it. Like I still have notes sitting ringside. We all do. You know, everybody's got notes.

The announcers, they've got notes to make sure that when they're calling the matches, they're not messing something up. Yeah. I don't want to mess it up. That's plain and simple. So, you know, I want people to understand that if you see me holding something, it's not because I'm not prepared. It's because I don't want to screw up your moment. Who have you not announced yet that you can't wait for the opportunity?

Pretty much the entire raw lineup. That's true. Yeah. And then a lot of legends, too. Yes. Yeah. Like I just said Brock's name for the first time last week. Yeah.

Like, you'll have a moment at some point in time when you're saying The Undertaker. Bro. Yeah. Like how cool. Cool is that. You know, I think I got to introduce Triple H at one of our events, I think. Have you had a moment yet where there's been a legitimate surprise? Because I've talked to, I've had quite a few ring announcers on the show, and they'll

like, someone's music will hit. And then you'll get something in your ear where they're like, oh, they go. And you're like, oh, my goodness. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome The Undertaker. Yeah. There have been a few of those moments. But for me, it's been more about pivoting in the show. Like something just goes left.

And we didn't know that was coming. So being prepared for a decision that you didn't think was going to be a decision. I think somebody got counted out a few weeks ago. And I didn't know there was going to be a countout. So I'm like, oh, they're counted out. So you have to give a count out decision. Things like that. But again, I'm surrounded by the best of the best in their role.

right? Berkeley ottoman who's a timekeeper, Christian Klein, who's a timekeeper, or Velcro when a show is on. So I'm sitting beside them and they're on comms, they're communicating, I'm not. I'm sitting there enjoying the moment. And I get sucked in sometimes. I get distracted because I'm so into the match. Do you want to know the result? No. No. No, why would I? You know, I want to live in that moment with the fans, right? I want, and then hopefully that my read for the result sounds even more authentic because, holy shit, he won. Yeah. You know, I don't want to know the results.

So at this point in WWE, you haven't announced at WrestleMania yet. That's got to be one of the goals. You know, I haven't even thought about it. Well, now we're thinking about it. And it's right here in Vegas. Yeah, it's my home, right? Of course, I would love to be a part of it. But I can tell you this, when we did Smackdown inside T-Mobile Arena,

last year before mania, that was pretty damn special for me, you know, because a lot of the people who were at Smackdown that night are also Vegas Golden Knights fans. And Joe Tess did my intro for my walk. And he really tipped the cap. And that just shows you how classy Joe is. He introduced me as Vegas's very own. And I got a nice little appreciation applause for that walk that day. It was nice. And I even acknowledged it off camera before we went to broadcast. I said, it's so great to be home, but it's so great to be home with the WW. And that was a moment that I'll never forget. And then also to have to cover for Alicia on the Monday after- You got Smackdown and Raw. And RAA. Yeah, sorry. During Mania Week. During Mania Week. Yeah. Incredible. So I bookended in my barn,

you know, because that's where I spend 40 home games a year with the Golden Knights. So I'm wondering if you could. I prepared something. I would love for you to give an intro for me. And not just a WWE intro. Just a American intro. I wrote down some stats. Oh, okay.

I came prepared here. So this is going to be more of like a boxing style intro. Sure. Would you do me the honor? Let's go. Oh, my goodness. What do we got? Let me move the microphone.

back a little bit. Okay. Oh, you got your hometown in there. That's good. If I stand up, will I still be in the shot? No. Okay. Stan may be right there. No, I'll just, I'll just get hyped up sitting down here. You got your weight. You got some stats. Might not be my actual weight, but there is a weight there. Okay, here we go. All right. Can I change the order a little bit? You can change whatever you want. You're the pro. I would put where you're from last. I love it. Yeah. The city is, is sort of my way of letting the world know because usually some towns will have a nickname, right? Like Brick City, Newark, New Jersey. I'll put that last. Yeah, yeah. Before I say your name. All right. But you've got to like, you got to give it to me. Here we go. I'm going to back up so I don't blow out the engineers here.

Here we go. Ladies and gentlemen, with more than three billion views on YouTube, he is a four-time Emmy Award winner. weighing in at 200 and 2 pounds. He is the reigning, defending, undisputed podcast champion of the world from Pickering, Ontario, Canada. Wow. I feel like I could fight a bear. Oh, my goodness, bro. You guys okay back there? Thank you.

In the studio. All right. Thank you so much. Wow. I get a, that's a, you're going to get a bill now for. We're going to play that at the start of almost every episode.

I'll give you your loony every time we do that. That's what I was thinking. I was like, so what's my commission on this one? That works out to 88 cents American. That's so good. Bro. It's much less than 88 cents.

Yeah, it's probably, it's 70. The dollar is very not strong right now. Thank you. Incredible. That's a good. great idea. Thank you for throwing that out. Oh, no, thank you. So we talked about it earlier.

You have many jobs, the Golden Knights, WWE, where we're sitting here right now with the space. Talk to me about what you're doing here. What even is this? Yeah, so the space is a 9,000 square foot community center, one block off the strip. So we're in the podcast studio at the space right now. But the space is home to a ton of programs to serve the community. When we got the show, again, you know, what's that Tim McGraw song, humble and kind, right? Like, leave it better than the way you found it. That's really my wife and I's mission when we got this opportunity. I said this earlier 13 years ago.

I moved here 13 years ago one week ago. I was a bartender. So I'm very grateful for everything that I've had the privilege to be a part of. And we thought it was very important when we got to, Vegas to start giving back. And we started a program called Monday's Dark. And the name Monday's dark comes from the fact that Broadway is traditionally dark on Monday. We didn't perform. So when I was doing Rock of Ages, it was Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, twice on Saturday, twice on Sunday, Monday was my only day off. On our Monday night, I would gather entertainers and friends and I'd say,

hey, come to the space and we'll throw a variety show. I'll host it. We'll get bands and actors and singers and dancers, all the entertainers from Vegas. And in 90 minutes, we would raise $10,000 and give it away to a different cause. And we've been doing that now for 12 years this December. We've raised millions of dollars for the community. So the space is home to Monday's Dark. It's also home to an amazing organization called Life by Music, where we take Gibson guitars, and we put them in the hands of veterans, and they learn how to play music to deal with PTSD. We have kids classes here. We have AA meetings here.

We have Alzheimer's support group meetings here. You name it, we do it. But front facing the space is a venue. We have concerts and bands playing here all the time, comedy shows, private birthday parties, small wedding receptions, bat mitzvahs, you name it. So it's a venue. But at the core of the venue, its mission is to serve Las Vegas and give back to the community. And everything we do here when we turn the lights on, we just got to make sure we're given back in some capacity, leaving it better than we found it.

And we're now embarking on the craziest project ever. We have this opportunity with Las Vegas. We acquired two acres of land just under two acres just down the street from here on the corner of Polaris and Harmon. And we're going to build a new space, and it's 50 million bucks. And it will be the home to all things mental health. and wellness for anybody who works in entertainment, hospitality, first responders, veterans, our public educators, public education students, and our construction workers. So basically, the men and women who serve in Las Vegas will now have a place, a block off the strip,

to go and get help. And there will be seven nonprofits in the building providing those services, because I'm not going to sit here and sit with you. I ain't Chris. I know how to fix mental health and fix our education system. I don't know anything about that, but I know how to champion causes and help people, and that's very important to me. And I think I would be amiss if I didn't use the platforms that I've been given with the Golden Knights and boxing,

but now the WWE. So being able to sit here with you, and you ask me that question, again, goosebumps, because it allows the universe to look behind the camera a little bit and know that this is who Mark Nash is. This is what I do. This is what I care about. And hopefully that resonates with people

because mental health is a big deal in our world right now. People have to get help. People have to have access to help, right? I think that's a big problem is we like to put the excuse on other things. And in my opinion, in what the city of Las Vegas and Clark County

believes is access is the problem. And sometimes we take for granted because of the positions we're in, that we have access to things that some people don't. And I want to build a facility, a community center that actually serves the community. Go figure, right? So the county gave me, gave me a plot of land, a block off the strip right behind the RIA and the cosmopolitan. Like, that's bananas.

In a city like Las Vegas that's growing the way it is, they see the work we're doing. They understand the need and the support that we have to provide the men and women who serve and we're going to make it happen. So I started a big fundraiser. We want to put shovels in the ground in late 2026. We want to be open by 2028. But our whole model and sort of mantra is that we get 50 million visitors a year to Vegas and we do an incredible job at serving them. When they go home, who serves those who serve? That's the mission of the space, creating a wonderful place where people can get help. Is it? So how can people help you with? this project. Click the link and throw me a dollar. You know, like, listen, man, you have millions of

listeners, millions of followers. Just imagine if each one of your listeners clicked the link and donated five bucks, the building's paid for. So if there was a message, it skipped Starbucks for the day because I'm there. I get it. I know how much I spend on coffee and Tim Hortons. That's how we're going to get it done, right? Like, I'm going to rally your supporters. I'm going to get you to make a video for me one day and say, hey, it's Chris, click the link. Be happy to. Exactly. And that's how it's going to happen. We just started about six months ago aggressively marketing the project. And, you know, I'm going to lean on a lot of my celebrity friends to help me with endorsements. We're going to go after big companies.

If companies are listening and they want to help, we have naming right opportunities for the building, put your company's logo on a classroom. Who wouldn't want to help build a classroom, right? And we've got some incredible local companies already that have stepped up and we're going to start announcing them as we get closer to the end of the year. But once we get to 2026, man, the Band-Aid is getting ripped off. And I'm going to, you're going to see a lot of my social really pivot to messages of just helping my city because we need it. We need it bad. We do a great job of taking care of people when you come here. You know how special Vegas is when you come here. I hear all the time. Best clubs, best restaurants, best shows, best sports teams.

WrestleMania is coming back, right? But what make those things, the best are not the buildings and the decor of the restaurant. It's the people actually serving. Yeah. You know, when you go to mania, look around and see how many people are putting that event on. Those are the people we want to take care of. And I think people don't realize that while Vegas presents as a large city, it's actually a much smaller city in a very tight-knit community. Yeah. I'm glad you said that because that's why we're still here, right? Like, I probably could live anywhere I want because of, you know, traveling every week with SmackDown. But the people of Las Vegas are what keep me here, not the restaurants or the shows or the hotels.

It's the people because those are the people who make Vegas special. And when I'm meeting with now all these big wigs of companies and stuff, and they see the presentation, they see the deck, they see who's involved, the organizations, the construction companies. It's mind-boggling that this is a project that I'm spearheading. Because, again, I never thought I'd hoist the Stanley Cup. I never thought I'd introduce the greatest of all time, the never seen 17. And I certainly never thought that this kid from Sue St. Marie would be spearheading a $50 million mental health facility.

So what's the website for people that are just listening right now? Yeah, the space, the space, lv.com. And we'll make sure you get the links in everything. Of course, it'll be down there in the show notes for anybody listening. It'll be in the description for people on YouTube. Of course. Happy to help. Dude, unreal.

It's my small way of paying you back for that beautiful introduction. That's right. You're going to help me raise millions of dollars. I'll do my best. Congratulations, man. What an incredible career. I love that you are spearheading this thing because you believe in it so much. I just know that, and I'm sure you can relate, you're an entertainer, you're a host, you're a producer, you're creative.

You have days where you're like, right? and when you have those days, what do you do? And I just want to make sure that when people have those days, and I know all your listeners have those days too, that it's okay to not be okay, and you have a place to go and get help or make a phone call. That's all I care about. I really just want people to know it's okay to not be okay,

and people have your back. You just got to know we're here for you. I feel like you're about to get a whole bunch of DMs. Listen, people know when you've got their back. Listen, man, if maybe you can help me start one of those like cameo channels and I'll do ring announcements for everybody and we'll give all the money to charity. Do you realize what you've just said? I'll do it.

If it's for the, if it's for a cause, bro, and you help me champion that, I'll, I'll do ring announcements 24-7 with Andrew back there behind the walls like, no, you won't. No. I will, dude. You're putting this out into the world. You'll do ring announcements for anybody on cameo for charity. or maybe we'll skip cameo because I don't know what their fees are. Just directly.

You could just do it. Oh my goodness. You can help me set up the platform. And let's challenge all of your listeners to spend. What's a fair price? I don't even know what people pay for that shit. $30, $40 American? Sure.

Let's call it 50. Make it nice and round. I like it. Maybe a hundred. It's for charity. It's a write-off too. Because if you live in the United States and you make a donation to the cause, it's a nonprofit. So you take it off your taxes.

So it's a donation. to a cost. Who wouldn't pay $100 to have the smackdown ring announcer say their name and all those other wonderful things you said about me, which were all true, by the way. 202? You wait 202. You know, most of the things were true. You're good, though. I'm trying to keep up with you. Bullshit. I just didn't want my, I didn't want my weight coming from a WWE ring announcer to start with a one. Okay? Well, that's all right. My legit weight is 100. 185 pounds.

Solid, right? Yeah, that's really good. I feel good. That's really good. But I didn't want you to be like weighing in at 185 pounds because how am I going to wrestle Cody Rhodes or Brock Lesner? You're not. That's not who you are. No, it is in this moment.

I'm not wrestling. When you were saying my name, I was in the ring. I'm standing across from Roman rains. I don't weigh 185 pounds. You're 202. 202 is nice, bro. Solid? Yeah.

Isn't that New York City's area code? It's a good number. No, 212. Yeah. 212. That can be 212. 212 is nice. It's got a good ring to it. Maybe we should have done 212. Off air. We'll do another one. I'll give you six weights. You can pick every show based on your diet that week. See, if I think of the other area codes that mean a lot to me, 9.05, I can't wait 905 pounds.

416 pounds. I'm 7.05. That's a same rate. That's a lot. That's a show on discovery. 519. I went to Wilford-Loree University. I can't be 500. I'm not the big show. No. No. Yeah. What's been your favorite person to announce? Is it having the honor of saying John Sina? Yeah. I think right now for where I am, it's John Sina. The women are all fantastic. Chelsea being a fellow Canadian, she's been wild.

Have you tried to put your spin on Chelsea Green? Oh, listen. Chelsea Green. I'm going to just throw it out there for the world. to know that is never coming out of my mouth because also too chelsea is badass and she deserves to be introduced as a badass so i think that fans will start to to resonate with the badass announcement of chelsea mitchin this girl's just i she's awesome she's awesome uh and then you know the miss miss has been wild mellow they're all great man like i've had the honor of saying roman rains uh no Not yet. Not yet. Not yet. But I could just, if there's anything that I want to tell the listeners,

man, these people are all incredible and they're human beings, right? So sometimes we forget as fans, because again, just not to beat a dead horse, I'm a fan with a microphone. We sometimes forget that they're human beings and having the privilege to sit and have a meal with them every now and then just talk. It's been awesome. And they have all been so incredibly supportive of me coming into the fold. And I just, again, kidding a candy store, man. A fan with a microphone.

What a perfect way to end this. And I love seeing a good Canadian boy doing good things in the world. Way to go, Bod. A-O-A-Hoser. Good stuff, Bod. I end every interview talking about gratitude because it's such a big part of my life.

What are three things in your life, Mark, that you're grateful for as we sit here right now? Mom and Dad, first and foremost, for the way that they... What are their names? George and Kathy. What great mom and dad names? Yeah, 86 and 84. Wow.

They raised five... 86 and 84 are your parents? My brother, my oldest brother is in his early 60s. So most of my friends, my oldest brother is the age of their parents. He's a grandfather. I have incredible nieces and nephews who are now parents in their own right. Wow. I am incredibly grateful for family because I am nothing without them,

especially someone who wanted to be a hockey player and chase that career and then somebody who went into entertainment, which is incredibly difficult. I would not be anywhere without the support of my brothers and sisters, my nieces and nephews, and my mother and father, plain and simple. So that's one, family. And I think most listeners would be like, yeah, me too. My wife, absolutely. She's my best friend, my lover.

And I like saying my lover because that's very important to me. She loves me and I love her. And when I say 13.1 and I was a bartender, she knew me when I was at the lowest of lows and at the highest of highs. And when somebody knows you at that level, there aren't many friends like that, right? And I just, I'm nothing without her. Just absolutely nothing without her.

And then the third thing is health. You know, I'm a scroller on Instagram just like everybody else. And most of my feed now is health-based things. I'm trying to, I'm 48 years old. And that's just weird for me to say. You know, I still feel like I'm 19. I still feel like. You look great.

Thank you. You do too. We could be brothers if we walk the street, man. That's true. Look at it. Yeah. Hey. I just, I'm trying to stay as healthy as possible.

I'm trying to watch what I eat. because, you know, I just feel like sometimes our food sucks and there's too much shit in it. And so I look at labels now. I never really used to do that. Yeah, I'm the same. I try not to drink much anymore. I've never smoked. I don't eat fast food.

So I've got a great trainer, John Bazaara, giving him a shout out. Keeps me going. And so I don't want to go anywhere. You know, I think as you get older, you start to fear a little bit of, like, getting sick and things. I think in today's day and age, it's all over the place. So I just, I try to just, those are the three, but I just, you know, stay kind and be nice to people and leave it better than the way you found it. Yeah. Well, congrats again on everything.

Dude, I don't say that to me. I'm saying congrats to you because, listen, you're incredible. And the fact that you've allowed me this opportunity means more to me than you'll ever know. Well, I love the opportunity to get to know you better and for fans to get to know you as well. Yeah, thank you. So, thank you for that. Appreciate you. Awesome.

Well, there we go. Mark has just been crushing it since joining WWE back in March. Big thank you to Mark for joining us. And please support this amazing thing he has going on with the space. The website is TheSpacelV.com. We also have a link down in the show notes. And you know what I especially love about this episode, other than like all the amazing stuff we've covered, but I love that we now have a new ring announcer intro for the start of the show to go along with Lillian Garcia, Justin Roberts and Samantha Irvin. So we'll be mixing those four together in rotation. So you'll be hearing that very intense.

Chris, Fad, Fleet. Oh, I love it. You'll be hearing that every handful of episodes here. But I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did. Snap a screenshot and tag us. He's at Mark Chinook. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. And I'll leave you with this quote from Roy T. Bennett.

You cannot control the behavior of others, but you can always choose how you respond to it. Be great and be grateful, my friends. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. We've got the great Charles Robinson joining us on Thursday. This is one that you will not want to miss. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock but there was one band that had it all hammer alley whatever happened to hammer

alley how did they go from top of the rock i'm looking for a music video they're a band from 1987 hammer alley ever heard of them to rock bottom dude i was born in nineteen eighty seven uh i can't believe he's doing this hammer alley follow and listen on your favorite platform