Think Tank WWE/Marc Mero

Welcome to the Mike Hartman Show. Mike is a performance coach and former Stanley cup champion with the New York Rangers. Topics on this show are focused around stories, mindset and champions. Mike will also go into details about helping you with your pain points and struggles and finding motivational solutions on how to have the mindset of a champion. Now, here's your host, Mike Hartman.

Welcome to another episode. Today we are still on the topic of Think Tank and I have a very special guest. I mean, this is out of my wheelhouse. Today my guest is Mark Merrow. Mark, great to have you here today, Mike.

Thanks for having me on the show.

Well, what a great, what a great thing for our listeners to understand like a little bit about you, your background. I mean, you got a real cool background. Why don't you share a little bit about, you know, what you do and who you are? We'd love to hear it.

Well, I grew up in a town that you're very familiar with, Buffalo, New York. And you know, my parents got divorced when I was young. Grew up on one of the worst drug and gang infested neighborhoods in Buffalo on the west side. And at a young age, you know, I felt, I found I was affected by a lot of adversity in my life and, you know, just one of those kids that just wouldn't give up. And it led to sports, which my first love was hockey. And I was a huge Buffalo Sabres fan. That's back when they had the French Connection, man. Gilbert Perrot, Rene Robert and Rick Martin. I'll never forget those days in Buffalo. Great hockey team. Roger Crozier was the goalie. And some good times.

Sure was. And, and you played a little hockey. But I think people might recognize your name. I mean, being a former. Oh, we know you were a Golden Glove boxer, but you were a WWF wrestler back in those days. I mean, you tell us who, you tell us some of the people that you went against. I know one of them, Ric Flair, very well.

Yeah, you know, I was, I was blessed to be in wrestling in the, in the attitude era, the golden age of wrestling, man. I mean, when you used to look around the locker room and there's the Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan, the Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Undertaker, Triple H, the list goes on and on, man, that I've wrestled all these different guys that, you know, many of them are legends today.

Well, I have some questions for you, but I also know you're really busy. Well, until Covid, you did like over 200 plus events a year touring. I mean, now it's got to be tough being stationary where you are.

Well, you know, it's, it's like anything in life, you know, you, you learn how to rebound, you learn for. You can't have a comeback without a setback. And, you know, you learn a lot about yourself. You know, I averaged about 230 events a year for the last 14 years of my life. And remember before that I wrestled for 14 years and we used to do around 250 cities year. So I've been living out of a suitcase for almost 30 years of my life.

Wow.

And when Covid hit, everything changed. And you really learn how to readjust in life, you know, because I found that it's not so much about the circumstance or situation, it's how we respond to those circumstances and situations that makes all the difference in our lives.

Isn't that the truth? And we go through adversity and we're going to talk a little bit about your, you know, some of the things that you went through. But so in one word, how do you describe yourself back then? Like back in the day when you were just starting out being a professional wrestler, how would you describe yourself?

Resilient. You know, wrestling was so new to me. Remember, I never even started wrestling until I, I signed my first contract when I was 31 years old. I only went to wrestling school when I was 30, and right out of the, right out of the blocks, I, they, they picked me. I was chosen to be a character in WCW wrestling. And you know, I'm in the ring with Sting, Mick Foley, Steve Austin. And you know, it's like you, you're tried by fire, man. And you know the old saying, you know, like wood, hay and stubble burn up in a fire. But Precious Stones endures forever. And I found a way that I did not burn up in that fire and just persevered.

Now when they're picking you up and throwing you down on the mat, I mean, throwing you hard, I. Saying it's a mat is an understatement. Did you ever want to use your Golden Gloves background?

You know, there's a, a thing in, in wrestling we call a, a potato, meaning that you hit the guy a little harder than you should have. But then there's also something called a receipt that you get it right back after you do it. So these are all very tough guys that we're working with. They're, they're. You're a professional wrestler, you're normally a pretty tough guy. And you know, there was, there was a kind of a respect you had for Each other. But yeah, there were times that it got a little out of hand. But you can't go too far because, you know, you're. It's like a dance. You can't have a good match unless you got a good dance partner. And it is really a, a well thought out plan on how to make this look as real as possible without seriously hurting each other.

Well, I have to talk a little bit about the mindset of going into a ring, because before a game I used to get nervous. If we're playing the Philadelphia Flyers and they would have a bunch of guys about six, three, six, five, the Flyers would have five or six guys that were tough. And you knew, you know, you, you knew inside that, oh, no, tonight something's going to happen if I do my job and play physical. The big boys are coming. How do you prepare your mindset? Because it's. Guys are getting thrown around pretty hard.

You know, Mike, that's a great question. And wow, just. You hear you say that, it really wasn't much difference, you know, I mean, you, you know, you're going out there in front of any, for, from 10 to a wrestling front, as many as 80,000 people. And you know, you, you do get those butterflies. I think that if you don't, you know, you, you're not going to play as well or do as well out there. I think that's having a little nervous energy. Always brings you up to your and your competition and sure you get a little nervous. Nervous. But once you lock up or in hockey, once you take your first hit or give a hit, it all changes. You know, they get right into it.

How's your body today?

Well, I've had, I believe, around 14 surgeries. I've had total reconstruction of my knee, shoulders, elbow, reattached bicep back. I've had quite, quite a bit of work done on my body. But I gotta tell you, Mike, I feel like a kid again. I, I've had the best doctors. Dr. Andrews out of Birmingham is really well known in all the different sports arenas, probably hockey too. He put my, he put my body back together a few times and I really literally feel like I'm. If I didn't know I was going to be 61, I'd say I feel like I'm 30. I feel great.

You look great.

Well, thank you, my friend.

I mean, you look great. And yeah, we have a mutual friend and he said, you know, I talked to Mark Merrill and I said, I know that name. Yeah, professional wrestler. I said that would be great. You know, we're going to talk a little bit about adversity. And how do you deal with adversity today?

Well, you know, I think the thing about, through our struggles, we find our strength. It's an amazing way when you, when someone says that, you know, it's easy for you to say, but, but, you know, it really isn't. I mean, we all go through stuff in life and I think when you realize that you're not alone and many people are struggle through different situations, everybody has something that they deal with, you know, whether it's financial, whether it's a relationship or whatever. But like I said earlier, it's not about that circumstance or situation. It's how we respond to it that makes all the difference. And I was always the guy that would get so mad, kick a door, punch a hole in the wall, throw my phone or something. And it was Dr. Phil would say, how's that working out for you? You. I really learned to really understand that I had to make changes within myself. And when you realize that, you know, we're always trying to change everybody else, but when you realize that you're the one that needs a change, man, everything around you changes. And my life completely changed. And now I'm, I travel all over inspiring other people. And you know, there's, there's, there's three ways you gain wisdom in life. You can gain wisdom from books and DVDs. You gain wisdom from like, mentors, coaches, parents, people that have inspired you through the years, or you can gain wisdom from mistakes. And Mike, I am the king of mistakes, okay? And I've turned those mistakes into learning experiences to share with others that, that, so they don't make the same mistakes in life that I have made. Everything from the financial mistakes, becoming a multi millionaire, losing it all, and then doing it all over again. And I have such a different attitude about things. The attitude is so important in life, man. You know, I wake up every morning, man, I, I'm one of those gu. Now my feet hit the ground. I really love life. And I think when you love life, you, you want to give others that same energy, that same determination. And because you can't give away what you don't have and you have to have something to give away. And I think that my attitude, my inspiration, my past experiences where I don't look at my mistakes anymore because I learned, I look at them as learning experiences because who would ever think I be inspiring, you know, hundreds of thousands, even millions of people with all the videos that have gone viral that we have out there?

Oh, yeah. And I looked at your Facebook. You have, like, 400,000 followers. Can I borrow a few of those?

Sure, man. If they. If they knew your story, they'd be right over to your page, too, man.

No, this is all about you. It's exciting because I used to talk to Ric Flair. We'd have a coffee quite a bit. He was a big hockey fan and up to the day, which is sad. I went to the. The funeral of his son. He was getting his son into wrestling, and it was sad. And I think he may have moved to your neck of the woods in Atlanta that were. You're in Atlanta now, right?

Yes, I am. I just moved here about five months ago.

Where were you before that?

I was in Orlando, Florida.

Oh. I lived there for a year.

Yeah, beautiful there. I mean, I. I miss it, but I wanted to be closer to my. My. I have a. I have one brother and one sister left, and my brother lives here in Georgia, so I wanted to be close to him, and. And during the pandemic gave me that opportunity to make that happen.

Wow. Yeah, it's been. It's been a heck of a ride for. For a lot of people, and it's been tough. And it's what I found, too. If you've never experienced adversity, then it's even tougher, because the hardest thing to do is if, like you said, you had some financial setbacks. I think one of the hardest things to do is not that you necessarily had one, but if you had a Mercedes and it's taken away, like, how do you deal with that? And when people fight through it and say, okay, what I'm going to do again, what I heard now is you built yourself back up. Now, everything isn't about, you know, a transaction or financial situation, but no matter what it is, when you have something taken away, it's very hard. The toughest thing is to get it back. How did you do that? Like, what made you have that fight? To want to say, I'm going to improve myself, and I'm going to take my life to the next level.

You know, Mike, it really stems from being a little kid that always had big dreams. You know, I dreamt of. You know, it's funny because, Mike, I have a book, my little diary. When I was a kid, I wrote my goals and dreams down in this book. I still have it. In fact, I bring it to my presentations, and in that book, it said I was going to be a professional athlete. In that book, it said I was going to win Rookie of the Year, because I remember Gilbert Perot winning it and I thought it was the coolest thing, so I wrote it my book. I'm also going to win Rookie of the Year, which I did in professional wrestling. So after. And you know, as you know, in sports, you have very few years to make that big money, you know, and, and being in professional wrestling, you know, I, I was on a guaranteed contract and I was making big money and I was spending a lot of that money. And then I got into drugs and I got into some. You know, we become who we surround ourselves with. You know, I, I often tell people, your friends are like elevators. They either take you up or they're going to take you down. You show me your friends, I'll show you your future. And I really surrounded my bad people and then. And you know, take another way. It's all about me, my choices I make. I'm not blaming anybody else, but I just surrounded myself with the wrong people. And I made a lot of bad business deals, a lot of bad mistakes. I lent money where I shouldn't have lend money. And next thing I know, I went through a divorce and, and really just hit rock bottom. And how do you ever. And that now you're at an age where you can't go back to wrestling. You can't. You know, it's like not being able to play hockey again. We're too old, you know, and so what do you do to re. To reinvent yourself, to rebound, to come back in life? And so what I said, what I thought is, how could I ever make that kind of money again? I lost millions of dollars now, you know, and I remember having, I had about $5 million in the bank. And I'm thinking to myself, man, I am set for life. You know, I never got to work, I never got to do anything. Just got to party and have fun. And next thing you know, you go through divorce, you go through situations in life. Bad financial, the housing market tanks, and you name it. It was like the perfect storm. And next thing you know, I'm a trainer at Gold's Gym. That's how I had to make a living. And what I did is I wanted to be the best trainer, one of my, my clients to get the best results. And next thing you know, they're putting pictures up of my clients on the wall of, of this amazing transformation. So then I decided to, you know, borrow some money and open my own gym. I opened my own gym and that gym became very successful. And then I got a call from a High school that just said, hey, can you come and talk to our kids? And Mike, my whole life changed that I got so many letters from the students that said, you changed my life. That school called another school, and it just started snowballing. And then I was, you know, doing 230, 250, 300 events a year. Just crazy. Traveling all over the world, even going to Russia and speaking at schools in Russia. And next thing you know, because I'm doing so many events and financially, our company is being blessed and, you know, you make this incredible rebound in life and to the point where I remember thinking, what am I going to do now? You know, I don't even want to be here anymore. I just thought everything I accomplished in life was for naught. Now I'm. I don't. I. I mean, I really. I was suicidal. That's how bad it got to my. In my life. And then making this amazing comeback. So what's so cool now is I could talk to people that are going through depression or anxiety or even suicidal thoughts, and I could understand how they felt or they feel and how I can possibly help them to see that there is light at the end of the tunnel. There is. There is a comeback in life. You know, it's how bad do you want it? How bad do you want to get up and start moving forward and crawl before you can walk, and walk before you can run? And next thing you know, your life is starting to change again. It's almost like God assigns people in your life. They show up just when you need them.

That is so true. You said something that caught my attention. A couple things. The first thing is I tell people that life is not a marathon, because if it was, we would get the energy sucked out of us. You'd be exhausted for a long time, injured or anything, which I'm not taking anything away from marathon runners, but, man, that's exhausting. I say life is many, many short sprints, and sometimes that sprint is good, sometimes you might pull your groin in that sprint. But every day is a sprint. And if you can get to that finish line and be on top, you're going to win the race. And that's always been my philosophy. And the other thing is, before we wrap it up, I'm very thankful you did not play hockey after watching your videos. Thank you. I would not want to fight you.

You know, I spent more time in the penalty box. I did on the ice. So it's probably a good thing that I transitioned into boxing and wrestling after hockey. But I Love hockey, man. It's. It's still one of my favorite sports to watch. It's so fast paced and, and, and now, you know, the guys are so physical and the talent out there is just incredible that you could watch the, the play net of the opposing team and how they, the play starts there and how it all weaves in on a guy, circle back and go around and you can see plays being made. It's just so cool now to watch.

It sure is. I'll wrap it up with this. I was a rookie in Buffalo. I was 19 years old and they had me playing with this guy that you mentioned and he was pretty good and he was already playing in his 17th year, so I was two years old when he played his first game. And that was Jill Bear parole. And he was my center and I.

Oh my gosh, he was a hero of mine.

So when you said Joe Bear and I said to him, I was really shy, 19 years old and being around all these guys we had like Billy Hyde, Phil Russell, he didn't wear a helmet. Clark Gillies, who was like a hero of mine as a kid. This is about you, but I remember Gilbert pro and I said, jill, on, you know, I hope I don't throw you off. I said, just dump it in for me. I know you like to carry the puck. But the odd was a small building. The small ice, smallest ice surface next to the Boston Garden. I said, if you just get it in, I'll get it to you. He said, kid, I'll just have a hard time keeping up with you. But the joke is that he could still fly at his age and it was really a privilege to play with Gilbert Perrault back in the day.

So cool. You know, he was one of the best stick handlers I've ever seen and.

The nicest guy, one of the nicest people you would ever meet. And Mark, it was just a pleasure having you here today. I know we're going to have more conversations, but I would like to know a little bit where people can get in touch with you for speaking or your website or your Instagram. Please share it with us.

Just go to my website, which is think pos and pause is pos as in zebra thinkpause.org and you'll see some videos and our upcoming events and things that we got going on. And of course, if, if you're on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, any of them, just type in my name, you'll see me.

Mark, great having you here today. I just want to share with the listeners that if anybody has any questions or they even want to get in touch with Mark and you forgot it, go to Hartman Academy no.com Hartman Academy. Click on the Contact Us area. We would love to help you and Mark, thank you so much. This was a pleasure having you on the show today.

Great talking to you Mike. Take care and God bless.

Thank you for listening to this episode of the Mike Hartman Show. If you're enjoying what you've heard so far far, please feel free to rate, subscribe and leave a review on your preferred podcast listening platform. We really appreciate that effort. We'll catch you in the next episode of the Mike Hartman Show.