AEW Wrestler Ryan "Hollywood Hunk" Nemeth jumps in with both feet and and takes us on a search for his deepest passions: Wresting, Acting & Sharks with host Johnny Stanton IV. Hear about Ryan's process of channeling his character for the "Iron Claw" was an experience that brought him chills. Learn about Ryan & Johnny's shared interest in Cleveland winters (brrrr!) but most importantly the amazing shark diving adventure Ryan took, where one of the most important things he learned was the "Floss" dance. This is a one-of-kind interview with a truly unique star.
Ryan Nemeth:
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/ryrynemnem
Twitter - https://x.com/ryrynemnem
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCai-k9SBJShyfcB43kPskvg
Check out our Patreon for bonus content and extra one-shot TTRPG adventures with every podcast guest: https://www.patreon.com/AthleticsCheckPod
Producer: Johnny Stanton IV & Anand Shah
Technical Director, Sound Designer & Editor: Frank Janisch
Executive Producers: Sandeep Parikh & Anand Shah
#aew #wrestler #sharks #cleveland #dungeonsanddragons #ttrpg #nerd #jocks
Johnny Stanton IV:
https://www.stantoniv.com/
TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@johnnystantoniv
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/johnnystantoniv
Twitter - https://x.com/johnnystantoniv
Athletics Check Pod
https://www.athleticscheckpod.com
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@athleticscheckpod
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/athleticscheckpod/
Check out our Patreon for bonus content and extra one-shot TTRPG adventures with every podcast guest: https://www.patreon.com/AthleticsCheckPod
AEW Wrestler Ryan "Hollywood Hunk" Nemeth jumps in with both feet and and takes us on a search for his deepest passions: Wresting, Acting & Sharks with host Johnny Stanton IV. Hear about Ryan's process of channeling his character for the "Iron Claw" was an experience that brought him chills. Learn about Ryan & Johnny's shared interest in Cleveland winters (brrrr!) but most importantly the amazing shark diving adventure Ryan took, where one of the most important things he learned was the "Floss" dance. This is a one-of-kind interview with a truly unique star.
Ryan Nemeth:
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/ryrynemnem
Twitter - https://x.com/ryrynemnem
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCai-k9SBJShyfcB43kPskvg
Check out our Patreon for bonus content and extra one-shot TTRPG adventures with every podcast guest: https://www.patreon.com/AthleticsCheckPod
Producer: Johnny Stanton IV & Anand Shah
Technical Director, Sound Designer & Editor: Frank Janisch
Executive Producers: Sandeep Parikh & Anand Shah
#aew #wrestler #sharks #cleveland #dungeonsanddragons #ttrpg #nerd #jocks
Johnny Stanton IV:
https://www.stantoniv.com/
TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@johnnystantoniv
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/johnnystantoniv
Twitter - https://x.com/johnnystantoniv
Athletics Check Pod
https://www.athleticscheckpod.com
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@athleticscheckpod
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/athleticscheckpod/
Check out our Patreon for bonus content and extra one-shot TTRPG adventures with every podcast guest: https://www.patreon.com/AthleticsCheckPod
But speaking of the ocean, um, I know that you're a big fan of sharks.
Ryan Nemeth:I love shark.
Johnny Stanton:Yeah. How'd you know that? Secrets. And welcome back to athletics check
Travis Reeves:back.
Johnny Stanton:I went for a little different energy.
Travis Reeves:I felt it. It was very kind.
Johnny Stanton:Yeah, no, it was soft. And which is the perfect kind of
Travis Reeves:energy for this episode. Yes. And we interview
Johnny Stanton:a professional wrestler. Hell
Travis Reeves:yeah.
Johnny Stanton:The Hollywood hunk. You know him, uh, Ryan Nemeth. Um, Ryan and I have such a great I'm My name's Johnny Stanton IV, by the way. Yeah, I totally
Travis Reeves:railroaded you on that. No, it's
Johnny Stanton:okay. It's okay. This is the energy that we're going for. This is Travis Reeves. Good friend. Good friend of the show. I like friend of the show. I'm on the show. I know. No, no, no. I Not for you. You are, you are the show. No, you are the show. We're the show. He's the show today. He is the show. No, but I just like the fact that we have a show and we get to call people friend of the show.
Travis Reeves:That's, it's truly one of the, it's a good thing.
Johnny Stanton:Ryan Nemo Boo, who usually has his, usually has his shirt off when he's working. But, um. Man, that man is tan. He's a tan man. Incredibly tan. Jacked and tan. And, uh, I asked him, and he said that it's completely natural going to, like, the beach just very often.
Travis Reeves:That's right. As comes up in the episode.
Johnny Stanton:Yep, absolutely. So, without further ado, uh, let's welcome on, um, co starring in the recent A24 hit movie, Iron Claw. Saddest movie of all time. I loved it. Yes. Incredibly, incredibly sad. I have not recovered from this film. And so good. Good. Um, and you know him from some professional wrestling during the week on AEW. Um, Ryan Nemeth, welcome to the show. This is Athletics Check with Ryan Nemeth. Thank you for letting us into your wonderful home. I'll
Ryan Nemeth:tell you anything you want to know. Okay.
Johnny Stanton:Yeah. This is going to be a lot of investigative journalism, actually a little bit more than you might expect, but we'll get to that later. Um, Ryan is known for being in the, uh, AEW professional wrestler, uh, short time with the WWE, I believe, uh, as. Uh, Bright, Briley Pierce? How long were you Briley Pierce?
Ryan Nemeth:Three years, Briley Pierce. I loved being Briley Pierce. That's awesome. Sometimes clips will show up. They briefly had me doing interviews for people. Like, uh, when NXT became an actual TV show. It was kind of a bummer for me because I was doing so well in wrestling. I was tag team champ. I loved it. And then they were like, we have a new TV show. Can you be the backstage interviewer? Sure, man. Cool. So, but those clips pop up sometimes of me just standing at the microphone like that, uh, are all those
Johnny Stanton:people like usually wrestlers or are they just kind of, no, no, you're blazing a trail.
Ryan Nemeth:Well, they would have me be like, I won't name any names, but they would be like, can you get some personality out of this guy? So I was producing all these segments, trying to give any people things to say and do, and I was good at that. I think it was one of those cases where you're too good at a little skill. Um,
Johnny Stanton:Yeah. You don't want to be switching your career pathway towards, towards that. But we're getting any ring time.
Ryan Nemeth:Uh, yeah. So on all the weekend live events, I would be wrestling and then it was TV taping time. Put your suit on like, ah, man, it was a bummer. That's gotta be confusing for the viewer. Well, yeah. And for me, uh, and I remember one time Dusty Rhodes is like, Riley, do you want to be an interviewer or a wrestler? And I said, I don't, if I think I said something a little too rude, I said, If I wanted to be a sports interviewer, I would do it at a real company and a real sport and he did not like that answer and it's a very rude, disrespectful answer, but I was very fed up with it at the time. Yeah. How long were you doing that? That was like a full year of TV tapings like that. Yeah. And I remember I was on the pilot episode of NXT wrestling in a, like an amazing mash. I had such a fun time and it was great. And I thought, cool, this is great. Here's your microphone. Like, all right,
Johnny Stanton:well, obviously they knew that you were like good, good at speaking, get on, you know, FaceTime and. You know, I made
Ryan Nemeth:goofy faces when someone said something, I was fine like this. And I think they liked that because all the clips I see pop up as a gift is a jiff or a gift. It'll be like we say gift on this platform. Okay, so it'd be like moxley grabbing my head and i'd be like I don't know.
Johnny Stanton:That's
Ryan Nemeth:awesome.
Johnny Stanton:Um, but you're known I think for being the hollywood hunk
Ryan Nemeth:hollywood hunk. I hope it has uh Yeah, I haven't heard the name Riley Pierce in a while.
Johnny Stanton:Yeah, um, we, uh, we had our first interaction, uh, last year. I think it was right before I got caught with the Browns. Um, where you had a I was
Ryan Nemeth:under the impression you voluntarily took a leave of absence to pursue other endeavors. And I
Johnny Stanton:appreciate that. And we're, I'm happy to go with that narrative, uh, where I'm deciding to pursue A much more ludicrous career in, uh, playing Dungeons and Dragons. So waiting for that to take off.
Ryan Nemeth:I always describe it as, and then I left NXT. Yes. I never said that was cut. Yes, I mean, I
Johnny Stanton:feel like it's not really like a point of embarrassment or anything to be cut by a team because so many players kind of take pride in. The amount of times they've been cut or it's kind of something that drives them. There's been presidents who have been cut from teams. Yes. I assume. Yeah. I don't know. I mean, the story of MJ and Michael Jordan getting cut from his, you know, junior varsity team or something, his sophomore year is gone. I mean, I think it's, it's, I think a pro apocryphal to an extent, but it's apparently it's actually like factually true, but I think it was also
Ryan Nemeth:cut from NXT. Same. Yeah, I believe it. Yeah.
Johnny Stanton:Uh, no, I think it's the same. The same story that gets told of like, yeah, Albert Einstein failed his, his like freshman year physics class. Like that's because he didn't go to class. He just knew it already. Um, that was too good. Just too good at NXT. They had to fire me, but there's a. You know, this is, this is athletics check. This is athletes talking about nerdy stuff and nerds talking about sports. And you're also a very like accomplished actor as well. I'm out
Ryan Nemeth:there. I just like to have a good time.
Johnny Stanton:Yeah. And we're, we're filming this before the official release of the movie, but this will be, Iron Claw. Iron Claw, yeah. Can you tell me a little bit about Iron Claw? Go see Iron Claw right now. Go see Iron Claw. It's streaming by now, for sure. It's definitely re upped its contract with all the movie theaters. It's going to be in theaters for four months, I think. Like Home Alone. Exactly. Oh, you're doing a lot of promo for it right now, right? Yes. Uh, the Iron
Ryan Nemeth:Claw is a Dramatic family film, uh, based on the Von Eriks family. Uh, Von Eriks family from worldwide acclaim, but, you know, from Dallas, Texas. Uh, many brothers wrestled, the father wrestled. Uh, a lot of tragedy befell the family and they've become kind of a legendary Like Von Eriks curse. Yeah, people talk about the curse, yeah. Uh, Kevin Von Eriks and, uh, It's played by Zac Efron, and he, I just got to see him for the second time ever the other night at the LA premiere. He has two sons that wrestle. No way. Uh, yeah. Oh, so you're saying Erickson. Yes. He has two sons. I thought you said Zac Efron has two sons. No. Wow, that's wild. Dude. Yeah, Zac Efron is the father of Hulk Hogan. No, but uh, in 2016 I wrestled in Dallas at a show against Kevin's son, so I met Kevin that night and that was cool as man, that was cool. I met Sting that same night too. That's awesome. Alright, I met Sting this night. I have to Please, yeah, I want to hear the story. Sting, uh, is a, you know, at the time he wasn't back in wrestling, he was just doing appearances and signings. But he showed up to this Dallas show, full, like, crow sting makeup, with a cloak on, and very mysterious, and um, What's the word for like a quiet, strong, uh I don't know. Kind of
Johnny Stanton:serious,
Ryan Nemeth:very serious and spooky and not very chatty. And sure. You know, not approachable, just how you think sting would be if you saw sting as the crow, you know, in the late nineties and after we did a segment with him in the ring and as he was leaving, we all like kind of lined up to like, shake hands, like, thank you, sir. And I said, thanks for everything. Thank you. And then I think I was the last one to go. Very nice to meet you. Thanks for everything. He goes, yes, of course, of course. And then someone opened these double doors to the arena. He just walked out the door shut. And I just said like, Hey, wait a second. Did sting just leave wearing a cape and makeup with no luggage or like, cause everyone has a roller bag changes clothes. I opened the double doors and no one was out there. It was just shadows. And I, I said, Hey, wait, hang on. Is it a character? Is anyone noticed what just happened? And someone was like, well, his, someone just probably picked him up in a car and he drove off. And I was like, Oh, cause I, I am a grown up and I'm not, I'm not But it's all
Johnny Stanton:still real to an extent.
Ryan Nemeth:I thought maybe he walked outside and evaporated into shadows and bats. Yeah, into crows. Crows, crows, yeah, yeah. Because it was kind of wild, like he just Also, there's other wrestlers I know who wear crazy outfits, they take it off and then leave. This guy just walked fully, full steam gear. I mean, it's kind of cool to say
Johnny Stanton:that like, okay, you don't have to do my makeup, I'm going to do my makeup. And like, nobody gets to see me outside of that. Yeah, it was, you
Ryan Nemeth:know, and I told him that when he came to HW. Just kayfabe to like 100%. I was like, I don't know if you remember this, but you just, he's like, oh yeah, I got picked up. Yeah. Yeah. Just ruin the illusion for you. Like, my wife picked me up in a minivan, like after school practice or something. But it was pretty cool. Yeah. Well, you played, um Oh yeah, sorry. No, I was gonna
Johnny Stanton:say. I was just. It's okay. I'm happy to guide us along. I play,
Ryan Nemeth:uh, Gino Hernandez. Yes, I was
Johnny Stanton:gonna say.
Ryan Nemeth:Who, um, was another tragic figure back then, based out of Dallas, a pro wrestler, uh, his life ended very short, but, uh, what a hot shot, uh, at the time. Huge heel, bad guy, uh, for those who don't know the term, the insider terms.
Johnny Stanton:Yes. Yeah. I started off as a baby face though. Like I'll be honest, I, I didn't get to grow up with kind of a wrestling, like watching, watching it on TV or around it. Um, But I got to start learning about the whole world of it in college when my, my roommate was grew up on it and he was teaching me. That's how a lot
Ryan Nemeth:of people get into it. College
Johnny Stanton:roommates obsessed. I swear. Exactly. That's what I did to my
Ryan Nemeth:roommate in college.
Johnny Stanton:Yeah, exactly. So that's when I started learning about it and I still don't know like the full history. I, I, I tried to watch, you know, I'm, I'm very excited to be able to watch Iron Claw. Um, not like, uh, from what I understand, it's an incredibly sad movie, but
Ryan Nemeth:the real story is very sad. And I think Sean Durkin did a great job of kind of condensing it all into a two hour film. Cause it's a
Johnny Stanton:huge,
Ryan Nemeth:huge story. Yeah. And you could decades long. It should have, I mean, it could be a series. Yeah. It's just, and I'm surprised it wasn't.
Johnny Stanton:I mean, with the amount of like, With the way the TV is now most things get in a you know told in a miniseries format
Ryan Nemeth:Yeah, even or something will be like a film like Fargo that becomes a mall. You know, yeah But yeah, I was really excited to play Gino Just an amazing wrestler great talker. I studied this Okay, so any flight to and from AEW and any off days I had wake up and good like by the time I knew I Had the role. Yeah, I started You Cause I, you know, in my daily life, I don't watch a lot of wrestling. I'll be very honest. I do a lot of football. I don't play Madden on the
Johnny Stanton:weekends and stuff, or, you know, watch the games. I'll watch film, but I don't really try to watch the Monday night game or like,
Ryan Nemeth:you have a job to do. You gotta, you gotta study a certain thing, you know? So maybe you, however that works in football, you know, uh, I stopped short of trying to explain football training.
Johnny Stanton:It's the
Ryan Nemeth:viewers.
Johnny Stanton:It's okay.
Ryan Nemeth:But, uh, I watched non stop, I would type in YouTube, Gino Hernandez versus, and just every single thing, just hours and hours, and the interviews, everything, you know? How much did you have to adjust your style to like his style? Not too much, but, uh, well, okay, the physical, the moves he was doing back then were much more reduced and basic compared to what's going on in wrestling now, which, Sure, that part was great. Yeah, it's not like he's doing Back flips or leaping off the top rope and stuff, but his mannerisms were so specific. So I like Would you know re watch this one second clip of every match he would do where he would do a certain like he'd do a little Prance with like 90s and then like turn towards the camera and go like Like he did really specific things. He would do a lot or like he was always showing off muscles He wasn't very jacked, but he loved like pretending he was You Uh, so I started doing that in my AEW matches too. Cause I'm like, I need to like, just have it in my brain. Yeah, for sure. And, uh, it was a really, I've said this a few times, but when I wrapped, it was a picture wrap for me, Gino was done. Uh, the director pulled me over and goes, you brought Gino to this film. He was one of my favorite wrestlers growing up. And I can't cool.
Johnny Stanton:Yeah. To be cast as the director's favorite, one of the favorite wrestlers is an honor. Felt awesome. It gave me a little goosebumps. Yeah. What was it like the casting process through that? Um. Did they come to wrestlers or did they have an open
Ryan Nemeth:audition? I wanna have a cool story here. Yeah. But there actually isn't, it's just the same. I, uh, the same I've ever got any acting job. My manager goes, Hey, you wanna audition for this? And I said, okay. And then I filmed an audition and then,
Johnny Stanton:yeah.
Ryan Nemeth:Uh, I was staying with Anna, my girlfriend in Atlanta. She was doing Gotham Nights at the time, so I was just going visiting her to and mm-Hmm. I got to audition while I was at her Atlanta house. Cool. And she was like, well, I have a camera here, let's just set up and shoot yourself to appear. And I was like, okay, cool. And, uh, she, like, coached me through it and that was cool. I sent it and just kinda like, whenever I have an audition and I have bleached hair, cause my hair, I do different hair sometimes, I used to get worried like, Oh no, I'm going out for this role, but I have weird hair. And she's like, it does not matter. Like, you'll probably have a wig. You know, like, and I finally understood, oh yeah, I had full bleached hair as I did this, and I got cast as Gino, and they gave me this. 80s, like, long, like, part down the middle, like, glorious, oh, man, yeah, just beautiful hair, gorgeous hair, and, uh, Natalie, I think, uh, who did the hair, the head of the hair department, she may be up for, like, an Academy Award, because of all the amazing hair she did for this film, so, whenever they took that off every day, I was so sad, I loved having that hair, I thought, I can never grow this, really, well, can you? I don't have the patience to go really. That's what I mean. Yeah, sure.
Johnny Stanton:And there's always, especially like you're an onscreen talent, like that awkward in between stages when you're trying to like where I'm at right now, I'm kind of like kind of longer. I appreciate that. And thank you. I suppose it's hoping for, um, but yeah, no, it's like, I mean, wrestlers are known for their hair. You either have short hair or you have incredibly long hair and you get it wet before the fight. And it's
Ryan Nemeth:like, yeah, I remember, uh, Big Bill, who is Big Cass in WWE, he was in NXT with me. He has very short hair, just kinda like my length. He has super long hair now. But, he was like, I'm gonna grow my hair out. It's gonna be weird for a few months. And he would be like, here. He looked like a squire from medieval times, you know? That whole stage from here to here. It's so strange. Yeah, then when you get it, you know, sure You gotta have a lot of do it, you know, man button kind of looks and man Yeah, my hair is kind of like a dog if it gets beyond one or two inches It's it doesn't go down. It just goes out a hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah, and I can't it's very hard to control.
Johnny Stanton:Yeah Well, I we I was started saying earlier we we met we didn't meet yet This is our first day meeting in person, but we got to first interact with each other on Twitter last year That's right. The artist formerly known as Twitter and We got to, uh, we got to have Hey, I wonder
Ryan Nemeth:if Twitter's still around by the time this comes out.
Johnny Stanton:I, there's a very good chance that it won't be. That's a good, that's a good point. Uh, I was actually looking, I was trying to figure, trying to find our old tweets. Of our little, um, crap talking session to each other. Oh, I
Ryan Nemeth:annihilated all my old stuff. You did. So it
Johnny Stanton:might be gone. It was gone. Yeah. But there were some good moments there that were as, um, I only still can see mine, but I think you were, you, it was something about a promo in Cleveland. Which you are from the Cleveland area, so you got to have, play, play your heel, uh, talking crap on your old city. That's right. And I, I played the, the, the face character of trying to defend Cleveland, even though I'm, I, I hold no necessarily allegiance towards Cleveland anymore, but, uh, I, I, I definitely had that, uh, And trying to defend the city and trying to, you know, just play it up with you. And I think you
Ryan Nemeth:were awarded the key to the city from, from the mayor. It's true. It's true. A mayor gave
Johnny Stanton:me the key for, for, uh, defending it. But yeah, you had, there were a couple of moments where I got to call you a burnt toaster strudel, which
Ryan Nemeth:then
Johnny Stanton:there was a Walmart, Jake Paul. Um, I don't remember what you called me besides an owlbear. You did call me an owlbear once.
Ryan Nemeth:Oh, the D and D stuff. Yes.
Johnny Stanton:Yeah.
Ryan Nemeth:Well, uh, I was, you know when I wrestle I get very tan, right now it's the most pale I get probably,
Johnny Stanton:but
Ryan Nemeth:yeah, you know. Is it,
Johnny Stanton:is it product? Is it just tanning beds? What, what's the secret? Cause I'm, I'm very pale as well. I
Ryan Nemeth:do a variety of things. Okay. I am a big beach guy. Okay. So I'll spend just hours each week at the beach cooking out there. Yeah. If I need to I'll do a little extra. bulbs tanning. And then just before it looks good on camera, it's like, it's what you're. Yeah, absolutely. Just before TV, I'll add some phony stuff. So I'll spray on some stuff and I'll try out different products from time to time for that finishing touch. The final coat, you know, but a lot of it is from the beach and I think nothing can be laying in the sand for, for it to have that base of just golden brown. Oh man. And luckily I don't, I don't burn too. I mean bad. I mean that is, that
Johnny Stanton:is one thing, like that is the kind of stuff that like, okay. I think there's a lot of similarities between like football players and wrestlers. Like, you know, you're, it's, it's, it's both the performance, obviously one more so than the other. Um, and, you know, using your body to be able to entertain people, but the, the, the physical. Aesthetics of everything is much more of a wrestling thing that, you know, obviously every football player wants to look good, but when you're in certain positions, you're kind of professionally paid to not be a underwear model body type. Um, and fullbacks to an extent, at least that's what I tell myself when I don't, when I have a little extra padding on me. Um, you know, it's funny that you said,
Ryan Nemeth:do you say, what do you say? Underwear? Underwear model. Yeah. The time that I first broke in and got. Hired to WWE NXT. A lot of the fans were, uh, criticizing WWE for hiring underwear model body type. And I remember thinking. Well, I'm not really one of those. I'm kind of just a guy who's a little bit muscular, you know, but there were some guys who were like a lot taller than me and more, if they had that, I looked at them and said, Oh yeah, I understand. These are just guys who didn't run more like a
Johnny Stanton:fight club kind of body type. Yeah. This episode is brought to you by Hero Forge custom miniatures. Hero Forge is. A free to use online character design application that basically means if you want to play a DTRPG and you want to have a 3D printed miniature of your character, HeroForge is the place to go. You can print them at home, you can print them there, and they will ship them to you. They are always incredibly fast. Crafted and designed and the print process is so exact. It's really impressive. Every time I get to see one of these miniatures, their character design and customization is second to none. You get to 3d model your mini right there on screen, and you can see it as it real time updates to any kind of customization you want. Their facial customization is super impressive. Make sure that you go to hero forge. com to design your custom miniature today. And always check back regularly because they always come back. With the coolest updates. They have new content every week, whether it's a new piece of clothing, a new race, whatever you can imagine, you can make it on hero forge. com. So go to hero forge. com today to start designing your own custom miniature. What's up guys. It's Johnny again. I just wanted to thank you for listening. join our patreon at patreon. com slash athletics check pod. You'll have access to all of the little mini adventures that I run for each and every guest is about 10 to 15 minutes where I run them through a short TTRPG adventure. And for a lot of these people, especially the athletes, it's their first time running a game like this. So it's my honor to get to be their very first game master. At the higher tiers, you get access to having your name shouted out at the end of an episode, or even getting the opportunity to play in a bi-monthly T-T-R-P-G game with me or my co-host, Travis Reeves. If you're interested in any of that, please go to athletics check pod.com or to patreon.com/athletics check pod. Hope you guys are enjoying the show. Let's get back to the action, but I, I, we were talking a little bit before about your. Uh, relationship with tabletop gaming. Um, how you wanted to, you wanted to grow up playing it, but you just didn't have that opportunity growing up. I thought it was the coolest
Ryan Nemeth:thing ever. Yeah. I thought the idea that, uh, board game didn't have to be Monopoly or Mousetrap or Sorry. It could just be
Johnny Stanton:whatever. Right. And like you could embody your character and, you know. That's like, that's what you do now, professionally, is embody a character. Yeah, that's why I like wrestling so much. Absolutely.
Ryan Nemeth:You know, uh, I had, I think I told you I had the beginners or intro to D& D, whatever it was. And it was like a one, one off little mini adventure where I played with my brother. I was the DM and he was the guy, the hero. And it was so freakin fun, I loved it. Was it a one on one kind of thing? It was, I think you could have had a few or it could be one guy. Yeah. And we just And that's harder. That's a lot harder to do. I wouldn't know, that's all I knew. You know, I only did it one time and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. And then I started, like, sporadically buying whatever magazines would have been around. I think one was called Dragon and one was called That sounds right. I don't know. But it was just fun. Like you have a magazine about video games. There's a magazine about sports and then there was this one. Let me check this one out. And I thought it was so cool and creative. And I loved reading comic books back then. I love reading books back then. Like it, it just kind of fit into my, but I never found anyone who played.
Johnny Stanton:And I think that's something that's, that's so much better about the space right now is that. Not only is tabletop gaming, but kind of every either nerdy hobby or like very niche sub community is so much more available to everybody, like through internet or through clubs. And I don't know if your school grew up having a D and D club. I don't mind it, but I'm finding it funny. And now that my old, my alma mater in high school, like they have a D and D club now, which is super cool to me. So, but it's so much more open. And I, and I, the whole point of this show is to kind of help break down that false binary of nerd and jock, which is like all eighties movies taught us is like, there's a nerd versus the jocks. A
Ryan Nemeth:lot with my girlfriend, we, there's like, you can meet someone and you can chat with them and realize their worldview is based on that fictional world. It's like, yes, it was. Oh, you're a wrestler. Yeah. The Outsiders was a fake book. Yes. Like, you know? The Breakfast Club wasn't real. Yeah, it wasn't. Like, it was a movie. I do think back, like, there were people I knew who did, I was kind of involved in that. I played, I wrestled, and I was in whatever, I did a lot of things. You did a lot of acting, drama and stuff. Yeah, acting and artistic things. And I had just friends who just didn't do anything, who were just around, like people. I never noticed in school, like, someone has a varsity jacket on, watch out. Like. Mm hmm. I think the marching man has more varsity jackets than anyone in our school. Yeah, I
Johnny Stanton:definitely like, I would wear my varsity jacket on a cold day, you know, on it's also Southern California. It's only going to be cold like two or three times a year, but nobody, I think in my school walked around wearing their letterman jacket and it could be different in the Midwest and different parts of the world.
Ryan Nemeth:It's a letter every year, but I never had a jacket cause I
Johnny Stanton:only got a letter like once a year. I think that's, that's interesting. Like, or once, uh, once ever, like if you got your, your letterman jacket, like that's when you got it.
Ryan Nemeth:I never got the jacket, but I guess if you were on the varsity team or I saw the marching band guys have is I know that you can get the letter for other things, but I never had a jacket to put it on. So I always just had this big E for, you know, at St. Ed's was our school and I would just go, mom, what do I do with this? But do you want one of those jackets? I'm like, I don't know. Not really. So I never got the jacket, but I have the four of those letters. Nice. Somewhere in at home.
Johnny Stanton:Um, yeah. So you went to St. Ed's in, uh, in Cleveland and that's, that's where you Uh, well, specifically Lakewood, where is that school was in Lakewood, Ohio? Yeah. Yeah. I, uh, would drive by it all the time when I was in Cleveland. I was living in Ohio city. Oh dude. Nice neighborhood. Love the neighborhood. Definitely being reinvigorated and a lot of cool restaurants and bars in the neighborhood. I went
Ryan Nemeth:there when I was maybe freshly out of college. My buddy had moved right above one of the breweries and he was like, come when you're visiting Cleveland, come hang out. And I didn't really. No Cleveland nightlife at all. I'd always lived somewhere else as a grown up and so I visited and it was like freshly snowing Mm hmm. There were lights everywhere. It was like holiday time and Hanging out and walk around that area was probably a
Johnny Stanton:huge line at the Christmas story house because that's a oh, it's a big thing It just
Ryan Nemeth:felt like a cool magical wintry time. I thought I have that in my mind of like But every time I go back there, I don't go to that area. Yeah. I mean, you got
Johnny Stanton:fresh snow. So like two days later, that's what that's like. Everybody else's Cleveland. There's
Ryan Nemeth:something nice about, uh, walking around, bundled up with snow falling and like, and like, and you
Johnny Stanton:just did the, uh, we did, I just got back from a little Europe trip from. Yeah, Switzerland and France just seeing Christmas markets like that's we didn't get any snow. So like, you know, it was a little bit too early in the year. I think for that, but it was, it was a
Travis Reeves:little cool in certain
Johnny Stanton:ways. Um, but yeah, I think, what was you going back to Cleveland and not having to, you know, when you don't have to tweet about it. Um, and try to disparage the city for did for job. I love that though man. I love, it's fun. Um, but what is, what is your, you know, where's family? Where, what parts of Cleveland do you go back to? We grew up
Ryan Nemeth:in West Park. Oh. My family lives a little bit outside of it, still on the west side, but, uh, wait, I just thought of something. Oh, dude. That, that's the time. It was a match against war though, for the TNT title. Yes. I got to walk to the ring. You know mouthing off about Cleveland and I when I watched it back. I said something sorry about the Browns, but I said like I Said don't boo me. I see what you cheer for the Browns They're barely a team or something and they cut to this guy wearing full jersey and a hat in his face go And it was like great job Absolutely, I knew they were like on this I like what come on come on. Yes good reaction But yeah, my family is You Uh, my parents are still there and they, uh, my mom does like dog and cat rescue and adoption stuff. So there's always a different pet cause she'll like have it for a while and then adopt it out. You know, right now she has this little French dog. I forgot what the breed is, but I know it's French. Pomeranian Frenchy. It's a lot of Pomeranians in France. I say anyway, she has like real shaggy ears and I guess must have been kept in this tiny little enclosed area because her paws are all like messed up. Man. Anyway, she's a great dog. Uh, Frankie is her name, but my brother and I started calling her Francois because we think it's funny. And this dog barks like a cartoon. You've ever seen a comic strip where they spell out ARF for a dog? This dog says ARF, she'll just go.
Johnny Stanton:Arf! Arf! Arf! Arf! I can't wait to like, that's, I want to see an actual video of this dog. Cause I'm gonna, I'm gonna, yeah. I'll show you later. That's awesome. Um.
Ryan Nemeth:She uh, doesn't know any other way to communicate. Sure. Well it's a dog. Cause she was, I think um, you know, mistreated probably. Yeah, sure. Left alone, but I think the dog is so funny. Yeah. I And she, you know, a small dog is like usually all fur and it's very light. This dog is like a sack of rocks, man. Like so dense, like, Oh my God, dude.
Johnny Stanton:I feel like your family is kind of the, uh, it's part of this reinvigoration of like Cleveland in the spotlight of, um, like, you know, Travis Kelsey, I think is in the front of the, you know, every newspaper at this point. He's, he's, uh, he's a Cleveland guy. He got, um, I'm blanking on his name right now, but the rapper, um, You have LeBron James who, you know, he's from Akron. So it's a little bit outside, but
Ryan Nemeth:Hey, do you think that Travis Kelsey and Taylor Swift are currently still dating?
Johnny Stanton:I think they currently are still dating. Cause she was at the game two days ago. No, I mean like when, when this, Oh yes, I think so. I don't know. I, I believe in it. I'm a believer. Get engaged. I don't know. I think they've only been dating for like six months or like not even that like three months.
Ryan Nemeth:Anything could happen.
Johnny Stanton:Anything could happen. With the power of love. It's true. It's true. I'm a believer in the power of Cleveland. Absolutely. Um, I've been trying to think about this. What's the rapper's name that dated? Um, Machine Gun Kelly. Um, Machine Gun Kelly. Thank you. That's you with Megan Fox. Um, or was maybe. Also
Ryan Nemeth:on some, uh, I guess it was like 10 years ago at this point, but 30 Rock had a running joke that Cleveland was the ultimate destination city for vacations and dreams. Like, they, you know? Frank is the same.
Johnny Stanton:I mean, I think Cleveland, Cleveland's name is definitely being, uh, I think, upgraded. What did, I think, Jack
Ryan Nemeth:Donaghy or, um, he said something like, uh, We can't live where we, you know, vacation. Otherwise everyone would live in Hawaii, Italy, and Cleveland. I love that joke.
Johnny Stanton:That was a good one. Um,
Ryan Nemeth:it's a nice city though. It's it's a great
Johnny Stanton:city. And like, everybody's finding out that people are from there.
Ryan Nemeth:It was one of the great lakes, man. It's true. And some people who come from different parts of America do not understand how big a great lake is. Oh yeah. Maybe this is, I sound dumb right now, but. People will come from, uh, Florida or from Minneapolis or, um, what's the place with a thousand lakes? Minnesota. Minnesota. And they'll be like, yeah, it's a lake. It's a pond. Yeah. Dude, this is A lake. Yeah. A lake is one
Johnny Stanton:word for like a million different shapes and sizes. I see what you guys call a lake,
Ryan Nemeth:Simon.
Johnny Stanton:Can't believe you call it a lake.
Ryan Nemeth:The Great Lakes are some of the largest bodies of water literally on the planet. Yeah.
Johnny Stanton:Aside from the ocean. Yeah. No, Erie's, Erie's like the smallest of them and it's so gigantic. I took
Ryan Nemeth:my girlfriend and I showed her, I said, stand right here and look at this. What does it look like? She goes, it looks like the ocean. Yeah. Yeah. Cause you can't ever see the end of it. When, when I was in high school, I was
Johnny Stanton:flying to Wisconsin for a college trip and we flew over, I think it was Lake Michigan, which was like, okay, yeah, it's long, but it's like, you don't necessarily think about it being wide. But we were in the plane and I was looking out the window and you could not see any land. It was a clear day. Might as well be above the ocean. Might as well be above the ocean. It's, it's crazy. Um, but speaking of the ocean, um, I know that you're a big fan of sharks.
Ryan Nemeth:I love sharks.
Johnny Stanton:Yeah.
Ryan Nemeth:How'd you know
Johnny Stanton:that? Secrets. Wow. Tell me a little bit about your love for sharks.
Ryan Nemeth:I wonder where it began. I think as a child, I liked drawing them maybe. And
Johnny Stanton:cause that's, that's what I'm considering your, your nerddom is like that you're a, you're a nerd for sharks.
Ryan Nemeth:I'd be, I befriended a few shark scientists. This is pretty cool. That's very cool. What does this
Johnny Stanton:work scientist called?
Ryan Nemeth:Well, it could be a few things. It could be a marine biologist. It could, you know, there's a few different branches of this, but, uh, David Shipman, I think wrote a wonderful book called why sharks matter. And I got the book and then he did a talk somewhere around here. Maybe it's by. One of the aquariums around here, not in L. A., I had to drive like an hour, but we got to meet, and I got, what a great talk. Yeah, I imagine. And the book is just what it sounds like. Why do sharks matter, like, what's the big deal? Yeah,
Johnny Stanton:it's similar, like, I'm sure to, like, to, you know, everybody's saying save the bees right now, because we realize how big of an impact they have on the ecology. Great parallel, yes.
Ryan Nemeth:Um, and he has this article that came out a couple years ago about why there is definitely not any Megalodons left, because every once in a while during Shark Week, Yeah, I was gonna say, you got
Johnny Stanton:something from Shark Week, right?
Ryan Nemeth:Yeah, they sent, I got um, the only promotional thing I've ever gotten from like a TV network was this giant Shark Week thing with like That's cool. Had a blanket, a hoodie, uh, something else, and I wear the hoodie all the time, I love it. But yeah, uh, there are no Megalodons.
Johnny Stanton:No. Anymore. They're gone. I mean, all the megafauna in the world. Moose, I think, is like the last megafauna.
Ryan Nemeth:How big is it? Well,
Johnny Stanton:there's elephants and stuff, but like North American megafauna and moose is the last one.
Ryan Nemeth:How tall? Like 12 feet tall or something?
Johnny Stanton:They're some big moose. They're huge, right? Yeah.
Ryan Nemeth:And there's, uh, a whale shark is enormous. Yes. So big. Okay, so, my cousin, uh, started out as a school teacher and then said, This I have aspirations elsewhere. So he became this like nature guy. So he takes people on whale tours, whale shark tours. Um, but he started doing this thing in Baja, Mexico. Where he would go every summer and lead trips of, it's called citizen science. So there's scientists and then there's just normal people who help do like the grunt work and they, uh, I went one time, two times. We would just get in a boat, a very small boat, find whale sharks,
Johnny Stanton:you
Ryan Nemeth:know,
Johnny Stanton:cool. And
Ryan Nemeth:then
Johnny Stanton:those things are like mythical. Like you see those things and like, that's not a real animal. It's
Ryan Nemeth:wild, dude. So some are like, the baby ones are like 12 feet long. The big ones are like 30 feet long. And so they would just toss us in the water. And I'm, It's crazy what I'm saying right now, but it's true. You don't touch them, you know?
Johnny Stanton:Yeah, but there's a video of a guy who just like jumped on one next to a boat. It would made everybody mad. Unacceptable. Yeah, absolutely. Harassment. Assaulting
Ryan Nemeth:wildlife like that. Yeah, so One guy or girl would take a string Swim to the front of the fish. Okay. Oh, to size it. Yeah, so you'd go from the front of their, uh, you know, snout or whatever it's called. Obviously, I'm not one of the scientists. And then you'd go somewhere around the pectoral fin. And we would only measure that part of it, because you could proportion out the rest of it. Sure, okay, interesting. So we would try to do that with every shark we found. And then someone has to get On the side right here of a whale shark, there are very unique spots that each one it's individual, each one there, you know,
Johnny Stanton:kind of like a humpback whale's tail, like fluke. Yeah.
Ryan Nemeth:All right. Sure. Yeah. I'm a shark guy. I don't know. I don't like mammals that much, you know? So you'd have to get like, uh, right at the perfect angle side, side of the shark and get a photo because we would have to know which shark is this. Gotcha.
Johnny Stanton:If it's been tagged before or
Ryan Nemeth:something. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So then we enter that into this worldwide research database and, It was awesome, man. What a
Johnny Stanton:cool trip.
Ryan Nemeth:I did it twice, and it was like a week long each time. It's in, kind of in the middle of nowhere. There's no internet. You're, we would sleep on the beach every night on little cots. And wake up as the sun came up at like 5 or whatever. And you just naturally, you're like, yeah, I feel pretty good. Let's go. Yeah. And then at 8 a. m. you're in the boats and just chasing down whale sharks all day long, dude. That's a cool trip. Really cool, yeah. Yeah. And I learned, uh. One of the other shark scientists brought her daughter who was like 13 at the time and she taught me how to do the, uh, Floss dance. Sure. So Hahahaha And then I would later find out that was a part of Fortnite. I got into Fortnite this past year. Hell yeah. It's all connected.
Johnny Stanton:Are you, and you're a Fortnite nerd as well, so we can just, we can.
Ryan Nemeth:I'm new to Fortnite and I think it's awesome.
Johnny Stanton:Hell yeah. Any victory royales or, uh, what is it called, winner, winner, chicken dinner or something like that? On
Ryan Nemeth:this new season, I finally had a crown victory, which is when you have a, you won and you have your little crown and then you win
Johnny Stanton:again. Oh, nice. Back to back champ.
Ryan Nemeth:Yeah. When I first started playing, I played a lot more and I had like a fair number of those. Yeah. So, got one now. Amazing.
Johnny Stanton:I've got a segment called Player Comps. Oh, this is like
Ryan Nemeth:a secret, I didn't know this was coming is what you're saying. Yeah. Okay, yeah, yeah. Alright.
Johnny Stanton:This is a little secret that I had, this little segment called Player Comps. We like to, maybe sometimes, Compare, uh, athletes to something. Can you compare I thought cops
Ryan Nemeth:meant giving free tickets. Okay. No, like, um, uh, comparisons, player comparisons. I want to come. Okay.
Johnny Stanton:Um, comparisons. We're going to, uh, for you specifically, we're going to, uh, it's because this is more wrestler comps. So we're going to compare, uh, wrestlers to types of sharks. Um, if you're, if you're able to do that, I don't know if you're limited to just talking about AEW wrestlers, but we'll talk about all historical.
Ryan Nemeth:I have my little encyclopedia of sharks. That might be, let me, I
Johnny Stanton:have a small list. So we don't need to go for too long
Ryan Nemeth:one above you. There's sharks of the world. That might be helpful right now. Just to have on hand,
Johnny Stanton:please. Yes.
Ryan Nemeth:Thank you. Thank you so much. Great. Thank you, Travis. This is a great book. Sharks, the world, by the way, every shark. I mean, I'm sure there's way more in here. I have, um, King Shark from Suicide Squad up there, too. I heard that you were a big King Shark fan.
Johnny Stanton:Yeah.
Ryan Nemeth:Love King
Johnny Stanton:Shark. Um, alright, well, let's say, uh, what wrestler is each shark? Let's start off with the most famous shark, Great White. What wrestler is the Great White shark?
Ryan Nemeth:Hey, did you know there was a wrestler called Shark Boy? I did not know that. I mean, that's definitely applicable. He dressed as a shark and wrestled. I love that. Oh, yeah. Um I'm thinking of, I think for SummerSlam one year, WWE had this ad where Brock Lesnar gave an F5 to a great white shark. He was like standing in the surf. Amazing. I remember seeing, I didn't see it live at the time. When Brock Lesnar debuted, I was not watching wrestling for about a year or two. So later on, I would see this image. I'm like, who made this? And then I finally found the ad and it's him just picking up a great way, slamming it.
Johnny Stanton:I think that's a pretty good, if
Ryan Nemeth:he hits his finish on a great way, I think he becomes a great way. So I would say Brock Lesnar rules. Yeah, absolutely.
Johnny Stanton:Um, what wrestler, I mean, I feel like I know the answer to this one. What's wrestler is a whale shark. Well, what's
Ryan Nemeth:your answer?
Johnny Stanton:I think it's a big show.
Ryan Nemeth:Wow. You know, I got chokeslammed by him. Did you really? It was about two months ago now. So when there were this areas, I guess it would have been half a year ago. He's a D and D nerd as well. Yeah, that's right. If he likes D and D, he, um, that is a strong man. I imagine.
Johnny Stanton:Well, who is your whale answer or your whale shark answer? If it's not a big show,
Ryan Nemeth:I want it to be me, but I guess just because I love whale sharks that, Hey, they might be my favorite shark. That's awesome. I heard, I
Johnny Stanton:did hear that it's either whale sharks or lemon sharks.
Ryan Nemeth:Dude, lemon sharks. I've never got up close to like encounter one. What do you mean you heard? I don't know. It's that's true. Yeah Uh, some people love um Sandbar shark. I've not heard of a sandbar shark. They're pretty cool They kind of from you can tell it's a sandbar shark from above if you're looking If you're ever looking, you know, into the water and you see one, they kind of look like an airplane. Their, their pectoral fins kind of just go out like this. They look like an airplane. Yeah. Okay.
Johnny Stanton:What, uh, would you, do you think, uh, would you say sandbar shark? Would you, do you think there's any wrestler that compares to a sandbar shark? Like who's an airplane? I
Ryan Nemeth:think the dudes in top flight, the tag team, Darius and Dante, just because their whole thing is like airplane and being airborne and flying and stuff. So like, yeah, I would say top flight sandbar sharks. Yeah. Hell
Johnny Stanton:yeah. Uh, how about tiger shark? Yeah. Tiger shark, tiger sharks are known for like eating anything, right? Yeah. And they
Ryan Nemeth:could crack open sea turtle shells too. Oh, Oh, maybe Mark Henry. Okay. I like that strongest man because I think their jaws are so strong. This is a really fun exercise. I think you're going to be excited about this one. How
Johnny Stanton:about a bull shark? Bull shark. Bull shark. Oh, man. Cause those, I think, I mean, just from watching Shark Week growing up, bull sharks are known for being able to swim in fresh water as
Ryan Nemeth:well, right? Man, people love talking about that, yeah. But it's true. It's true. Oh, you're one of those
Johnny Stanton:guys. Oh, the one fact everyone knows about it. No,
Ryan Nemeth:but it's cool. It's true. I just remember, I
Johnny Stanton:would watch Animal Planet, uh, Animal Planet. Uh, uh, religiously and I would watch like their top 10, it was like top 10 strongest bites or top 10 strongest, biggest jump, like leaping animals. And I remember it was top 10 most dangerous sharks. And it was always the biggest surprise to me as a 10 year old that the great white came in number two and bull shark came in number one.
Ryan Nemeth:Uh, yeah, I say on those same shows, it would be like, uh, the most concentrated testosterone in any animal in the world, the bull shark. And I'm like, how can you possibly know that? And also does that mean anything? I don't know.
Johnny Stanton:High T T which
Ryan Nemeth:shark did you, you know, like maybe the shark was on all, you know, just real horned up, drugged up. Uh, who's the bull shark. Who's a wrestler. Who's a bull shark. Who maybe Kurt angle. Okay. Because he's so versatile, you know, Olympic champion, pro wrestling, multi tent, you know, many companies champion and, uh, the bull shark versatile and, you know, brackish water, freshwater, saltwater. I think Kurt Angle.
Johnny Stanton:I love it. I love it. Um, this, I mean, you can be, uh, political and very deliberate with your response here. Nurse shark. Nurse sharks are known for being pretty safe to be around, right?
Ryan Nemeth:Yeah, and they can also, I believe, remain still. They're one of the many kinds that can remain still and not, you know, that's a myth that all sharks have to keep moving. I didn't know. Yeah. Hey, you know, before I answer this, when people say like, this serial killer, he had the eyes of a shark. Mm hmm. It's a fish, dude. What is
Johnny Stanton:it? Shark eyes, like a doll's eyes or something? Like there's something, like, is that from Jaws? I don't even, yeah, I'm looking at you. I don't, I don't know.
Ryan Nemeth:Um, someone Someone, like, in this acting class I'm in did a monologue where they, they're describing something like, like, looked at our eyes like a shark's dead. And I was like, it's just, it's literally a fish. It's kind of just
Johnny Stanton:reflective and big pupils. I think that's the thing. It's like, this just kind of looks like they're not looking at anything. Maybe that's what it is. People have
Ryan Nemeth:demonized sharks and that's why people are, they're like, let's go kill them all. Let's hunt them all. Let's call them, like, they're just fish, dude. They're not evil. I think,
Johnny Stanton:I think Spielberg has a lot to do with that too.
Ryan Nemeth:Yes. Definitely.
Johnny Stanton:That's a whole
Ryan Nemeth:other episode, probably. Man. Well, who's a Nurse Shark? Who is a Nurse Shark? Maybe, uh, AEW superstar, Trent Barretta. Okay. Maybe his whole crew. Maybe all of the best friends. Maybe Orange Cassidy, Trent Barretta, Chuck Taylor, Chris Statlander. They might all be a crew of Nurse Sharks. Uh, they're powerful and they need to be. They're fun to be around. Okay. I imagine Nurse Sharks are cool to be around. Yeah. Just chill. Let's say the best friends from AEW. Cool, I like that. How about a Mako shark?
Johnny Stanton:So fast. So fast. What a tail! Man, wow. That's what I mean. Who doesn't know that? Mako fast. Dude, Sonic the Hedgehog has a shark. It's true. Yeah, should be wearing that jacket. You got a Sonic the Hedgehog jacket over there. Such a cool jacket.
Ryan Nemeth:Nice gift from Anna, I guess. Like a race car, uh, but it's a race car jacket. Let's put some
Johnny Stanton:Sonic promo right in the middle of the shot. Let's put it on, yeah.
Ryan Nemeth:Gotta go fast. Oh, and Chili
Johnny Stanton:Dog on the front too? Hell yeah. Oh
Ryan Nemeth:yeah.
Johnny Stanton:Yeah, it's Chili Dog.
Ryan Nemeth:And then, uh, it says, gotta go fast right here. Hell yes. What an episode this is.
Johnny Stanton:Yeah, I know. Um, who's, who's the Mako Shark? Who's the
Ryan Nemeth:Mako?
Johnny Stanton:Well, I wanna be one of these sharks. How many more do we have? Um, we'll give you Lemon. You can be Lemon Shark. Okay. That's on there. You don't, you seem disappointed. Well, I wanted to be the Mako . You can be Mako Shark. Let's, let's give you a Mako shark. Well, I have a fast jacket on. You do have a fast jacket on? We're gonna make you the mako shark. Ryan
Ryan Nemeth:Nemo is the Mako shark. Hell yes. Let it be known.
Johnny Stanton:Spread that around. I mean, we can switch you from Hollywood hunk to Mako.
Ryan Nemeth:I would do that in a
Johnny Stanton:heartbeat. In a heartbeat. you gonna be one of these sharks. Uh, you can gimme, you can, you can make me with I'm not a professional wrestler though.
Ryan Nemeth:Oh, it's gotta be a wrestler group. Yeah. You can wrestle at any time. Yeah. Do one national I did.
Johnny Stanton:Um, what was it? The, uh. In Cleveland, the wrestling promo there, um, A. I. W.? Yeah, A. I. W. Well, then
Ryan Nemeth:you're a pro wrestler. There you go.
Johnny Stanton:I didn't appear in any of their shows, but I got to go visit one of them, and that was pretty sweet. That's cool. Um, uh, and then we got the Hammerhead Shark.
Ryan Nemeth:Hammerhead Shark, wow. Who's Wide. Wide. And
Johnny Stanton:not
Ryan Nemeth:Mark Henry. Yeah, I already used Mark Henry for something. Who's wide? Wardlow's pretty wide. Hey, maybe Wardlow, another Cleveland, uh, hero. Hell yeah. Or Cleveland, near Cleveland. Uh, let's have Wardlow be the hammerhead.
Johnny Stanton:Wardlow was the guy that I was, uh, giving the, the promo treatment for in, in our, uh, tweet his side, yeah. I was on his side. Um. Wardlow, Wardlow. All right, then who's, if you're not Lemon Shark, then who's Lemon Shark? And I think you are, after this segment, you're going to be Ryan the Shark Nemeth. That'd be awesome. A E W. Dude, that'd be sick. Uh, who's the lemon shark? Do you get control of any of that stuff? Like, what your
Ryan Nemeth:moniker is, what your I don't know about other people, I only know my own thing, and yes, for me, I've controlled that so far. Lemon shark. I
Johnny Stanton:mean, you could do this whole Hollywood hunk of like, you being a, you're in a shark movie coming up. That'd be pretty sweet. That'd be
Ryan Nemeth:sweet. Uh, who is a lemon shark? Let me, let me think about this. What are Lemon
Johnny Stanton:Sharks known for?
Ryan Nemeth:I think they are also one of the ones people put in the category of docile and, you know, Just chill. You could snorkel around them and they're cool. Although I would say every shark is probably like that. It's a little bit the way people think, like, oh, pit bulls and bulldogs. Uh huh. They're bad, like, okay.
Johnny Stanton:Sharks just have bad owners, not bad sharks. Yeah.
Ryan Nemeth:Well, you gotta respect nature, okay? Sure. You don't go up, don't do these things where people are rubbing their nose and, like, Oh, yeah. Like, you're putting your hand by a giant mouthful of teeth. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of Rosateeth there. So they're known for that, I think, uh, I think that they will maybe swim also in groups? Oh, that's interesting. I don't think they're solo guys. Who is a Lemon
Johnny Stanton:Shark? Could be like New Day, like be in like a big group. That's fun. Yeah.
Ryan Nemeth:Okay, sure. So let's say, um, let's say Kobe Kingston. Okay, cool. Lemon Shark,
Johnny Stanton:yeah. Uh, what about, uh, last one, Greenland Shark? I think they're known for being like just ancient, right?
Ryan Nemeth:Dude. Incredible. They were in the news. So huge. It's so
Johnny Stanton:fun watching her. That's what I love about this show is just getting Travis already. A guy just like giggle in the background. Just have nerd out, nerd it out. You get
Ryan Nemeth:the big news story about the 400 year old Greenland shark from like five years ago, still weekly. Someone will text me that headline and go, do you know about this? Yes, I do. And let's talk about it. So. Maybe Vince McMahon.
Johnny Stanton:Vince McMahon's pretty good. I would give, I was going to say who's the oldest person in wrestling. I'm thinking who's
Ryan Nemeth:been around that long, you know? Um, and I'm not particularly friends with or know him very well, so I don't feel bad calling him old. And I don't want to say that about someone I am friends with. I'm going to start a beef right now. Yeah. Let's say there's some experienced. Sure. Veteran wrestler. Sure. Uh, Ric Flair, I was thinking. Okay. He's been around for a while, you know? Yeah. Greenland shark. He wouldn't, he wouldn't want Greenland shark. He would want to be like, he'd want to be a Mako probably. Yeah. Who doesn't want to be a Mako? Yeah, Mako's awesome. Uh, let's, let's save, uh, Vince McMahon. I like that. I like that. Hey, do you think he's still alive by the time this comes out? This can be, you can cut that part out. I don't know this guy. I don't work for him. What do I care?
Johnny Stanton:I mean, alive probably. Free, I don't, I'm not 100 percent sure. Um, we'll see. But, uh, I, I said that, not you. Um, Let's say, uh, so that was, that was our players comp. Thank you for playing players comp with us. Hey, that was a players comp,
Ryan Nemeth:cool segment. Yeah, absolutely. Um. I literally thought you were going to ask me for a list of people to get free tickets to. And I thought, oh no, I gotta choose.
Johnny Stanton:When you're in Fresno, can you give it to my grandparents who live near there? Yeah, dude. Um, but, uh, you know, actually I forgot to do this at the beginning of the show. Um, and we're gonna kind of wrap up here soon. Okay. Um, but, uh, Your ratio for jock versus nerd. We were talking about the binary of jock versus nerd. Uh, and I think it, what you, what you want to be, and I know jock is a little bit of like a, a term that isn't really like, uh, co opted by people who like sports or athletes or anything like as much as nerds have been, but I think it's still okay to kind of consider yourself a jock, somebody who likes to, uh, compete, who likes to enjoy watching sports or anything. I think all of that encompasses jocks. And, uh, I think. You know, the, the ideal is to get 50, 50. I know that's what I strive for being a 50 percent jock, 50 percent nerd, getting that perfect balance. What would you say your, your ratio is?
Ryan Nemeth:Man. Well, let me run some bullet points by, I mean, we can kind of put the numbers together. I mostly enjoy, you know, lifting weights and strength and conditioning training. Sure. Months will go by where I don't enjoy it, but I'm just doing it when it's over. I'm like, sweet. It's over. You just gotta do it. Yeah. Yeah.
Johnny Stanton:Uh, I like to be active. And there's a certain something, there is definitely something nerdy about kind of getting invested in like the science of that. Great point. Yep.
Ryan Nemeth:Okay, cool. So that kind of goes for both categories. Um, I love comic strips and cartoons. Mm
Johnny Stanton:hmm. I, I just, you know, also got into Comic strips? Comic books? Like is there, uh, anything that you specifically like?
Ryan Nemeth:You know, I kind of don't read comic books anymore.
Johnny Stanton:Mm hmm. Mm hmm.
Ryan Nemeth:But, once in a while I will pick up, I'll get like, if Evil Dead did some comic books, I'll read them. I love Simpsons comic books. I still read those. Okay, so I still um, but I love comics, I love reading old Calvin and Hobbes Simpsons fan. Oh, nice dude, alright. D'oh. I don't
Travis Reeves:know.
Ryan Nemeth:Yeah, uh, Ruby Soho painted me as Bart Simpson wearing a heel shirt in a wrestling ring. I love that. Hey, someone, uh, posted me, this is way after the fact, but I was at the L. A. premiere for the Iron Claw. Wearing my El Barto sneakers on the, on the red carpet and someone reposted and said, this, this looks like if Bart Simpson grew up to be a successful adult. And I, for some reason had like my hair, it was like freshly bleached. I mean, you are
Johnny Stanton:living the career that I'm sure Bart Simpson would want to live.
Ryan Nemeth:Yeah. I love Bart Simpson. Uh, I skateboard and that's kind of nerdy and athletic. Yeah.
Johnny Stanton:Um, Just off the top of your head. What's what percentage nerd are you versus Jock? I don't do fantasy
Ryan Nemeth:sports. So
Johnny Stanton:that
Ryan Nemeth:is like kind of both. I'm probably, I think I'm a less jock. I think I'm more nerd. Hell yeah. I'm probably like 60, 40. I love that. Absolutely. I think that's fair. That's definitely fair. Are you going to prescribe me? We're going
Johnny Stanton:to want to get that to 50, 50 as best as possible. So you're going to have to lift a couple more weights, watch a couple more football games. Yeah, um, but I know that, uh, because I wanted to get to that point before we finished. You have a
Ryan Nemeth:giant document over there? I have a
Johnny Stanton:huge document, just pages and pages and pages, just on you. Will you just show the camera? Yeah, absolutely, this is just, this is all Ryan, right here. He has my, uh, that's the end of my life at the end there? Don't tell me half of it. May 17th, 20 what? 20 what? Oh. Uh, we'll figure that out later. I thought I was making it to 3,
Ryan Nemeth:000 at least. Gee.
Johnny Stanton:Uh, but, uh, yeah, thank you so much for being on the show. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. For those of you who are Patreon subscribers, uh, we're gonna run, uh, Ryan threw his first in what, probably 20 years, first time playing Dungeons and Dragons. Wait, they gotta pay more to see this? Uh, well, yeah, you have to, you have to be able to pay to see this. And it's worth every penny! It absolutely is. Yeah. I mean, we just had Clint McElroy's episode with, that was awesome. But, again, I just want to thank you for being on the show. Um Thanks for having me on. This is Athletics Check, and we're gonna have to ask you to roll an Athletics Check to finish off the show. We have a D20 here in front of you.
Ryan Nemeth:That means there's 20 sides to the deck.
Johnny Stanton:That's correct. Good job. Um, first off, is there anything you'd like to plug outside of We've talked about Ironclaw already. I mean, just watching you on AEW. I
Ryan Nemeth:hope there's more at this point. Ironclaw
Johnny Stanton:2?
Ryan Nemeth:The focus is only on Geno. that. Uh, I don't know. Whatever I'm doing, follow me somewhere. RyRyNemNem is usually my name on everything. I hope I'm in other stuff by now. I don't know. Yeah, absolutely.
Johnny Stanton:Let's get to your role in Athletics Check, if you don't mind. What do you think your bonus is to Athletics, by the way? I know you don't really have a lot of context for this, but That means I get a plus something? Plus something, yeah. I mean, you're a professional wrestler, so I gotta say you're proficient in it. Two? Or is that too much? I'd say that's a little low. Probably three. Maybe three or four. I'll give you a plus four. Let's do four. Nice, dude.
Ryan Nemeth:Well, I can jump real high.
Johnny Stanton:Hell yeah. Ryan Nemeth, role me in Athletics Check. What is that? Okay, it's not horrible. It's one of the lowest numbers you can get. It's a 7. It's okay. That's not horrible. It's an 11. Single
Ryan Nemeth:digits on a D20? Damn.
Johnny Stanton:That's alright. That's half of them are single digits, so, or less than that, but whatever. Oh wait, is that an L? That's an L for loser. No, it's a 7. Uh, that's a 7. You get an 11. Um, an 11, I'd say, That's above average. So that's, you're, you're winning already. So congratulations, uh, Ryan Nema. Thank you for being on the podcast. All right. Thanks for listening, everyone. If you enjoyed the show, please take a moment to rate it and leave us a review. You can find us on YouTube, Apple podcast, Spotify, and everywhere else podcasts can be found. Don't forget. We do have a Patreon in which we talk to each of our guests about playing Dungeons and Dragons and I run them a little adventure. I hope you guys do enjoy that. If you are a patron subscriber. Audio editing and music by the incredible co host, Travis Reeves, video production and editing by Frank Janish. And I'm your host, Johnny San, the fourth to find out more about what I do. Check out my website, stantoniv. com. This has been an effing funny production. We'll catch you next time. But until then, can you roll me an athletics check?