Eric Young: From the ring to the rod

MANILA, Philippines - How did a pro-wrestler end up hosting a TV show? Eric Young, also known by the ring name Showtime, might have been asked that question countless times, but for the Canadian professional wrestler-turned-host of Animal Planet’s Off The Hook: Extreme Catches, taking on a project that sends him from the “ring to the rod” is not really an off-tangent turn as it may seem.

According to Eric, in a recent phone interview with The STAR, he considers himself an entertainer first, a wrestler next.

“I guess television is always something that I’ve wanted to do and the opportunity came up and I jumped at it. I would consider myself an entertainer before I would consider myself a wrestler, so this is a great avenue for me to expand my visibility in media and just have a really good time.”

Besides, Eric added, the show is “super fun to do, you know, it’s an extreme show. I’m a bit of an adrenaline junkie, and (since) I get to travel all over and meet all these interesting people, (the show) is a great match for me.”

Eric, who has described himself a novice fisherman at best, nevertheless, has that built-in quality that makes him the natural choice to be the face of Off The Hook — extreme love for outdoors.

Relating how he came to relish the outdoors, he shared, “I grew up in Canada. It’s been a huge part of my life; both my mother and my father taught me to love the outdoors and experience the outdoors. I don’t know, there’s just something about it... All these different places are beautiful in their own way and I like to see as many different things, and experience as many different things as possible, and the outdoors is endless when it comes to that.”

In Off The Hook, Eric unleashes the avid outdoorsman in him, crisscrossing the length and breadth of America in his quest for the craziest fishing adventures. Employing women’s pantyhose to catch sharks in the Atlantic, launching live bait with fire extinguishers and hand-fishing with Tennessee’s bikini-clad “Girls Gone Grabblin” are just some of the out-of-this-world fishing techniques that Eric had the pleasure of trying out in the show.

And his most extreme fishy experience so far?

“I think the most extreme was definitely catching a six-and-a-half foot shark from a paddle board which is basically just an oversized surfboard. We did it in probably about 60 feet of water which is pretty dangerous and pretty nerve-wracking but (it’s) an experience that I’ll never forget,” Eric said. “My favorite is the free-dive spearfishing — it’s really, really difficult and it’s a very unique skill set that you have to learn but I picked up on it pretty quick and I became pretty good at free diving so I’m most proud of that one.”

Eric also said that the challenges he has to deal with in his fishing expeditions are not much different from those in his wrestling career.

Eric, who performs in the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where he has “gained popularity thanks to his comic-relief gimmicks,” said, “Really, there are some similarities. You’ve got to be tenacious in both worlds. I started pro-wrestling when I was 17 and I wanted to strive to make my living, to be on television and get paid to be a pro-wrestler and I figured there’s probably about 300,000 pro-wrestlers in the world and about 150 jobs.

“It’s very difficult and it’s very similar that way; with fishing is you have to put your time in. It’s very hard to catch some of these fish, you’ve got to be there at the right time, you’ve got to be there at the right hour, you’ve got to be there when the sun is right, the wind is right, it’s really, really... it’s all about perseverance in both fields.”

But even with this newfound career course, wrestling will always be his first love. “I wanted to be a pro-wrestler my whole life, you know, from the time I was watching wrestling with my dad when I was six years old. So wrestling will always be my first love, but this show has opened up a whole new avenue for me in television and I hope to, you know, make the move into movies someday. But this is a whole new adventure. It’s like my life is starting all over again and I couldn’t be happier.”

Meanwhile, Eric happily mentioned during the interview that Off The Hook has been given a second season, which will bring him outside America, but not in Asia. At least not yet.

The Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries are noted worldwide for their rich fishing grounds, and this fact is not lost on Eric. 

“I’ve always dreamt of coming there (Southeast Asia). I’m actually a huge fan of Southeast Asian cinema, I collect movies from there and a huge fan of that culture. I’ve always wanted to travel there even if it’s just on my own, but hopefully, we can get season three and I can come over there and do some crazy fishing adventures overseas. That’s what I’m really hoping for.”

Does he have any particular country in mind?

Eric said, “I’ll go wherever the fish are… I’m not biased, you know — Philippines, that would be amazing, anywhere in Southeast Asia. I know there’s a huge fishing community all throughout Southeast Asia and (the show’s producers) have come up with some pretty crazy ideas already so I’m really hoping that happens.”

A 12-part series, Animal Planet’s Off The Hook: Extreme Catches airs Mondays at 9 p.m., with encores Wednesdays at 9 p.m., Thursdays at midnight and Saturdays at 10 p.m.