I'm a perfectionist and my own worst critic.

It's a daily struggle for me to stay alive. I don't mean to be melodramatic, hyperbolic, or go into my broadcast mode. But even that, my career is bipolar.

My job, live television, broadcasting, there's mania involved in there, too, but it's the good stuff.

WWE, in the back of my mind, was always the dream job, and most people don't get their dream jobs.

All I can say is that WWE and its entire machinery has been nothing but a joy to work with. I'm not just saying that because I'm paid to or that I'm a member of the company. I have criticized WWE in the past, but I am still a big fan of the product.

I believe every one of us has a gift, I believe every one of us human beings has a path in this life, and it is up to each of us, through circumstance, through knowledge, through awareness, through luck - and luck does play a huge part - to hopefully achieve that path and walk the path and realize the gift.

For me, at a very young age, I knew I wanted to be in the entertainment industry; I wanted to be an announcer. I was very smitten at an early age with the voice I heard coming from a radio.

I was brought into the life of one Bas Rutten in 2001 at a grappling tournament that I was attending to support a friend of mine. I had never met Bas before but, of course, knew who he was: the King of Pancrase, UFC Heavyweight champion, and the commentator with Pride.

There would be no Mauro Ranallo in MMA, or maybe even period, to be truly honest with you... without Bas Rutten's friendship, mentorship, and just belief in my talents.

I go into calling any match, any fight - I don't care if it's the main event or the opener - that these guys have put in their work: they're here for a reason, and there's a reason I'm calling this fight, so I do want to give it as much attention and respect and energy as I would the main event or a championship fight.

Everything is WrestleMania to me.

I love working with Byron Saxton and Jerry Lawler, and I hope I continue to do so.

I know I'm not everyone's cup of tea, and not everyone is going to approve of me being in WWE, but I guarantee every Thursday on 'Smackdown' you're going to get the most prepared and the most passionate broadcast that I'm capable of giving you.

Jerry 'The King' Lawler might be the most talented man I've ever worked with. He comes in, he's cool as a cucumber, and then all of a sudden, as soon as the camera comes on, it was a dream. It was an absolute dream come true to spar and share the same airspace with a guy I've respected for a long, long time.

I know, to some, I am always a little over the top, but that's just who I am, and I'd rather be that way than monotone or less than scintillating in my presentation.

I wouldn't be in WWE without Michael Cole.

I'm going to call WWE like I call everything. Yes, I'm going to be passionate. Yes, I'm going to be excited, but at the same time, I'm hoping to get better as a storyteller, and I'm hoping to complement the people I work with who have been doing this a lot longer than I have.

I want to make it so that it's OK to not be OK.

The titles aren't merely props in New Japan. They're actually the focus of the company, and that's how it should be if you're going to be in this world, this business. After all, it is professional wrestling. It is presented as an athletic competition, and the titles should mean something.

I have a curious mind.

I'm blessed to have a great support network.

I gave myself the nickname 'Bipolar Rock N' Roller' way back in the 1990s, when - as much as we don't talk about mental health now - back then it was almost nonexistent. And if it was broached, it was done in a very pejorative way.

I've always been an advocate for mental health.

Vince McMahon is an intimidating individual because of the amount of respect he commands because of what he's done for entertainment, turning the business into a billion dollar success story. He rarely sleeps. He's a workaholic. He's passionate. He loves what he does.

I've always been a TV junkie.

I was diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder at 19, which I thought would derail my career. Thankfully, I was able to get help and continue the path, and I think, for me, the buzzword is perseverance.

As an announcer, I have nothing but respect for the fighters, and I want to make sure I do my job to let the people know who these courageous warriors are, because they are putting their lives on the line for our entertainment, and there's something to be said about that.

I knew at five years old what I wanted to do for a living. I started reading newspapers and books out loud at a very young age. I was very focused on English and building my vocabulary.

I was discovered at 16, so all I've done is be a communicator and an entertainer all my life, and my energy is who I am in real life.

I don't think there's a good or wrong way of broadcasting. The more unique you are, the more opportunities you're going to get.

I love pop culture. I love sports. I love entertainment. The fact that I get paid to be a part of this is like, 'Woah.'

I don't think it's been healthy what I've done in my life to get to where I am mentally and otherwise, but it is the path I've chose. I'm not married, no family, and my hobbies are my loves.

No matter what job I've undertaken, whether it was Glory Kickboxing or Strikeforce or Pride Fighting Championships or Showtime Championship Boxing, you have to play by the rules of the company you work for.

I am a bit of a dynamic personality and have the ability to use my vocabulary in some creative ways.

I wouldn't be alive without my work.

People can say what they want about WWE. Paul Levesque, Vince McMahon, Michael Cole - they all gave me another life by bringing me back to call NXT. That's where I should have been in the beginning.

I've learned about myself that I'm much stronger than I ever had any idea about myself.

I get that there is no one quite like me, nor should there be anybody quite like anybody else in any field. I've always said, 'Don't be the next anyone; be the first you.'

I know my energy level is unlike others. I know that my capacity to really think fast is unlike others, but I also know the price that comes with it.

I'm living the dream.

I'm a highly intelligent, highly articulate, very empathetic, down-to-earth person. But man, my thoughts are incredibly dark. Incredibly dark.

When I'm at my lowest, when I'm crying uncontrollably, and I can reach out to one of my many people in my support network, it helps. I feel better.

Mental illness, unfortunately, is an invisible disease: it's not seen or heard. For whatever reason, because of that, society has decided that if we can't see it, maybe it doesn't exist, so they want to just sweep it under the carpet or say, 'Snap out of it,' or that you're looking for attention.

My first full-time radio job at 21, I was there for only a couple of months before I was hospitalized. I wrote a resignation letter. My dad wouldn't give the letter to my boss at the time.

It's weird: I always feel like my career is about to end. Like someone is coming to get me. I don't know. I guess I need to find a better balance, but without my work, I don't think I would be alive. If I don't work, I don't live.

There's a constant struggle between my ears about who I am and what I mean to the world.

My allegiance to the GOP was cemented during the 1980s, when I was in high school and college and Ronald Reagan was in the White House. For me, Reagan was what John F. Kennedy had been to an earlier generation: an inspirational figure who shaped my worldview.

You can debate when the conservative movement became a racket - I nominate 1996, the year Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes created Fox News Channel to monetize right-wing outrage - but there is no doubt it has long since passed that point.

I am by no means suggesting that everyone who uses the neocon label is doing so as an anti-Semitic smear, but the word has been used often enough in that ugly context that it should make any person of goodwill think twice before employing it.

I don't know if I can ever change the world, but at least I can change the oil in my car.