Anthony Bowens \u201913 has come a long way from riding the \u201chell bus\u201d up and down the East Coast with the rest of the Red Hawks baseball team, while working toward his Broadcasting degree at Montclair State.<\/p>\n
\u201cCoach Schoenig didn\u2019t like to fly, so I sat through a lot of really long trips with my teammates,\u201d he recalls, with more fondness than you\u2019d think. \u201cYou know, some of my best memories were from those rides! I miss that camaraderie to this day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Playing college-level baseball had long been a goal of his, but Bowens is a man of many ambitions. Not long after graduation a chance meeting with former WWE wrestler Santino Marella planted the seeds for Bowens\u2019 next initiative: pro wrestling. The wrestling star saw the former outfielder\u2019s potential and encouraged him.<\/p>\n
Bowens took the plunge, becoming a solo act on the indie circuit. \u201cI had a lot to learn,\u201d he says. \u201cI realized it was more than just staying in shape and learning moves,\u201d he says. \u201cI took acting classes and trained in comedy, and acted in commercials, too. I helped create a YouTube channel, Michael & Anthony<\/em>, that now has 185,000 subscribers. All of these things helped me build my wrestling persona, and my confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n While Bowens was developing the bravado of a professional wrestling celebrity, he was also building the courage to bring his authentic self into the public eye. Four years ago, Bowens decided to come out as gay. The Michael & Anthony<\/em> channel, which he produces with his boyfriend, Michael Pavano, was becoming increasingly popular, but he was deeply concerned about the response from his wrestling peers and fans. But the wrestling community supported him, keeping his career on an upward trajectory.<\/p>\n In 2020, Bowens received his biggest break yet: he and his wrestling partner, Max Caster, signed with All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as the hip-hop wrestling duo, The Acclaimed. By early 2021 the team, which appears weekly on TNT, was the number four ranked team in the company.<\/p>\n With a plate this full, Bowens doesn\u2019t have the opportunity to get back to campus too often, but when he does, he is amazed at the University\u2019s growth. \u201cI helped as a volunteer baseball coach not long ago and visited the new Media Production Studios,\u201d he says. \u201cI was super jealous of the cool editing bays that students get to use!\u201d<\/p>\n Although Bowens graduated before the new facility was open, he still feels that Montclair State prepared him for success. \u201cBy the time I was working at internships with ESPN New York\u2019s Michael Kay Show, I was already comfortable with the studio environment,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen I started the YouTube channel and was filming commercials, I already had the skills to write, edit and produce material. I knew what to look for behind the camera and what to do in front of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Bowens hopes to get back to campus soon and when he does, he hopes to reassure students about their own futures. \u201cEnjoy the best time in your life one day at a time. Don\u2019t get too far ahead of yourself. Follow your passion and learn something you love.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The professional wrestler turns dedication and hard work into success in the ring, on the screen and in life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":209777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-209756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-77_alumni-spotlight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209756"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":209885,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209756\/revisions\/209885"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}