Getting 'Tanked': Long-running show delivers custom aquarium to World Wrestling Entertainment superstar Chris Jericho

After almost eight years and more than 100 episodes, Wayde King and Brett Raymer, co-owners of Acrylic Tank Manufacturing, still can't believe they're doing reality television.

Here they are, though, going into their seventh season as the stars of Animal Planet's "Tanked." The duo have taken their love of fish and building custom aquariums all over the world and have done jobs for celebrities such as Shaquille O'Neal and David Hasselhoff.

So when current World Wrestling Entertainment superstar, multiple New York Times best-selling author, rock band frontman and former "Dancing With the Stars" cast member Chris Jericho wanted a custom tank for his home, he knew who to call.

Despite meeting a multitude of celebrities, King still has a hard time believing this is his life now.

"I think Brett always thought about that, but I never did," said King, who has been in the fish business for more than 30 years. "I never thought we'd be seeing celebrities and all these cool people and hanging out with them. I knew we built a beautiful aquarium, I knew it was cool. But when we got into the theming part and everybody started wanting them, it just started blowing up. It's weird, people think of me as a celebrity. I look at me as the fish guy."

Fishing for success

Raymer admits he never thought "Tanked" would take off like it has.

When he first thought of the idea, the boisterous one of the show's stars had no idea what exactly he was getting into.

"I created it, I wrote it, shopped it and got it sold," Raymer said of his now 8-year-old brainchild.

Raymer plays the goof on the show, and it isn't much different from his real life. Raymer is talkative and vibrant. King, who is Raymer's brother-in-law, is more work oriented and plays the heavy.

It's a pairing that has struck a chord with viewers, at least enough to keep them on the air for nearly a decade.

"My family always said I didn't work, and that's the whole show thing," Raymer explained. "I just figured we really had something. I used to watch "Orange County Choppers" and those guys inspired me to do something. It was to create a TV program which was similar to what those guys did but on a different level.

"It's insane. I guess like 2 percent of all television makes 100 episodes and we just shot our 120th or so. Considering I wrote the show eight years ago, I expected it to be good, but never expected it to be seven seasons strong."

Help from my friends

Coincidentally, it was the 100th episode of "Tanked" that was the catalyst for Jericho, whose real name is Christopher Irvine, to seek out ATM for his own custom tank.

On that episode, Raymer and King did an aquarium for former Florida Gators football player and current WWE superstar Titus O'Neil. Keeping with the show's theme and the special touches the team of more than 50 employees gives each job that comes to ATM, Raymer and King designed a Florida Gators-themed tank for O'Neil's office.

Jericho talked to O'Neil, whose real name is Thaddeus Michael Bullard, about getting in touch with the show.

O'Neil didn't hesitate.

"Chris was telling me that they had watched Tanked and he thought it was cool," O'Neil said. "Chris saw me on the road at a WWE event, and he said, 'My son's a huge fish fanatic and he was watching your episode.' I said 'I'll link you guys up. I'll text Brett and Wayde to see if they'd have you on the show.'

"Without hesitation they said yes. The main thing was was Chris' kids. He does stuff for my kids, and he's 100 percent always yes."

After getting confirmation, Jericho decided to make it a Christmas present to his kids.

It was well received.

"My kids, especially my son, have been big fans of fish for almost their whole life," Jericho said. "We watch 'Tanked' quite a bit and we saw Titus was on it. I made the connection through that. I printed out a poster of 'Tanked' and put it in an envelope. Then at Christmas, when all the presents were unwrapped, I said there's one more present here. They unwrapped it and they flipped out. We've been excited about it for a couple of months now."

Jericho made sure that his schedule allowed him to be home for the installation.

That's one of the hardest things for King and Raymer to coordinate with some of the celebrities. With Jericho being on the road most of the year with the WWE and his band Fozzy, it was even harder.

"I wouldn't have done it if I couldn't have been here," he said. "It's a cool family experience and we did a lot of work. We had to clear out that whole room and decide what we're going to do and the design. The kids had a lot of input in that as well. What fish are going in there, what's the design and what kind of theme. Been a tough day to keep them out of that room. They're excited about it.

"I think we're all excited. I'm used to kind of just waiting. Show business is a lot of sitting around and waiting. When you're 10 or 13 years old it's probably not the case, but for me, when the time comes, when they say the red light is on, then there I go. Until then, I've found it's better to conserve your energy."

Tag-team effort

Raymer and King also rely on "friends" to help them whenever they have an aquarium to install.

Through what Raymer calls a referral network, the two branch out to use local aquarium shops to help install and supply the aquariums with fish.

In this instance, the pair called in Plant City-based Tampa Aquarium Service and owner John Guerriero to help them with the Jericho tank.

ATM built the custom tank in Las Vegas and then shipped it to Tampa Aquarium Service's warehouse, where it was stored until it was ready to be installed. The tank Jericho had put in is a 350-gallon tank that will incorporate approximately 30 fish of different species.

King said the build took four weeks just for the tank alone and then another three weeks getting the coral designed to what the Jericho family wanted. For that, Jericho's children, teenage son Ash and identical twin daughters Sierra and Cheyenne, chipped in with their ideas, as did Jericho's wife, Jessica.

The end result was what Guerriero estimated to be a $40,000 to 45,000 job.

The tank of Jericho

Ultimately, when it was unveiled to the family, the aquarium was met with lots of smiles, laughter and hugs from the Jericho clan.

There are several elements to the tank that tie in Jericho's wrestling career, and it's that personal touch that King goes for every time.

"We like to capture the client in our aquariums," he said. "We want the aquarium to represent the person that owns it. They can see some of the items that Chris is famous for. That's part of his life and his family's life and we've incorporated that."

That had to have hit home for everyone on set when one of Jericho's daughters shouted "Best Christmas present ever!"

It's that kind of unscripted joy that has kept Raymer and King in business and keeps "Tanked" on the air.

—Ray Beasock can be reached at ray.beasock@theledger.com or 863-802-7575.