Mike and his wife, Lauren, were guests on the Hollywood Pipeline Podcast with Dax Holt & Adam Glyn ... and he made a huge reveal. He tells them "The Situation" isn't his normal personality -- it's an amped-up version inspired by his love for wrestling ... specifically, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

The Sitch says he wanted to bring something new to the hit MTV series, and while he's obviously a character on his own ... he wanted to make himself "larger than life." Hence -- the nickname, the catchphrases, the abs ... and talking about himself in the third person.

Gotta say, it worked pretty well, and Mike sold it as the genuine article ... though ya gotta think he really had some GTL experience.