Former WWE announcer Lilian Garcia spoke with PWInsider.com on a number of topics, including not knowing she would be a ring announcer at first.
Garcia said, “I didn’t know. They just said it was going to be something to do in the broadcast. I had done backstage interviews, mock up backstage interviews for my Audition. So, I thought it was just going to be doing backstage interviews or they said it’s something else to do with the broadcasting, but I didn’t know till three 30 that afternoon that I was actually going to replace Howard Finkel that night. Then I got told 20 minutes before going live. Oh yeah…by the way, you can’t use cue cards. So I almost ran. My whole story would have been completely different because I kept looking at the exit sign. And I kept thinking. Abort this mission because you are not prepared for this, right? And, it’s the Attitude Era. It was sold out. I have 14 million people watching at home. So the stress level was the most I’ve ever endured besides, maybe by 9/11 singing, two days after the 9/11 attacks, that was a very stressful moment as well. Cause I felt like the world was on my shoulders. But look, that’s exactly why I now teach arena level confidence, because I’ve been in those very stressful positions and now I teach like how I did it, how I got through it and how I was able to create the career that I’ve gotten to do.”
On being a wrestling fan before she began working for WWE:
“So I think what really was beneficial for me was that I was a fan first,” Garcia explained. “I used to watch it with my dad It was our pastime together and it was just our thing and dad even got tickets to the Township Auditorium. I got to see it in Columbia, South Carolina when I lived there. I’ll never forget being a little girl getting to see Andre the Giant, getting to see Ric Flair. I, and Blackjack Belton Mulligan. Those were my three favorites that I remember as a kid. And I remember, yelling at the TV and all. So when I got in there and they asked me to do the figure four [leglock] with Jeff Jarrett, that was just a month after I’d gotten there. I actually was excited because I’d been watching it, with my dad. So I knew that this was part of, I didn’t know I was going to be put in it, but man, when they offered it to me, I was excited to be in it. Also because I’m very athletic, I’ve always been into sports. Since I was a little girl. So to me, it was just so much fun. So you were ready to dive right in it was there wasn’t any trepidation at all because you were a fan So absolutely and I kept telling them when they when I finished doing the figure four, They’re like, ‘thank you’ and ‘I’m like, oh no, thank you, Like that was fun and anything else you guys need put me in’ and so they did.”
On the 25th anniversary of her debut:
“Man, you said 25 years and I still can’t believe it. It really does seem like it was yesterday that I took that opportunity that was presented to me to work for the WWE. I didn’t know what was going to be ahead. To see every year, like doing this project of releasing all the highlights on my Instagram and showing every year, it has reminded me of what I did there – and I forgot a lot of it! But man, what a ride. I would say how to encapsulate it. It’s just, I’m so grateful that I said Yes, to the unknown. I didn’t know what working for the WWE was going to be, what it was going to look like. I just said yes to the opportunity. I’m just so excited. I’m so grateful.”
On her recent RAW appearance:
“When I got to go into Greenville, it was really exciting. First of all, just to see everybody. Everybody was just so just happy and with open arms, ready to embrace me. It’s been a while since I’ve been backstage. I think the biggest thing that I noticed was like Triple H saying, ‘Hey, you want to be on the show tonight? I’d love for you and Samantha to co-announce.’ I’m like, okay, sure. So it was like, very spontaneous. That was really cool and it was just really neat to be able to have that moment with Samantha.”
On commemorating her anniversary:
“I love the fact that you said that they allowed me to have this because I absolutely agree,” Garcia noted. “If it wouldn’t have been for the fans, I wouldn’t have been able to be there that long. That’s why I always made sure to stay after or come early and sign autographs and say thank you to everybody as much as I could because I have that respect for the fans that if it’s without them, none of us have jobs, right? So I just love that they also gave me an opportunity to learn this craft on the job because I didn’t know that I was going to be the ring announcer when I showed up my very first day at work and oh my gosh it was so rough such a rough time to learn a brand new job that you’re not trained to do and you have to learn it in front of millions of people oh talk about stressful just so grateful to the fans that they allowed that and and just embraced me the way that they did.”
