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Today marks the 25th Anniversary of Lilian Garcia's WWE debut. Garcia sat down with PWInsiderElite.com earlier this week.
On her very first night, Garcia remembered she wasn't even aware she was going to be a ring announcer when she arrived.
"I didn't know," Garcia noted. "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."
While Garcia was new to the business, she was a lifelong fan and knew exactly what she was getting into, in terms of the entertainment value of the genre.
"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 of the more memorable (or not so memorable, choose your own adventure) interactions Garcia had on screen was with late WWE Hall of Famer Howard Finkel, who she replaced as WWE's regular ring announcer.
When asked about her favorite memories of collaborating with Finkel, Garcia said, "...Just the whole storyline that we got to work together when he would trying to get his job back. We ended up having the evening gown tuxedo match. He was such a good sport during all of that. And just behind the scenes, us working all of that out and getting to work together week after week, even though he threw me into Jamal. I knew, obviously I knew that was coming, but it just really lended itself to have an incredible storyline that you did not expect. It was an opportunity for the two of us to be really close in working through that. I will just never forget also the amount of help that he gave me in learning how to be a ring announcer. So I'm forever grateful to Howard. And he's very much missed."
25 years is a long time, so when Garcia was asked how she processes all that she's done and accomplished, she took a beat before noting, "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."
Garcia recently appeared on Raw alongside current WWE ring announcer Samantha Irvin. It's the same company, but with new owners and management.
"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."
While it's been some time since Garcia worked full-time in professional wrestling, she hasn't slowed down her creative endeavors.
"So I went through quite a transition after I lost my parents and after my marriage dissolved," Garcia explained. "I moved from California, I went to South Carolina and I handled my parents house emptying it. My sister would come back and forth from Nashville where she lives, but I decided to go ahead and live in the house and I lived there for eight months working on that. It was a full time job. My parents, unfortunately, they accumulated a lot within, the 50 years that they lived there. So then that transitioned me, though, to here, to Georgia, where I'm at now. And that's because I got involved with the Speakers Academy out here, and I've been doing a lot more speaking. I did speaking when I was at WWE. I was with speaking at schools, speaking at for Susan G. Komen, I was an ambassador for them. Talking about the importance of getting screened for breast cancer because my mother was a breast cancer survivor. I spoke at prisons. I, there was just a love that I had in spreading some inspiration and inspiring, whether it's women or kids. So, now I'm getting the opportunity to do that more in corporations and speak to leaders and speak to as many people about arena level confidence is what I call it. Getting that confidence level to another to another realm where you really push past some of those insecurities and obstacles that you put in your own way that can be knocked down. That's what I love to do. I'm also singing. I've definitely been recording some more music, which I'm very excited to be releasing soon. I'm doing it more in the Christian realm because I really found God again at the end of 2021 and got re-baptized in 23 and it's just been really filling my soul. So for me, it's a big calling and I joined a worship team and now I found a new church here to be a part of the worship team. So I've been staying busy, definitely staying busy, but a lot has been behind the scenes. So now it's all going to be starting to come out. I think there's an entire realm of fans will be excited to hear some of that music when it comes out."
As Garcia continues to move forward, she took today to look back and commemorate her WWE anniversary, but not she didn't want to move on before acknowledging the fans.
"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."
While noting she would be happy to talk to the company if there was a future role for her in WWE, Garcia provided her personal advice for those seeking success in their own chosen fields.
"First of all, don't ever burn a bridge," Garcia said. "Even if there is a reason to burn a bridge, don't do it. It's just, it will never get you anywhere. I, I didn't have that reason, which is great, but even if I would have, I wouldn't have done it. And never say never, I never thought after I left after 10 years, I didn't know that I was going to come back. When I left and, At the end of 2009, I didn't realize that I was going to come back at the end of 2011. I just think it's important to always keep your options open and treat people with decency, respect, be an employee that is dependable, that is a team player. I think those are some things that have been lost a little bit in our culture, where there's a lot of entitlement. No, you need to be a hard worker. You need to go out there and always, above and beyond of what your role is. I think that's one of the reasons that I've had longevity with [WWE] and why I keep getting invited back is because I respect the business a lot, I respect my coworkers, and I just have a lot of love and passion for it. I think that's what for anybody in any business, it will keep you there."
It's kept Garcia there for 25 years and counting.
Lilian Garcia looks back on her WWE run and more at www.instagram.com/liliangarcia.
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