Lilian Garcia tells hilarious story from her first day on the job in WWE
Longtime WWE ring announcer Lilian Garcia opened up on her journey to WWE and her career in the wrestling business on the latest episode of her podcast, Making Their Way To The Ring, and during the interview with her co-hosts she recalled a harrowing experience from her very first day on the job.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLu5QpIpeqY
Following a series of auditions and interviews, Garcia was hired for a trial period beginning in 1999 - but she hadn't been following WWE at the time, and had no idea who everyone was. She was informed upon arriving for her first day that she would be put on live TV for an episode of Raw that night - and just before the show went on air, she found out that she couldn't use the cue cards she had prepared as a guide.
"They called me and they said ‘we’d like to try you out for two to three months. You can quit at any time.’
Well, hello! That’s pretty obvious. I’ve got nothing to lose.
So I show up. Iowa State University, 1999. August 23rd.
Atrocious... was it not atrocious? But they threw me in. I did not know I was ring announcing until 3:30. I didn’t even ring announce in my audition.
... The only thing I remember rehearsing is ‘ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Test!’ Nobody’s telling me anything.
Twenty minutes before I’m going live they told me I cannot use cue cards.
I had [the names] written out because Tony Chimel helped me that afternoon. Thank God for photographic memory, because what I did then right before I went up - I literally, I’ve never been at a point where I thought I was gonna get so sick that I was about - I was like, ‘bad time for a joke’. And they’re like ‘no, no, no Kevin Dunn does not like, this is not boxing, you can’t.’
But I’m like, ‘But I don’t know anybody here and now I gotta know their weights, and their towns, what type of match it is, and if they hold the title'?
I literally wanted to run ten minutes before we were going live, I wanted to run. I saw myself literally getting up and bolting outta there."
