Former WWE Announcer Lilian Garcia Recalls Having To Learn On The Job

Hired to WWE as a ring announcer, Lilian Garcia quickly found herself thrust into the role on the August 23, 1999 episode of "WWE Raw," with only a few hours of training behind her. This training came courtesy of Tony Chimel, who briefly sat down with Garcia backstage before calling four matches for "WWE Sunday Night Heat," which Garcia took additional notes from. On a recent episode of "Busted Open Radio," Garcia opened up about the process of learning on the job there, and in the months following.

"It was crazy how I had to learn this job on the spot in front of everybody," Garcia said. "We've all been new at something, so everyone understands, like even a cashier at a cash register trying to know where the buttons are, you're going to be slow. You're going to have a long line. You're going to have impatient people. You're going to feel that anxiety like, 'Oh my gosh, I don't know how to do this.'"

"That was me on the job in front of all those million people. But I feel like it's also led me to be able to tell people, you don't have to be 100% ready to seize an opportunity. You just have to step into it, and you have to just do the best you can."

While Garcia didn't feel fully ready to take on ring announcing duties in her debut appearance, she feels that WWE saw something in her that proved otherwise. As such, Garcia believes that anyone taking on a new role in any field should remain fearless in their new environment and just "go for it."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.