Lilian Garcia was a staple of WWE programming as a ring announcer and backstage interviewer for over a decade. Since 2016, she has returned to ring announce the finals of the first Mae Young Classic and first WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal, appear at Raw 25, and sing the national anthem at certain special occasions. She also conducts in-depth interviews with many WWE Superstars on her podcast, Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia.
After her publicist reached out to us, Garcia spoke to With Spandex about the evolution of the role of women in WWE, the evolution of the company as a whole, and their upcoming first all-women pay-per-view, Evolution. This conversation is below and has been edited for length and clarity.
With Spandex: Could you describe your current level of involvement with WWE?
Lilian Garcia: I do show up every now and then for special occasions, and what’s so great is that with my podcast, Chasing Glory, they allow me to interview the current roster. So it’s been awesome to get that access and to get these really powerful stories through that.
With that and with working for WWE for so long… You have a lot of insight into what it’s been like for people to work for WWE over the years.
Yes, I would say that for sure. It’s been awesome, to be honest, to see the evolution of it, I think – no pun intended for this weekend. But just working for the company as long as I have and seeing the growth of the company, my god, I mean, it’s incredible, the growth, and how worldwide it has gotten, and it just continues to grow. Every time you think WWE has gotten to the max level it just keeps proving itself even beyond that, and I love the fact that more than ever it’s being expected outside of the wrestling world. I think that’s what’s so great is that even for the longest time Hollywood didn’t really look at, you know, the company or wrestlers or anything like that for talent and now the Rock was one that really broke big… and you’ve got Batista. It’s just been incredible to see also some of the talent that’s been doing some of the TV shows and the respect that they get.
And it seems like with Evolution, with the Nikki Bella-Ronda Rousey match headlining the show, do you think this will bring a lot of more mainstream attention to the event?
Absolutely. I love the fact that they are headlining the show, but, in fact, I feel like any of the women could have headlined the show. I just think anyone they could have put in that spot definitely would have stepped up into it because they have worked so hard for this moment and they’re all so very talented in their own way. It is pretty impressive though to see how quickly Ronda picked up, you know, the transformation from UFC-style fighting to WWE wrestling… And even her facial expressions. That’s the thing, is that it’s not just what you do as far as a competitor in the match and the athleticism, but it’s the telling of the story…
It seems like the storyline they’re doing with Nikki and Ronda is the contrast between the earlier era of women’s wrestling in WWE where you had a lot of people coming from mostly modeling careers, and now you still get some of that, but more people who set out originally to train to be wrestlers or come from MMA. What do you think made the company shift in how they were hiring women?
Well, I mean, I think when they started to see the caliber of athleticism, but not only – Just the way that the fans were taking to it. I think that maybe the company thought at one time that it all had to be kind of model-esque, and I think when they saw that the fans wanted to see longer matches and started that hashtag “Give Divas A Chance” for three days, and really started to see that fans really wanted to see these women just really go at it, but in a real, powerful athleticism way and not just, you know, a cat fight, that’s where I think everything changed. When the women were given the opportunity and then they stepped up and delivered in such a way, whether it’s the Royal Rumble match or the Women’s Elimination Chamber match, the ladder match, and these matches were so good there was no way anyone could say that they were second to the men’s at all. And even the men – I love that the men have embraced it so much… and given them the kudos. So I just feel that with all that it’s definitely the fans that called for it and WWE delivered and gave them what they wanted, and it’s totally working.
People have been revisited the history of women’s wrestling in WWE leading up to this, and I hadn’t realized that after the women’s championship main-evented Raw in 2004 for the first time, it didn’t do it again for twelve years.
Wow.
And there was a very positive crowd response to the first time that happened. It was Trish and Lita, a very popular feud. When there was that feud and other popular women wrestlers and women’s feuds in the Attitude Era and early 2000s, we still saw a very short slot for women on WWE shows for like ten years after that. Why did that time period not feature the company saying, “Oh, we should do more with these popular female performers?”
I definitely don’t think it was intentional. I feel it’s kind of like WWE follows pop culture… Look at the women now who are major players… in movies where before they weren’t the lead, they were the sidekick to the man. Then it started getting accepted where the women could carry a movie. And I think it’s one of those things that WWE has followed… I think the hashtag definitely helped to bring awareness, to catch attention. But I think that the movement, all the way around, with the Me Too movement, the women now on more movies, with the women in sports and how good they’re doing and how they’re dominating sports around the world, and more attention too to women in the Olympics, you know. I think it’s one of those things where it’s not just WWE, it’s the world has done a complete shift. And that’s what I think is so powerful, that it’s come in this huge wave. And I think when it comes in a huge wave like this it’s such momentum that you can’t ever back the other way at all.
You talk to a lot of male and female wrestlers who work for WWE. From your perspective and talking to them, what do you think is in store for women in WWE in the future?
What I love is that the men that I have spoken to about it are all just in awe of the work that the women have been doing and they’re all applauding it, they’re welcoming it, they’re not looking at it twice or saying “Oh, she’s taking my spot” or anything like that, not at all. They all see how much they’ve earned it…. Seth Rollins, when I asked him, “How do you feel about Evolution?” he said, “You know, my first reaction was, it’s about time. Why did it take this long?” And I love that. I love that especially coming from the man… So I think it’s just going to be this beautiful synergy of men and women just continuously putting on amazing matches, and they just won’t think twice when a woman is headlining, and I see it definitely heading to someday headlining WrestleMania for sure.
And how do you see, when you’re at WWE events, how would you say is the community of the women wrestlers? How do they respond to these big events that they get to be a part of?
Well, they’re so excited, for one. It’s just all the hard work, seeing the fruits of your labor pay off. And then, of course, there’s also this pressure that gets put on them and that they’re putting on themselves too, “Now I have to deliver.” So you see them very intense, especially the day of… and you know, women, methodically, we just really, as women, we dissect everything and really, like, hone in and we care so much, right? And the fact that when you have something to prove you put more pressure on yourself? So I know that leading up to this pay-per-view, I’m sure that a lot of them are doing that like, “Okay, I gotta make this great, be strong, powerful. I’ve got a statement to make.” And it’s going to be interesting to see how it all works out, but I know that in the end… because of the hard work, because of the dedication, it is going to be one of the best pay-per-views ever.
Are you going to be there, or…?
I have no idea. I don’t know what’s going on at Evolution. No idea on my part. I hope to be. I definitely hope to be.
Do you think you might get a phone call a few days before asking you to come announce?
Let’s hope so. Let’s hope so. It’s just exciting – I went from being in pay-per-views where I was announcing where I was the only female representing in the entire pay-per-view. There was no other female booked. So it’s exciting to see this, you know, because I remember those nights where I was like, “Oh my god, I’m the only female out here.” And all the other women were in the locker room and none of them had gotten dressed to perform, and I was the only one getting dressed to perform… So it’s really amazing to be at this point now where it’s an all-women’s pay-per-view.
I’m guessing there used to be almost no women in the backstage or production crew… and Renee Young’s now a Raw commentator.
Oh my god, way more announcers now. I mean, it used to be on the announce team… myself and then Tony Chimel, Howard Finkel, Jerry “The King” Lawler, JR, Michael Cole. That’s the core that I remember that was on the announce team for the longest time, to then now, look at all the women, different broadcasters, and then all the women… just on the announce team. But now on the announce team comes Renee Young, and you’ve got so many women now that are our broadcasters, which is so great. So it’s not just the superstars that are getting more women added, it’s the announce team.
Do you think overall it’s a better company for women to work for than it was?
I wouldn’t say it was ever bad. I’d just say there’s more opportunity now. So that’s what’s so great is just to see all the opportunity and have all the different women, and at one time there were maybe six women in the locker room, and now there’s like twelve or fifteen, and that is always great.
One last question… If you could pick two women to main event WrestleMania, who would you personally pick?
Oh my god, that’s an impossible question. That’s an impossible question. I wish I could say, but it’s just – it’s too hard, I would say, to pick right now. There’s just such great caliber of work, and also I feel like it’s one of those things that it’s impossible to choose almost a year ahead because so much can happen from now to them. And there’s not one woman more deserving than the other. So I just say that whoever does end up headlining WrestleMania, congratulations. Know that you earned it and know that you also represent all the other women that were right there as a team to help you along as well, and so I feel like it’s not just going to be kudos to whoever it is… They’re going to represent an entire, you know, female industry. So it’s going to be powerful.
