Lilian Garcia is a true legend in the world of WWE and the multi-talented performer has just returned to the company where she made her name.
Fans of the Attitude Era will remember Garcia fondly for her ring announcing, but her backstage interviewing and incredible singing voice among other things.
Vince McMahon used Garcia in a number of roles during her near 20-year association with the company and she nailed every single one.
Garcia has seen a lot, but perhaps the creation of her very own podcast Chasing Glory - an idea she first had all the way back in 2004 - making its way to the WWE Network is her proudest.
Chasing Glory is very different to your average wrestling podcast. Garcia is an expert at helping superstars open up about their personal lives and struggles during their chats and it shows a completely different and new side to them.
talkSPORT caught up with Garcia to chat about Chasing Glory landing on the WWE Network and we dived into her career as well!
On working with The Rock...
Oh my god, I had so much fun with him. You're right [we had great chemistry]. It's so funny, he knew how to make me blush! And I didn't realise how easy I could blush! [laughs].
But there was just certain things he would say and I'd be like 'oh my god!' because, ya know, he is The Rock! [laughs]. Of course, even men blush! It was always fun working with him.
And people ask me, how the hell did you keep a straight face? I think it was, thank goodness, my many years of acting in the theatre, I knew when they say go it's action time.
But let me tell you, when those cameras rolled off, we would die laughing. It was so funny. I look back to those interviews and they're just great memories and that's what I love.
On being involved in WWE storylines...
Oh, I loved it. Anytime they asked me about doing something on-screen 'hey, would you mind doing this?' again, it kind of goes back to my acting stuff, right?
So I was able to be apart of the story. I was like 'hey, anything I can do'. Especially when they were like we really want to use you to put Viscera over and give him that character, make him a ladies man and I'm like, OK! [laughs]. I didn't know where it was going, but I never felt in danger of anything.
I will say I hurt when I did the angle with Three Minute Warning. But man, did it look good! It looked so good! I was so happy. What happened though when I hurt the next day, I just got another layer of respect for them.
I thought the mat was nice and cushy for them - no! It's just boards. How these athletes do this for over 300 dates a year travelling the country... the only silver lining of this terrible year is the break they've got from the road.
On Vince McMahon trusting her and having her sign the national anthem straight after 9/11...
Ya know, sometimes when you're living it, you don't realise it and I didn't until you just mentioned it to me but I got an opportunity to see Vince last week and I just said thank you. Thank you for having me back home. Thank you for putting on the network and just thank you for the memories.
And I do have amazing memories and Vince did trust me, especially on 9/11. He looked at me and he was like 'you've got to do this. I really think you can do this.'
It was absolutely the most difficult national anthem I ever did. Because I was living in New York at the time and I was very, very emotional as to what was happening to New York, what was happening to our country.
For like two days leading up to it, I was crying all the time. I just couldn't shake off what had happened and the loss of all those people.
And then when he asked me 'would you please do the national anthem, I really need you in this moment' - of course he would never force me, if I said I literally cannot do this I'm sure he would understand - but I also knew that I had to do it.
As an army brat, it couldn't have been anymore special. My dad fought for this country and was in the army for over 20 years. He was a lieutenant colonel.
I was born on a military base. So the military and what it represents is everything to me. So in a time like that, where the country needed to have something to unite in some way, if it was me as the vehicle to be able to do that, what an honour. And that's what it ended up being, a true honour.
On featuring in many women's milestones in WWE in recent years...
I was so honoured to see the evolution of the women and be apart of that. To be asked to come and announce the first-ever women's battle royal at WrestleMania and then Evolution.
And especially with Evolution I was like wow... I can remember many pay-per-views where I was the only female to be apart of that PPV. Many of them. Many times like I'm going to be the only women that the people in this arena and the fans at home will see on this show.
And to see where we are now, its like YES! And not only just to see them be like 'hey, here's the women involved in the show' - no. The women are killing it. Really doing amazing, amazing work.
It's just exciting to see how they've taken the opportunity and run with it. At Evolution, I was like 'wow, I think I've worked with like 80 percent of the women here!' I don't know who else can really say that.
On WWE approaching her to have Chasing Glory on the WWE Network...
When I first conceived the idea in 2004, I had pitched it to the WWE. Isn't that crazy? But it was ahead of it's time, there was no podcasting, there was no real other platform to do this, nor a WWE Network.
So it wasn't the right timing, but in 2016 when I left the WWE we put it out there and then for them to see the growth of the podcast with over seven million downloads, people really resonating with the stories it was like 'woah, I think we need to have this on our platform! They really loved what I was doing.
And also loved how much the superstars loved doing the episode. For example, Shotzi Blackheart saying she was so glad she came on here. Braun Strowman saying it felt like a weight lifted from his shoulders and Rhea Ripley - and this is a spoiler alert - she's coming back to Chasing Glory!
And she says right at the beginning of her interview how happy she was to be back and she revealed some very heavy things she's gone through in her life.
We need this dialogue in our lives. Fans go through it too and it helps them connect. We need to stop feeling alone. Suicide needs to go away. We can help each other out and there is another way.
When WWE reached out to me - and this is very important because it's what sold me on it - they said we don't want our production on this. We want this to be a Chasing Glory production.
All they do is give us the superstars. We go there, but it's our production crew filming it. Nobody is allowed to be in the room when I'm doing these interviews, not even my production crew!
The cameras are turned on, everyone leaves the room and it's me and my guest. I like to provide that kind of atmosphere and I think that makes it more safe for them. This still has the Chasing Glory stamp on it and that's the way WWE wanted it.
Lilian Garcia is a legendary ring announcer for WWE and she is back working with the company with her excellent podcast, Chasing Glory, now on the WWE Network
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