Former WWE Ring Announcer Justin Roberts Talks His Expectations For AEW
Former WWE ring announcer Justin Roberts recently spoke with entertainment reporter Chris Van Vliet. You can see the full interview above and Chris sent us highlights below. Roberts revealed that Brandi Rhodes is the one who offered him the job with All Elite Wrestling.
"I did ALL IN in September and that was awesome," Roberts said. "That was an amazing show, I had a great time and then I got a call and they said 'Hey are you available to do some other stuff if anything pops up?' I said 'Yep' and then I got a text from Brandi Rhodes and she asked me about doing it and I said absolutely, I would love to."
Roberts said he is looking at AEW from a fan's perspective, and he hopes he can get behind things as a fan. Roberts said he's looking forward to watching every event from ringside.
"I look at the company from a fan's perspective," Roberts said. "I'm looking at this as my own hopes and assumptions because I don't know. I don't ask anything, I'm not told anything. I don't know what the plans are. I would hope that there are characters that I can get behind as a fan and storylines that I just get wrapped up in and I'm following from week to week. That's what I'm really looking forward to, sitting at ringside watching every event."
Roberts also revealed that he wants to try different announcements in AEW. He said he has some ideas that aren't so traditional.
"I don't practice or rehearse anything but I have to be honest with you, as soon as I found out I was going to be doing this, ideas started coming into my head and I do have some ideas that are somewhat based on what I did at ALL IN," he said. "When I watch ALL IN I think about things I could have done better and you critique everything. That's how I've always tried to grow as an announcer. I do have some ideas that I'd like to try that maybe aren't so traditional and as long as the company is cool with me trying these different announcements. It's exciting to think about not just being standard and giving the same introduction to everybody, I don't want to do that. I want to make the announcement appeal to each wrestler that is coming out."
Roberts left WWE in 2014 after the company decided to let his contract expire. He's written a book and worked on the indies ever since. Roberts was asked what has changed for him since leaving WWE.
"A lot. I got to live out the dream," he answered. "There was good, there was bad, there was everything, but that's going to happen. Nothing is ever going to be perfect, you're going to get good and bad. I've really just had a chance to relax and get my head together and spend a lot of time with my family and as I like to say just come back down to earth. I'm really just in a good place and excited again to jump back into wrestling. I needed to step away for a bit and just kind of lay low and take very short term gigs as they popped up and not take anything long term until I really found what I loved. I've enjoyed everything that I've done but I love wrestling and I'm really optimistic and excited about getting back in with AEW."