Lilian Garcia Talks AEW Giving WWE Competition, WWE In Saudi Arabia
Former WWE ring announcer Lilian Garcia recently did a Q&A with SportingNews.com and talked about how AEW bringing competition to WWE is good for them. Garcia was asked what she thinks of AEW.
"Look, I think any time you have competition, it's good for everybody," Garcia said. "Look at what it did for WCW and WWE. Competition brings more attention, it makes people even better and work even harder all the way around – from the Superstars to the writers to everybody. Competition is good in life. And I think it's great because it gives a platform for more Superstars to even work. I'm all for competition and Vince McMahon himself has said he's always up for competition, so no one is complaining."
Legendary announcer Michael Buffer praised Garcia on Twitter back in July 2018, calling her the best pro wrestling ring announcer ever. Garcia was asked what Buffer's words meant to her, coming from the gold standard and pinnacle of ring announcers.
"Man, I had to check and make sure that that was his legit account because at first I just thought it was a fan having fun with me or something. But when I saw it was his legit account, I was blown away that out of the blue he would say such nice things about me, whether it was announcing and then he said really nice things about me singing the national anthem. And then he did it again this year. What was the craziest thing was that when the PFL [MMA] reached out to me and when they were interviewing me, he did it again. He mentioned me and so, it was perfect timing because the PFL is now like 'We want her! This is a good idea!' And boom, there's this Michael Buffer endorsement.
I really want to meet him. I want to meet him, shake his hand, thank him for those nice compliments. I've always looked up to Buffer. I think he's just an icon in the business, so to get words from him, it feels really good."
Garcia also expressed hope that women will one day be able to wrestle with WWE in Saudi Arabia. She was asked her take on WWE's recent events in the Kingdom, and if she spoke with any friends in WWE about it.
"I didn't. Things take time and it's pretty spectacular that Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss got to go to Abu Dhabi and there was a whole chant of "This is hope." That's a start, so hopefully soon, we'll see that. Look how long it took for women to main-event WrestleMania and that was a big step in the right direction. It's going to take time with Saudi Arabia, but hopefully every year, we can get closer and closer," she said.