58-year-old star makes official WWE return on 10/21 Raw after 8 years

One of WWE's most recognizable personalities makes her return to the company after spending eight years away.

58-year-old star makes official WWE return on 10/21 Raw after 8 years

Lilian Garcia returns to WWE (via WWE)

The latest episode of Raw featured the WWE return of veteran ring announcer Lilian Garcia. She is widely regarded as one of, if not the best, ring announcers that WWE has ever had. The New Yorker made her first appearance for the company over 25 years ago. The live crowds have showered her with plenty of love ever since.

During a commercial break on the latest episode of Raw, Joe Tessitore reintroduced Garcia to the WWE Universe, who made the ring announcements for the rest of the show. The 58-year-old returned to a huge pop from the crowd and seemed ecstatic to be back. Doing what she does best, she immediately got on the microphone and addressed the “rowdy” Philadelphia live crowd.

YouTube video

Hilariously, Garcia botched her first call after making her return. After the show returned from the commercial break, she was to announce a match between The New Day and Authors of Pain. Rather than announcing the match as part of the #1 contender’s tournament for the tag titles, she mispronounced it as “container.” Alas, a little ring rust is common even for seasoned veterans, and her calls for the rest of the show were flawless.

FS Video

Multiple reports recently revealed that Garcia will have a permanent spot as the ring announcer for Monday Night Raw. The company has seemingly brought her in as a replacement for Samantha Irvin, who recently parted ways with WWE.

Lilian Garcia’s incredible history with the WWE

Lilian Garcia was hired by the company in 1999. Shortly after, she made her first appearance for the company in an episode of Raw is War in August 1999. Almost immediately, she was trusted by the company to be put into storylines. In September of that same year, she was even put into the spotlight when Jeff Jarrett applied a figure-four leglock on her after she announced him as the loser due to disqualification during one of his matches.

Lilian Garcia
Lilian Garcia (via WWE)

In February 2000, the company’s then-CEO Vince McMahon once heard her singing the American national anthem at a house show. He asked her to sing the anthem preceding the next episode of Raw and then before every single episode from thereon. She did the same for WrestleMania 2000 and on the episode of SmackDown after the 9/11 attacks.

Since then, Garcia has become one of the most recognized ring announcers in all of sports. She took an absence from WWE in 2016 to be by her father’s side during his final days. However, she made frequent appearances during special WWE episodes. In addition to her WWE tenure, she spent the last five years as the ring announcer for the Professional Fighters League, an MMA organization.

Earlier this year, Garcia made a special return to WWE on the May 13th episode of Raw. She announced a King of the Ring quarterfinal match between Kofi Kingston and Gunther. Now, with her return to a more permanent role in the company, fans are thrilled to have her back.