I was incredibly impressed with all of the great in-ring action we got during tonight’s “Raw,” but there was a more simple segment that I absolutely adored on tonight’s show, and that was the appearance of Lilian Garcia, an iconic voice from my time growing up a wrestling fan. I was so happy to see her make a surprise appearance, and when I saw her posts on Instagram about being backstage and hanging out with Samantha Irvin, I loved it even more. When she announced Kofi Kingston to the ring, hearing her voice was like a warm, welcoming hug, reminding me of the evenings watching wrestling as a kid with my family. I also thought this was extremely well done, with Garcia not taking up too much of the spotlight from Irvin, but giving Irvin her flowers, while still being a small highlight of the show with just one more announcement, for old times sake.

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“Raw” and “WWE SmackDown” have amazing Black female voices now between Irvin and the newly called-up Alicia Taylor, and it was so amazing to see Garcia acknowledge them both on-air and on her social media. Garcia was a pioneer, being the first female to announce at a WrestleMania, and to see her supporting the women of today was just fantastic. Garcia was the first female announcer to really make it “main stream,” for lack of a better term, with her talent, everyone knew her, wrestling fans or not. She really paved the way for the awesome women with iconic, powerful voices of today.

On an episode of “Raw” with a high-stakes tournament, amazing matches, and storylines continuing before a quickly-approaching premium live event, hearing a familiar voice just made me stop for a second and appreciate something other than the King & Queen of the Ring. One thing I did learn this evening was that Garcia is not yet in the WWE Hall of Fame, and I’m strongly considering a petition or a strongly-worded letter to WWE Headquarters to make that happen for her in 2025. With the focus on announcers within recent years, I think we need to acknowledge the talent that started it all, especially for women.

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Written by Daisy Ruth