A major name in WWE has credited The Rock with securing them a major opportunity that led to a WrestleMania record.
On top of her work as ring announcer for many years, Lilian Garcia has also performed at many WWE events. Along with an emotional rendition of the national anthem on the SmackDown after the September 11th attacks in 2001, Garcia has also sung at multiple WrestleManias over the course of her career.
While speaking with Chris Van Vliet, Garcia recalled how she got started at the shows. After informing The Rock of her musical background, it was the Hollywood star who made the suggestion to have Garcia open the shows:
“He’s the reason I got to sing the national anthem on the show. Because when we worked together so much backstage and doing all these segments, I remember they were setting up cameras or lighting. So we talk and he’s like, so tell me a little bit about yourself, and he wanted to get to know me. He’s one of the first ones that friended me. So I told him a little bit about me, and singing came up. He’s like, ‘Oh, you sing?’ I’m like, Yeah.
It was later on, I was getting ready because Howard always did the live events on the weekend, but I was going to be subbing in for Howard. He said to me, ‘Hey, you know what? Every weekend we play the national anthem as an instrumental before we go out there. Why don’t you talk to the producers to see if you [can sing it]? Have you ever done the national anthem?’ I said, Yeah, I did it on my graduation for high school or college. Can’t remember. So he’s like, ‘Why don’t you talk to them and see if you can do it?’ So I talked to the producers. They’re like, ‘Well come in that day in the afternoon, let’s rehearse it and see.’”
Continuing, Garcia added that following her successful audition, Vince McMahon was informed about her singing at the house shows, which led to her holding the record for most musical performances at WrestleMania:
“So I did it, and they’re like, oh my gosh, we’d love for you to do it tonight. So I did it Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and then by Monday all the producers told Vince McMahon, they’re like, ‘You got to see her do this. She knocked it out of the park. The crowd went crazy.’ We were in San Jose, and he goes all right, I gotta see it tonight. So I did it that night, and then that was it. He’s like, I want you to do it at every event. I hold the record for the most times at WrestleMania, which is awesome.”
Garcia has performed at WrestleMania 3 times.
Top WWE Star Discusses Their Relationship With The Rock
Returning to WWE once again at the start of the year, Rock looks set to once again be a part of WrestleMania given the angle involving John Cena’s heel turn on Cody Rhodes at Elimination Chamber. In a recent interview, Drew McIntyre spoke about his relationship with The Rock.
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