How did The Rock pave the way for female WWE legend's WrestleMania record? All you need to know

Modified Mar 25, 2025 16:58 GMT

The Rock is a former World Champion [Image Credits: WWE.com]

The Rock has helped a lot of WWE stars in more ways than one in his career. He helped elevate many superstars by feuding with them or helping them through his current corporate role. As it turns out, he had also been helping many other backstage names in the past.

Lilian Garcia is one of WWE's most iconic ring announcers. The 58-year-old started her announcing career in 1999 and then recently returned to the company in late 2024 after being away for five years, though she is currently no longer on a full-time basis. Although many know her as a ring announcer, she is also notable for opening events by singing the U.S. national anthem. As it turns out, The Rock is the reason for this role of hers, which led to an impressive WrestleMania record.

In a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet, Lilian Garcia shared that she worked with The Rock backstage and was one of the first people she befriended. During one of their conversations, she mentioned that she could sing. Before a live event, during which the company would play an instrumental, Dwayne Johnson suggested that she talk to producers if she could perform it. After rehearsals, producers liked her singing and let her sing later that night.

The producers eventually told Vince McMahon about the good job Lilian was doing, and he eventually agreed after seeing her perform. The former Chairman was also impressed and asked her to do it at every event, which led to Garcia holding the record for performing the national anthem the most times at WrestleMania.

Why did The Rock keep Lilian Garcia and WWE staff on their toes during his promos back in the day?

The landscape of WWE was very different from the current product when Lilian Garcia was in her first run. Since she was also active during the Attitude Era as a backstage interviewer, The Final Boss was one of the stars she frequently worked with. As it turns out, his unscripted antics always kept them on their toes.

In an interview with Steve Fall of Ten Count Media, the WWE announcer shared that The Great One's promos were mostly unscripted, and would continue his promos depending on how the crowd reacted. She added that they would both be laughing as soon as the cameras would stop rolling.

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It will be interesting to see when the paths of The Rock and Lilian Garcia will cross again in WWE.

About the author

Hazel is a WWE features writer for Sportskeeda Wrestling. Currently a BS Psychology student in her third year, she ensures that multiple accurate and reliable sources back every piece of information in her articles. She phrases even mundane information in her own words, especially when using single sources like books or social media posts, to add a hint of personal touch.

Hazel has had a penchant for writing since high school. Apart from pursuing Humanities and Social Sciences for her senior year, she attended classes about creative and nonfiction writing. In 2019, Hazel started working as a ghostwriter, and three years later, she began working for Sportskeeda. In 2023, she became a published author under 8letters Books Publishing House. Even today, when she is not studying as a pre-med student or writing for Sportskeeda, she enjoys reading and writing novels.

Her favorite wrestlers are Edge and Randy Orton. She recalls watching John Cena vs Big Show vs Edge in WrestleMania 25 in her first wrestling match. Hazel enjoyed the entrances, and what got her hooked was how cool and ruthless Edge was and how John Cena never backed down from his challenges.

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Edited by Arsh Das