Guest Author - Vance Rowe

Howard “the Fink” Finkel is the latest inductee into the WWE’s 2009 Hall of Fame. It’s about time because he has been employed the longest to date by the WWE and is also credited with being the very first employee of Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Federation. Hired in 1975, the Fink has been on screen at every Wrestle Mania and even came up with the name Wrestle Mania and Vince McMahon approved the name right away. The Fink is still employed by the WWE behind the scenes as a statistician and also is the voice over man for Miz and Morrison’s Dirt Sheet. He will be inducted into the Hall of Fame by Gene Okerlund.

Lillian Garcia was hired by the WWE as a ring announcer in 1999. Lilian has many facets and is not just a ring announcer. She is an accomplished singer and actor as well. She sings the National Anthem at many of the home games of the Phoenix Suns; she has performed at the 1996 Olympics and was even an opening act for James Brown concerts. Lilian also appeared in he 1990 movie Modern Love. Lilian has been involved in a couple of storylines in the WWE and one of the most popular ones was when she was romantically linked to Viscera. She had proposed to “Big Vis” and wanted to marry him at the 2005 pay-per-view Vengeance. However, at the pay-per-view, the Godfather showed up with his “Ho” train and lured Viscera away from the impending wedding.

Lilian Garcia also had a short feud with Howard Finkel after he left her in the ring to be beaten up by Three Minute Warning. On a side note, Umaga was one half of Three Minute Warning along with Rosie who was a superhero sidekick to the Hurricane in a storyline as well. That beat down from Three Minute Warning culminated in a gown versus tuxedo match against the Fink and she won the match thanks to the assistance of Tori Wilson and Stacy Keibler. Lilian was the second woman to ever announce at Wrestle Mania with Gennifer Flowers being the first as she called a sole match between the Rock and Ken Shamrock at Wrestle Mania XIV.

Congratulations to Howard Finkel for being inducted into the WWE’s Hall of Fame for 2009 and to Lilian Garcia, who is definitely a future Hall of Famer.