AEW ring announcer Justin Roberts is the guest this week on the “AEW Unrestricted” podcast. Roberts talked about his “North Carolina” intros for Kenny Omega, The Varsity Blondes pop that left him deaf, how All In led to him getting a job in AEW, his ring announcing heroes, memorable introductions, how he perfected the rolling of Rs for Rey Fenix’s entrance, road stories, and more. Roberts also confirmed what some may have wondered about the Jerry Springer show…yes, the shows are set up and fake.
Here are some highlights:
Roberts talking about doing an episode of The Jerry Springer Show pre-WWE days:
“I was in college. I was working a show with a guy by the name of Big Daddy in New York, a super good guy, The Guardian of Chaos. He said, ‘I just did this thing with The Jerry Springer Show. By the way, they would love you. You’re a Backstreet Boy looking dude. They would love you.’ I’m 19. I have an earring in my ear. I said, ‘Ok, that sounds like something I would maybe be interested in.’ I grew up in Chicago. Everybody loved Jerry Springer at that time. We actually went Senior year in high school. We took the day off school. We went down to the city, my good friends and I, and we watched a taping. It was awesome. Fast forward two years later, I called the producer and said, ‘Hey, my name is Justin Roberts. Big Daddy recommended that I reach out. If you’re ever in need, if I can ever do anything to help out, please let me know.’ Iron Sheik had just been on. He comes out and totally drops his storyline. He comes out and cuts this promo on Hulk Hogan. It was amazing, so I knew it was very wrestling-esque. I didn’t know what was real and what was ‘maybe’, but anything I can help with on the ‘whatever part.’ The producers said, ‘Cool, I’ll keep that in mind.’ He called me that night and said, ‘Hey, you know your girlfriend for the past six months? She has something to tell you. So he tells me the deal. He said, ‘You want to break up with her.’ I said, ‘Ok, cool.’ He said, ‘So do you want to do it?’ Here I am at school in Tucson, and I said, ‘Let me get back to you’. I called my parents and said, ‘The Jerry Springer show just invited me to go on. They will fly me home. They’ll pay me and put me up in the hotel. I get a free trip home, plus I’ll get to be on TV. This will be cool.’ My parents thought about it and said, ‘Sure. If you want to do it, go ahead.’ I flew to Chicago. I sat down with the producer. He told me the storyline. This is kind of where it all started. I love producing wrestling. I’m not a producer, so I can only do this when I can, but he told me the story and laid it out. I told him, ‘What if you told me this, then I do this, but then hold off and do this. I’ll react, then you this, and then I’ll come in and do this, taking the audience on a ride.’ That’s what we did.”
Roberts talking about going on the road with Rock band Tool for three years:
“I feel like wrestling is everything, and everything is wrestling. When I was out of wrestling, I thought I was done with wrestling. I didn’t think I would ever work in wrestling again. I started working in Pro Boxing, Muay thai, and even in arm wrestling. Everything that I did, I brought elements of pro wrestling with me. I would talk with them. I would say, ‘Hey, I know we’re doing this. Have you ever tried doing this, and I would make everything wrestling.’ Fast forward, I get a cool from my buddy, Adam Jones, who’s the guitarist from Tool. He said, ‘Hey, we’re doing this really big show in Arizona, and I think you would be a great host for this deal we’re doing.’ I said, ‘Ok, cool.’ I show up and he tells me what he wants to do. I said, ‘Hey, what if we tell the fans that we’re doing this, but then we do this, then we go in here, then we do this?’ I laid it out just like pro wrestling, the same way I had done with Springer, the same way I did it with some of the arm wrestling elements. So now, for a Tool concert, I’m making it pro wrestling, taking the audience on that emotional roller coaster. That night, the fans went down here, then down there, I mean, we took them for a ride. He came to me that night and said, ‘Dude, that was awesome. You have to come on tour with us.’ For the next three years, I toured with Tool hosting events for them. Every night we would switch it up, take elements of wrestling psychology, and make that part of the show, so wrestling really does hit everywhere.”
Roberts was asked how he learned to roll his R’s when announcing wrestler’s names:
“I don’t know where it came from. I took Spanish 101 in 7th grade. They gave you the option in 8th grade to go to the next level or stay and do the same level again. I said, ‘Well, why make it harder on myself? Sure, I’ll just do the same one again.’ I got to high school, Freshman year, and they said, ‘Hey, you have this from 7th and 8th grade. Do you want to go up a level or do you want to start at basic Spanish?’ I said, ‘I’ll just do basic Spanish again.’ I went to college, same deal. So I took basic Spanish four times. I think I just got really good at saying certain things. I was just having fun with it. That’s how it came about, and then I stole it from Joel Gertner. He introduced Rey Mysterio on an ECW show that I saw. I said, ‘Oh, I’m going to do that wherever I can.” Obviously, I didn’t have a lot of R’s to announce, but that’s what I did for Rey Mysterio later on, and then down the road, Rey Fenix.”
Roberts talked about getting parts as extras in movies when he was a kid:
“I used to do extra work as a kid. I was an extra in Sleepless in Seattle, Blue Chips, Only the Lonely, I Love Trouble. You couldn’t see me in any of those except for Soul Food. I’m standing in a park when Vivica Fox is walking. You see me. So I didn’t really do anything. I was an extra. When I had a trading card in WWE, they actually put those movies on the back of my trading card.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit AEW Unrestricted with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription
There’s a little bit of childhood magic & the @ChicagoBulls in @JustinRoberts ring intro for @KennyOmegaManX. Hear the stories on a new #AEWUnrestricted with @refaubrey & @tonyschiavone24. #AEWDynamite #AEWonTNT
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— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) August 12, 2021
