Has WWE Released Lilian Garcia? – Here Is What We Know So Far

Rumors making the rounds this past week suggest that Lilian Garcia may have made her final announcement for WWE.

While Garcia herself has been quick to reaffirm her status with WWE, making clear on Twitter that her absence from Raw is due to a ‘family emergency’, former WWE creative writer Court Bauer claimed Friday on MLW Radio that the tenured ring announcer was quietly released as part of the company’s recent talent cuts.

After co-host John Pollock brought up Garcia’s tweet about returning to Raw this Monday, Bauer said he spoke to a WWE source just before he recorded the podcast and he was told that she had been released.

In the latest issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer stated he had confirmation of Christian’s release, but WWE did not respond to him “regarding Garcia.” When asked about Garcia on Twitter, he referred the questioner to the newsletter, so presumably the item in this week’s issue is saying WWE’s statement to him avoided discussing her status in the company.

To add another layer to this rumor, reporter Mike Killam claimed on Reddit that WWE won’t renew Garcia’s contract when it expires. He says that Garcia was not part of the recent wave of cuts, so she could very well continue to appear on television until that happens

“I talked to a few people who are saying WWE is letting her contract expire. She wasn’t fired last week,” Killam stated. “So when she shows up on Raw next week (IF she shows up) don’t everyone be all like “how about those Lillian rumors!?” It’s coming. She just might be on TV until the contract expires.”

As far as when her contract expires, Garcia said in interviews last year that her contract expires in 2017.

WWE has been overhauling their announcing team of late, with Kyle Edwards and Rich Brennan being released, while Andrea D’Marco and Cathy Kelley have been brought on board. Letting go of their most famous ring announcer since Howard Finkel would be a visible sign of the “New Era” they’re pushing.

Garcia’s messages about a family member of hers being sick doesn’t fit with the narrative and initial feedback on social media to the rumors from fans has not been positive.

As of Saturday, nothing has been made official.