Wrestling Rumors Exclusive: Interview With Justin Roberts! Part 1: Inspiration

In a Wrestling Rumors exclusive, our own Derek Stoughton had the opportunity to interview former WWE ring announcer, Justin Roberts! Each day this week, we’ll be bringing you part of the interview, as they discuss his new autobiography, “Best Seat in the House: Your Backstage Pass through My WWE Journey!”

In part 1, Derek asks Justin about the inspiration for the book and why now is the time that he chose to tell his story. You can find the audio for the full interview below.

 

Wrestling Rumors Exclusive: Interview With Justin Roberts!

Be sure to check out https://justinrobertsbook.com to find information about picking up your copy of the book! You can also follow Justin on Social Media:

Twitter: @JustinRoberts
Instagram: @JustinRoberts
Facebook.com/TheJustinRoberts

 

Derek: First off, let me congratulate you on the success of your autobiography, Best Seat In The House: Your Backstage Pass Through My WWE Journey.” What inspired you to write the book, and why is now the time that you’ve chosen to share your story with the world?

Justin: I always thought that I just had a cool story.  Being a huge wrestling fan, getting into it and everything that I’ve been able to do in the industry.  Being in it for 21 years; I started when I was 16; I’m 37.  I was around for a while, and I just thought that everything that happened made for a cool story.  And I had pitched it to WWE Magazine while I was there, while they had a magazine.  And I said, “Hey guys, here’s these pictures that I have; I was a little kid with these guys, and I work with them now, and I think that it’s a cool story that all of these other publications have been interested in.  And I think WWE’s fanbase would be the most interested, because these are wrestling fans, and might appreciate that story.  And it never came to fruition with the magazine.  They ended up doing a story, shortly after we talked, about what I did behind the scenes; not really my contribution, but just what I did behind the scenes.  I wasn’t really a behind the scenes guy, so it was a weird story.

So, I wanted to tell this story, and they weren’t going to tell it for me, so I thought I would just tell it myself.  So, I was at the gym, and funny memories, funny stories popped in my head, when I was with the company.  And I picked up my phone and I made a note, in case I ever write a book or do something, I’ll remember to talk about this.  And I kept pulling my phone out and adding to it.

And I had a long flight to Survivor Series in Boston from Phoenix, and I always slept on flights, and I wanted to stay awake, so I thought, “OK, what can I do for five and a half hours to stay awake?  Hey, I’ll just start typing a book!”  And so I just started typing away, and that’s how it started.  And then the next time I had downtime, I picked up where I left off.  And was going, not off the notes that I made in my phone, but just the stories from A to B that was just in my head.  And it evolved as time went on, especially when I wasn’t with the company anymore; that’s when I was able to go through and just not have to sugarcoat certain things that I had sugarcoated while I was typing it while I was there.  I could just be honest and have to worry about upsetting this person and that person.

So, that’s what I did; I started typing right when I was released.  Got back to it, and then sat on it for a while; sat on it for about a year – I just needed a break from it.  There are so many thoughts and so many stories, and I didn’t know where I was going with it.  And after I took about a year break, there was also some publisher stuff that I was dealing with at the time, but after a year break, that’s when I picked it back up and started going again.  And that’s where it really started coming together and I was liking it more and more.  And I wasn’t dreading having to read through it again to edit it.  It was more like, “OK, cool, that was good; time to go through it again and see where I’m at.”  And I’d go through it again, and again, just kept editing it, and the more times I went through it, the happier I was with the story.

And when it was done, that’s when we went with it.  I had the publisher situation sorted out; I always say that the publisher situation is a story in itself.  But, that was sorted and they needed the manuscript and they needed the final, and we ended up going to print while the editor was on vacation, but it wasn’t perfect yet.  It was done, but it wasn’t perfect.  And I wanted it to be perfect.  So, by the time we were done, the editor was already on vacation; it was late going to press.  So, when they printed, there were a number of mistakes.  Just little things; typos, not so much grammar, but typos.  Things like where I go “It was awesome!”  And the ’t’ was missing, and it said “I was awesome!”  I was like “it makes it sound like I’m saying ‘I was awesome’ and that wasn’t it, it was ‘It was awesome!’”  So, we went to print late, and the editor ended up going through it and when I did the voiceover, when I recorded for it, I found some mistakes.  There was one paragraph that appeared twice.  

So, we fixed everything, and when we went to eBook it was good, and now the second print is out and those mistakes are fixed.  So, there were some mistakes the first round, but at the same time, it was great, because the feedback I was getting was all about the story.  It wasn’t like “oh, there’s a couple of typos,” it was “hey, this is a story.”  Once everything was done, even though it was late, we went to print, and that was the time to put the book out.

It was still a couple of years after I was out of the company, so time had gone by.  But, at least it wasn’t a decade later.  Stuff was still relevant; you know how things are.  It wasn’t outdated.

Derek: You said the book came out a couple of years after you had left the company.  Do you feel that you were still able to connect with the fans?  And people were remembering your work?

Justin: The old saying used to be, “Once you’re off TV for 2-3 months, they forget about you.”    But, with the Internet and with the Network, your stuff still lives on.  Especially with the Network; sometimes it stays in that regard.  But, to be fair, there’s a lot of people who watch wrestling religiously that who know who I am.  I was the vocal point of the show; I wasn’t the guy they showed on TV.  You heard my voice every week, but I just wasn’t addressed usually.  So, sometimes people will say “OK, here’s a wrestling book; who is this guy?”  “Wait a minute, the guy who says JOHN CENA!  JEFF HARDY!  THE UNDERTAKER!”  When they realize that, they say “OK, he was around there for a long time.”  Other people probably look at it like, “Why would I care what the ring announcer has to say?  Who cares about a ring announcer?”

But, when you read the story about ‘this is a kid who was just a huge wrestling fan, and he got to be a part of everything and was there for everything’, you realize that even if people knew you, forgot about you, remembered you, never knew of you, the story’s still there.  It’s cool.  People definitely remember, have shared many different memories that they’ve had.  It’s been really cool getting feedback from people who have read the book.  And just their thoughts, and stories from maybe when we ran into each other, or how they relate.  A lot of people have reached out about stories that they can relate to, so it’s cool.

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