Wrestling Rumors Exclusive: Interview With Justin Roberts! Part 4: World Traveler

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 4, Derek asks Justin about his favorite places to travel in the world. They also discuss what Justin would have done if WWE had not worked out for him.

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: What have been some of your favorite places to visit around the world?  Both while working for WWE and on your own for a vacation?  Because that’s two different things: traveling for work and traveling for pleasure.

Justin: You know what?  There as no interest in traveling for pleasure.  I was traveled out.  Traveling was work for me, so I just wanted to be home.  To me, that was a vacation.

In my travels, I loved going to Hawaii.  Honolulu.  The Philippines, that was neat, South Africa, that was neat.  Going over the U.K., I always enjoyed that.  I think I enjoyed most of our overseas shows, because the fans weren’t getting a lot of wrestling; it wasn’t like the States, where you get shows all the time.  It happened once in a while.  So, these fans were so passionate and so excited to be there.  We went to China, went to Japan.  Everywhere we went, it was really cool.  

Our food that we would have, and it’s not the country’s fault, it was just, when you get catering from an arena and the hotel from a time, it is what it is.  But, the shows were always great.  Had some really cool experiences.  

Didn’t usually have much free time in each place.  We’d usually have time to go to a gym, but other than that, I remember going hiking in South Africa, that was neat.  Going to a zoo, my last trip in Australia, and that was really neat.  Little things like that, once in a while, you actually get a few hours in an afternoon to go do something.  It was rare, but once in a while it would be good.

Derek: That’s crazy to think that you get to be all around the world, but don’t get to actually see the world, if that makes sense.

Justin: Yeah, you don’t get in a day early and have the day off and then do a show, usually.  I remember flying to Japan, we got in and it was long travel to Japan from where we came from, got in and drove straight to the arena and did our first show.  And then, the next day, straight to the arena, did the show and then we left.  So, it was usually once you get in, it would start the overseas tour that we would do twice a year in Europe, and the tour started that night.

Derek: Wow. That’s crazy to me to think about that.  I couldn’t do it.  You’re a better person than I.

Justin: It’s funny, I posted a picture not that long ago on my Instagram.  It was Dolph and I sitting next to each other reading a jet magazine, and you see the other guys in the background with their neck pillows.  Everybody was commenting on it like “look at him with his neck pillow!”  People don’t realize that that’s the only real chance to you have to catch up on sleep, is those two to three hour flights from town to town, or on a bus ride.  So, that’s where you get your sleep, because when you get there you go to the gym, and then its show time.  The guys have to stay in shape.

Those guys work really hard.  They work really hard in the ring, and then out of the ring just to stay in shape and get beat up every night.  All of the guys and girls that I worked with, I have so much respect.

Derek: And we as fans, and you as a fan, we appreciate what they do and all the entertainment that they do for us, there’s no doubt about it.

Derek: If this career path did not work out for you, dd you have a backup plan or have any other career interest?

Justin: All I ever wanted to do; I got out of college when I was 22, graduated in May of 2002, and I had been sending WWE videotapes and resumes for a long time, and I didn’t have a Plan B.  That’s all I wanted.  And I got very lucky that they’d been getting my stuff for so long, that right when I graduated, I sent them an email.  Basically said that I graduated college, and am available, if I could ever be of any help with anything.  And sure enough, that was the one time that they actually responded to my email, and they called me the next day and said “we’re gonna give you a tryout.”  Luckily, I had a tryout in June of 2002, but then it wasn’t then like “OK, you’re in,” it was more like “maybe we’ll try you for this.”  And then I never heard anything.  And then, that was it.  So, I had no idea what was going to happen.

But, they would use me sporadically.  So I never knew if they were going to go with me or not, and eventually, it worked out.  I went full time in 2004, after doing part time for a couple of years.

Derek: Kind of a ‘right place, right time’ kind of thing.  What a lot of people tell me, not just in the world of sports and entertainment, but in a lot of the big fields, that’s a lot of it.  You just happen to be in the right place and the right time, and all the stars just happen to be in alignment.

Justin: And you know what?  It was my understating that Tony Chimmel wanted a vacation, and they really needed someone to cover for that vacation, and they had been getting my stuff for a long time and just kind of ignoring it, because there probably wasn’t anything for me.

So then I sent that email, and it was probably right around the time when they were looking to cover Tony went he went on vacation.  So like “OK, cool this could work out.”  So, they gave me a tryout and after that it worked out.

Be sure to check out Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of the interview!

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