By Ross Blair: I first observed the ring announcing style of Diana Michel at my very first Coastal Empire Wrestling show here in Savannah. H...
By Ross Blair:
I first observed the ring announcing style of Diana Michel at my very first Coastal Empire Wrestling show here in Savannah. Her delivery & rapport with the audience was undeniable. I can recall that my wife & I pulled Diana aside at intermission to tell her that, in our opinion, she could walk right into the big leagues if opportunity knocked. So I was not surprised when I soon discovered that Diana has dominated GWH’s Ring Announcer of the Year category since 2020. GWH caught up with Diana via telephone during a recent 3-hour commute from her home in Dublin to a 1FW show in Gainesville.
GWH: You were elected Ring Announcer of the Year 6 times in a row, which is no small feat. Let’s get your thoughts on that.
DM: Six times in a row seems crazy because I've only really been in this business since April of 2018, and I started doing backstage interviews for about 9 months before I did any ring announcing at all. My first full year of ring announcing (2019) I was nominated, which was really cool. The next year started my winning streak, I guess you could say. It's very humbling because it's a peer-based vote, and it’s my job to make my peers seem bigger than life when you announce them. I'm gonna give everything I have when I announce them and for them to vote for me every year for the past 6 years and give me this honor — it's amazing, and it tells me I'm doing it right. For them to love me like that, I love them right back.
GWH: What led you to the world of pro wrestling ring announcing? Tell us a bit about your background. DM: I've been a fan pretty much all my life. My brothers & I were the 6:05 crew every Saturday (NWA/WCW on TBS). However, I didn't even know independent wrestling existed until less than 10 years ago. There were shows going on in my hometown of Dublin, Georgia that I didn't even know about. I eventually went to a show in Milledgeville with some friends. We went to another independent show in Columbus. I was just there watching the show, and the promoter (Rico Rodriguez) spotted me in the crowd. He found me on Instagram and messaged me a couple days later and asked if I was interested in being an interviewer. I was like absolutely not. There's no way because I couldn't see it, working past being nervous about speaking in front of a crowd of people. It took the man probably 9 months to convince me to do anything. Let me tell ya — I took a communications class in college, but I hated it. I'm not a public speaker. I still get nervous to this day to have to speak on anything other than something I have written on my cards. So it wasn't something I sought out to do on my own, but he got me into this promotion that they were starting in Columbus called National Syndicate Wrestling. We were running out of a storage unit with just enough room for a ring and some chairs. It wasn't ventilated, so summers were hot as hell and we froze in the winter. The conditions were crazy, but I got to interview Dominic Stuckey in my very first interview segment. We joke around with each other now about him being my first. It was nerve-racking, but I got a lot of tips and ideas from those around me who had been in the business for a long time. I was there for a year or two, and they ran shows every other Friday. It moved from National Syndicate Wrestling to Forsyth where we took over AWN. Rico did the ring announcing there, but I was there to do the backstage interviews and sing the national anthem.
we became pretty good friends. He was running a show in my hometown of Dublin, and he asked me if I wanted to be the ring announcer. That was my ring announcing debut, which I simply could not pass up — especially being in my hometown at my old high school. My brother was there...and I got to introduce Robert Gibson, who was my favorite growing up. Teddy Long was there. It was pretty frickin awesome! That was maybe December of 2018, and it's been a wild & crazy ride ever since.
GWH: Did you know after that first night that this is something you want to do or can excel at or did you kinda just ease into it?
DM: I really just eased into it. There were a lot of people there that believed in me and helped me out. The more I did it, the more I realized you can't just write somebody's name down. You've got to do your research and have that information on hand when announcing. It's your job as ring announcer to make these guys look bigger than life. You've got to sell them as much as they're selling themselves. There were a few screwups in those early days, but you gotta make mistakes to learn anything and get better at it.
GWH: 1 Fall Wrestling has become quite a powerhouse on the Georgia indy scene, and they run a lot of shows. How often do you work for 1FW?
GWH: What are some of the highlights of working the Georgia indies? Perhaps introducing a legend or a match that blew you away?
DM: I got to introduce the Rock & Roll Express in Southern Honor. They are my all-time favorite wrestlers. Probably one of my favorite matches I've announced for would be the triple threat match between Joe Black, CT Keys, and Alex Kane for the Southern Honor Title, which wasn't that long ago. I loved that whole vibe, and the match was unbelievably good. Anytime I get to introduce Joe Black is like magic, but that was an amazing match.
GWH: I just came across a clip of you winning a few-seconds-long mock match against Randy Reno. Have you ever considered training to be an in-ring competitor? You’ve certainly got the look & charisma for it.
DM: Thank you. Ya know, maybe if I had known about independent wrestling when I was younger I would have. But, at this time of my life, no. I'm very active & athletic, and I love to be in the gym & work out. I know a little bit, but not enough to do the dance in the ring. That situation with Randy Reno was hilarious. It was great. I think Peps (Cornelius Pepperbottom) was supposed to wrestle Randy, but Peps hurt his hand in a match earlier that day. We did two shows that day. They had to have somebody fill the spot, so they were like "Diana, why don't you wrestle Randy?" and I was like "Let's go!" We had like 10 minutes to throw that whole thing together, and it was so fun. Randy is so great. I love his character so much, with the squirt bottle and that "Beacon of Bravado" sleeziness. A slap to the face and a 1-2-3 — it was perfect. So I am 1-0 in the record books. I'm undefeated. (laughs)
GWH: Let's talk a bit about Southern Honor, where you've been for quite a few years. I bet their aura was a drastic step up from those early days working out of a storage unit.
DM: I started there in December of 2019.
To go from where I started and to be able to be a part of something with the production level of Southern Honor with just the whole atmosphere...those fans...holy crap, it was larger than life! Just going from the shows that I'd visited that very first time and comparing them to Southern Honor …it's like one end of the spectrum to the complete other end of the spectrum. A few months before I started, Chris Jericho, Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes, and over a thousand fans were in that building. Then I think "oh, and now I get to announce this? Are you kidding me?" So I really had to step up my game and find myself. If it hadn't of been for Southern Honor, I would've never even been considered for Ring Announcer of the Year. They really shined a light on me and helped me and gave me the platform to succeed. I owe a lot to Dylan (Frymyer) and Gary (Lamb) and really the whole crew there.
GWH: How did you get started with SHW?
DM: Pat (McDermott, previous SHW ring announcer) was moving to New York, and William Huckabee messaged me, saying "You know, they're looking for an announcer at Southern Honor and you need to call Gary." So I messaged Gary and said I know you're looking for a ring announcer. Give me a shot. Tell me what you want...what you're looking for. And he said he needed somebody that's got a big voice with a rock & roll vibe...somebody that can bring it like Pat could. I said "you know what? I got you!" I picked out my favorite leather pants, picked up my leather jacket, and I was like "we're about to rock this thing out!" I picked up Will Huckaby, who rode with me up there because he was on the show that night, and I announced two matches that night. The fans loved me; they took me in...and the rest is history. That's MY house now!
GWH: What led you to Savannah & Coastal Empire Wrestling?
DM: I love the gym. If I'm not at work, I'm usually at the gym. I'm a fitness buff. I haven't been able to do it as much as I used to, but I used to teach 8 classes a week — yoga, upper body workouts, lower body, full body, personal training...you name it. My other passion is my family. I have three beautiful kids and two beautiful grandbabies. I try my best to keep up with them. My son is 16, and he lives with me at home. My daughters are older. One lives in New York, and one lives in Tennessee. I couldn't have asked for better kids. I try to manage my time to keep up with them because other than work and wrestling and church and singing — I'm a busy girl.
GWH: What are your goals for the future…in wrestling and life in general?
DM: I want to live long and prosper (laughs) Right now I'm riding this wave as far as it takes me. If I can go to the next level with this wrestling thing, I would jump at the chance to do so. I've worked with Tony Schiavone, who is my absolute favorite person in wrestling right now...and been since I was a kid. He's like a mentor and role model to me. I worked with him a bit at Southern Honor and 1FW, and I would love to work with him on a bigger platform. ________________________
Special thanks to Alex Snider for the artsy graphic at the top of this article
