Former WWE broadcaster Kayla Becker joins BZZR after eight years with company

Former WWE broadcaster Kayla Becker spent eight years with the company before leaving to broaden her work in sports media.

Becker has now partnered with BZZR to continue her broadcasting career. Wrestling fans who hear her calls will recognize the style she used during pre-shows, backstage interviews and ring announcing at WWE.

She explained how she landed the job in an interview with Fox News Digital. Becker said she was hosting a travel segment for a local station when someone from WWE contacted her about announcing.

"So, I knew someone who was working there and they knew who I was because I was an ‘Orlando personality.’ And they were like, ‘Hey, would you be interested in joining our announce team. And I never watched wrestling a day in my life. And I was like, I just don’t know that’s where my career is headed," she said. "And they sent me there one day to Full Sail (University) where they were doing some tapings and immediately I was just enthralled.

"I was like this is the craziest, coolest world I’ve ever experienced, been a part of. All the wrestlers who were superstars, behind the scenes they were so cool, so knowledgeable, so exciting. So, literally, I was like, let’s do it. Maybe I’ll be here for a year or two. And fast forward, eight years, basically, kicking and screaming, I finally had to walk out of those doors. That was the coolest part of my career bar none."

Becker said the first pay-per-view she attended was the Royal Rumble. She was not yet on the main roster, so she watched as a fan and felt the energy in the building.

"I think the first pay-per-view I remember, maybe the first one that I attended, was the Royal Rumble," she said. "At the time, I think I was just attending. I worked there but I still wasn’t on the main roster yet. So, I kinda just got to be there as a fan and the excitement in the building of a Royal Rumble, if you never experienced it, there’s nothing like it. In that moment, I remember getting goosebumps and then I was like, wait, I work here. I’m a part of this world now. One day, I’ll get to announce, which I did. I was a part of many Royal Rumbles. I think that was probably one of the first moments I was like dang, this is kind of a cool place to be."

She began with ring announcing at house shows and later worked as an NXT backstage interviewer. Becker said she never enjoyed ring announcing and felt she performed better in interviews.

"I think my first gig I was an NXT backstage interviewer and I did ring announcing for house shows. So, we’d go around to the small armories around Florida and I’d ring announce," Becker told Fox News Digital. "And I never was a great ring announcer. Never really loved it. The fans, I’ve been gone for two years, they love to remind me on Twitter, that I wasn’t a good ring announcer. OK, pipe down guys. You try doing it. It’s not easy. But those days I think were some of the most stressful. Any ring announcer will tell you. You mentioned Alicia Taylor, we have Mike Rome, Samantha Irvin was there for a while, that is one of the most difficult jobs, I think, across the board. People underrate the ring announcers and the referees because that I think is so stressful, so on the fly. As a ring announcer, we don’t have cards. You have to memorize hometowns, weights, monikers, the cadence in which you say their names. I remember just like spending hours beforehand just kind of saying these things over and over to myself. And when you get in there, you’re live. I remember this one time, I was supposed to say, ‘The first one to incapacitate,’ I said, ‘decapitate.’ And you’re live and honestly, would also work. If you’re decapitated, you can’t continue wrestling.

"But then as a backstage interviewer, as an actual ‘journalist’ of the company, it was a lot different. I think a lot more creative went into it in my part. I got to talk to the superstars, talk to the writers, how to best put forth the stories they’re trying to tell on screen. I think I had a lot more fun in that role because I think … I had a lot more fun trying to tell the story versus screaming into a microphone."

Becker credited John Cena with mentoring her early in her WWE career. She said he gave her advice on ring announcing at house shows and continued to guide her over the years.