Justin Jason Roberts (born December 29, 1979) is an American professional

ring announcer A ring announcer is an in-ring (and sometimes on-camera) employee or contractor for a boxing, professional wrestling or mixed martial arts event or promotion, who introduces the competitors to the audience. In boxing and mixed martial arts bou ...

currently signed to

All Elite Wrestling All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. It is considered the second largest wrestling promotion in the United States behind WWE. AEW is owned by Shahid Khan and his son Tony, ...

(AEW). Best known for his time in

World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and var ...

(WWE), Roberts regularly announced for its

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program g ...

s and television shows like '' Raw'', '' SmackDown'', '' ECW'', and ''

Superstars A superstar is a widely acclaimed celebrity. Superstar or superstars may also refer to: People * Warhol superstars, the associates of Andy Warhol * WWE Superstar, a branding term referring to a WWE wrestler * Superstar Billy Graham (born 1943) ...

''.

Career

Early career (1996–2002)

Roberts began watching

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

after he saw an edition of Saturday Night's Main Event and met

Kerry Von Erich Kerry Gene Adkisson (February 3, 1960 – February 18, 1993), better known by his ring name Kerry Von Erich, was an American professional wrestler. He was part of the Von Erich family of professional wrestlers. He is best known for his time with ...

and

The Ultimate Warrior Warrior (born James Brian Hellwig; June 16, 1959 – April 8, 2014) was an American professional wrestler and bodybuilder. Best known by his ring name The Ultimate Warrior, he wrestled for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) from ...

at a hotel in

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. The combined events inspired Roberts to become a fan of wrestling. He also briefly trained as a

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other tit ...

so he could be in the same ring as

Curt Hennig Curtis Michael Hennig (March 28, 1958 – February 10, 2003) was an American professional wrestler. He performed under his real name for promotions including the American Wrestling Association (AWA), the World Wrestling Federation (WWF; now WWE) ...

, of whom he was a big fan. Roberts began ring announcing at age 16 for local

professional wrestling promotion A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling that has little relationship to the rules of the amateur olympic form. "Promotion" also describes a role which entails mana ...

Pro Wrestling International, and announced his first match in November 1996. While studying

Media Arts New media art includes artworks designed and produced by means of electronic media technologies, comprising virtual art, computer graphics, computer animation, digital art, interactive art, sound art, Internet art, video games, robotics, 3D pri ...

and Communications at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first ...

from 1998 to 2002, Roberts worked for other independent promotions such as the American Wrestling Alliance,

All Pro Wrestling All Pro Wrestling is an American professional wrestling promotion and training school, based in Hayward, California. The company was founded by Roland Alexander and managed by him until his death on November 5, 2013. It is located 45 miles so ...

, and Impact Zone Wrestling. During this time, he also announced for the Toughman Contest.

World Wrestling Entertainment (2002–2014)

In 2002, he got a job on ''SmackDown!'', followed later by a move to the Raw brand. He also worked on ''

Velocity Velocity is the directional speed of an object in motion as an indication of its rate of change in position as observed from a particular frame of reference and as measured by a particular standard of time (e.g. northbound). Velocity i ...

'' and ''

Heat In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is ...

'' shows while touring as the full-time ''Raw'' live event announcer. Most notably, Roberts announced the ECW show each week on the Sci Fi Network until September 2007, before swapping with '' SmackDown!'s''

Tony Chimel Tony Chimel is an American former professional wrestling ring announcer best known for his time with WWE. Announcing career World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment / WWE Before Chimel become a ring announcer, he and Joey Marella were the main ...

. Roberts reached the peak of his profession when he announced the main event of WrestleMania XXIV between

Edge Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed ...

and

The Undertaker Mark William Calaway (born March 24, 1965), better known by the ring name The Undertaker, is an American retired professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Calaway spent the vast majorit ...

on March 30, 2008. In addition to announcing ''SmackDown'' and

matches, Roberts would also announce on '' WWE Superstars'', including its inaugural episode on April 16, 2009. Beginning on September 28, 2009, Roberts took over the ''Raw'' announcing duties from the departing

Lilian Garcia Lilián Annette Garcia (born August 19, 1966) is a Spanish-American ring announcer, singer and podcaster best known for her time with WWE. She is currently announcing for the Professional Fighters League (PFL).Doyle, Dave"Former WWE ring announce ...

. On the June 7, 2010 episode of ''Raw'', Roberts was attacked by the rookie wrestlers who had competed in the first season of ''

NXT NXT may refer to: Professional wrestling * ''WWE NXT'', a professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that began in 2010 ** NXT (WWE brand), WWE's Florida-based brand and former developmental territory * ''NXT UK'', the British spin- ...

''. During the segment, Roberts was strangled with his own

tie Tie has two principal meanings: * Tie (draw), a finish to a competition with identical results, particularly sports * Necktie, a long piece of cloth worn around the neck or shoulders Tie or TIE may also refer to: Engineering and technology * ...

by Daniel Bryan, which led to Bryan's release, as WWE felt the incident was too violent for their TV-PG programming. At the SummerSlam pay-per-view two months later however, Bryan returned to WWE. At WrestleMania XXVII, Roberts worked as the sole announcer for the whole show, with the exception of the announcement of the

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

class of 2011, which was announced as usual by

Howard Finkel Howard Finkel (June 7, 1950 – April 16, 2020) was an American professional wrestling ring announcer, best known for his appearances in WWE. He began working for Vincent J. McMahon's World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) in 1975, and was a Madi ...

. On October 13, 2014 immediately after ''Raw'', WWE released Roberts after opting not to renew his contract. Following this, it was reported that Roberts would be working on an autobiography.

Independent circuit (2014–2019)

Roberts was guest ring announcer at the '' House of Hardcore 9'' event and a couple of other events soon after leaving WWE. In 2016, Roberts was the ring announcer for the UR Fight iPPV Events which included his announcing for the Angle vs. Mysterio match. Since 2015, Roberts has worked for the band

Tool A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone tools dates b ...

hosting and moderating their VIP events. On July 13, 2018, it was announced Roberts would commentate the All In broadcast with

Don Callis Donald Callis (born October 13, 1963) is a Canadian professional wrestling manager, color commentator, and former professional wrestler and business executive. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he works as the on-screen manager of ...

, Sean Mooney,

Excalibur Excalibur () is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes also attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. It was associated with the Arthurian legend very early on. Excalibur and the Sword in th ...

, Alicia Atout, Ian Riccaboni, and Bobby Cruise. Roberts along with Cruise were the ring announcers at All In.

All Elite Wrestling (2019–present)

On April 3, 2019, Roberts was hired by

(AEW) as its main ring announcer.

Other media

Roberts has appeared in "Graves" and "The Messengers" recently. He has also done some acting and was featured in such movies as ''

Stuart Saves His Family ''Stuart Saves His Family'' is a 1995 American comedy film directed by Harold Ramis based on a series of '' Saturday Night Live'' sketches from the early to mid-1990s. The film follows the adventures of would-be self-help guru Stuart Smalley, a ...

'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' and ''

Soul Food Soul food is an ethnic cuisine traditionally prepared and eaten by African Americans, originating in the Southern United States.Soul Food originated with the foods that were given to enslaved Black people by their white owners on Souther ...

''. As a child, he was an extra in '' Sleepless in Seattle'', ''

Blue Chips ''Blue Chips'' is a 1994 American sports drama film, directed by William Friedkin, written by Ron Shelton and starring Nick Nolte as a college coach trying to recruit a winning team. His players were portrayed by actors as well as real-life ...

'' and '' Only the Lonely''. He also appeared in an episode of ''

The Jerry Springer Show ''Jerry Springer'' is an American scripted syndicated tabloid talk show that aired from September 30, 1991 to July 26, 2018. Produced and hosted by its namesake, Jerry Springer, it aired for 27 seasons and nearly 5,000 episodes. The television ...

''. He released his

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

, ''Best Seat in the House'', on April 1, 2017.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Justin 1979 births Living people People from Chicago Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona Professional wrestling announcers All Elite Wrestling personnel