Fan-Favorite Ex-WWE Star Would Consider AEW Move

Samatha Irvin could end up in Tony Khan’s AEW.

Irvin was a fan-favorite ring announcer in WWE, widely respected by the WWE Universe. She left WWE in 2024, shortly after her husband Ricochet departed for AEW. Fans expected Irvin to follow Ricochet to AEW, but she chose a different path.

Ex-WWE Star Samantha Irvin could join AEW, says Ricochet

Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, Ricochet stated that there is a possibility she might join him in AEW in the future. He also dove deeper into his wife’s decision to leave WWE. He told Helwani that she was feeling stuck in her role as a ring announcer. Although she enjoyed announcing and being part of the show, she wanted to do more, such as getting into character work and promos, beyond simply stating wrestlers’ names and hometowns.

According to Ricochet, Irvin had been considering leaving WWE for six to seven months before he left. Despite people assuming she left to pursue a music career, Irvin’s passion had always been music, and she had released an album earlier in her career. Her departure was about wanting to expand creatively and break free from the limitations of her ring announcer role. Once Ricochet left WWE, it solidified her decision to move on from wrestling as well.

She probably would consider it, for sure, but I think right now she….she honestly was thinking about leaving and letting it be known for a little bit that she wanted to leave before I was even, six or seven months before I was (leaving), she was already thinking about it. Not that she didn’t like announcing. She loved the actual act and being in the front row. For her, saying someone’s weight and hometown wasn’t her dream.

She made it obvious she wanted to do more. People like Paul Heyman pulled her aside and talked to her. She’s talking to Michael Hayes and he’s like, ‘You want to learn more, don’t you?’ She’s like, ‘Absolutely.’ ‘I can tell you want to learn more.’ When she knew that they knew, ‘we have such a good thing.’ She was so good at it. You have to think, if you had Mariah Carey, I know people are going to throw me to the wolves for saying this, but if you had Mariah Carey be a ring announcer, it’s going to be awesome.

I walked up on her and she was in her chair writing in her book and I see what she’s writing. It’s music notes laid out. ‘What is this? Songs?’ ‘No, it’s Rhea Ripley,’ but it’s how it’s going to sound in her head when she says Rhea Ripley. She was thinking about things like that. She was thinking about when the beat drops and trying to say everything before the beat drops.

She was trying to think about these things and where someone is from and their character. All that is fun, but she wanted to put that effort into a character. ‘If I can make people feel this way just by announcing, what do you think I can do in a promo?’ When she knew that it wasn’t going to happen, she wanted to get out of it. I know people think she left for music, but she didn’t leave for music.

She’s always done music. She’s been in the show choir and drama club for 20-30 years. She had an album come out in 2015-16. What she’s doing now is, kind of like me, I’m going back to stuff I did on the indies that got me popular. Same thing with her. Music has always been her thing. I think she felt stuck in this role, but she’s an actress. She was playing the role of a ring announcer. It just happens that she has one of the best voices in the world.

She grew up a huge fan of wrestling. She knows the characters and how people would announce them and that characters have their own personalities. She was always kind of wanting to go. Once I departed, that was the straw and she made up her mind after that.

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