Former WWE ring announcer Samantha Irvin, who announced her departure from the company last October, appeared on Busted Open Radio to discuss various topics, including how WWE gave her freedom on her ring announcements.
Irvin said, “Yes, they did. That’s why I thank them so much. That was my opportunity. When I first got to wrestling, everyone was like, ‘What are you doing going to wrestling? You’re a singer, you’re a stage performer.’ This is what I’ve always done. People were very surprised, but for me, I looked at it like, WWE wants me to use my voice. They want me to. There is no catch here. They just let me go. I was so grateful for that.”
On Michael Cole serving as her boss on the main roster:
“Michael Cole was my boss when I came up to the main roster. He literally said, ‘Be you. Go out, try it, be you.’ Luckily, most things worked. I credit them very much. They gave me creative freedom to play and have fun. That was like mixing being a professional stage performer and vocalist and being a fan that they never should have let in [laughs]. The over emotion and all that was certainly real and 100% a loss of professionalism in those moments.”
On what she wanted to do in WWE when she joined and how she spoke to Michael Hayes about it:
“No, the only person that spoke to me about it was Michael Hayes. He was like, ‘You want to learn everything, don’t you?’ I was like, ‘Yeah.’ He said, ‘You want to book? You want to be a booker?’ ‘I want to learn everything.’ He definitely saw that in me because I was always around and observing. Now, I think my dream role is different because when I first came into it, I wanted to do everything. At one point, I asked if I could referee. They were like, ‘No.’ Now that ring announcing got so popular, I kind of can’t do certain things now. The truth is, I would have loved to try every single thing. That’s the truth. Really, I would like to write. When I got the job, I was actually interviewing with another department in WWE. I was on an interview with another department in WWE, when the announce team called me and said, ‘Are you interviewing with another department.’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ They said, ‘We want to offer you a job.’ I was like, ‘Okay,’ and I finished up and accepted that job. I want to be an old smart lady who knows everything. Paul Heyman is absolutely a big inspiration to me. I really admire what Eric Bischoff was able to do at WCW when he got things popping off. I love risk-takers. I know nobody looks at me in this light.”
You can check out the complete podcast below.
