Samantha Irvin will resign as the WWE’s Monday Night Raw ring announcer. In a statement posted to X, formerly Twitter, Irvin announced her departure and expressed her gratitude to the fans, wrestlers, colleagues, and executives.
“WWE Universe, my time has come to an end as your Monday Night Raw Ring Announcer,” Irvin tweeted. “I love you all tremendously and this does not mark the end of my art, I have a lifetime more to share.”
— Samantha Irvin (@SamanthaTheBomb) October 21, 2024
According to the Bleacher Report, Irvin’s departure follows her fiancé Ricochet’s recent WWE exit. Irvin kicked off her WWE journey in 2021 when she became a ring announcer for 205 Live. One year later, she replaced Greg Hamilton on SmackDown Live. In 2023, Irvin moved to Monday Night Raw. Legendary ring announcer Michael Buffer praised Irvin earlier this year when she introduced 14 matches at WrestleMania 40.
“Ring announcer Samantha Irvin ruled @WrestleMania last night & her emotional final announcement was awesome!” he wrote. “She was featured on camera-ring center-that was a smart production move & she was just brilliant! Her timing, pace, drama, energy was perfect!”
Ring announcer Samantha Irvin ruled @WrestleMania last night & her emotional final announcement was awesome!
She was featured on camera-ring center-that was a smart production move & she was just brilliant!
Her timing, pace, drama, energy was perfect!@SamanthaTheBomb @WWE pic.twitter.com/qHt8s3PsTy— Michael Buffer (@Michael_Buffer) April 8, 2024
Irvin credits WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry for helping her launch her career. In an interview with Out of Character, Irvin said she was still focused on her music when Henry reached out to her and advised her to join WWE, Wrestling Inc reported.
“One day I woke up and Mark Henry was quote tweeting my pictures and my videos, and he was like, ‘WWE is calling. Have you ever thought of getting into wrestling?'” Irvin said on the show, according to Wrestling Inc.
She continued, “I don’t really know what I could contribute, but I’ll do anything for it. So he said, ‘Okay, well, I can get you a tryout. That’s basically what I’d be able to do, and then once you get in the door, then you can just kind of let people know maybe what you’d be interested in doing. But would you do a tryout?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah.'”
Irvin first gained national attention when she appeared on Season 10 of America’s Got Talent. She showed off her flute-playing skills during an episode of Fox’s I Can See Your Voice. It’s not clear what Irvin’s next move will be, but she recently performed the national anthem ahead of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Las Vegas Raiders’ face-off in Vegas.
“To my fans, my entire career I’ve been waiting for you!” she wrote on X. “We are meant to be and I can prove it. Stay tuned.”
Is Lillian Garcia the replacement for Samantha Irwin?
As Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful reported, Lillian Garcia was seen backstage at Monday Night Raw, sparking speculation that she could be Irwin’s replacement.
Fightful Select has been told that Lilian Garcia is backstage at WWE Raw pic.twitter.com/BsyFhhbrca
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) October 21, 2024
This news was later confirmed by Sports Illustrated, and she would go on to come out that night.
Welcome back, @LilianGarcia! ❤️#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/Nz2YzYfunE
— WWE (@WWE) October 22, 2024
As Sports Illustrated reported, her WWE history dates back to 1999 and she was last there on a regular basis in 2016.