It shocked the wrestling world when ring announcer Samantha Irvin left WWE, and her husband, current AEW star Ricochet, revealed the real reason why.
Ring announcing wasn't Irvin's passion. It's been documented that she originally wanted to be an in-ring performer or a manager. However, she was delegated to the ring announcing role, which she knocked out of the park for years despite feeling “stuck,” as Ricochet put it.
Speaking to Ariel Helwani, Ricochet discussed Irvin's reason for leaving WWE. He left to join AEW while she was still with WWE, but that wasn't the only deciding factor.
Ricochet on Samantha Irvin's decision to leave WWE:
“I think she was just kind of felt stuck in this this role… She was playing the role of a ring announcer, if that makes sense.
I think she was always kind of wanting to go and then I think once I finally departed… I think… pic.twitter.com/X7jSWElkTH
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) September 16, 2025
“She honestly was thinking about leaving and kind of letting it be known a little bit that she wanted to leave six [or] seven months before I was even [left],” Ricochet revealed. “She was already kind of thinking about it. Not that she didn't like announcing, she loved the fact of being there [in the] front row, but for her, saying someone's weight and hometown wasn't her dream.”
According to him, Irvin made it clear to WWE that she “wanted to do more.” Despite people like Paul Heyman and Michael Hayes supporting her career growth, it didn't come to fruition.
That may be due to how good she was at announcing. Ricochet revealed that even WWE knew they had a good thing with Irvin, so why fix what isn't broken? He compared it to having Mariah Carey as a ring announcer. Of course, it would be good, but it would be wasting her potential.
Eventually, it became clear she wasn't going to move forward anytime soon. Make no mistake, she didn't leave WWE to make music. She has been doing it for years, and now she has more time to commit to it.
Ultimately, she felt “stuck” in the ring announcer role. “She's an actress, so she was like playing the role of a ring announcer, if that makes sense,” he explained.
While Irvin was mulling over leaving the company for a while, Ricochet's WWE exit may have sealed her fate. “She was always kind of wanting to go, and once I finally departed, I think that was the [last] straw, and I think she just kind of made up her mind after that,” he concluded.
