Ricochet revealed whether former WWE ring announcer Samantha Irvin might join AEW.
Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, Ricochet was asked if there had ever been serious consideration of her being part of AEW. He explained that she would probably consider it, but she had already been thinking about leaving WWE months before his own departure.
“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.”
Ricochet on why Samantha Irvin felt stuck as a WWE ring announcer
Ricochet clarified that she didn’t leave WWE to pursue music she has always been involved in music. “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.” [H/T: Fightful]
He added Irvin as actress understood character work and how to bring personalities to life, and once Ricochet left WWE, she made up her mind to pursue new opportunities.
Read More: Ricochet on His Comments About WWE Counter-Programming Against AEW
