Samantha Irvin talks about her freedom as a announcer.
Irvin, who is the ring announcer for Monday Night Raw, is widely regarded as one of the best ring announcers in recent memory for WWE. Irvin has separated herself from other announcers with special pronunciations of wrestlers like Chelsea Green and Ludwig Kaiser.
While speaking with Busted Open radio for a recent interview, Irvin was asked by Bully Ray if she is given creative freedom with her style of ring announcing. In response, Irvin credited Michael Cole giving her the confidence to stand out from the usual WWE style.
“When I got the offer, Mark Henry called me and he was like, ‘Listen to the greats, listen to Fink, listen to the great announcers’ and I was like, ‘I’m already there, I’m listening and I’m ready.’ I think that it happened at a, it was a transition period. When I got hired, it was the end of the Thunderdome era. Pat McAfee was still on SmackDown, NXT was turning into NXT 2.0, so there were a lot of changes happening that I think I was kinda able to slide in and be a little crazy. I do credit that to Michael Cole, because one I started, he was like, ‘Hey, go for it. I know we’re used to doing things a certain way, but if something comes over you and you wanna do it, just go for it.’ Luckily, a lot what I’ve thrown at the wall has stuck. I think, I don’t want to put words in Mr. McMahon’s mouth, but since he didn’t yell at me or anything, I think he was happy with what I was doing. I mean, I got called up and within two weeks I was in the ring doing Royal Rumble, two or three months later I was in the ring with him at WrestleMania. So, even though we never spoke, I took that as a sign that he was happy with what I was doing. I definitely got lucky with all of the factors that were at play when I started.”
Irvin currently serves as the ring announcer for Monday Night Raw after previously spending time on SmackDown and NXT.
Chelsea Green recently credited Irvin with coming up with the idea for her special name pronunciation. Fans can learn more here.
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