Samantha Irvin talks fans being upset by her not enjoying announcing.
Following her WWE exit last year, Samantha Irvin received backlash from some fans after she stated that she did not enjoy ring announcing. Irvin received heavy praise throughout her time ring announcing for WWE, but Irvin wanted to step out from the role and do more in WWE prior to her exit.
In an interview with Busted Open, Samantha spoke about how fans reacted to finding out she didn't enjoy announcing, noting that she understands where those fans are coming from.
"I wanted to have an opportunity to challenge, if maybe it wasn’t just the ring announcing that people loved. I wanted an opportunity to challenge that notion. Give me a chance to see if it’s maybe just Samantha. Put me in some other positions. I really do talk to the girls backstage. We really are in the locker room together and helping each other out. Let me be backstage and let me speak. I never spoke, not one time, except for when I said, ‘Thank you Lilian’ when she hugged me. I never said a free word. I wanted an opportunity. I know it’s hard to believe. I’ve had so much time to reflect. When I said, ‘I don’t like announcing. That’s not really what I want to do.’ It’s hard. You have to memorize, it’s a real job. It’s not just the craziness that I’m doing. It’s a real job that I’m honestly not good at because I’m going to cry if Shawn Michaels comes out. I honestly didn’t understand why people were so upset until two days. I was like, ‘Let me be quiet and try to understand.’ Then, I read something that Key and Peele don’t talk. I don’t know if this is true, but I read that. I was so upset. It hit me, ‘That’s like me saying I don’t like announcing.’ That’s like Key and Peele not being friends. I really do feel bad for anybody that I upset with sharing that. I actually thought we were really close and I thought people knew. I thought for sure, ‘Oh, she definitely, this bitch thinks she’s Paul Heyman.’ I thought people already knew. I loved my time there. I loved every single moment. For me, Samantha Irvin always had a plan. She always was thinking about how she was going to get out of that chair and get on the other side of things."
Elsewhere in the same interview, Samantha discussed other roles she asked to fill in WWE. You can read more about that here.
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