According to a report by F4WOnline, Samantha Irvin’s music career influenced her decision to quit WWE.
Irvin, who had been with WWE since 2021, announced on Monday that she was leaving the company.
During Tuesday’s episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez discussed Irvin’s decision to leave WWE, noting that she is looking to focus more on her music, saying she is looking to focus more on her music and could not come to terms with WWE on outside projects.
Meltzer said that Irvin had been actually thinking about it for a year, while Alvarez noted that she has some outside projects that she wants to do and apparently could not come to terms with it worked with WWE. Meltzer then added that Irvin, who is a singer, also plays the flute and that she wants to get more involved in her music and further said that her music career is something that she has been talking about for a long time and finally pulled the trigger on it.
Lilian Garcia, who made her return to Monday’s Raw, replacing Irvin as the ring announcer for the show had originally left WWE back in 2009 to focus on her music career, before she returned to the company in 2011.
It was noted that Lillian Garcia left WWE in 2009 to focus on her music career as well before returning to the company in 2011.
Irvin posted to social media on Tuesday, saying that she actually gave her notice to WWE months ago, which is in response to an initial report from PWInsider, that she had quit the company just hours before Raw was to go live on the air Monday night.
Irivin’s real-life fiancé Riochet, who is now with AEW, took to social media on Monday, to debunk any speculation that she is AEW-bound. He said that Irvin is not coming to AEW.
According to PWInsider, they were told most in WWE did not expect Irvin to resign and WWE sources made it clear she was well liked and respected in her role. PWInsider also however, indicated there were further told several factors that led to Irvin making the decision to leave WWE.
Per PWInsider, the “chief” reason among Irvin’s decision had to do with scheduling, as she was splitting time between WWE and her family. PWInsider says that one source told them that WWE’s road schedule, even with it reduced from what it was years prior, still meant she was on the road away from her daughter. PWInsider says they were told at one point there as talk of Irvin working a reduced schedule, that that never came to pass.
PWInsider’s report seems to confirm the report from F4WOnline, as they (PWInsider), says they were told that without a reduced schedule, it would have made it difficult for Irvin to focus on her outside endeavors, which primarily her music career. It was also said that she had increase interest from other parties. PWInsider added that Irvin intends to primarily now focus on her music career going forward and that she has no plans to sign with AEW.
It was noted in the report there was discussion on Monday among some talent that Irvin had requested to be moved from a ring announcer to more a character with a larger role in WWE. However, PWInsider has not been able to confirm there is any validity to this.
The report further notes that WWE owns the trademark to the Irvin name, so she would not be able to use it outside of WWE. Irvin had previously used her real last name of Johnson in other musical and acting gigs, including America’s Got Talent back in 2015.
PWInsider concluded by indicating that the belief among those they spoke with, Irvin was a WWE employee and not an independent contractor as a WWE wrestler is and with the belief that Irvin is not under a non-compete clause, preventing her from appearing or singing with another wrestling promotion.