Samantha Irvin had never been in a wrestling ring before and here she suddenly was, battling with longtime athletes who were at the final steps of their WWE dream.
“It was me and a bunch of collegiate athletes, they’re all probably five-to-10 years younger than me, super just strong athletic girls,” Irvin, now the ring announcer for WWE’s “Friday Night SmackDown,” recently told The Post.
Irvin grew up Samantha Johnson before changing her ring name to Irvin.
She was “classically trained on the flute” and had spent her adult years thriving in the world of theater while chasing her dream of musical stardom.
Now, she will be the voice you hear for all of the “SmackDown” matches at WrestleMania 39 this weekend in Los Angeles.
In 2015, the New Bedford, Mass., native successfully auditioned for the NBC competition series “America’s Got Talent,” impressing the celebrity panel of judges that consisted of Howard Stern, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel, and Melanie Brown, a.k.a. Mel B of the Spice Girls.
“At that time, that was the absolute biggest thing that I had taken part in. Prior to that, I was touring, doing a lot of musical theater stuff,” she said. “It was my first time performing live television in America, it was crazy.”
Irvin floored the judges and the audiences with her powerful performances, which included renditions of The Weeknd’s “Earned It” and Sam Smith’s “Lay Me Down.”
“They were all so supportive,” Irvin said of the celebrity panel.
Although Irvin’s journey on “America’s Got Talent” came to an end during the semifinals of the competition, the opportunity solidified her belief that she was made for the stage.
“I really felt like I can do this now. Whether or not I win this show, whatever happens, I know that I belong here because of the way they [the judges] responded to me, the way the fans responded,” she said.
“It was the best experience of my life, honestly.”
Irvin’s star continued to rise as she headed to Las Vegas, where she performed in Cirque du Soleil and “Vegas! The Show.”
“I was really busy, I was loving the hustle of Vegas,” she said. “[Then] the pandemic happened and every single show closed.”
With the world on pause in early 2020 due to COVID-19, Irving tried to keep busy in what was a very uncertain time.
A longtime WWE enthusiast thanks to watching with her dad — “from the time I was a baby” — Irvin would tweet and engage with fans about wrestling.
With most of the world shut down, WWE went on a brief pause before soldering on with shows in empty arenas.
She appeared on a podcast with a friend where they would discuss what was happening at the events.
Her comments and social media interaction caught the attention of WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry, who began re-sharing her tweets in October 2020.
“I woke up, open my phone, and I have all these wrestling fans on my notifications, and Mark Henry’s like, ‘the WWE is calling,’” she said. “I called my dad and was like, ‘This is crazy.’”
Upon messaging Henry to thank him, Irvin expressed her passion for the sport.
He then “kind of got the ball rolling” in figuring out Irvin’s potential next steps.
“He was like, ‘I can get you into a tryout.’ Of course I have to say yes, why would you not say yes to that?” she said. “So he set me up with a tryout, [and] within a couple months I was in the PC [performance center] doing an actual tryout.”
Irvin made it through, believing the powers that be “appreciated my heart and commitment.”
While Irvin did not make it as a competitor, WWE spotted her vocal talent and gave her a shot as a ring announcer.
She then made the move from Nevada to Florida, where the WWE’s performance center is located, and began ring announcing for 205 Live in the spring of 2021.
Her whirlwind WWE journey only intensified from there.
Irvin was bumped up to the ring announcer for “SmackDown” in early 2022.
“It happened so quickly and I didn’t have a lot of time to think, ‘Can I do this?’ There’s no time for it, yes, you can do it, and you’re going to go do it,” she said.
Trusting her gut wasn’t only a lesson reserved for her career, but for matters of the heart, too.
In January, Irvin announced her engagement to WWE star Ricochet, who popped the question on her 34th birthday.
“I had no idea, he caught me completely off guard,” Irvin said of the special proposal, which took place at the Luxor in Las Vegas.
“Apparently, he had been carrying the ring around for a few weeks just waiting for the right moment. He didn’t really have a grand plan, he just was waiting for the time.”
With wedding plans on the horizon — the couple is “learning towards next year” with a honeymoon “probably somewhere tropical” — the future is very much on Irvin’s mind, especially in regard to her WWE family.
“I’d love to branch out into all realms of media and to always do it representing the WWE,” she said.
“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
As Irvin readies for WrestleMania 39 this weekend, she’s still in disbelief that her years-long journey has brought her to the WWE.
“When I did the Hollywood Walk of Fame, I was with my sister at the audition [for ‘America’s Got Talent’]… the only star I stopped by was Vince [McMahon’s].
“Who’d a thunk I’d be standing in the ring with Vince McMahon at Wrestlemania?”
WrestleMania 39 gets underway at SoFi Stadium in L.A. on Saturday.
