Last Monday, Samantha Irvin shocked the wrestling world when she announced her WWE departure.

Irvin began her WWE run in 2021. Instantaneously, the lead voice on WWE NXT, Vic Joseph, knew the talent Irvin possessed.

“When she came in, I actually helped train her,” Joseph told The Takedown. “So you knew that she had, as she would say in the music world, she had the vocal pipes to go to different places that most people didn’t have with ranges. That was unique, and that was special about it. Alicia Taylor also had a hand in helping guide her along.”

The 35-year-old began on 205 Live before moving her way through the ranks of WWE. When presented with new opportunities along the way, Irvin not only succeeded but excelled at each new adventure to where fans noticed her unique style that no one had seen since the days of Howard Finkel.

It got to the point where wrestlers like Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, and CM Punk began to get into what she was doing and acknowledge the efforts Irvin put into her craft.

“When she got to that level of Raw, SmackDown, Premium Live Events, her WrestleMania moments, she made the most of it,” Joseph admits. “She did really kick in the door for that area of what we do in the WWE. People don’t talk about the commentators. People don’t talk about the ring announcers. They don’t talk about the referees. They don’t talk about the cameraman. You talk about the athletes that are in the ring. She put a new light on that.”

“It’s almost like the movie Taken. I have a unique set of skills that I’m going to implement. That’s what Samantha Irvin did. That is what Alicia Taylor does. That is what Mike Rome does. That is what Sarah Schreiber (does). Everybody sounds unique. That is what also I think is overlooked. The legacy that Samantha Irvin will leave behind is that she broke that mold to make it different. To be a little bit more myself.

“At the end of the day, Samantha Irvin put light on a spot and on a position that usually didn’t get the glamor, didn’t get the love and get the joy, and she did it with her own unique spin, which has now allowed other commentators to put their own uniqueness and own authenticity on their position.”