Samantha Irvin sends message to Lilian Garcia's WWE replacement
Former WWE ring announcer Samantha Irvin has sent a message to Lilian Garcia's official replacement. A new ring announcer for SmackDown has been confirmed ahead of WrestleMania 41.
After Irvin left the Stamford-based promotion in October 2024, Garcia then returned to the promotion and took over as announcer. Following a brief run on both RAW and SmackDown, the 58-year-old ring announcer stated that she would no longer be part of the main roster, but would instead be the voice for Saturday Night's Main Event shows.
Ahead of tonight's SmackDown at The O2 Arena in London, England, it was confirmed that Mark Shunock will be the new ring announcer for the blue brand. Shunock will debut in The Sports Entertainment Juggernaut under the name 'Mark Nash.'
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), former WWE personality Samantha Irvin sent a congratulatory message to Shunock for his new role.
"Congratulations to my friend @MarkShunock! You are going to be perfect 🫶🏽," she wrote.
Check out the 36-year-old star's tweet below:
Samantha Irvin opens up about why she left WWE
The former RAW ring announcer also had a wrestling tryout in 2021 before she inked a deal with the company. However, Samantha Irvin quit the session after two days as she did not enjoy in-ring action and also suffered brutal scars.
That being said, in an interview with USA Today, the 36-year-old star claimed that her focus on wrestling ring announcing had gone too far, diverting her from music. Samantha Irvin felt a growing sadness during tours and worried that she lost her singing identity.
"Touring is hard. It just became more and more sad as time went on, because it's like, ‘Wow, am I just not a singer anymore? Like, what am I doing?’ I know that I am a performer and being a ring announcer on WWE, it was the performance of a lifetime. But then when people stopped calling me for singing gigs, and now they're asking me to announce everything, I said, ‘Oh no, I took it too far.’ I was like, man, like, this cannot be forever," she said.
The Massachusetts native has recently dropped her first single, "Make Me" after departing from the Stamford-based company. Fans will have to wait and see if Samantha Irvin makes a special appearance or return to WWE full-time.
