-- Samantha Irvin announced her departure from WWE last week, sparking a lot of speculation that she was looking to jump to AEW where her husband Ricochet currently wrestles. However, these rumors were shot down by both Irvin and Ricochet as well as multiple sources who noted that Irvin was looking to focus more on her music career.
-- In an update, pwinsider.com reported over the weekend that one of the main reasons for Irvin's exit was scheduling as she was forced to split time between WWE and her family, specifically her daughter, as WWE's touring schedule meant she was regularly away from her child. While there were discussions of having her work a reduced schedule, it never came to fruition and with Ricochet now working a different schedule entirely, it was a big factor in her decision to quit.
-- Another interesting point that has been brought up is that Irvin was looking to transition from a ring announcer into more of an on-camera role as a character with a larger role and Irvin herself confirmed that report on an Instagram post that isn't available anymore where she stated that she didn't really like announcing and was looking to become a recurring character, perhaps as a GM:
"I don’t like announcing. I’m serious! Announcing was only supposed to be my way in. I wanted to manage, maybe even become general manager one day. But WWE saw no other future for me besides announcer. I love watching the action but I don’t love being an announcer.”
-- When Irvin moves onto other endeavors, she won't be able to use the name "Samantha Irvin" as it is trademarked and owned by WWE, so could revert to her real name of Samantha Johnson. Furthermore because she was technically a WWE employee and not an independent contractor, she was able to leave as anyone would quit their job and it is believed there are no non-compete clauses attached to her exit.
