New Bedford's Samantha Irvin gets high praise from WWE legend

The voice of "Monday Night Raw," Samantha Irvin, who has become a captivating female announcer for the WWE, took her fame to new heights this past weekend.

In front of thousands of WWE fans at WrestleMania 40 on April 6 and 7, Irvin cemented her spot as a dynamic announcer with a bright future in the industry.

After introducing 14 events over the course of the two nights in Philadelphia, Irvin's emotional announcement of Cody Rhodes as the new Undisputed Universal Champion got fans riled up.

Irving, a New Bedford native who is no stranger to the limelight, drew praise and set X, formerly known as Twitter, on fire with her performance at WrestleMania 40, even catching the eye of legendary ring announcer Michael Buffer. The icon known for his “Let’s get ready to rumble” catchphrase shared his accolades for Irvin on X.

"Ring announcer Samantha Irvin ruled @WrestleMania last night & her emotional final announcement was awesome!" Buffer said on X. "She was featured on camera-ring center-that was a smart production move & she was just brilliant! Her timing, pace, drama, energy was perfect!"

Who is Samantha Irvin?

Irvin, whose real name is Samantha Johnson, grew up in New Bedford and began her rise to fame with her exceptional vocal cords — being a semi-finalist on Season 10 of the TV show "America's Got Talent."

Irvin also appeared on an episode of FOX's "I Can See Your Voice," where she showed off her impressive flute skills. Then she took to Las Vegas by storm performing in Cirque du Soleil, as well as "Vegas! The Show" as legendary singer Tina Turner.

New Bedford native: Samantha Johnson lands major WWE role

In 2021, she landed her dream job as WWE’s newest ring announcer for “205Live” on Peacock. An avid wrestling enthusiast, Irvin is quoted in a previous Standard-Times article as saying, “When I was young I would watch every single episode of WWE content, and record the matches in a notebook, writing my own commentary and descriptions of the action."

“I would try to turn every school project or report into something wrestling related. I had many teachers over the years who were not amused by this," she continued. "Now it is my job to do all of the things I absolutely loved spending my time doing.”

Now Irvin is continuing to use her unique style and charisma to make history as one of the best announcers on the WWE roster.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: New Bedford's Samantha Irvin dazzles as WrestleMania announcer