Mark Henry Gave WWE Ring Announcer Samantha Irvin Some Advice She Completely Ignored
WWE ring announcer Samantha Irvin ignored the "don't mix work with pleasure" memo like many others in her industry. On the latest "Busted Open," Mark Henry — who mentored Irvin during her early years in the business — revealed the one piece of advice she did not abide by.
"... Don't date the people you work with," Henry once told Irvin and Bianca Belair, both of whom proceeded to date their coworkers, Ricochet and Montez Ford, respectively.
Irvin — a guest on the podcast — had the opportunity to justify her reasoning to ignore Henry's advice. "To be fair, we're talking about Montez Ford and Ricochet here," Irvin said. "You can make an exception, right?"
Henry expressed disappointment that neither Irvin nor Belair kept him apprised of their love life. However, he revealed Ricochet did call him to tell him about his budding romance. "He was like, 'Yeah, man, I really like her. I know you ain't big on [dating] people that you work with.' I was like, 'Brother, you ain't gotta keep talking. I love you, I trust you, I know you're a good dude. Y'all enjoy yourselves!'"
Henry's response caught Ricochet by surprise, but more importantly, gave Irvin the green light to pursue her courtship. "There is a technicality here," Irvin reminded Henry. "We started dating before I had an offer [from WWE]."
While Irvin's paths crossed with Ricochet after she jumped from the music to the wrestling industry, she was initially apprehensive about dating the high-flying wrestler.
"When he [Ricochet] started talking to me, I was like, 'I don't want to be messing with no wrestler,'" Irvin laughed. "I always knew I was gonna marry a wrestler, though. When I was younger, I thought I was gonna marry Shawn Michaels. When Trevor [Ricochet] won the Intercontinental title, I told him, 'My man [Shawn] was the champion in 1993 or 1994. And now my man is the champion.'"