AEW’s Marina Shafir Opens Up About Family Sacrifices, Married Life & ‘Full Gear’
· Yahoo Sports
Marina Shafir is often a woman of few words. The imposing All Elite Wrestling star would rather let her actions speak for themselves. Over the last year, “The Problem” has gained traction beyond being the enforcer of the Death Riders. Shafir initially gained notoriety alongside fellow fighters Ronda Rousey, Shayna Baszler, and Jessamyn Duke in a group of bad asses known collectively as the MMA Four Horsewomen.
However, while sitting under the learning tree of Death Riders leader Jon Moxley is where she has truly found herself. Fans have begun rallying behind Shafir, who also happens to be married to fellow AEW talent Roderick Strong. The two married in 2018 and have a 10-year-old son. Although you wouldn’t know that watching the shows with the couple only having a few onscreen interactions. ‘
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All the work Shafir invested up to this point leads to the most high-profile match of her career thus far. She’ll challenge Mercedes Moné for the AEW Women’s Championship on November 14 at Full Gear on pay-per-view.
Ahead of the big bout, Shafir opens up about her journey.
You’ve put in so much work over the years. What does it mean to see it paying off? What has been your mindset going into this big match against Mercedes on Saturday?
Marina Shafir: If you’ve been paying attention, it’s just been consistent. I’m dependable, resilient, a presence every single week. I don’t think people really understand how much work goes into just showing up and being consistent in this type of a business. That’s a lot of work in itself. Especially being a mom, especially still being an athlete, being a wife, having a home, having obligations outside of work.
There is a lot that goes into showing up to the thing that is just the f*ck’in’ heart of everything for us. What does it mean to be able to get to this point? I’ve sacrificed a lot of time with my son. I’ve sacrificed family holidays. I’ve sacrificed doing things that really give me pleasure and happiness because I know whatever feelings they give to me, in my mind, I know when I actually am able to experience them, it’s going to be that much more meaningful. I’ll be that much more present because that’s what I do every week at work. I don’t think a lot of people know what they need to bring every week. I do. What does it mean to me? I don’t really think I can tell you that until it’s all f*ck’in’ over. I have an idea of it in my mind, but what’s going on in La La Land and what actually f*ckin’ happens are always two different things.
You spoke of sacrifices. On the opposite side, your husband Roderick has had opportunities and you’ve been there for him as well. How has it been to have him as a support system for you as you’re reaching this newfound success and being busier than ever?
I mean, I have someone next to me who understands the roller coaster of this game. Me being a woman and a mom and being able to be so vulnerable with someone throughout this process. I don’t really want to tell you what that’s like because that’s so intimate. There’s nobody like us. There’s nobody like Roddy. He understands me as a woman, as a wife, as an athlete, as a friend, as a mom. He gets to witness me in all these dresses I get to wear, but competitively, that’s a whole other thing. I’m very lucky to be able to do this with someone who is constantly striving to understand me and be on the same page as me. I just want to give that in return, and I want to be honest and authentic. Sh*t, that’s kind of what love is.
Marina Shafir and Roderick Strong (AEW)
You two have largely been leading separate lives onscreen. However, there have been a few occasions where you do interact. Then it’s more if you know, you know. How fun are those moments?
Oh my God. I don’t want to tell you how much fun it is. Everybody wants to talk about how much fun all that sh*t is. I don’t want to say a goddamn thing. That’s for me and him. No, he never wanted to do anything intergender. I’ll say it for him. He also has never wanted to be with anyone in wrestling. I’ll say that for him, too. I’m very competitive. I didn’t even realize how competitive it was until I got into professional wrestling. I didn’t know what the f*ck competition was in professional wrestling until some bullsh*t moments of when I was still in WWE NXT. I’m like, “Wait, all you girls are fighting each other? We’re competing for time against the locker room next door. Like I’m sorry, I’m new here, and I’m green as f*ck. Actually, I haven’t even fucking sprouted yet, but correct me if I’m wrong. We’re not each other’s competition, but we are. But the real competition is the locker room next door. We’re competing for time.” I know this is a little bit blasphemous for me to say right now, but I want my husband’s time, too.
I always hoped and dreamed that I would be able to put that on TV. That was my goal. I’m just very competitive. I’m very open-minded to how this crazy world of professional wrestling works. Whenever you think you know how it is, there’s something right around the corner…I wanted to stand with my sisters, and fight the good fight. He respects the f*ck out of that.
How close are you still with the fellow Four Horsewomen? Is there a group chat where you keep up with each other?
Not really. We all kind of just chose our paths after all that kind of disbanded. I’m a big believer in things that if they haven’t happened yet they could always still happen. I can’t really think about that while I’m in this right now. I still chat with them occasionally. Me and Ronda are still really, really close. She’s my best friend. She has always been my best friend. Me and Shayna will chit-chat here and there. We’ve crossed paths on a show. It has never happened for us the way it needed to happen, but look at what happened still Look what’s happening on Saturday?
Yep. I’m a firm believer in everything happening for a reason.
Yeah. Me too.
Marina Shafir and Jon Moxley (AEW)
I spoke with Jon a while back about you, and he had nothing but high praise. How you’d look at taking regular bookings just to get that experience. He appreciated your hunger and the fact you wanted to get better. What has it been like working with him in recent years?
I’ve had a lot of coaches throughout my athletic career. I had a lot of really good coaches. I’ve had some very fu*king bad coaches. I don’t want to say necessarily I needed a mentor. But I really needed a coach programmed to work hard. I will work so hard on the simplest, dumbest f*ckin’ thing. Some things that people would view as a waste of time, and sometimes it would be a waste of time. When I approached him for help, I was on my, I don’t want to say like my last-ditch effort, but yeah. I’m not saying that all the girls are the same, but I’m just very different from all of them. I knew that. I grew up with brothers. I yearn for sisterhood, I yearn for that connection, that bond. I grew up training. I was on the women’s judo teams. I crave that environment, but I just needed to figure out who I was. I was just ready to figure myself out. I was ready to figure out if this is what I wanted to f*ckin’ do. I just wanted to know how to do it, how to make it special.. I also didn’t want to waste anybody’s time. I don’t want to waste my own time. I don’t want to waste my son’s time.
[Jon] simplified it like a coach would. He’s had so much experience in so many branches of professional wrestling. Simply it just worked like.he understood what I was trying to do, even if I didn’t understand it. I sometimes have a hard time with my words and, like, explaining. That’s why I was always a physical being. That’s why I was always using my body for sh*t, like an idiot. I wish I went to school and used my brain a little bit more so I could at least communicate a little bit better. But he taught me how to communicate. He would say you have to communicate about what you know. Simple things, simple things that could just turn into bigger things. I’m just so grateful. I’m grateful that he even took a chance on me. Because I had an idea in my brain, a rough idea. He had something similar, and then we just started to slowly see if it f*cking worked.
Marina Shafir (AEW)
How would you describe his approach?
Every week he would give me a brick, and it was up to me how I laid that brick down. And then there were some weeks where I wanted to take that brick, and I wanted to f*ckin’ ram it against my f*ckihn’ head. There were some weeks where I wanted to throw it at the person that was in front of me. There were other weeks where I was just like, “You know what? I don’t give a f*ck. Like, it’ll land where it’ll land. F*ck it. But there were a lot of weeks where I just meticulously just started laying the sh*t down. I turn around, and I’m like, “That’s starting to look like a little bit of a wall.” I have fallen in love so much with this. I don’t know how big the thing behind me is going to get.
Yeah, it’s feeling like you’re just getting started. I love that.
Yeah. Honestly, everyone has been saying to me, “You’ve just been going, going, going, going, going, and this such a big opportunity coming up. Tony [Khan] gave me a big opportunity. Mercedes is such a big opportunity. I’m just conditioning myself for big opportunities because I just don’t want to waste anybody’s time.
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Are there plans for your son to see you wrestle for the Women’s Championship this weekend?
Oh, my son is one of my biggest fans. I just came back from Pro Wrestling Eve yesterday. When he saw me, the first thing he said was that we need to get that [International Championship title] flag changed that I won. He wanted me to get the Moldovan flag on the championship. He has been my biggest supporter because I’m his biggest supporter.
Unfortunately, I don’t think he’s going to be there because he has got school, and he has got his own obligations. I don’t ever want to pull him out of his own little universe, and I don’t ever want him to think or feel like what I have going on is bigger than what he’s got going on because that is very important to me. In this business, there’s a really fine line between being selfish and being disciplined with this sh*t. I don’t ever want him to be confused. I want him to grow up with a mom who is ambitious, who’s disciplined, and takes this sh*tt seriously because I want him to have all those same attributes. Yes, he will be there if it’s a possibility. If not, it’s also not that big of a deal. That’s just how I stand on it.
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