Though Marina Shafir has technically been a member of the AEW Galaxy for almost a year now, making her debut on AEW Dark on December 14th, 2021, to many, her biggest contribution to the professional wrestling world remains her run in NXT from 2018-21, when she and fellow MMA fighter Jessamyn Duke signed with the company to re-form the “four horsewomen” of MMA alongside pre-established WWE stars Shayna Baszler and Ronda Rousey. Finally reunited, the group was supposed to be it; they were supposed to run the show a la Bayley, Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks, and Becky Lynch in the generation immediately preceding them and usher in another chapter of the women's revolution in WWE.
Unfortunately, that didn't happen; while the hype was real, the four women never shared the ring in a match of any sort, and the fated four-on-four between the two “Four Horsewomen” factions never actually worked out in the ring in an all-out war to decide on factional supremacy.
But why? Fortunately, Shafir stopped by The Sessions with Renee Paquette to talk about that and many other things too, and needless to say, her answer was polarizing.
“Egos, egos were at play,' said Shafir. “There's too many f*cking cooks in the kitchen sometimes, you know, in more ways than one. I don’t know feel like, that’s where, like, I never knew this but, I just feel like professional wrestling was a little more exclusive back in the day. It wasn't just about, like, politicking, it was about like really showing respect and not kissing a– and not feeling like you have to give something up of yourself to take it to the next level. Evolving yeah, but stripping yourself? Yeah, I don’t know.”
Now technically speaking, these comments don't actually address anyone in particular and thus could theoretically be about anyone, but for one reason or another, they caught the attention of none other than “Four Horsewoman” Bayley, who retweeted the post with a message to Paquette, Shafir, and her 1.8 million fans.
Did Bayley stop the match from happening? Or is she simply shocked to see such an unusual assertion from a worker who was notably controversial during her NXT run? We will probably never know.
Egos?!???? TF. 🤣 I’m humble as pie!!!!!!!!!!!! Who wants a damn slice? It’s pumpkin season https://t.co/MLcwtPddih
— Bayley (@itsBayleyWWE) November 22, 2022
Marina Shafir details her unpopularity in the NXT locker room.
Elsewhere in her interview with Paquette, Shafir commented on her polarizing presence in the NXT locker room before her release, as transcribed by Post Wrestling.
“So, I used to f*cking say this sh*t all the time in — we would have these locker room meetings [in NXT] back in the day and, ‘Does anybody else have f*cking anything else to say?’” I’d been in the business for six months,” Shafir said. “If they had tomatoes and eggs, they would have f*cking thrown that sh*t at me. But I just felt it. I didn’t give a f*ck. I’ve been the same person, ask anybody. I’ve been the same person from when they met me until now. I said, ‘We are not each other’s competition. We are not trying to f*cking kill each other. We are in competition with that f*cking locker room and you know who’s in that f*cking locker room? My husband, but you know what? F*ck him. I want to be in the spot that he’s in and I’m after his a– and it makes our sex life amazing.’ That’s me and everybody just looked at me and they’re like, shut the f*ck up. Well, you never know. I was the new girl and I only worked my f*cking a– off in pure martial arts. I didn’t go to a f*cking professional wrestling seminar, sorry. I’m so sorry. I will. Send me to one, send me to 50. I’d love to. But I’m sorry that your feelings are hurt because I didn’t do what you had to do and that’s why everybody f*cking hated Ronda [Rousey]. Dude, I can’t. She’s a f*cking beast man. She knows what to just let roll off her shoulder and she knows what needs to light her a– on fire. She knows. That’s how well I wanna know myself.”
Did the other members of the NXT locker room really hate Shafir – and Rousey – because of her background and lack of long-standing love for the business? Or could there be another reason for their disdain? Either way, it would appear Shafir is happy to be in AEW and NXT is happy she's gone.
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