Former NXT competitor Marina Shafir has claimed that nobody wants her to be on their wrestling shows because the former MMA star’s wrestling career has predominantly been in NXT.
Shafir followed in the footsteps of her fellow Four Horsewomen ‘Rowdy’ Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler when she made the jump from MMA to pro wrestling and joined WWE in 2018.
Most of Shafir’s time on-screen on the black and gold brand was spent with Jessamyn Duke as Baszler’s minders as The Queen Of Spades embarked on her incredible runs as NXT Women’s Champion.
Speaking on the Shot of Wrestling podcast Marina Shafir remarked that because the vast majority of her wrestling career so far has been spent in NXT, she is finding it hard to find work on the independent wrestling scene:
“I trained with Mercedes Martinez like six weeks back and it was hilarious because we were talking about, ‘What you do and how you do it matters.’ She goes, ‘You’re NXT bred.’ Nobody wants me because I was raised in NXT.”
“I don’t have Indie experience and I don’t speak that language. I speak TV language. I speak ‘what do the producers want?’ language. Not that it’s a bad thing. Being part of that process matters how vulnerable you can be towards people. Coming from NXT, I still get the side-eye. Nobody wants me. Nobody wants the shooter from NXT who has a chip on her shoulder. Nobody f*cking wants me.”
The Supernova From Moldova will hope some of that TV experience pays off when she makes her AEW debut on AEW Dark where she faces another celestial force in The Galaxy’s Favourite Alien, Kris Statlander.