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AEW
Marina Shafir has been with All Elite Wrestling for over three years, and is currently appearing on TV regularly as a member of The Death Riders, so many fans would be forgiven if they didn't remember the fact that Shafir was also with WWE for three years. The Moldovan star signed with "WWE NXT" in 2018, but was eventually released in the summer of 2021, and despite ending up in AEW, Shafir revealed on a recent episode of "Talk is Jericho" that signing with AEW wasn't the original plan she had in mind for her career.
"AEW wasn't the goal, I just wanted to do indies and learn as much as I could and hustle my f**king ass off to see if I could make it on the indie scene, and do it the way I wanted to do it," Shafir said. "It was tough, I didn't ask for any favors. I didn't ask [her husband Roderick Strong] to get me on any shows, I didn't ask Shayna [Baszler] to get me on any shows, I had to put myself out there on my own and see what opportunities came my way. Josh [Barnett] hit me up to do Bloodsport, and after I did Bloodsport, it just kind of snowballed and AEW Dark's happened."
Shafir first appeared on the December 14, 2021 episode of "AEW Dark" where she was defeated Kris Statlander in a match she claimed was awesome and fun. Thanks to her performance in that match, she was eventually signed to a full-time deal with the company, but has managed to stay active on the independent scene as she has won titles for both BriiCombination Wrestling and DEFY.
Please credit "Talk is Jericho" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

