Ronda Rousey's close friend picks up her first win in AEW
On the most recent episode of AEW Dark, Ronda Rousey's close friend Marina Shafir picked up her first win. Shafir debuted in December and lost her first match against Kris Statlander, but has now picked up a dominant win.
Shafir met Ronda Rousey at Glendale Fighting Club, where she trained with Rousey herself. This connection, as well as knowing WWE star Shayna Baszler, helped get her into wrestling.
Shafir signed with WWE in 2018, on the NXT brand, she acted as an enforcer for Baszler. Some fans might not have recognized Shafir in her AEW debut, due to her lack of on-screen prominence in NXT.
Other than being Rousey's close friend, Shafir is married to the former NXT Cruiserweight Champion, Roderick Strong. Strong and Shafir have been together for an undisclosed time but got engaged in 2015. The couple have one son together.
Marina Shafir just made her AEW debut at the #AEWDark tapings going up against Kris Statlander. ๐ฎ
๐ธ -@JJWilliamsWON
๐ธ -@MrJacobCohen https://t.co/WSXt91ap3n
How many wrestlers like Marina Shafir on Dark end up signed with AEW?
While AEW Dark features many, many wrestlers who might never be signed to All Elite Wrestling, there are quite a number of them who became signed. Notably Will Hobbs, Red Velvet, Top Flight, The Accalimed, and The Varsity Blondes were all once Dark exclusives.
These wrestlers stood out enough and worked hard enough to earn their contracts. Fuego Del Sol is another notable name signed by AEW, although Feugo is still mainly an enhancement talent. del Sol's signing was even worked into an angle as he had to fight "The Redeemer" Miro to get a shot.
Red Velvet might never have defeated Jade, but she has become a prominent wrestler on television. While other wrestlers are working hard to break through, others have gone on to face veteran wrestlers such as CM Punk and Sting. Dark is not the WWE Performance Center, wrestlers aren't trained here but they get a unique chance to prove themselves.