Marina Shafir

"I wasn't sure if she belonged in the Death Riders, but go watch her thumbtack spot... toughest member of the group."

[5.0] "She's 100% improved over the years, but I still think she's lacking in a one-on-one fashion. Does great work as an enforcer of the Death Riders and is probably one of the best women on the roster to be involved in intergender conflict. I don't ever think she'll be amazing, but I think she'd found her niche and she just needs to work at it."

[6.0] "Four years ago, I wrote: "I've been watching Marina Shafir since NXT and I'm tired of waiting for her to improve. There are plenty enough women on the AEW roster to fill the role of dangerous heel. Just because Leyla Hirsch is injured doesn't mean we need a replacement shoot fighter gimmick." I'm glad to finally be able to change this. Marina's time with the Death Riders has finally solidified her character, and given direction to her in ring performance. I think she's got a long way to go before she's great, but the overall package is entertaining and serves a purpose."

[8.0] "I think people who low rate Marina Shafir don't Get Her or don't Get the best parts of pro wrestling. In a world where everyone in pro wrestling are trying to be perfectionists, trying to wrestle like everyone else. A world of modern wrestling where everyone is trying to be polished and rounded wrestlers that can do literally anything or any style. Where everyone is inspired by high fliers who also want to be great strikers and power wrestling highlight reels every match. Marina Shafir is Different. She is unique. She does what she can do what she is best at and sticks to that. She doesn't try to do more that would make her come off as less. She doesn't blend in with the crowd of so many people who try to wrestle the same like a grey mush of mass produced main stream pro wrestling. Is what she does always pretty? No, not really, but that's what wrestling is missing. It's people with unique qualities and different skillsets. Paraphrasing what Minoru Suzuki said about Jon Moxley (fitting to be honest seeing who Marina is paired with in AEW) "He's not a perfect all rounder, grey blob that has filled in all their flaws. He's not good at shit, and because of that it is what makes him a good wrestler.""

[8.0] "Look, she's someone that's surely undervalued just because she nedeed some time to figure things out. As of now, I think that Marina Shafir is an acutal good talent that can work pretty well from bell to bell. Granted, her style is not for anyone, but it's also kinda rare and she proved to be very capable of using it in a believable way. She's got a really good character, aura and can also cut good promos when nedeed, at this point, therefore I feel she should be pushed and showcased more on national television."

[7.0] "Pre-Death Riders, a 4 rating was fair, if not maybe being too generous, but joining Mox in the the group has benefitted Marina far more than the rest. The TBS title is probably her ceiling right now, but even saying that would have been crazy before the Death Riders came along."

[7.0] "Marina has really grown as a performer over the last 2 years to the point where I am comfortable boosting her rating to this extent. Every match she has now is decent to generally good. Hope this continues to the point where she becomes a great wrestler."

[9.0] "Marina pre-and-post Death Riders are basically different talents. Before she joined up with Mox she was yet another ex-MMA wrestler who looked legit but never really put it together in a new environment, leading to a number of pretty dull matches in her first few years. However, some small exceptions were during her matches in Bloodsport and the rare indie match that allowed her to work in that style, so I always kept my eye out. Once Mox hooked her up with more indie bookings and put her in the Death Riders though, you can absolutely see her break out of her shell and become the best wrestler she could be. Her sadistic, petty, asskicker self as Mox's right-hand woman was a great spot for her that she slotted into naturally (corpsing when staring down Roddy notwithstanding, they are married after all), and recently she's been translating that more and more into her ring work with multiple excellent performances in Anarchy in the Arena, Blood & Guts, and a few tag matches. Now that AEW is trusting her to let her ring work speak for itself with the tag title tournament and an impending Statlander feud, I think we're going to be seeing some great things out of her. EDIT: The past ~8 months since I left this comment have shown significant improvement from Marina to the point where she's one of the most surefire things in the AEW product and shows out more and more when she has an indie match. I'd put her in the conversation for the best TV worker going today (she's not THE best, but she's in the conversation). I think AEW are caught in a rough spot since they don't seem to want her to run roughshod on the women's title scenes but also don't want to pull the trigger on full-blown intergender matches but wherever she slots into the Death Riders' angles she's excelled at elevating everything she's onscreen for. I really don't see why a lot of this site still seems to think she sucks."

[2.0] "even after years of wrestling, marina has yet to show little improvement since her character is basically an mma fighter and she wrestles like she is goldberg hence why there is no improvement in this woman."

[8.0] "I'm not ranking her based on her entire career, rather the growth she has made over the last 18 months. Marina has significantly improved her aura as a vicious badass (the stomping on broken glass to use them as weapons is nuts), her in ring work (matches with Toni Storm and Alex Windsor were miles better than her 2023 offerings, and her mic work has dramatically improved. Being allowed to speak in her native language gives her vibes of a killer, and you can tell that she has picked up a lot of tips to sharpen her game by working with Mox and the Death Riders. I'm hoping to see Marina win the TBS championship and go on a tear in 2027. Admittedly, her string of losses in 2026 have hurt her standing as a contender, but that's not the hardest thing to remedy."

[7.0] "Honestly marina has put in the work to become a fierce wrestler. She had raw potential to be a great wrestler. Her style though must ask a lot of her opponents to go against their instincts to let her throw them around. But styles makes fights and marina might just be the example of that"

[6.0] "look. even if some of marina shafir's work is clumsy and unpolished, the fact that she is a woman working a style i very rarely see is quite cool. if her matches aren't "good", they're "interesting", and they're mostly fine now in AEW! she brings something fun to the table and i appreciate her for it."

[0.0] "The most blandest women's heel in AEW, just a generic badass without a real character and just horrible in the ring, she's never had a single good match in her entire career with AEW or NXT. Oh, and how can I forget that God awful promo she had a few years ago"

[7.0] "Marina Shafir is a very difficult wrestler to properly rate as quite frankly, she still isn't a very good bell to bell tradtional wrestler, however what she lacks in traditonal boots and trunks wrestling she makes up for in her unique blend of MMA and Wrestling, incredible strikes, an unbelievably intense persona, that quiet charisma that you can't teach, this woman has something, and unfortunately due to stopwatchers viewing short matches for women bad is probably never going to fully get there as she shouldn't be having long matches, she's very much like a Goldberg."

[8.0] "The most intimidating aspect of the Death Riders by far, brings way more menace than Moxley imo. I wish she got more chances in ring, but her couple of showings against Willow have been solid. Also such a babe, would let her suplex me into the steel stairs. 2026 edit: Has had a couple great singles matches this year. Fills a very unique niche in the women's roster as a striker/grappler."

[7.0] "[6.6] It took a while, but Marina's really come into her own with the Death Riders. Her more shoot-inspired style really makes her stand out among the AEW women, and her run as DEFY Women's Champion has been great. She's still not the best talker which unfortunately kind of comes with the territory of English being a second language, but there's a charisma to her when she chooses to play quiet or cut promos in her native Romanian, and in situations where she's not talking. Overall, very heavily improved wrestler, solid #2 pick out of the MMA horsewomen for me. Come a long way from that promo on Dark."

[6.0] "Not bad at all. She is finally improving and i'm fine with her "MMA style" in ring. I'm really enjoying her rivalry against Toni Storm. She's making me very interested in her character. She no longer seems to be just the Death Riders' "bodyguard" who interferes in matches, but is showing that she can do a lot even against opponents of Toni Storm's caliber. I think that a 6/10 is a right grade."

[7.0] "I think the ratings for Marina Shafir are quite harsh though understandable prior to her Death Riders run. She brings something unique in the sense that she can actually fight when most wrestlers can't."

[7.0] "We're well past the "sun hat" promo days and I think it's fair to acknowledge the work she's put in. She found a role in AEW. She's entertaining. Her reign in DEFY as women's champ has been fun as well to watch at Washington Hall."

[1.0] "She's still bad. She's going in the right direction in terms of improving but there's still much left to desire. Her matches with Toni Storm and Mina shirakawa prove just that. There's several heels in the company who I feel should be getting the spotlight that she's been getting man."

[2.0] "People say she's improved, but I don't see it. She hasn't gotten better, it's just that now she's only booked to ever do the three moves she knows how to do: Awkward stomp, solid judo throw, weird submission that doesn't look like anything. Add in that she's still a middling promo at best, and I really don't see where the "improvement" is."

[6.0] "YOU GOT NINETY NINETY ANSWERS BUT YOU CAN'T SOLVE ONE PROBLEM. I've liked Marina for awhile before the general consensus turned around on her because the fake shoot stuff rocks. Her current presentation has actually gotten her positive crowd pops which is very interesting, I think that AEW should continue to push her and have her presumably be part of the post Mox death riders. Big fan."

[6.0] "I wasn't a fan of her at all for a long time but I think 2025 was easily the best work of her career. She's showing more personality, getting a good reaction and her stuff with the Death Riders has been very fun. She comes across as a legitimate badass."

[2.0] "She's improved. She's still mostly terrible but there are actual signs of improvement. Real improvement too not the Nia Jax or Nikki Bella kind where they're still as bad as they ever were. There's still some hope for her at least in the ring. On the mic is a different story and after her infamous promo I wouldn't be surprised if she never spoke again."

[6.0] "Yeah, I completelly understand why most people had a low rating on her but we need to evolve as a humans and understand that her time at AEW with the Death Riders has been amazing. She is not perfect in ring, but now she clearly understand much better the basic stuff. Pairing her with Jon Moxley literally saved her entire career."

[8.0] "I don't understand why Marina gets so much hate. Sure, she's not absolutely perfect, but personally, I like her martial-arts style, similarly to how I like Speedball Bailey's martial-arts style. Additionally, Marina's really grown into a badass as a result of Jon Moxley and the Death Riders. I can forget about that one awful promo she did a while back because she's improved greatly over the past year. You got 99 problems but you can't solve this one...."

[8.0] "I have to say, she's really blossomed and come into her own (thanks Mox). She's got a new lease of life, perfectly fits her character and her brawling style is super exciting. A shame it just took so long for her to find it."

[7.0] "Shafir got shit on for her early run in AEW and her stuff in NXT, and honestly you can't find fault with that. She was green, somewhat of a charisma vacuum, and struggled to fully adapt into the wrestling game as opposed to MMA. Her run with the Death Riders has revitalised the interest I had in her. She works her role there to perfection, serving as a great valet type for John Moxley whilst improving her actual fundamentals when she rarely gets in the ring. I'm excited to see where they take her character once the Death Riders inevitably run their course. UPDATE: After her performances in the Tag Division and especially in Blood and Guts, I gotta put her up to a 7. Mox really can turn around anybody's career."

[7.0] "Just as Dean elevated the other Shield members, Mox has elevated many of the Death Rider talents. But none have benefitted quite like Marina. She went from a forgettable background character and black hole of charisma into a very respectable "holy shit" talent. Sometimes a little character work really goes a long way into building up a wrestler. She may not be any ol' The Rock, but she has undoubtedly improved and I hope she remains a staple of AEW's hardcore matches going forward."

[7.0] "Marina shafir has become someone i really enjoy watching. I think her work with the death riders has really let her lean into a real feeling badass character. I will say my up in score is totally influenced by last nights blood & guts match which she looked amazing in. There's still things that could be elevated in her work but she's someone i'm excited to watch more of"

[7.0] "She is not a great worker, unfortunately, so she only works in limited roles and plunder matches, where she has held her own. She is also not a good promo, at least not with a live microphone. Her presence is top notch, however. She is also playing her role in the Death Riders well, so much so that in my opinion she is a more important member than Pac, Garcia or even Yuta, as she fits the current Moxley character exceptionally well. Moxley does his part to make Marina special, for sure, but she knows her character and sticks to it. There are wrestlers who are better in-ring whose presence bores me, but Marina in her limited, but impactful role works really well."

[8.0] "Sometimes, it takes a while for a wrestler to find something that works. For the bulk of her career, I would have rated Marina much lower - but since being brought into the Death Riders, she has truly found a place to belong in professional wrestling. Her character work has become great, her in-ring ability was never bad given her judo background, and when placed into a chaotic match - she will more than hold her own time after time. Marina doesn't show a lick of fear in any situation, has taken some nasty bumps, and is just someone I love to see on AEW TV."

"She's growing into who she should be. It's taken its time and her MMA background and success has meant a lot of eyes on someone who's still very much at the beginning of her wrestling journey - her stint in WWE and close comparisons to Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler have not helped for numerous reasons. The Death Riders have grown as a unit which has benefitted her greatly. She could play a very important role in AEW shortly so let's hope this growth continues."

[7.0] "Unsurprisingly Marina doesn't deserve the overwhelming hatred she seems to get from the IWC. She plays her role in Death Riders perfectly, and she has actual fighting credentials. Very good heel character work, and not that bad in the ring. She brings legitimate judo and submission grappling to her matches and her offense feels more real, like shoot fighting. But she lacks psychology and charisma, she can't sell and she's not a very good talker. She's too unpolished to stick into long matches, instead she relies on cheap shotting her opponents or doing squash matches."

[2.0] "Was wondering who the ugly chap always hanging around with Mox was. No not PAC. With all due respect to Roddy Strong. she's a generally awful and miserable downer whenever on screen with a permanent expression of a bulldog chewing a lemon flavoured wasp. Also rubbish in the ring, see the mixed tag against Swerve and Willow. Her omnipresence is a factor in the DR's dead crowds and general shut up and go away feel they evoke."

[5.0] "Marina Shafir gets a 5/10 from me--a perfect score for someone who feels like the wrestling equivalent of decaf coffee. You don't hate it, but you're definitely not wide-eyed and buzzing for more."

[2.0] "It is horrifying to me that someone with 6 years under their belts, training in multiple disciplines, and is as world traveled as Marina is is also as clumsy, slow, and charisma less as she is. DEFY put a belt on her and it hasn't helped."

[1.0] "There is not much good at all to say about Marina Shafif I dont feel like shes had 1 good match in her entire career and she struggles massively on the mic and lacks any type of character. The MMA style gimmick just doesnt work with everyone and it doesnt work with Marina"

[7.0] "Really good at shoot style technical wrestling, excelling on bloodsport shows. She's been having better matches of a more traditional style recently as well. Her match against Shoko Nakajima in Defy was great. Really good at carrying herself and looking like someone to fear as well."

[10.0] "10/10 aura. She had a great run of squashes leading up to her match with Jade. I like that she throws her socks in the crowd when she works indies. She is much better than Britt Baker. Very happy to see her paired with Karate Moxley to get the best possible reaction out of Boogie."

[7.0] "In the right environment I really like her work but obviously has her limitations when it comes to more mainstream wrestling. Watch her shoot style stuff and you will have a fun time. It is a shame we don't have an indie somewhere that just focusses on that style as she could kill it and we would also have something better than the meme bollocks we mostly get."

[6.0] "Marina Shafir has improved into being a pretty decent wrestler who is capable of working a solid submission & technical style to her in-ring work. I think a lengthy run on ROH is ultimately what is best for Marina in the long run. In 2022-2023, I feel like Marinas performances on AEW television were not very impressive due to the extra pressure that was weighed against her during the mini-push throughout that time period. An indefinite ROH run will take away most of the pressure off Marina now, especially since she performs better in the ring on ROH TV."

[7.0] "How is Marina rated so low? She is generally one of my favorite acts on ROH. I think she has a real future and a title coming her way."

[6.0] "really got her career ruined by a very poor AEW run huh? yeah you know me... you dont know me sure is the most hysterious shit ever. However, I have been able to watch a few of her indie matches and she's solid. she got a good strike game and actually understand pacing relatively well to not make it boring. Good match with Starkz and Bailey. Of course, it's hard to outweight whatever bs AEW is giving her lol"

[6.0] "Unreasonable to rate Marina anything below 5 - She has the basic MMA gimmick but there is nothing inherently wrong with it. She has her catchphrase "The Problem" and the Violin that follows suit. She is consistent and is a good heal to have around. She gathers a decent number of wins as well which is good to have a heel that can come in and swoop a win. I actually really like her, reason I don't have a higher rating than a 6 is because there are no moves in her moveset that make me jump to the edge of my seat and there are no promos that really show off any baseline mic skill. Just one's and two's here and there. But Marina is a consistent talent and with progressive character development and a push on TV she could really have a more than enjoyable run."

[5.0] "Marina has her moments where you can see her potential, just hopefully it can finally translate to AEW TV or ROH. Marina has what it takes beyond just throwing her socks into the crowd during her entrances."

[4.0] "Shafir is still developing as a wrestler but now unless the match is built around her she struggles to shine. Her bloodsport matches have been great because they allow her to use her background to develop good matches. In other matches she is alright but does not shine nearly as much. Her mic work and charisma are not at the level of major promotion yet either."

[2.0] "The "You know me, you DON'T KNOW ME" promo is unironically one of the funniest promos ever. She's laughably bad,"

[1.0] "You know me. Yes, you do. My parents created 'The Problem'... and Albany, you raised 'The Problem', you are A PART of 'The Problem'! ALL OF YOU! ALL of YOU are part of 'The Problem'! You know me... You don't know me. YOU don't know me! YOU don't know ME! You don't know... YOU DON'T KNOW NOTHING ABOUT ME! Understand this... understand this: When the violins play... violence is always on the way!"

[6.0] "Even if it's not famous, Marina Shafir's level is no longer a problem. I don't see her going to the top of the women's division, but it's a good hand."