5 Facts you need to know about WWE's Marina Shafir 

WWE made history when they signed Marina Shafir back in 2018
WWE made history when they signed Marina Shafir back in 2018

Marina Shafir has become known as one of the members of MMA's Four Horsewomen since her debut in WWE back in 2018 but made her debut on RAW Underground this week, where she was able to use her MMA skills to win her first match as part of the show.

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Shayna Baszler has been the standout member of the group over the past few years with Marina and Jessamyn Duke helping to support The Queen of Spades throughout her reign as NXT Women's Champion.

After a few months' hiatus from WWE, Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke resurfaced on Monday's episode of RAW when the two women were spotted alongside Baszler backstage. While Marina has been on WWE TV for a number of years, it's only been in a limited capacity and there are still some facts about the former MMA star that some WWE fans are unaware of.


#5. Marina Shafir has a son named Troy

There are a number of mothers in WWE at present including Lacey Evans, Mickie James, Tamina and Stephanie McMahon. Marina Shafir is also a woman who is on this list.

Marina Shafir announced her engagement to WWE star Roderick Strong back in December 2015, before the couple then welcomed their first child, a son named Troy in April 2017.

Marina signed for WWE back in May 2018 when her son was a year old, and he has since been included in storylines in NXT including the time when Bobby Roode was feuding with Roderick Strong and Troy was spotted a number of times backstage.

Just after Troy was born back in 2017, Strong was part of a series of videos on NXT entitled "Who is Roderick Strong?" Where the former North American Champion revealed his private life publicly to the WWE Universe for the first time.

#4. Marina Shafir has a cat named Monkey

Outside of WWE, Marina Shafir is devoted to being a mother and regularly updates her Instagram with images of her son Troy, who is now three years old.

While the past few months have been hard for many WWE stars given the pandemic and the fact that as a mother, Marina Shafir has wanted to keep her son safe, the star recently took to Instagram to reveal that her cat Monkey was one of the things that had gotten her through.

The former MMA star uploaded a cute image where she's cuddling Monkey and revealed that he had been her security blanket in these uncertain times.

Marina's cat is the only pet that the couple have since both Shafir and her husband Roderick Strong are on the road with WWE for much of their time which means that they don't have the time to put into caring for more animals at present.

That being said, the Monday Night RAW star is clearly devoted to her cat since she often uploads images of herself and her beautiful grey family member.

#3. Marina Shafir once lived with Baszler, Rousey, and Duke

While it's become common knowledge that Marina Shafir, Ronda Rousey, Jessamyn Duke, and Shayna Baszler are close friends and are currently known as The Four Horsewomen of MMA, the women are much closer friends than WWE has pointed out, since they were also once roommates.

Marina Shafir and Ronda Rousey are close friends who trained together that Glendale Fighting Club and bonded over the fact that they had a similar background in Judo. The two women, alongside fellow Four Horsewomen Duke and Baszler, all lived together for a number of years in Venice, California.

Of course, former RAW Women's Champion Ronda Rousey now owns her own home called Brousey Acres with her husband Travis Browne, while Marina Shafir lives with her husband and fellow WWE star Roderick Strong and their son, Troy.

Fellow NXT star Mia Yim revealed on Twitter back in 2017 that she was roommates with Jessamyn Duke and Shayna Baszler, even though Duke wasn't officially signed to WWE until the following year, signing at the same time as Marina Shafir.

#2. Marina Shafir actually made her main roster debut back in 2018

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While Marina Shafir seemingly made her debut on Monday Night RAW this week when she wrestled on RAW Underground the star actually made her main roster debut almost two years ago.

Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke appeared at the first-ever all-women's pay-per-view, Evolution, where they interfered during the NXT Women's Championship match between Kairi Sane and Shayna Baszler.

As part of the show, the two women helped The Queen of Spades to regain the Women's Championship over the woman who defeated her in the final of the inaugural Mae Young Classic.

This was the first time that Duke and Shafir had been seen on WWE TV since the two women officially signed their WWE contracts just five months before Evolution took place.

Over the past few years, Shafir and Duke have been in NXT helping Baszler to dominate on the brand. But since The Submission Magician was promoted to the main roster, the two women have been seen as a tag team, but the duo was easily defeated in their quest for the Women's Tag Team Championships.

#1. Marina Shafir is WWE's first female Moldovan Superstar

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WWE has made history with signing women a number of times. In the past, Aksana became the company's first Lithuanian WWE star, while WWE recently signed their first-ever French female star, Amale Winchester. But WWE also made history when signing Marina Shafir.

Shafir was born in Soroca, Moldovia which makes her the company's first-ever female Moldovan WWE star. Throughout her MMA career, Marina was known as "The Supernova from Moldova."

Interestingly, Marina Shafir isn't the first-ever Moldovan WWE star, as Alex Kozlov was signed to the company back in 2010 under the ring name Carlos Sanchez.

Kozlov only made one appearance on WWE TV, a losing effort to Alberto Del Rio on SmackDown in 2010, and was then released from his FCW developmental contract in 2012. Kozlov has a background in IMPACT Wrestling, Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling, but wasn't able to mirror his success in these companies inside a WWE ring.

Kozlov is currently contracted to New Japan Pro Wrestling after returning to the company earlier this month as a color commentator on the New Japan Cup.

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