A current AEW star revealed that her match alongside Ronda Rousey after the latter's WWE departure almost didn't happen. She cited "political things" for the bout almost getting canceled before taking place.
AEW star, Marina Shafir opened up on her blockbuster match alongside Ronda Rousey in 2023. Following the latter's departure from WWE, she aligned with her friend, Shafir for three consecutive matches in the independent wrestling scene. They teamed up for tag matches in Lucha VaVoom, REVOLVER, and Ring of Honor.
Marina Shafir recalled the tension ahead of their match on the REVOLVER Unreal wrestling event where she teamed with Rousey to take on the team of Athena and Billie Starkz. Speaking on Talk is Jericho recently, Shafir said she did not want to get into the details but said that the bout alongside the former WWE Women's Champion almost didn't take place due to "political things." She also noted that some strings had to be pulled to make it happen:
"I got them [Ronda Rousey & Sami Callihan] connected and they figured out that they’re gonna do a charity show. Charity show happens. It was very chaotic. There was just some political things going on. I’m not going to talk about it but, it was almost not going to happen, and we pulled some strings, made it happen. But then the very next day was when we ended up wrestling Athena and Billie [Starkz] on Ring of Honor." [H/T PostWrestling]
AEW star heaps praise on Ronda Rousey
AEW star Marina Shafir and Ronda Rousey have known each other since their time on the MMA scene.
Speaking on Talk is Jericho, Shafir offered praise for the former UFC Champion for being able to get the job done and also declared Rousey to be her best friend:
"She was and is still so competitive. Just her big picture mentality was her driving force. And you knew about it and you could feel it as soon as she walked into the room. It was the most inspiring. It was just cool. Like I could call her my best friend. That was it. She just got the job done."
Marina and Ronda last wrestled together at Ring of Honor in 2023 and only time will tell if the two athletes will be seen together in the ring again.