Marina Shafir Describes Top WWE Star As Her ‘Sweat Sister’
Marina Shafir and Ronda Rousey may be in different companies, but they are both cut from the same cloth.
Shafir and Rousey, along with Jessyman Duke and Shayna Baszler, make up a group that is known as the "Four Horsewomen of MMA." On AEW Unrestricted, AEW star Marina Shafir discussed her relationship with current WWE Smackdown Women's Champion Ronda Rousey.
"[Rousey] is my sweat sister," Shafir said. "We call each other 'Electrons next door' because, you know, we always find way back to each other...We have a real need to connect with each other because I think it just really, it just fills our cups. I just feel so much better after hanging out with her."
Shafir and Rousey were once in the same company together, albeit on different brands. Shafir was on NXT in 2018, teeming with Jessyman Duke and acting as backup to Shayna Baszler who, at the time, was NXT Women's Champion, while Rousey was tearing it up on the main roster. Rousey was undefeated from WrestleMania 34 until WrestleMania 35, where she lost the Raw Women's Championship she won at the SummerSlam before Mania 35.
After WrestleMania 35 in 2019, the Baddest Woman on the Planet took time off, and in September of 2021, Rousey gave birth to her first-born child, La'akea Makalapuaokalanipō Browne. Shafir opened up about Rousey's journey into motherhood.
"I'm so overwhelmed and happy for her becoming a mom and it's nice to share that with someone you've already had to lean on or are able to lean on throughout your life," Shafir stated. "She reminds me a lot of my dad and I guess, I don't know, all the best things of him."
About four months after giving birth, Ronda Rousey returned to WWE at the Royal Rumble Premium Live Event and won the women's Royal Rumble to secure a match against Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 38 for the Smackdown Women's Championship. Rousey ultimately ended up losing to Flair at WrestleMania, but that wouldn't be her last opportunity at the Championship. Rousey fought, and defeated, Flair in an I Quit match at the subsequent Premium Live Event, WrestleMania Backlash, to win the Smackdown Women's Championship for the first time.
Shafir was released from WWE almost a year ago on June 25, 2021. Shafir has since joined and signed with All Elite Wrestling and has already wrestled for both the AEW Women's Championship and the TBS Championship and was unsuccessful in winning both times.
If you use any quotes from this article please credit the "AEW Unrestricted" podcast with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.