Marina Shafir On Struggles She Faces On Indies Because She’s ‘NXT Bred’

Marina Shafir has claimed that she has been treated differently outside WWE because she received most of her wrestling training in NXT.

The former MMA name signed with WWE in May 2018, before making her debut in the October, aligning herself with Shayna Baszler. Shafir spent most of her NXT career teaming with Jessamyn Duke, before getting released by WWE in June.

Speaking on the Shot of Wrestling podcast , Shafir recalled getting told that was ‘NXT-bred’ while training with Mercedes Martinez. Discussing her lack of indie experience, Shafir said:

“I trained with Mercedes Martinez like six weeks back and it was hilarious because we were talking about, ‘What you do and how you do it matters.’ She goes, ‘You’re NXT bred.’ Nobody wants me because I was raised in NXT.”

“I don’t have Indie experience and I don’t speak that language. I speak TV language. I speak ‘what do the producers want?’ language. Not that it’s a bad thing. Being part of that process matters how vulnerable you can be towards people. Coming from NXT, I still get the side-eye. Nobody wants me. Nobody wants the shooter from NXT who has a chip on her shoulder. Nobody f**king wants me.”

Following her WWE release, Shafir returned to the ring in October at GCW Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport 7. The former NXT star made her AEW debut during the most recent Dark tapings, with her match airing on Tuesday’s episode.

Quote via Fightful.

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