Marina Shafir is trapped in a troubling loop in AEW at the moment.
Her style lends itself to rough-looking contests that seem so focussed on protecting her ex-MMA style that they forget to be pro wrestling matches. Against both Thunder Rosa and now Toni Storm, she's been given the bulk of offence to try and get the idea over but the matches not being much to write home about have undermined the whole point.
Back in reality, her and Rosa literally broke bread to calm claims of sandbagging and backstage bad blood, but that can't be happening every week. The formula hasn't worked in elevating Rosa and Storm as gutsy winners nor Shafir as hard-hitting in defeat. Instead, a division that needs bangers has inadvertently served up a couple of near-duds.
Lots of good intentions here, even if the perpetual problems - same penultimate quarter hour death slot, women's stuff all batched together, staring at a belt is now more AEW NXT than HHH NXT - remain.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back almost 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 60,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
