Marina Shafir isn’t promising that Ronda Rousey is about to walk into AEW and join the Death Riders. She’s also not exactly telling people to rule it out.
Speaking to TheSportster, Shafir was asked about her longtime friend and former MMA stablemate potentially returning to AEW and becoming part of the Death Riders. Instead of shutting the idea down, Shafir leaned into one of wrestling’s oldest rules — if it hasn’t happened yet, that doesn’t mean it can’t.
“Here’s the thing. This is what I like to say about things that haven’t happened yet. That means that there’s a pretty good chance that things could happen. And it may not seem likely right now, but, you know, that’s one of the things that I love about professional wrestling.”
Shafir didn’t give away anything concrete, but she clearly wasn’t interested in spoiling whatever wrestling might have up its sleeve either. She compared it to refusing to find out the sex of her own baby because she genuinely loves being surprised.
“I believe, firm believer, that in life there’s only two real true surprises. Now, like the sex of your baby, if you decide not to find out, and I didn’t. I didn’t find out Tro was a boy until he was born because I love surprises.”
That same mentality is apparently how Shafir wants people to approach wrestling. Instead of digging around for every possible spoiler, she thinks some of the best moments happen when nobody knows what the hell is coming.
“And if you really keep your nose out of the f***ing business, professional wrestling can give you some of the best surprises live. And I think that is the experience. That is why our audience is so awesome, is because it’s an audience that loves surprises. And who f***ing wants to know it all? Like, that’s so lame. Like, I just, I don’t. I never wanted to be smart to that s***.”
Of course, Rousey showing up in AEW again wouldn’t exactly come out of nowhere. She made a surprise appearance at AEW Revolution earlier this year to support Shafir, and Tony Khan subsequently made it clear that the door was open if she ever wanted to wrestle for the company again.
Rousey herself pumped the brakes on that possibility in May. She said she had a great time appearing for AEW, but the show happened to be local and involved her best friend, making it a perfect one-off situation without committing herself to wrestling’s road schedule.
“I had a great time, but it just happened to be in town and my best friend was there. You know what I mean?”
She was even more direct when asked about working with AEW regularly, saying the travel involved would take more time away from her life than she wants to give wrestling right now.
“No, that life of being on the road is probably more time-consuming than doing training camp at home.”
That makes Shafir’s answer a little more interesting. Rousey has already made her position on a regular AEW run pretty clear, but wrestling has a funny way of turning “probably not” into a surprise appearance when the circumstances line up. Shafir certainly isn’t confirming that Rousey is Death Riders-bound — she just seems perfectly happy letting everyone wonder.
Would you want to see Ronda Rousey return to AEW and potentially join Marina Shafir in the Death Riders? Let us know what you think in the comments.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
