Marina Shafir vs Amber Nova

Marina Shafir comes out with her chilling violin music, which I’ve missed when she enters with Nyla Rose. Such great pure psychopath energy. 

Amber Nova we’ve been seeing in AEW quite a bit recently with matches against Julia Hart and Athena, and also sitting in Jade Cargill’s “Baddies Section”. The “mechanically inclined” Amber pulls out a car rag to “wipe” her hands off and then opens the rag to reveal it says “Amber Nova” in engine grease. Fun merch idea! 😀

Shafir no-sells a shoulder block from Nova. Shafir whips Nova into the ropes who ducks a kick upon the return and then goes for a crossbody but Shafir catches her. Amber escapes Shafir’s clutches and gives her a solid kick to the midsection and then grabs a standing headlock. Shafir maneuvers herself lower and delivers a knee breaker and an O-Goshi to plant Amber Nova on the mat before grabbing a standing ankle lock on Nova. Nova gets back to standing on her free foot and hits Shafir across the face with an Enziguri which Marina shakes off then reapplies the ankle lock.

Amber gets her foot free and elbows Shafir. Shafir yells something into Amber’s face and Amber returns a series of elbow shots to Marina’s face, rocking her. Shafir gets up, Nova is limping. Shafir pretty cockily walks up to her and executes another hip toss before locking in the Greedy submission for the win.

I could be seeing things that aren’t there, but it seems to me like Shafir, who’s normally a really good seller has been instructed to no-sell some strikes. She did this in her previous match and she did it again here. I do wonder if it’s been communicated to her that selling too well too often is to her detriment?

Amber Nova, meanwhile, seems to slip between white meat babyface and “too mouthy for her own good” heel pretty effortlessly. A 6-year pro with over 200 matches under her belt, 11 in AEW (including one on Dynamite) she’s, at worst, a solid hand. Looks great, fit right in as a “Baddie”. Surely we’ll see her again soon.

Watch Match on YouTube