Roderick Strong’s wife, Marina Shafir, Shafir began her mixed martial career at an amateur level in 2012.
Recently, Roderick said his respect for retired wrestler Sting grew after sharing a locker room with him in AEW.
Highlights
- Roderick explained that his respect for Sting increased after sharing the locker room with him.
- He married AEW wrestler Marina Sharif in 2018, with whom he had one son.
- Marina Sharif is a Moldovan-born American professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist.
Undisputed Kingdom’s Roderick Strong recently spoke with WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard.
When asked how he feels about Sting wrapping up his career at AEW Revolution, Strong said he has been a great example of how guys in his position should handle things towards the end of their careers. He added,
“I have so much respect for him,” “I mean, I haven’t had a long conversation with him. But I know that when he decided to come back and wrestle, he set an excellent example for guys in his position and how they should handle it. “And he’s available if you ever — you know, it’s just so impressive. I have so much respect for him. I had respect for him prior, but like, seeing what he does for the company, for Darby, for himself, it’s amazing, and it’ll be sad that he’s going to be gone, but at least AEW had him, and he had an opportunity to finish his story the way he wanted to. Because you don’t know. I thought I was done when I got hurt. He thought he was done. It’s just very inspiring.”
Roderick Strong
Roderick Strong
Strong made his surprise debut in AEW, appearing on AEW Dynamite and saving Adam Cole from an attack by the Jericho Appreciation Society.
String wrestled his first AEW march the following week when he teamed with Cole, Orange Cassidy, and Bandido to defeat the Jericho Appreciation Society.
On December 30, 2023, at Worlds End, Strong revealed himself as one of the Devil’s Masked Men, along with Taven, Bennett, and Wardlow. He attacked MJF, and Adam Cole revealed himself as the Devil.
Roderick Strong And His Wife, Marina Shafir, Shares One Son
Christopher Lindsey, known by his stage name Roderick Strong, 36, was engaged to Marina Shafir, 36, in December 2015 after dating for several years.
In 2017, they welcomed their son Troy Veniamin Lindsey, 8. Later, on November 7, 2018, the couple married in Orlando.
During the podcast with Taylor Wilde in 2023, while talking about getting married to Roderick Strong, Marina Shafir said she had difficulty picking the date because String had just started in NXT, and things were crazy. She added,
“I had a really hard time picking a date because he just started with NXT and he was so busy,” Marina Shafir said. “Like he was so busy. That schedule, it’s stupid. It’s dumb. Like I really appreciate the educational system that they have or the “educational system” that they have going on. I’m a big fan of it. Everything I learned at NXT I still use to this day. I had great coaches. “But the system doesn’t fucking make sense. Not at all. If it makes sense for somebody — like it made sense for Roddy. Roddy just — I don’t know, Roddy just thrives in weird fucking environments. It’s why I absolutely love him. And it’s something I know I’ll never understand because I wasn’t brought up like him, but he’s so fucking resilient.”
Maina Shafir
Marina Shafir is a Moldovan-born American professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist. She moved from Moldova to the United States when she was five.
Her father, a mechanic, and her mother, a teacher, settled in Latham, New York, along with Marina and her two older brothers.
She started training in judo when she was six years old and competed at a high level in the sport when she was 12. However, she stopped competing in judo in her late teens.
As a wrestler, she is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where she is a member of Death Riders, a villainous stable formerly known as Blackpool Combat Club.
Shafir formerly competed for MMA promotion Invicta Fighting Championships in the women’s featherweight division.
She is best known for her time in WWE, where she performed on their NXT brand and was the first and, to date, only Moldovan to compete for that promotion.
WWE announced that Shafir and Jessamyn Duke had signed with WWE and reported to their Performance Center for training on May 7, 2018.
Shafir and Duke made their WWE debuts as heels when they interfered during the NXT Women’s Championship match, in which they helped Shayna Baszler regain the title over Kairi Sane.
Marina made her AEW debut, where Kris Statlander defeated her. After a six-match winning streak, on the April 22, 2022, episode of AEW Rampage, Shafir challenged Jade Cargill for the AEW TBS Championship in a losing effort.
She is a close friend of Ronda Rousey, who trained with her at Glendale Fighting Club and had a similar background in judo.
They lived together in Venice, California, with Shayna Baszler and Jessamyn Duke for many years.
Additional Information
- Roderick Strong has an estimated net worth of around $5 million as of 2025.
- Strong made his NXT debut on the October 19, 2016, episode of NXT as Austin Aries’s partner in the second Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament, defeating Otis Dozovic and Tucker Knight.
- Roderick made his first PWG appearance since July 2016 at Twenty: Mystery Vortex on August 13, 2023, where he defeated Michael Oku.
