AEW: Marina Shafir on Mercedes Mone Is Going To Feel Her Grief At Full Gear 2026 & Best Advice She’s Received From Jon Moxley, Willow Nightingale Reflects on Her #2 Ranking In 2026 PWI’s Women’s 250 List, AEW Release Cold Open For Full Gear 2026

Nov 13, 2026

Marina Shafir Comments on Mercedes Mone Is Going To Feel Her Grief At Full Gear 2026 & Best Advice She’s Received From Jon Moxley

A recent episode of the AEW Close Up with Renee Paquette show featured Marina Shafir as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Shafir’s thoughts about how she hasn’t personally processed her grief yet over “PAC” Benjamin Satterley’s passing this past September.

“I think for each of us individually, it’s happened privately. It definitely happened as a group, I think France was the one where it hit different. Personally, I’m just gonna let it hit me when it’s supposed to hit me. I’m not running from it, I’m not hiding from it. The grieving just hasn’t happened yet for me. Yeah.

Shafir also gave her thoughts about her upcoming match against Mercedes Mone at Full Gear 2026 and how she doesn’t feel great about the timing of the opportunity.

“I think about it all the time. Sometimes I think, if Ben wouldn’t have passed, would I be sitting here with you? I think eventually yeah, imminently no. It was hard for me to feel good about having that opportunity with her. I straight up told her after the match, I went right to her and I said, ‘I have a lot of respect for you and I always wanted to stand across the ring from you, but not under these circumstances.’ Unfortunately for her, she’s gonna feel my grief. I don’t know what that’s going to look like, I don’t know. I hate thinking about it.”

In a separate recent interview with Forbes, Shafir gave her thoughts about the best advice she has received from Jon Moxley for her wrestling career.

“Simply, you’re supposed to have fun, and sometimes in the moment you have to work to have fun, and it may not happen imminently. It may not happen immediately. It may not happen within however much time frame you think it should happen. But like having fun is the goal, because if you’re having fun, that resonates. However it is you have fun. Maybe it’s silently. Maybe it’s conniving. I don’t want to say like kind of like in a criminal type of way, but outlaws have fun, right? They just have their own kind of fun, and that was the biggest piece of advice that he gave me from the beginning, and it helped me relax, and it helped me open up my mind to literally all the possibilities that have led up until this point, and then it opened up my mind for the future because that’s what we’re always like aiming for, the unknown. I like not knowing what the f**k is going on. I’ve become very addicted to not knowing what is going on. I don’t complain about not knowing what the f**k is going on because I love surprises, and like I’ve said before, in professional wrestling, it’s one of life’s greatest surprises if you choose to not be a f*****g know-it-all.”

Shafir also gave her thoughts about if there was a moment where Moxley’s advice clicked for her.

“I think Anarchy in the Arena was the first time I really felt it. Anarchy in the Arena was really the first time when I got to throw down with a frying pan. That was very fun for me. I got to pay respect to my mom. I wanted to let her know that a lot came through a pan. My parents came here with f*****g nothing but a cast-iron pan. And like I’m not lying. Like when we immigrated here, we could only take immediate things, and one of the things that she packed was her cast-iron pan. She still has it, and I just wanted to pay respect and let her know that her decision was not for nothing. And that was fun for me.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Willow Nightingale Reflects on Her #2 Ranking In 2026 PWI’s Women’s 250 List

As noted before, Pro Wrestling Illustrated recently revealed that Stephanie Vaquer took the top spot for their Women’s 250 list for this year. Willow Nightingale was the highest ranked woman from AEW to be on the list at the runner-up spot.

Nightingale recently reflected on Twitter about being ranked second in this year’s PWI Women’s 250 list.

“Before teaming with Harley last year and becoming the inaugural AEW women’s tag champs last year, I felt really lost and without much faith in myself
I felt very lucky to already have done all I did up to that point and that it was more than a lot of people can say, so I kind of accepted that maybe that was enough. Did I have it in me to strive for me?
But then I had the opportunity to work alongside my friend and crush our goals together. I had to show up to work everyday not just for myself, but to do right by her. Then little by little I started believing in me again. On days I felt like I didn’t have it in me, I still had to bring it because that’s what a champion does. Even after taking time off to rest for injury and then having to actively fight and push through another, I brought it.
This year is marked by many in ring wins, but I think the biggest one was been continuing to show up for myself when I really didn’t think I could
Say what you will about these lists, but for the last few years they’ve been a wonderful moment to stop and reflect on the year I’ve had. Thank you @OfficialPWI for the trip down memory lane and reminding me as well as everyone else exactly who the F**K Willow Nightingale is. ALWAYS a Champion at heart and TOP OF THE WRESTLES BAYBEEEEEEEE 🎉🎉🎉”

Before teaming with Harley last year and becoming the inaugural AEW women’s tag champs last year, I felt really lost and without much faith in myself I felt very lucky to already have done all I did up to that point and that it was more than a lot of people can say, so I kind of accepted that maybe that was enough. Did I have it in me to strive for me? But then I had the opportunity to work alongside my friend and crush our goals together. I had to show up to work everyday not just for myself, but to do right by her. Then little by little I started believing in me again. On days I felt like I didn’t have it in me, I still had to bring it because that’s what a champion does. Even after taking time off to rest for injury and then having to actively fight and push through another, I brought it. This year is marked by many in ring wins, but I think the biggest one was been continuing to show up for myself when I really didn’t think I could Say what you will about these lists, but for the last few years they’ve been a wonderful moment to stop and reflect on the year I’ve had. Thank you @OfficialPWI for the trip down memory lane and reminding me as well as everyone else exactly who the FUCK Willow Nightingale is. ALWAYS a Champion at heart and TOP OF THE WRESTLES BAYBEEEEEEEE 🎉🎉🎉
— Willow Nightingale (@willowwrestles) November 12, 2026

AEW Release Cold Open For Full Gear 2026

AEW recently released the cold open video for this Saturday’s Full Gear 2026 event, which takes place on November 14 at the Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix, Arizona.