On Sunday night I attended the second night of Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling’s inaugural event Forged in Excellence at St. Clair College in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
The event was broadcast live on Triller TV and according to MLP it was sold out for both nights. The event featured multiple talents from All Elite Wrestling, from Rocky Romero and QT Marshall, to Harley Cameron and ROH Women’s World Champion Athena, to Don Callis and AEW International Champion Konosuke Takeshita. Also featured was former AEW wrestler Stu Grayson.
From what I had gathered the event is a pilot run in hopes of a Canadian broadcast network to invest in a television deal for the company. From the production aesthetic to the entrance layout and everything in between, it no doubt felt like a TNA Wrestling production, particularly an Impact Wrestling broadcast from when Scott D’Amore was President of Impact Wrestling.
I personally got my start in pro wrestling from Scott D’Amore working as ring crew for Border City Wrestling and have worked in BCW offshoot promotions such as Sin City Wrestling and Can-Am Rising. I have no involvement in Maple Leaf Pro or any involvement with any pro wrestling promotions.
What was interesting and what a lot of people picked up quickly about the broadcast of Forged in Excellence was the involvement of All Elite Wrestling. While MLP did do a promotional spot for TNA Wrestling’s pay per view Bound For Glory in Detroit, Michigan, play by play announcer Mauro Ranallo did a run down of the AEW Dynamite show on Wednesday night. With Don Callis on commentary for the show, it’s no surprise that the man he manages in Konosuke Takeshita would work the main event of both nights, and defended the International Championship on the night I attended against Josh Alexander.
At the end of the match between Takeshita and Alexander which The Alpha won to retain the International Championship, as Takeshita attacked Alexander after the match, out ran recent AEW signee Ricochet, who lost to Takeshita in the three way match at AEW WrestleDream 2024. Ricochet shook Alexander’s hand at the end of the night as Alexander sent the fans home.
With the Takeshita title shot as well as Athena defending her ROH Women’s World Championship that night against Gisele Shaw, the partnership between AEW and MLP was certainly discussed. I would not be surprised if MLP is brought up on the AEW Dynamite broadcast this Wednesday, with footage of Ricochet making the save to build up to a future match between Ricochet and Takeshita. While this could have just been Tony Khan doing good for a friend of Don Callis, it certainly feels like Scott D’Amore is a lot more comfortable working again with Tony Khan like he did back in 2020 than he is working with TNA Wrestling and their recent partnership with WWE.
It’s pretty wild that D’Amore exited TNA as the relationship with WWE ramped up and now there’s a new Canadian promotion coming out that looks and feels a lot like TNA did but instead has an AEW relationship. No different to NXT fans discussing signed TNA talents Jordynne Grace and Joe Hendry being potential signees after their appearances I saw AEW fans treating the Takeshita match with Speedball Mike Bailey as an “audition” for AEW. Same goes for Alexander and Gisele Shaw’s match with Athena. That’s just the way fans are always going to look at these relationships. It’s not about a working relationship. It’s who can they pick off and bring to their court.
AEW has formed relationships with multiple wrestling promotions and usually tries to do something with them, whether it be RevPro or Defy or PWG in the past, when it comes to independent promotions and doing something special. When AEW first started, a lot of the wrestlers appeared on the indies at shows like Bar Wrestling to scout out talent or offer contracts. It feels like MLP is being treated on this level and not the level of New Japan Pro Wrestling or Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, which is only fair since MLP is brand new and doesn’t have a TV deal yet. They are the Canadian version of what AEW was at the beginning of 2019.
I do hope MLP finds a broadcast partner, someone who could see value in having CANCON (Canadian Content) filled for an hour or two on their TV with a sports feel. It could hit the proper key demos and just be solid programming for them. I do think Roger’s Sportsnet in Canada will eventually be vying for the AEW TV Deal, since they will be losing WWE in the new year. That could leave Bell’s TSN open for MLP, or MLP could look elsewhere. They can’t look to the Fight Network, as they own TNA Wrestling. I don’t know if CBC, CityTV, or Global would be in the mix, but that would be the only other options I would figure they could try.
If MLP does find something, I could see a relationship between MLP and AEW that allows wrestlers to essentially sign deals with MLP but still be open for AEW and ROH. Maybe something where they are always open on MLP taping days and pay per views but the rest of the time they would be free to work in All Elite Wrestling. I could see deals like that being appealing to some who were on the card like El Phantasmo, who is currently in New Japan Pro Wrestling but looks like he could be ready to make a move. He could be a top star in MLP, still work NJPW occasionally, and join his buddy Jay White in the Bang Bang Gang.
Having MLP as an independent promotion that works outside their regular U.S. market would give AEW a place where they could send talent who need some extra booking and trust they will be handled well. When AEW comes to Canada, both sides could use each other in the relationship to ensure MLP gets to advertise their TV tapings or PPV, while AEW gets a regular presence selling their shows in Canada.
I consider these relationships only to be positive for All Elite Wrestling, and I hope talent use the opportunity to make these appearances like Harley Cameron did. And while there’s people who appeared in MLP I would love to see work in AEW or ROH (Psycho Mike Rollins and Brent Banks especially since they have deserved a bigger shot for years) I don’t really care for the perspective of some fans to just try and pick at a smaller promotion’s talent and leave them bare. I would prefer a healthy relationship where both sides prosper, and if AEW does sign someone who was regular to MLP they aren’t leaving a void that can’t be filled.
I will be looking forward to seeing how the relationship between MLP and AEW progresses, and if MLP can land themselves a television deal in Canada soon.
All Photos by Aaron Wrotkowski