Though he doesn’t remember exactly when Scott D’Amore asked him to set aside this weekend, October 19-20, for shows in Windsor, Ontario — it might have been late spring or early summer — Josh Alexander knew he’d be in.
He just didn’t think it would be for a brand-new Canadian promotion.
“I didn’t know what it was for. I thought it was for BCW, because every October he usually does a big show and stuff like that,” Alexander told SlamWrestling.net, referring to D’Amore’s 30+ years running Border City Wrestling. “Probably around the same time everybody else kind of found out, when the dirt sheets were reporting it, I found out that Maple Leaf was going on.”
And it is indeed going on.
Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling (with the “Pro” to avoid any confusion with Major League Wrestling) is the spiritual return of the long-time promotion that was based out of Toronto run by the Tunney family through the years, until it was absorbed into the WWF in 1984. D’Amore bought the rights to the name years ago, and, now that his non-complete clause is up after being terminated by TNA/Impact/Anthem, he’s set up two really big shows this coming weekend at Windsor’s St. Clair College, for fans locally and on pay-per-view through TrillerTV.
There’s a crazy number of names on the two shows and Alexander is proud to have been a part of the process.
On Saturday night, Alexander teams with Stu Grayson and ELP against Trevor Lee, Rocky Romero and Alex Zayne.
“I’ve been lucky enough to work with those guys specifically, in the past. I’d never wrestled someone like Alex Zayne or Trevor Lee in a bigger match,” revealed Alexander. “I had my first Explosion match with Trevor Lee, actually, as I was starting to kind of get noticed by Impact Wrestling before they signed me. I’ve never really gotten in there and done anything with [them].”
The lineup is a “testament” to D’Amore’s “contacts and relationships he’s built through the past 30 years in wrestling. He’s got a little bit of something for everybody on this show,” he said.
To “The Walking Weapon” it’s “a showcase for Canadian talent for me, like people on this card that might have otherwise not been seen on the world scale so far.”
Psycho Mike tries to use a bazooka during a hardcore match against Litigator Luke, during a Smash Wrestling show in London, Ontario, on April 30, 2023. Photo by Steve Argintaru, Twitter: @stevetsn Instagram: @stevetsn
Specifically, he mentioned Psycho Mike Rollins, who Alexander trained with at the beginning of his journey. “I find him to be the most entertaining in-ring wrestler I’ve ever been in the ring with,” raved Alexander. “So I’m psyched for him to be on pay-per-view, that we’ll see on a card that’s kind hyped like this one has been, so he can get a spot to showcase his name a little bit and maybe introduce himself to some new fans.”
There are, of course, lots of international talent on the show, from QPW Qatar champion Classy Ali to Japan’s Miyu Yamashita.
Past lessons learned are revealed by Alexander.
“If you booked a card full of Canadians — it is possible — but I don’t think it would get the fanfare and allure from the worldwide stage of regular pro wrestling fans,” he said, noting that he had been a part of similar efforts in the past, that were available to a world-wide audience. “For some reason, and I’ve experienced this first-hand as a Canadian wrestler, it just doesn’t get the same exposure as something that happens in the United States.”
Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling is therefore equivalent to MLW or TNA or GCW — promotions that “aren’t on broadcast cable every single week” that can “put on a show that people are going to buy and tune into, and then you’re going to see all these other people that you might not have heard of, that’s a great opportunity for all of them.”
Konosuke Takeshita with Don Callis at AEW Dynamite on Wednesday, January 3, 2024 at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. Photo by George Tahinos, https://georgetahinos.smugmug.com
On Sunday, October 20, Alexander challenges AEW International champion Konosuke Takeshita in a rare TNA versus AEW bout (which we haven’t seen since the pandemic).
It’s not a first, though, noted Alexander.
“We have been in the ring once before, when I was Impact World champion. I did an indie two years ago in the summer, and they booked me against Takeshita before he’d shown up on AEW, when he first came over to American excursion,” he said, going on the praise the 29-year-old. “The guy in the ring is honestly one of the best people I’ve ever been in the ring with.” There was instant chemistry, and while the language barrier can be “a hiccup” but with Takeshita “it was seamless from the beginning, and I think that’s a testament to just how good he is.”
It is likely to be the main event on the second night, or at least the most talked-about match.
“I’m really excited to get in the ring with him, because I knew the first one was good, and, the second time is going to be even better, and this time, the stakes are even higher, and when the pressure’s on, that’s something that I thrive upon, so I’m pretty hyped for it,” said Alexander.
You can’t avoid the promotions, he admitted. “Then you bring the company stuff into it. You’re having a TNA-contracted wrestler wrestle an AEW contracted wrestler, and an AEW champion right now, newly won. With the whole landscape of wrestling right now, you have TNA working with NXT, you have AEW working with New Japan. And I think this is like this weird crossroads that Scott D’Amore has been able to kind of get in there with his relationships that he’s built over the past 30 years, to be able to give fans a dream match that otherwise they might never get to see.”
Mauro Ranallo
D’Amore convinced announced Mauro Ranallo to return to ringside to call the matches. That alone will likely have Alexander do something different.
“I don’t frequently watch what I do but there are occasions where there’s big matches and stuff like that, where I’ll go back and watch or if something goes wrong in a match, I’ll circle back and rewatch it,” he explained. “It’s going to be a match that, I think is kind of the showcase bookend, for these two shows. I’m putting a lot of pressure on myself to deliver, so I’ll go back and watch it. I’m certainly hyped to hear Mauro Ranallo call one of my matches. I’ve been a big fan for years, but his stuff in NXT, what, about what, four or five years ago, that stuff was like second to none, when you had like Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa going at it in these big matches.”
The fans are intrigued by the confluence of promotions and allegiances in Windsor this weekend, as is Alexander.
“Three years ago, we would have said, no way ever is somebody from TNA going to WWE programming, and WWE is coming over to TNA programming, stuff like that. We’ve seen it happen in the early days with AEW and TNA having this relationship, New Japan having relations with everybody, and AAA, and CMLL all having relationships with everybody,” he concluded. “Now, this seems to be the status quo. So who’s to say in two, three years if, you know, some deals is going to get brokered? I certainly see a possibility with the working relationship between companies and the understanding that they have for the wrestlers and the fans for what they want to see, to see maybe something could come to be where an AEW wrestler might wrestle an NXT wrestler or a WWE wrestler, and vice versa.”
Ah, how about Ethan Page against Josh Alexander at WrestleMania then? So much history!
“I’ll keep my fingers crossed.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Watch for more from Josh Alexander next week, where he discusses TNA Bound For Glory and more.
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