Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling – Forged In Excellence, Night 1
October 19, 2024
By: John Siino
St. Clair College in Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Commentary: Mauro Ranallo & Don Callis
RESULTS
- Dark Match: ‘Psycho’ Mike Rollins over Raj Singh
- Dark Match: Classy Ali over Bryce Hansen
- Josh Alexander, Stu Grayson & El Phantasmo over Rocky Romero, Alex Zayne & Trevor Lee via pinfall (13:30) (Recommended)
- QT Marshall over Bhupinder Gujjar via pinfall (8:26)
- Kylie Rae over Aurora Teves, Laynie Luck & Taylor Rising via pinfall (6:54)
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Jet Setters (c) over Aiden Prince & El Reverso, Brent Banks & Johnny Swinger, and Rogue Squadron via pinfall (16:10) (Recommended)
- PWA Champion’s Grail Title: Rohan Raja over Jake Something via pinfall (13:30) to become the inaugural champion
- Tables Match: Bully Ray over Raj Dhesi (8:53)
- Gisele Shaw over Miyu Yamashita via pinfall (12:37) (Recommended)
- Konosuke Takeshita over Mike Bailey via pinfall (24:39) (Recommended)
Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling Returns
The show starts with a video showing the history of Maple Leaf, with comments from talent appearing on today’s show and narration from Mauro Ranallo. As we cut to the arena, the feel and look of it right away reminds me of current TNA Wrestling as we have Sam Leterna doing the ring announcing while we hear the oh-so-missed voice of Mauro. Don Callis is there as well as we go right to the action.
Josh Alexander, Stu Grayson & El Phantasmo vs. Rocky Romero, Alex Zayne & Trevor Lee
The talent is all keyed to the promotion they are representing (TNA & NJPW), as Rocky Romero and Josh Alexander start the match on this ‘thriller on Triller’ as Mauro states. Alexander stays in control as Stu Grayson and Trevor Lee quickly tag in, with the crowd behind Grayson here who starts working on Lee with wrist control, but he comes right back with a shoulder block before getting knocked down with a dropkick, as he then tags out to Alex Zayne. El Phantasmo is there to meet him on the other side as they start trading covers before going into a forearm exchange Mauro does his magic and covers all their histories and title reigns. They go to the Sharpshooter spot quickly here in Windsor, with ELP, Alexander & Grayson all putting them on, as the newly made heel Alexander in TNA seems to be playing more face here. The opposition keeps ELP in their corner with Romero hitting the clotheslines as they have Romero down with stomps. ELP is able to escape tag out to Alexander as everybody starts fighting in and out of the ring here as the default heels get booed from the crowd. The heels keep working on Alexander, but he’s able to take out Romero & Zayne with a double suplex before making the tag to the fresher man in Grayson who goes to town with suplexes. Grayson misses a 450 splash on Romero before hitting on a dive to the outside, which the camera unfortunately misses. The fast action continues here with ELP hitting an airplane spin neckbreaker on Romero for two. The crowd starts a ‘This is awesome’ chant as Grayson takes out Zayne with Nightfall. Everybody else runs in and continues nonstop as Mauro says they are making him work after his first match in four years. Alexander & Romero go into a sequence before Alexander escapes out of an armbar, right into a backbreaker followed by the C4 Spike to get the pin and the win.
Winners: Josh Alexander, Stu Grayson & El Phantasmo by pinfall at 13:31
The show started with a six-man tag match just like the first ever TNA iMPACT episode was a nice touch, but this time it was ‘Team Canada’ that came out as the victors, as it was a great way to start the show with six great athletes.
McKenzie Mitchell with Speedball Mike Bailey
We go to the back where McKenzie Mitchell is with ‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey. This is Mitchell’s first broadcast appearance as an interviewer since being released from WWE in December 2023. Bailey talks about feeling scared about facing one of the best wrestlers in the world tonight Konosuke Takeshita, but it’s also scary to leave your home country without a title. Tonight he has the homecourt advantage and he will make this country proud.
Bret Hart & The History of Maple Leaf Wrestling
We get a video narrated by Bret Hart about the history of Maple Leaf Wrestling with clips showing such talent as Ric Flair, Bruno Sammartino, Andre the Giant, Roddy Piper, Harley Race, Killer Kowalski, and more. Hart talks about them defining a generation and making Maple Leaf Wrestling a household name. Hart talks about it being a time to reignite the flame of the wrestling dynasty with MLP Wrestling being forged in the past, living in the present, and ready to dominate the future. Hart sounded great in this.
QT Marshall (w/ Harley Cameron) vs. Bhupinder Gujjar
Harley Cameron gets on the mic before the match and talks down on Sam Leterna saying she has half a brain cell and calls her just another Windsor idiot. QT Marshall then talks about St. Clair College giving Bhupinder Gujjar a distinction award and says Gujjar’s list of accolades is nothing compared to his before calling Gujjar out, who came out to a big pop here in Windsor. Marshall starts with an arm drag and goes right to the corner to taunt the crowd. Marshall continues to flaunt as the crowd chants ‘QT sucks’. Gujjar mounts a comeback, sending Marshall to the outside where he meets him with a springboard plancha as Harley tries to help Marshall up. Back inside, Marshall takes control, working on Gujjar and going for covers while talking trash to his face. Impressive springboard enziguri from Marshall before he keeps pie-facing Gujjar to do something. This fires Gujjar up who hits a big spine buster for two before he heads to the top rope but misses as Marshall follows with a forearm and a sitout powerbomb for two. Gujjar reverses a Diamond Cutter attempt for a backslide to get two. A bit of back and forth until Gujjar hits a jumping knee and sets up for the Gargoyle Spear, but Cameron is there to hold his leg to stop him. Marshall takes advantage hitting a forearm and the Diamond Cutter to get the pin and the win.
Winner: QT Marshall by pinfall at 8:26
QT Marshall has gotten into a groove with his gimmick lately, which he’s been showing off everywhere but the company that he’s signed for, as the last time AEW used him on television was last August 2023 on an episode of Rampage. The combination of him and Harley Cameron is a good fit, and I wonder if AEW might see this and consider trying it for their programming.
Kylie Rae is Excited
We go to earlier today, where McKenzie is in the locker room with Kylie Rae. Rae says she took the first flight to Canada when this match was announced and she’s been here for 3 months training and got to the building at 6 am when it doesn’t even open until 10 am. Rae says she’s excited about all her opponents tonight in Laynie Luck, Aurora Teves & Taylor Rising, before bringing up other females on the shows such as Miya Yamashita, Gisele Shaw & Athena. McKenzie says she’s excited for Rae as they share a hug to end this segment.
Laynie Luck vs. Taylor Rising vs. Aurora Teves vs. Kylie Rae
We have two women here representing Chicago; Laynie Luck & Kylie Rae, while Taylor Rising & Aurora Teves represent Ontario. I am familiar with Teves as she is one half of The Dojo Defenders as Kara Kai in Women of Wrestling. Rae starts by shaking all her opponents’ hands, but Rising takes that chance to attack her instead before all four women go at it. Rising exits the ring and lets them go at it, before taking Teves to the outside. Luck & Rae go at it, but Rising re-enters to break up the pin. Rising takes control over Rae, hitting a spine-buster for two. Teves & Luck join in as Teves is using his karate background on Luck & Rising. Rising takes out Rae & Teves with a tope suicida on the outside, but Luck is right there to take them all out with a rolling senton from the top rope. Rising hits a pedigree which gets a Terra Ryzing joke from Mauro & Callis. All four go at it, ending with Rae taking out with a superkick, before making the cover on Teves who just got taken out by a cutter from Luck, to get the pin and the win.
Winner: Kylie Rae by pinfall at 6:54
Good showcase from all four here, with Rae getting a somewhat flukey pin as commentary brings up the history between Rae & Luck being a former tag team.
McKenzie is in the back with Josh Alexander who is proud to be back in Canada and is happy that Canadians have a home now in Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling and that means Canadian wrestling is back. Alexander talks about making history by winning the first match in MLP’s resurgence and tomorrow he will make more history with Konosuke Takeshita.
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Jet Setters (KUSHIDA & Kevin Knight) (c) vs. Johnny Swinger & Brent Banks vs. Rogue Squadron (Rohit Raju & Sheldon Jean) vs. Aiden Prince & El Reverso
Rohit Raju & Sheldon Jean start the match by attacking everybody else on the apron before they get chased to the outside. Brent Banks & Kevin Knight start the match by running the ropes and dodging each other off the ropes before coming to a standstill. Johnny Swinger asks to be tagged in, and he gets it just to get Atomic Dropped in front of El Reverso who tags in. Knight & Aiden Prince go at it next with Windsor giving one of many hometown guys in this match a good reception. Prince & Reverso hit in stereo tope suicidas to the Jet Setters but the Rogue Squadron is there to meet them back inside with stomps. Rogue Squadron stays in control for a bit keeping Prince in their corner, but he’s able to escape as KUSHIDA tags himself in. Raju attacks KUSHIDA and gets in Banks’ face to tell him how it’s done, just for him to tag in. KUSHIDA fights off the Rogue Squadron before Knight comes in and starts taking out everybody else. Rogue Squadron & Jet Setters go back and forth and all get laid out as Swinger walks in and starts flaunting over all the fallen men. They try a Tower of Doom spot on Swinger, just for Rogue Squadron to break it up and try one themselves. Chaos outside the ring as Raju hits a double stomp on Prince while giving Jean orders on the outside. Raju follows with another double stomp this one on Knight, but KUSHIDA is there to break it up. Everybody starts taking turns hitting offense in the ring before Jet Setters take over, but as Knight dives to the outside Swinger rolls up KUSHIDA, only getting a two. They quickly go after Swinger, hitting Perfect Timing as KUSHIDA gets the pin on Swinger for the win.
Winners: Jet Setters (KUSHIDA & Kevin Knight) by pinfall at 16:10, to retain
Fun match throughout that had this crowd fully invested in it, and it helps that everybody in this match has a tie to Windsor, one way, or another.
PWA Champion’s Grail Championship: Rohan Raja vs. Jake Something
The Champion’s Grail was promoted as paying homage to championships won by Rikidozan & Kenny Omega. Right away Rohan Raja pisses Jake Something off by smacking him, but Raja escapes to the outside. Something starts running the ropes before flattening Raja. Something catches Raja on the ropes but gets his arm snapped on the ropes as Raja now starts working on his arm more. Raja mounts Something with punches and kicks away to keep him down. Raja stays on top for a while hitting neckbreakers but Something stops him with a lariat. Something catches Raja off the ropes with a right hook, as both men are now laid out. Something tests Raja to punch away at him, just to take out Raja with a flurry of offense before hitting a chokeslam for two. Raja fights off another attempt, but Something decides to take him down with a big right hook instead followed by a one-armed powerbomb for two. Raja reverses out of The Void and hits a backstabber and brainbuster, for a two of his own. Something comes back with a Thesz Press, just for Raja to fight back and hit Seek & Destroy to get the pin and the win.
Winner: Rohan Raja by pinfall at 13:30, to become the NEW PWA Champion’s Grail Champion
McKenzie meets Raja at the top of the ramp and asks what winning this title means to him. Raja says he knows he is going to be champion because it’s his destiny and everywhere he goes he ascends to the throne. Raja says he will take this title all over the world because he wants to face the best and from now on he will be known as ‘Raveneous’ Rohan Raja.
Tables Match: Bully Ray vs. Raj Dhesi
Before the match, we cut to Bully Ray in the back who says he’s the reason why everybody is here tonight and the first ever MLP show sold out and why everybody is watching this on Triller TV. Ray says he has zero clue why Raj Dhesi would sign up for a tables match against him and calls him a washed-up former World Champion and Dhesi will never put him through a table. Sam Leterna announces Ray as a WWE Hall of Famer, which gets him upset as he is a two-time Hall of Famer, and asks her to repeat it by including TNA Hall of Famer as well, which she does as well including more instructions from Ray such as one half of the greatest tag team of all time, Calf-Zilla and a ‘damn handsome man’. As Dhesi enters the ring, Ray instructs Leterna to tell the crowd to sit down and shut up. The crowd seems split here, but Ray says if they keep chanting Dhesi’s name he will get in his car and leave and continues telling Leterna to repeat after him. The match finally starts as Dhesi goes to town on Ray before tossing him to the outside but he goes and uses Leterna as a shield. Ray then goes to yell at the mother of Scott D’Amore sitting ringside, but Dhesi takes advantage of this and grabs chairs and canes from under the ring. Ray takes control and hits a low blow as the referee tells him to take it easy, just to get pushed down. Dhesi takes advantage of the cane and tells the referee to get his revenge and do the Wassup headbutt spot, which he does. Dhesi sets a table up but the referee gets taken out in the process. With the referee down, Dhesi puts Ray through a table with a chokeslam. As he tries to wake up the referee, QT Marshall runs into the ring with a chain and takes out Dhesi, placing him on top of the broken table. The referee comes to, sees that, and calls the match.
Winner: Bully Ray at 8:53
Marshall & Ray set up Dhesi after and are about to take him out with a chair, but Bhupinder Gujjar runs out to stop them and chases them out with a chair.
I can see this being the match that most might hate, with the never-ending mic time before and during the match, the referee spot, and the disputed finish, but I have to admit, the crowd ate all this up, especially the silly referee Wassup spot.
We get a video promoting TNA Bound for Glory, before cutting to commentary where Mauro asks Callis how he feels about Konosuke Takeshita’s match tonight, as he says they have a surprise for Mike Bailey. Mauro then runs down the matches for the next two weeks of AEW Dynamite.
We see footage of McKenzie getting a word with Gisele Shaw earlier today about how Miyu Yamashita can enter herself in the ROH Women’s World Championship match tomorrow with a win over Shaw tonight, which Shaw says won’t happen
Gisele Shaw vs. Miyu Yamashita
This is Gisele Shaw’s first match since leaving TNA in early September. They start the match fast, testing each other and trying to take each other down. They take turns attacking each other in the corner, before Yamashita sends Shaw to the outside, just for Shaw to knock her off the apron. Miyu comes right back with a PK from the apron and meets Shaw with kicks when she re-enters the ring. Shaw starts attacking Miyu with chops and uppercuts, getting a two-count. They fight in the corner, where Shaw takes out Miyu with a powerbomb for two. Miyu comes right back with a springboard enziguri as both ladies are now laid out. They go back and forth with more pin attempts as Shaw seems frustrated that she can’t put an end to Miyu. Miyu comes back with a release German suplex before she starts kicking away at Shaw. They start trading forearms, which gets harder and faster and quickly transitions into kick exchanges, as both ladies fall to the mat, as there it is, we finally get a hip hop reference from Mauro; ‘As the great Nas said, Yamashita’s got more kicks than a baby in a mother’s stomach‘. Shaw stays on top of Miyu with a headbutt and a big forearm, before hitting the Denoument to get the pin and the win.
Winner: Gisele Shaw by pinfall at 12:37
MLP Forged In Excellence, Night 2 Line-Up
- ROH Women’s World Title: Athena (c) vs. Gisele Shaw
- QPW Qatar Title: Classy Ali (c) vs. El Reverso
- Jake Something vs. Trevor Lee vs. Stu Grayson vs. Sheldon Jean vs. Mike Rollins vs. Alex Zayne
- Mike Bailey vs. El Phantasmo
- Bully Ray & QT Marshall (w/ Harley Cameron) vs. Raj Dhesi & Bhupinder Gujjar
- AEW International Title: Konosuke Takeshita (c) vs. Josh Alexander
Konosuke Takeshita vs. Mike Bailey
This is their sixth singles encounter, with Konosuke Takeshita going in on 3-2 against Mike Bailey, most recently facing off at last year’s PWG Battle of Los Angeles finals. The crowd starts with a ‘Holy shit’ chant, as they start the match with a handshake just to both pull each other in and go right at it by running the ropes both taking each other down. They start trading kicks before Bailey sends Takeshita to the outside where he slides through the ropes to hit a hurricanrana. Bailey follows that with the Triangle Moonsault, as the crowd is fully behind him. They fight against the barricade, before heading back into the ring as Bailey hits a flurry of kicks before Takeshita catches him off the top rope into a Death Valley Driver on the apron, as we get our first ‘Mama Mia’ from Mauro. Takeshita stays on top, hitting a DDT for two. Bailey takes control and starts kicking away before hitting a running Shooting Star Press for two, as he shows some injury to his neck from the DVD earlier in the match. Takeshita comes back with a wild-looking release German Suplex as Mauro brings up how Takeshita won a 20-page thesis in college about the German Suplex and got an A. They go back and forth dodging each other with sweeps before Bailey lands the double knees as Callis gets worried and asks if Takeshita can hear him from commentary. Takeshita sets up for a knee strike, but gets sent crashing to the outside where Bailey meets him with a corkscrew plancha as we get our second ‘Mama Mia’. Takeshita blocks an Ultima Weapon attempt and sends Bailey crashing into the corner with an Alley Oop. Then head to the corner, where Bailey hits a Liger Bomb, goes right back up, and hits a Shooting Star leg drop for two. Bailey follows with a Canadian Destroyer, but Takeshita rolls to the outside. They fight on the apron before heading to the corner again where Bailey hits a top rope hurricanrana only to run into a Blue Thunder Bomb as Takeshita gets a two. They start trading kicks and strikes before Bailey hits the Green Tea Plunge just for Takeshita to reverse it into a deadlift German Suplex and a lariat, as Bailey kicks out at two and the crowd erupts. Bailey hits a Poisonrana, the Tornado Kick, and barely connects with the Ultima Weapon, as Takeshita kicks out. Takeshita reverses out of a Flamingo Driver and hits the Inhuman Driver for two. Back to back-and-forth offense until Takeshita hits the Power Drive knee, Bailey kicks out and Takeshita follows with the Raging Fire to get the pin and the win.
Winner: Konosuke Takeshita by pinfall at 24:39
Josh Alexander came out and had a face-off with Takeshita ahead of their title match tomorrow.
This match, point-blank, was two of the best wrestlers in the world having one of the best matches you might see all year. They went above and beyond to deliver a memorable main event to this first show and should create enough buzz for many to want to go out and check this out and possibly stick around for the rest of the show and more.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Overall, a solid first outing for the ‘new’ Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling that was capped off with a fantastic, must-see, main event. If you wanted to see how Scott D’Amore would run a company after leaving TNA, and hoping it would keep the same vibe, you will come out of this show satisfied, as the feel and look, highly resembled how TNA is and was during his time there. There were a couple of production errors throughout, but that’s going to happen on the first show as they work through the kinks, which hopefully they can get around on Night 2. It’s always refreshing to see not only talent but titles, being represented by other companies and you could see MLP is already established as a healthy partner with them, as they were promoting upcoming shows for both TNA & AEW.
As expected the one extremely bright part of this that might be enough to drive in viewers for this was the return of Mauro Ranallo on commentary. It was so refreshing to hear and it’s clear that Mauro hasn’t lost a step. Just hearing him run down the matches for AEW Dynamite, I’m sure got everybody excited for any potential work he might be willing to do in the future. Don Callis should get some praise as well, for being a great partner for Mauro. As stated above, I can see the Bully Ray-Raj Dhesi match as being the only negative that sticks out from the show, but there isn’t much else to complain about on the rest of the card, which was able to establish its identity as well as maintain the legacy of Maple Leaf’s past.
