Scott D’Amore has recently announced the official launch of Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling. The former TNA executive appeared on Talk Is Jericho to discuss the promotion and his time with TNA. D’Amore left the company earlier this year.
“At the end of the day, business is business, I think a lot of times people lose sight of that. A business decision was made. Did we have a difference of opinions on how to tackle things? Yep. Had I stated my thoughts on things and what I saw for where the brand was going? Yes.Were we aligned? On some things, yes, on some things, no. I think that was certainly part of it.”
“I really thought 2025 was the year to really take some major shots and I think they’ve done some of that now. After I left, the first thing they did was put the next pay per view, the next major tent pole pay per view back at the Palms in Vegas and that was a terrible decision. Not my call. We planned on being at the Hammerstein Ballroom. We actually had it on reserve, but part of our plan was to go to Montreal for a slam. They did that. It was a huge success. Part of our goal was to be in either Tokyo or London for Bound for Glory. They’re going to Detroit. Look, I think they’re going to do fine in Detroit. It’s a great wrestling market and I’m sure they’ll have a good crowd and I think it’ll be a success.”
“Ultimately, I wanted to make some moves and do some things that I think didn’t quite align with Anthem’s vision for things. That goes on a few different levels, not just the shows, not just the talent, but on everything, and ultimately the decision was made that they wanted to go in a different direction. As I was told, they wanted to have a seasoned television operator run the business. Their choice was Anthony Cicione. Anthony’s a great guy, first and foremost. He’s the perfect guy to hang around, have a bite with or have a drink or coffee with. He’s been in television for years, so if you want a television executive, yeah, Anthony is an amazing television executive and a great person. So that decision was made.”
“It’s interesting that I found out two days before Hard to Kill, two days before the first TNA show, so that was a little tough, having to go into Vegas and keep my chin up and say, ‘Hey, we’re still going to go knock this out of the park.’ So my approach was, I’m probably done, because I told Len Asper, ‘We’ll have an amazing pay per view. We’ll get this brand launched. I’ll go to Vegas next week. I’ll get you out four TV episodes, so that you have a little runway to figure out what you’re doing next. I’ll handle this professionally and properly.’ I went to Vegas. My goal was to knock it out of the park, execute on what we planned, and if nothing else, let those two days in Vegas where Will Ospreay had that match with Josh Alexander, close the final wound with New Japan by having Okada there where we had 2,000 people, 1,800 whatever people it was there for the rebranding of TNA and that relaunch, and it was electric. I was like, ‘Okay. Mission accomplished. Not happy with how things transpired, but I’ll move on to what’s next’, so that’s what I’m starting to do now with Maple Leaf Pro. TNA, you know, can I say there’s no hard feelings? That’s tough, but there’s no malice. I know that Len Asper didn’t wake up in the morning and say, ‘I’m going to do this because I’m going to get Scott.’ He made a business decision. It’s his decision. It’s his company. He made that call. It’s like a coach getting fired or or anybody else. The decision was made. Cool. Do I like it? No. Do I agree with it? No. Len and I have communicated since then. His family has been instrumental in taking Winnipeg through some tough times over the years and turning it into a better place. So I move on. They do their thing. I don’t ever want that brand to die or go away. That brand, those three initials, TNA, are so ingrained in me.”
On if he was involved in the initial stages of the relationship between NXT and TNA:
Yeah, I chatted with Ed Nordholm who was the chief corporate officer and still is for Anthem. That’s who I reported to. We talked and I said, ‘Is there a better time to reach out and say, Hey, is there something here’, and Ed signed off on it. So I reached out to a friend there at WWE, chatted through, kind of gave him an idea of some of my thoughts, and said, ‘What do you think? Is there something worth exploring here?’ They said, ‘Yeah, absolutely. What do you want to do?’ I said, ‘Well, you tell me. I think you go to Paul, you go to Hunter and see if that’s the right path and then see if there’s any interest that I’m happy to follow up and see if we can work anything out.’”
“A few days after that, I’m sitting in the pool room working on a couple things and I got a text from Paul. It’s funny because I didn’t have Paul’s number in my phone. So I’m like, okay, this might be somebody ribbing. I texted one of my friends there and was like, ‘Hey, is this the right number’, and they’re like, ‘Yeah, that’s it.’ We started chatting.”
“It’s a different era everywhere even with WWE, which is great to see. Like, that type of stuff wouldn’t have happened. The discussion started and looked at things, and was like, yeah, here it goes. The ball started rolling.”
“The first step was Jordynne in the Rumble which was fantastic. They did an amazing job of showcasing her which was nice. We had put Mickie James in the Rumble a few years earlier and that was amazing, but it’s Mickie James like, she transcends whatever brand she’s with. Having Jordynne who’s a homegrown TNA Impact star go there and be showcased like that, to me, is just monumental. The experience of working with WWE for the period of time that I did collaborate was fantastic.”
On talking about the production team at Maple Leaf Pro:
“We’ve got Kevin Sullivan, who spent years at WWE, WWF, was a main figure in TNA and Impact Wrestling for years, and then was one of the first hires for AEW and spent a ton of time at AEW there overseeing that end of things. Everything you saw with packages, graphics, everything, Kevin Sullivan oversaw that post production. He’s fantastic. So having him involved, I think that, to me, ensures there’s not going to be a single thing that goes out graphic wise, video wise, or anything that Kevin hasn’t done. He’s outstanding.”
“Our producer for the events is Keith Mitchell, which is not a name that I know wrestling fans are gonna go, ‘Oh my God’, but this guy, literally, from like 1970 until a year and a half ago, produced wrestling on a national, international level. Keith, like, to me, it’s so crazy. This guy did World Class, then went to Turner and launched Saturday Night and Nitro and Thunder. Then he was in the chair to launch TNA and was there in TNA and Impact until AEW launched, and then was at AEW into retirement.”
“We’ve got Tim Walbert, who was the director at AEW and before that, TNA at times. He goes back to shooting Brother Love skits as I found out the other day at WWE when he was starting. I mean, there’s 100 plus years of experience.”
“With these types of individuals in place, then I go, Okay, I know a shot selection is going to be good. I know our building’s going to be lit properly, and everything’s looked at. Our video packages, our graphics and our overall look and feel is going to be right. So I’m just blessed to have a group like those individuals come and join what I think is already an amazing group here with what Border City Wrestling already had from doing it for 30 plus years.”
You can check out the complete show below:
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
