Former TNA President Scott D’Amore spoke with TVInsider on a number of topics, including Anthem’s decision to fire him from TNA Wrestling.
D’Amore said, “I look overall at my time with Impact TNA, my second run there, as a very rewarding one. I’m very proud of the work we did. I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say the company was in shambles when Don Callis and I first stepped in to take over. The work we did even after Don left was pretty fantastic. I think it might be the only time or the best example of this. I’ll use a quote someone said after my departure. They said they were taken aback because they’d never seen in the history of wrestling a company revived from the dead the way TNA was. It was not what I wanted. I thought there was work to be done and thought we could get there with the path and vision I wanted to take the company in, but it was [owners] Anthem Entertainment’s decision, which is their right. Was I happy with it? No. Was it by choice? No Did I agree with it? No. I respect the fact it was Anthem’s choice. Have I thought about a time of not being in the wrestling business? Absolutely. I left the wrestling business on a high level for many years and focused on every avenue in business. When I came back in 2017, it was supposed to be a two or three-day consulting thing, but I wish we would have gotten a chance to finish what we started. Such is life in business. The whole world moves on and part of that is what’s next for me is Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling.”
On getting Maple Leaf Pro off the ground:
“I acquired the rights from the Tunney family many years ago. I partially did it partly because I saw where it might go otherwise and wanted to see if there was a chance to do more with it than have it sit in a vault. I didn’t do a great job with it, but this is a chance to do that. Maple Leaf Wrestling from the 1930s until it was sold by the Tunneys to WWE in 1984 and beyond that, WWE continued to use the name in Canada well into the 1990s. This is an opportunity to revive an iconic brand that has sat dormant for far too long. Something distinctly Canadian. I think you look at Canada’s place in wrestling history as a prominent one. So many have come from Canada and events from here have been woven into history. I wanted to give a platform to give Canadians a chance to sit side-by-side with the best in the world. We have a chance to honor the past while moving it forward. We get a chance to showcase the amazing talent out there. In the last decade or so it has really flourished. It’s an opportunity to take some of the relationships I built over the 30 years in wrestling to make Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling to make it something cool and fun. I think it’s a cool time in the wrestling business. I always felt collaboration was key.”
On Mauro Ranallo:
“I think Mauro is the best play-by-play man in the history of the business of combat sports. When you look at it pro wrestling, boxing, MMA, kickboxing, Mauro can do it all. He is the most versatile play-by-play guy in history. Having him here is fantastic. We’ve worked together for a couple of years. First in Stampede Wrestling where both of us were out of our teens. He was the play-by-play and I came in as a heel to work Sabu on top. That’s the first time I met Mauro, and we’ve been friends ever since. He provides so much passion and so much talent and credibility. The process of getting him, I don’t want to understate it, but it was pretty painless. We kept in touch. When the news got out, Mauro reached out like so many. I was overwhelmed by how many people commented, posted, and reached out directly to check in. Mauro was one of those. We were both at a point where we were having some changes in our careers that were unexpected. We always looked for a project to work together on. He said, ‘Let’s f’n do this.’ There is still a business side to this, even as friends, but we worked it out pretty reasonably for both sides. We kick off with the play-by-play announcer out there. I’m stoked.”
