Scott D’Amore on His Plans for Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling’s Future Post-Debut Shows & 2025 Expansion Plans

Sports Illustrated held a recent interview with Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling owner Scott D’Amore to promote the company’s Forged In Excellence debut events this weekend in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

One of the topics discussed included D’Amore’s thoughts about his current plans for the future of MLP following this weekend’s debut events and his expansion plans for 2025.

“These are our marquee shows in 2024. It’s our proof of concept. This is us showing you what we’re going to be about. Then, our plan is really a 2025 plan. You will see some announcements coming out soon, both domestically and internationally with our partnerships and collaborations. I think our Q1 2025, plan is you’re going to see a few events domestically. You will see us outside of Windsor, which has been a big question. We’ve been contacted from everybody in BC (British Columbia) to the Maritimes. Obviously, Ontario’s going to be our base. But we’re looking to expand and grow Toronto, a key market in Canada that we want to get back into.

Then I think we have some really exciting stuff internationally planned for Q1 of 2025. If fans tune in, see what we got, and then sit back and watch the ride as we gear up for what I think will be a really awesome 2025 season.”

D’Amore also gave his thoughts about being able to get TNA and AEW talents booked for MLP’s debut shows and AEW reaching out to him letting Konosuke Takeshita defend his AEW International Championship against Josh Alexander for their Night 2 show.

“I think that the conversations were very fluid. One of the things is after 30 plus years in this industry, one of the things I’m blessed with is in the old days, we used to call it a Rolodex. I was part of building and leading building, an unbelievable team there (TNA). I have a decent rapport with a lot of people. A very close rapport with some. You look at AEW, I thought our collaboration had some real high points when Impact and AEW collaborated. I think Tony Khan has always been a gentleman to do business with. There’s never been a time when he hasn’t delivered on something he agreed to. Sonjay Dutt, who was still a teenager when I first booked him for TNA and all the people that are there. My relationship with New Japan over the years, the folks at Cyber Fights, and even with WWE. I just think we’re in a great position here in 202.  I’ve always been a strong advocate for collaboration.

Like I said, business is business. Like Len Asper, Anthem Sports, myself, and Maple Leaf Pro, we don’t have to agree on everything all day. We just have to agree that something makes sense and is good business because if you have something that you can collaborate on that’s beneficial, then I’ve always said it’s not just a win-win. It’s a win-win-win because both companies win. More importantly, the fans win. So a lot of the conversations were pretty fluid. Honestly, AEW reached out to me about Takeshita and making this International title truly international. I think it’s awesome that his first title defense of this newly won championship that he just won by beating arguably the best wrestler in the world in Will Ospreay will be up here in Canada on an outside show. I think that’s so cool. So I just think there’s a lot going on.

You look at our double main event on night two. You’ve got to Takeshita defending the AEW International title against Josh Alexander. You’ve got Athena, one of the most dominant champions in champions in wrestling history, defending the Ring of Honor Women’s Championship against Gisele Shaw. Then you’ve got just so much other up and down the card. I just truly think we’ve got two nights of truly awesome professional wrestling.”