Scott D’Amore on Booking TNA Talents for His Maple Leaf Pro Promotion, Kenny Omega’s Impact on Impact/TNA Business, Reason for End of AEW & TNA Partnership, No Longer Under a Non-Compete Clause

Fightful held a recent interview with former TNA Wrestling President and current Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling owner Scott D’Amore. One of the topics discussed included D’Amore’s thoughts about him booking TNA talents for his Maple Leaf Pro’s relaunch Forged In Excellence events this weekend.

“I talked about it with the talent, which is often the first step. We talked through a lot of stuff with talent and eventually it came to we had to deal with it company to company, which we did. Gratefully, we were able to work it out and have the talent appear. It’s good for their talent as well. We have a great mix of talent for a lot of different companies, and I don’t see a downside to talent appearing on this platform. If I were still sitting in the chair as the President of TNA Wrestling, this is the type of event, similar to when we would send people to a New Japan event, it’s an event that has some prestige and buzz, so why not have your talent front and center on that?”

On the topic of TNA’s past working relationship with AEW, D’Amore stated that the reason why Impact/TNA decided to partner with AEW in 2021 was due to the company was struggling to gain traction and the partnership helped boost their business due to Kenny Omega’s involvement as the TNA World Champion. D’Amore also stated that Omega’s presence helped raised TNA’s pay-per-view buys, Impact television viewership, and social media engagement and economically.

In regards to Omega’s work for TNA, D’Amore stated that Omega was dealing with pain at the time which made things difficult for him but he was still impactful for the company. D’Amore also stated that the company’s two PPV events that featured Omega were the highest grossing in TNA history.

In regards to the reason why TNA’s partnership with AEW ended, D’Amore stated that there were certain restrictions that had prevented their ability to book certain matches for Omega. These matches reportedly included Omega wanting to work with both Eddie Edwards and Josh Alexander but not being allowed to in the end.

On the topic of the status of a non-compete clause following his firing from TNA, D’Amore stated that at one point he was under a non-compete clause with TNA following his departure from the company. D’Amore stated that him and TNA were eventually able to work out a deal to allow him to start working on his newly formed Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling promotion.

D’Amore reportedly is being paid for a full year for his severance by TNA. D’Amore’s non-compete clause reportedly would have extended a full year as well that would have prevented him from being able to launch his new Maple Leaf Pro promotion prior to the two sides working out a deal.

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Sources: Fightful Select 1 & 2