This weekend, live from Windsor, Ontario, Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling returns to the international stage on TrillerTV with epic matchups featuring AEW champions, legendary wrestlers, and rising stars battling for glory in a new chapter of Canadian wrestling history.
In the annals of professional wrestling history, Canada has always been one of the most bountiful countries when it comes to producing professional wrestling stars and talents. From the majesty of the Hart family and Stampede Wrestling to Toronto's famed Whipper Billy Watson to Montreal's French Frankenstein PCO to the undying independent spirit of IWS, professional wrestling, not hockey, has been the true national pastime of The Great White North.
For every Kenny Omega, Bret Hart, Roddy Piper and Chris Jericho who made their name and Canadian legacy infamous across the world, there are countless other combat sports superstars who found themselves inspired and ravenous, dying to fulfill their destiny and carve their own names into the Pantheon of Canadian greatness. They seek not just wins and losses or championship gold, but infinity - the chance to have their accomplishments live on forever, well past their own mortality.
This weekend, live on TrillerTV, all roads to infinity begin in Windsor, Ontario as a new chapter in not just Canadian wrestling history but international infamy explodes with the premiere events from Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling. This Saturday October 19th and Sunday October 20th, MLP will be resurrected, returning to face a new global landscape populated by a new generation of grapplers, puglists and hybrid competitors who all seek the same dream - victory, because victory is that all-important first step on the road to nirvana.
MLP, once governed by The legendary Tunny family, has been reconstituted under the purview of one of the most connected creative masters of the modern day pro wrestling game, Scott D'Amore. With Mauro Ranallo and Don Callis on the call and a cavalcade of renowned squared circle specialists in front of and behind the scenes striving to bring a new aura of international excellence to the world at large, from Canada with live - MLP on TrillerTV will be your home as a new generation of international mat masters go to war, where victory means everything and losing means failing on the greatest stage possible!
CHAMPIONSHIP GLORY
The premiere weekend for MLP will see massive internationally renowned championships on the line for the entire world to witness.
AEW's newly crowned International Champion Konosuke Takeshita arrives in Canada to make one of his first title defenses after shocking the world by defeating Will Ospreay at AEW Wrestledream. That dream victory may indeed dissolve into a true nightmare for Takeshita as the Japanese star takes on Canada's Walking Weapon Josh Alexander on his home turf. Alexander was once the longest reigning TNA World Champion in history, but has since become an embittered soul. The pro wrestling machine is as much about seeking his next apex as he is about demoralizing his next opponent.
He may find a kinship in that regard with Takeshita, who has rocketed to the top of the professional wrestling world under the mentorship of Don Callis. Having conquered AEW and Japan's DDT Pro Wrestling, Takeshita now seeks to repeat those great feats in MLP but to do so, he'll have to attempt to outgrapple and outmatch one of the most grizzled and versatile competitors to step into the ring this generation. This Championship match could very well result in an international incident that cascades marauding ripple effects across multiple companies, including MLP. Equally fascinating is this weekend's arrival of Ring of Honor's longest reigning champion in the promotion's 20+ year history, The Women's World Champion Athena. The Texas native has broken down and beaten countless challengers, showing no mercy and giving no quarter since capturing the championship. As her bravado and ruthlessness grows, Athena is unmatched in confidence, which could prove to be her undoing as she steps into foreign territory in Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling to defend against Gisele Shaw.
Shaw, the internationally traveled star, has conquered PROGRESS Wrestling and TNA over the course of her own rise to prominence in professional wrestling. This weekend at MLP, Shaw finds herself on a collision course with the biggest matches of her career this year. On Saturday, Shaw battles Tokyo Joshi Pro's Miyu Yamashita. Yamashita, The first-ever Tokyo Princess of Princess Champion has been considered the Ace of the TJPW promotion in the past but has arrived in MLP seeking to create immediate shockwaves. If Miyu is successful, she advances to Sunday and joins Shaw in challenging Athena for the ROH Championship.
All of this places Gisele Shaw on the defensive before the bell even rings this weekend, as she has everything to lose even before she and Miyu lock up. If she's successful, Shaw will face Athena alone, but will surely have battled through an intensely physical confrontation. If she fails, she will be just as battered, but will instead have to contend with two competitors at the same time while seeking golden championship glory on Sunday. Shaw herself has proven to be a ferocious fighter in the past, willing to do whatever ends justify the means in order to score victory, seeking to prove her dominance - but can she accomplish that fear twice in two nights, and exit MLP by making international history? Shaw has the chance to tip women's professional wrestling off its axis this weekend, but to do it, she'll have to overcome some truly formidable obstacles in Athena and Miyu Yamashita.
Of course, on Saturday October 19th, the PWA Champion's Grail Championship will see a new champion crowned as Jake Something, the ferocious, explosive powerhouse will step into battle with Rohan Raja. Raja, who has fought across the world from Great Britain and back, was trained by Canadian legend Lance Storm and returns to The Great White North to achieve the destiny he has forged across NXT UK, Japan and countless other promotions and continents. Everything Raja has battled for when he steps inside the ropes comes to a head in Windsor as he enters the ultimate chess match against Something, placing technical prowess against unlimited power. The winner will unlock the ultimate achievement, traveling the world to defend this prestigious championship against the best in the world - but first they must prove themselves worthy live on TrillerTV.
DREAM MATCHES
Windsor may be known as Rose City, but this weekend on TrillerTV, it will be where true dream matches emanate.
Saturday October 19th will see TNA X-Division Champion Speedball Mike Bailey battling AEW International Champion Konosuke Takeshita in a clash of champions where the gold isn't on the line, but something far more precious is - pride. For two competitors who strive themselves on their personal excellence in the ring and the ability to shatter the glass ceiling of expectations when they enter square circle combat, neither Bailey nor Takeshita can afford not to walk away with ultimate victory.
Should the karate-infused, aerial might of Bailey fail to achieve the win, what would the embarrassment do to Speedball as he heads into TNA Bound for Glory? Should Konosuke prove unable to follow up his historic win over Will Ospreay with yet another arm raised in victory, could that be a sign that his AEW International Championship will be wrenched from his hands by Josh Alexander on Night Two?
Diehard purists are already savoring Konosuke vs. Speedball, but the only thing that may be even more fascinating by how all out this MLP dream match may be is how either fighter can stand tall under the pressure they are facing from within. Only one fighter can stand tall when the final bell rings - and we'll all discover who that is on October 19th.
MLP will also bring the violence as two former World Champions step into battle this Saturday night as well. Raj Dhesi, internationally acclaimed for his time in WWE as Jinder Mahal, steps into a brutal Table Match with former TNA World Champion and all-time Hall of Famer Bully Ray. While Ray helped popularize the destruction of tables worldwide, Dhesi shouldn't be considered an underdog here as he's taken out competition worldwide and is seeking to use MLP as his personal stage to commence the next chapter of his wrestling career. To do so means he has to do the unthinkable, put Bully Ray, the extremist, through a table and splinter the Hall of Famer's momentous run into ruins. These two brawlers, with no rules and all out mayhem ahead may prove to be MLP's own personal version of Godzilla vs. King Kong, except there will be no movie magic involved, just pure grit and violence personified, live on TrillerTV!
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!
MLP's grand premiere will also see an insanely vibrant six man tag team war open Saturday October 19th as the team of Josh Alexander, Stu Grayson and NJPW's El Phantasmo go to war with Trevor Lee, Rocky Romero and Alex Zayne in a bout that will likely shatter any preconceived notions of greatness, toughness and insanity.
Four of the top women's competitors in the world - Kylie Rae, Laynie Luck, Taylor Rising and Aurora Teves - will step into battle to prove their supremacy in the ring and stake their claim for future championship glory.
Bhupinder Gujjar, who has fought hard in recent years to emerge as one of the more beloved figures in not just India but Windsor as well, makes his MLP debut against AEW's diabolical QT Marshall. Marshall arrives in Canada seeking to not just ruin Gujjar's return to his second home in Windsor, but do everything in his power to destroy MLP from within. With Harley Cameron as his partner in crime, time will tell whether Marshall can be successful or if Gujjar can knock those plans for conquest into the dirt.
With professional wrestling's hottest new brand ready to prove to the world why the best in the world are charging to Canada this weekend, Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling is on the precipice of kicking doors down globally, taking their first step into infinity by force. TrillerTV is your exclusive home to see all the spectacle, mayhem and greatness when Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling takes the world on their first, but not last, roller coaster ride into an eminence rarely seen in the combat sports world.
Mike Johnson is the lead reporter for PWInsider.com and has been writing about professional wrestling since 1996. He can be found on Twitter @MikePWInsider and MikeJohnsonWrites.com
