During a recent interview with “Undisputed,” Scott D’Amore discussed his plans for Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling and assured an “exciting” 2025 for the promotion.
MLP held its inaugural event, Forged in Excellence, in October.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On MLP’s 2025: “We have a lot of moving pieces right now, and it all leads to an exciting 2025. We are going to be the heart of Canadian wrestling and a force in the global wrestling landscape. […] Forged in Excellence was our mission statement, our proof of concept for what Maple Leaf Pro is going to be. The plan all along was to come out and have two nights of an amazing debut to show people what MLP is all about. Now we’ve taken a step back to set up our infrastructure, and we’ll be ready and prepared for an unbelievable 2025.”
On reviving Canadian wrestling: “This is a way to honor tradition of the past and forge a new path for Canadian wrestling. I’m proud of my time at TNA, and I hold my head high for what we accomplished there in my time at the helm. We took a company from death’s doorstep and revived it into an exciting and viable alternative. Now we are going to focus that hard work, vision, and passion into Maple Leaf Pro.”
On possibly working with WWE: “We are very happy and excited about our existing partners. But we have an open-door policy. If WWE wants to join the party, we’d be open to exploring it.”
As we’ve been reporting here on eWn, AEW has withdrawn Ricky Starks from his scheduled appearances with GCW, including a previously announced match against Matt Cardona at GCW ‘Highest in the Room’ on December 14.
Effy’s comments regarding Tony Khan’s father, Shahid Khan, reportedly influenced AEW’s decision to pull Starks. These remarks came after AEW scheduled events at the Hammerstein Ballroom, where GCW had also arranged an event.
During a recent appearance on the “GameChanger Weekly” podcast, Effy shared his thoughts on the controversy.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On Ricky Starks being pulled from GCW events: “I can’t speak for Ricky Starks, right? I want the best for Ricky. That may be at AEW, that may be at WWE, that may be out here on the indies, that may be with GCW. And I don’t think that dream is out the window and you know, to everyone who’s saying “oh, it’s EFFY’s fault he can’t be here,” this is how things are done in wrestling and it’s something that, you know, he’s going to have to go work out on his own. AEW’s going to have to work out with him. They are correct, he is under contract with them. But, you know, I haven’t seen him on TV in a ten month period. I haven’t seen him doing much and the timing is to me, a little laughable and I was surprised as many people were taking it as seriously as they were, seeing okay, here’s a clip from a podcast, over a week old, here’s Ricky Starks releasing an interview with Chris Van Vilet, where I don’t think he was rude at all, I think he was very honest and direct about his situation and you know, you know who approved him being at GCW, but, somebody was not excited about his contract being leaked, that they’d added on the additional option, which they legally have a right to do. It’s all the timing of that happening at the exact same time and then using me as a blame, you know, go ahead, buddy. You can blame me. I can handle the blame, I can take the heat. I’ve been called every name in the book before this and it doesn’t, like, it surprised me this time too because I’m opening twitter and at one point on Tuesday im trending #4 in the nation. Not Tony khan, not Ricky Starks, not AEW, EFFY. EFFY is trending fourth in the United States because there’s a lot of reaction to this and the reaction is kind of split between “this is very silly, clearly not, this is not the straw that broke the camels back of, we’re taking all our talent away” because you had guys working Bloodsport, you had Ricky showing up at the Mall. This was, someone pointed out a way out, and they took the way out and that’s fine. And, you know, I’m not someone who’s going to go back on what I say. I said what I said and I don’t think I said anything crazy. I just think there’s certain triggers that people have, that you have to be mindful of, especially if you’re in business with them. But, I’m not in business with these people and, you know, sometimes I feel like the little choir, the little village boy, who’s out speaking for the people throwing rocks at the side of the castle and you wouldn’t notice it if you’re in the castle, unless you look out and see them and yell and point me out and, you’re just giving me press. You’re just pointing to me as the direct reason is only going to help EFFY out. I flip this on its head, it’s fine. And I think even the news articles that were confirming with them were a little confused and going, ‘Is this, this is the reason you want us to print? This is the reason you want us to put with this, specifically.’ This wasn’t like a side ‘oh, maybe it’s this, maybe we saw this.’ This is a specific reason given for why he was pulled from the show, and I clearly am a person who’s GCW for life, man. I’m independent for life. I made this very clear. So, someone like me, who’s not looking at any future job opportunities currently, who’s not looking to work for the major companies, who’s not looking to sign any contracts, I understand the downsides of being that kind of independent, but I also see me as an easy person to go “okay, we can throw the blame on him, he’s not someone who’s our employee, who we have to deal with, who knows anybody or is dealing with anything here.” It’s easy to throw it on the indie boy and I can take the heat. But, also, like, I speak for myself. So, when you put this on me, I am going to make my own observations, look at what’s around me on the facts, and say, ‘I don’t think this was really an EFFY problem.’”
On his comments about Tony Khan: “No, I have plenty to say. First I want to cackle a little joke, I was talking to my uncle last week with my dad, and they said, ‘Yeah, you know, Billy, he’ll get real fired up about something and he’ll say something that sounds just emotionally like he’s fully invested and then once he says it, he does not care even a little bit anymore.’ I find myself making grand opinionated statements, and especially being in an environment like doing a podcast, like, I’m just a across the table, you can see the videos on YouTube, just across the table from my roommate, who we are very good friends, we get along very well. Not the biggest wrestling fan, you know, he’s seen wrestling, he loves wrestling that he’s seen, but he’s not seeking it out on a regular basis. So, a lot of the times when we’re talking it’s very casual. And that’s on me for forgetting that sometimes things go up and they have a much larger audience than we’re used to on just a long term show. You know, the statement I made that seemingly was what pi*sed him off, was about his dad paying him to stay away and I think those words were appointed and to clarify, I would like to say that I don’t think that Tony Khan has ever been the best person that interviewed for a job in that’s why he got it. I think he’s been given a lot of positions in companies his father owns, I think he’s been given a lot of fluff PR positions, I do not think that he was ever the best technical person for any of the jobs that he has listed. I think the first time he ever actually did any real work was firing CM Punk, that’s why it was so emotionally exhausting for him. All I’m saying is, we were frustrated because there is not this radius clause that we thought was built in for this, that in three years, since GCW has run the Hammerstein Ballroom, they have not attempted to run this venue not one time and one month before we are announced to be there, after we are announced to be there publicly, after this is already set, they have announced three days to run at Hammerstein. It just seemed odd to me that one month before, over a three year period, was the only time this venue has ever come up. Yes, historically Ring Of Honor has run there. ECW has run there, WWE has run there, we have run there once. We are not the primary wrestling function there. But, it is weird timing to me, and I said, we could not be in the same position that Tony Khan was in.”
On AEW using him as a scapegoat: “Because yes, AEW lost 36 million dollars last year. That’s public knowledge, public information. If GCW lost money like that, we would not exist. We rely on our streaming money. We rely on ticket money. We pay fairly. It is not my company, I don’t own this company. You know what I do? I run shows occasionally with Brett, and I’m paid fairly to do that. I am paid fairly to show up and wrestle matches, I’m advertised, I’m an independent contractor, I do not get a paycheck from GCW, I’m not paid to do appearances for GCW, I’m booked by GCW. I’m appreciative of that. What I’m saying is, they are in a different boat. We are filling the small venues that we are filling everywhere around the world that we’re going to. They are smaller venues. They are not filling the larger venues, so they are running around the country, they are larger venues they’re a television company, why is the timing one month before, the only time in three we have chosen to run this venue, I don’t know. Did it upset me? Personally it did. Does it make me want to work harder and put on an even better show for our people? Absolutely. I’m going to be a little shady, but it is odd to me that these statements, a week or more after they were released, were chosen in this context with 200 likes on TikTok, with a few more likes on Twitter, I’ll give him that, to be the reasoning to pull Ricky Starks. I think it’s clear that like, EFFY can talk all the s*it EFFY wants and it only matters if it benefits you to shun EFFY from talking s*it. I talk s*it all the time. I’m fairly certain, and I may be speaking vague here, when Ronda Rousey wanted to make a big return, right in the week of her wrestling revolver match with Billie Starkz, my TikTok started going viral about Ronda Rousey. About how at the time, she’s since renounced it, at the time, she did not believe Sandy Hook happened. She had questioned the existence of a school shouting. At the time, she had made very transphobic statements towards partners or people in fights that we’re asking to have fights with her. And at the time, and still, she was a terrible professional wrestler. This video goes up, she has one Ring of Honor match that weekend, and then the week after, for some reason, she has announced as retiring from wrestling. I’m not saying they had anything to do with each other. But, if they did, this is probably a long time coming for Tony Khan to take it out on EFFY for ruining one of his little things, cause I brought up facts. This is me being on the radar of a company that doesn’t want to acknowledge my existence.”
