Scott D'Amore is back in the wrestling business and in a big way.
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A shocker happened in February when it was announced that Scott D'Amore was no longer at TNA Wrestling, where he spent 7 years as the President of the organization.
After some time, it was announced in August that D'Amore was back in the business. This time, it was as the President of Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling, a promotion based out of Canada. Along with the announcement, D'Amore revealed they would be doing shows titled, "Forged In Excellence", that will occur on Saturday and Sunday from St. Clair College in Windsor, Ontario, Canada (Triller TV PPV, 7 p.m. ET both nights).
The night one main event features AEW International Champion Konosuke Takeshita facing TNA star and X Division titlist Mike Bailey in a non-title affair.
On night two, Takeshita will this time put the gold on the line against TNA's Josh Alexander.
Ahead of this weekend's shows, D'Amore sat with
The Takedown to discuss the weekend coming up, his exit from TNA, how he got AEW and TNA to be on the same show and matches.
Editor's note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The Takedown: How long did it take you to decompress and to understand that what happened (with TNA) was the best thing for you?
Scott D’Amore: I don't know. That's a really good question. It took me a few months to detach and really kind of get away from it and stop wanting to have the urge to be like, ‘Hey, what's going on’? When you love something, it's sometimes it's hard to separate from it. And I certainly put my passion and my love into TNA Wrestling. I did it through my first run there, and I certainly did it through my second run there. I was a big part of the process of my first run. I mean, the whole second run here under Anthem, I felt like it was my baby in many ways. I was leading the nurturing and raising of it. It took a bit. Ultimately, at the end of the day, business is business. I don't have to agree with the decisions that are made. Look, there were no lives ruined. There were no catastrophes attached to my departure.
If anything, I look at the announcement, the show of support, the number of people who reached out. That was truly overwhelming and humbling. I'm not a guy who's easily humbled because that's not a word that is often associated with me. It was truly touching, and it lets you know that people appreciate what you've done and the efforts you've made. That made me feel great.
It was one of the greatest unexpected gifts that I've ever had, in the sense that letting that many people reach out to let me know that I had touched their lives was like hundreds and hundreds of text messages and DMs. It was awesome.
The Takedown: A report came out that you had a one-year non-compete. How were you able to negotiate an early out of that so you could do this project? Or is it a situation where there are some loose ends, but you were still able to end up doing this event and continue on with Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling?
SD: Look, Maple Leaf Pro was started before my non-compete was handled. A non-compete is for me to not work with a competitor. I've been promoting wrestling for close to 25 years. It's not something I was ever going to stop doing. It's not something that I stopped doing when I was at TNA. The first time I ran Border City Wrestling the entire time I was there, and even did a pay-per-view series on Canadian television called Pro Wrestling Superstars at the same time when TNA was doing weekly and then monthly pay-per-views.
So it was always kind of something that was acknowledged and was there as part of the agreement that I could do my own stuff. The reports out there are accurate in the sense that you see there's a lot of TNA involvement in these MLP events. We've worked out how to settle things. I'm free as of last week to do whatever I want with somebody else. But no competition is, so I didn't leave TNA and didn't go to a competitor. It wasn't about that you can't go do your own thing. It was more so about going to competitors.
It's been a long process. You sift through the limited interviews I've done, you won't see a harsh word for me or any personal things towards TNA. But business is business. We still had a list of things to work through. We took our time getting through them. And it so happens that it coincides, that it happens a couple weeks before these events. Remember, these shows were announced in August. But yeah, the report's true. Am I sitting here looking to jump out at something else? Not necessarily. But at some point, if the right opportunity comes along, then I'm out here.
The Takedown: This weekend’s events feature talent from AEW and TNA. How do you get AEW and TNA on the same page to allow talent on the biggest independent events in the last half of 2024?
SD: 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.
The Takedown: People don't give you enough credit for how that WWE-TNA partnership came about. How does that conversation even begin?
SD: I talked to Ed Nordholm, the president of TNA/ Impact Wrestling, when I came in. We'd gone and met with WWE a few years earlier. I think he got reported on the internet in 2018 or whatever it was, 19. Always had left things with an open line of communication. We had licensed footage to them. I think when we did the deal for Ken Shamrock’s Hall of Fame. Iy had been that it was the first time, I was told by somebody, a senior person, at WWE, that it was the first time, to their knowledge, and they've been there for a long time, that WWE had licensed wrestling footage to another wrestling company. It was done based on the relationship we had built. And then you look at it with Mickie James in the (Royal) Rumble, which I think was a huge step. But she's Mickie James. She's a certified G. She's certainly Hall of Fame caliber. I'm sure, when the timing's right, she goes in the Hall of Fame there. That was like, ‘Hey, bring Mickie back, give her flowers, make up for how she exited the last time. But it was still awesome to have her come out there, be the Knockouts champion, and have the belt. That was awesome. But to me, it came through in the final days by putting Jordynne Grace in the Rumble. I think was a tremendous step in legitimizing what we had done through all the years at Impact/TNA.
How does it start? I talked to Ed. I said, ‘Hey, I think the timing's right’. He goes. ‘How do you do it’? I said, ‘I think I will reach out to somebody there and get their thoughts.’
I talked to a person I’ve been friends with for many years. They said, ‘Why don't I chat with Hunter and see what he thinks’? I said, ‘Sure’.
Then, a few days later, I got a text from Hunter, and that just started the conversation and the ball rolling. I'm proud to have been part of that process. I'm proud of the stuff we did exchanging footage. I'm proud of the stuff we did with Mickie and then Jordynne and the Rumble. I'm proud of being part of establishing the ties to build that relationship, which they've continued to this day.
The Takedown: What is the plan for how many shows in 2025?
SD: 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.
