Saturday night, Toronto, Ontario’s own Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling crowned the inaugural MLP Canadian Heavyweight Champion!
AEW’s Josh Alexander eliminated 19 other men in a gauntlet match for the brand new championship belt at the “MLP Northern Rising” PPV.
However, The Walking Weapon’s shiny new championship isn’t the only takeaway from this Saturday’s main event in Toronto.
Join us now as we break down who did what in this incredibly chaotic match, that will shape storylines for months to come.
Rich Swann and El Phantasmo entered at #1 and #2, with Swann using the old “test of strength” to bait ELP into a dance-off.
However, their dance party kept them somewhat distracted as TNA’s Bhupinder Gujjar took to the ring at #3, laying out Swann and attempting to eliminate ELP.
Brent Banks entered at #4 to a huge pop from the crowd, but it seems his greeting in the ring left much to be desired.
All eyes on Banks as he hits the ring, but he scored a number of strong shots on the other four. The action leveled out, and Swann made an attempt at eliminating Banks, but he got distracted by the countdown, allowing Gujjar to get the elimination instead.
Rhino entered at #5, and immediately set about gore-ing everybody in the ring. The former ECW Champion stood in the ring, soaking up the “GORE! GORE! GORE!” chants as the countdown started again.
Billy Gunn entered at #6, but with everybody else downed, there was only Rhino to work with. The two WWE legends brawled for a bit before the other competitors rallied back from their gores. Then Billy Gunn hit the Fame-Asser on ELP, dumping him over the top for the elimination.
Psycho Mike at #7, getting a huge reaction from the crowd as he entered, tearing through the competition and getting the rub from Billy Gunn and Rhino.
Australia’s Slex entered at #8, hitting a huge spinout powerbomb on Psycho Mike before attempting elimination on Gujjar.
Despite his noteable size, Gujjar was able to perform a “skin the cat” over the top rope, avoiding elimination twice before getting kicked out by Slex.
At #9 was Michael Allen Richard Clark, who immediately set about eliminating his rival, Psycho Mike. However, Psycho Mike had prepared for his symphony of bodyslams gimmick, and bodyslammed each remaining competitor, before easily eliminating Clark. Insulted, Clark grabbed Psycho Mike’s boots and yanked him off the apron for the elimination.
PCO entered at #10 and absolutely wrecked house, eliminating Slex, Billy Gunn, and Rhino before brutalizing Rich Swann with a diving knee.
At #11, we saw Johnny Parisi enter, but he hardly got to the ring before we saw Dan Maff appear from under the ring, shooting a fireball into PCO’s face.
Jimmy Jacobs then entered the arena with a steel chair, handing the weapon off to Maff, who set about battering PCO around the ring. Once the Modern Frankenstein was out of the ring, Maff removed his own belt, using it to strangle PCO over the ropes.
QT Marshall at #12, but he doesn’t quite know what he’s just entered to. He dumps out PCO before turning his attention back to Rich Swann.
Marshall attempts a cutter, but Swann does the handstand dodge, retaliating with a cutter of his own. Marshall shakes it off and hits Swann with a popup cutter as Josh Alexander enters at #13.
In something of a rematch from the card opener, Alexander takes QT Marshall to suplex city, hitting German suplex after German suplex as the countdown started again.
TNA’s Sheldon Jean entered at #14, only for Josh Alexander to grab him by the waist for another German suplex. Jean scrambled for somebody else, attempting to grab Rich Swann and turn this into a double German Suplex, but it was not to be. QT Marshall scores a cutter on Josh Alexander, but that doesn’t prevent him being tossed out.
Santino Marella at #15, with an enormous reaction from the crowd. He gets a little bit of offense in before setting up for The Cobra on Johnny Parisi.
He prepared to hit another on Sheldon Jean, but was interrupted by Bishop Dyer entering at #16. The former Baron Corbin went about clearing house before hitting the End of Days on Sheldon Jean.
Santino back up now, attempts to hit Dyer with The Cobra, but Dyer reverses it, stunning The Milan Miracle as Dyer sends him out of the ring.
At #17 was Mo Jabari, who immediately went after Josh Alexander, but Sheldon Jean intercepted. This allowed Mo and Josh to team up on Jean while Dyer worked over Rich Swann in the corner.
Former WWE Champion Raj Dhesi made his way to the ring at #18, squaring off with Josh Alexander. After a bit of brawling,
Dhesi turned his attention to Mo Jabari, scoring a big dropkick. Next out was Alex Zayne at #19, with just a few moments to soak in the atmosphere before the final entrant made himself known.
The crowd should have been ecstatic for the entrance of Matt Cardona, but he did himself no favors with the Toronto crowd by praising the USA in a promo earlier that night.
As Cardona prepared to compete, Bishop Dyer dumped out Mo Jabari and chokeslammed Alex Zayne on the apron.
Dyer then turned his attention back to Rich Swann, pasting him about the ring before trying to throw him over the top.
This created an opening for Cardona to eliminate both of them. The final four were Matt Cardona, Raj Dhesi, Josh Alexander, and Sheldon Jean.
Sheldon Jean dumped Dhesi over the top rope as QT Marshall returned to the ringside area. The leader of QTV attempted to rally Sheldon Jean to victory, but Josh Alexander got the elimination.
It was now down to humble Canadian Josh Alexander and brash, cocky American Matt Cardona. The crowd found a way to get into Cardona’s head with a “Chelsea’s better!” chant, referencing his (Canadian) wife.
However, he rallied back, laying into The Walking Weapon. Cardona then attempted to hit the Rough Rider (like the Canadian football team?) only for Alexander to reverse it into a powerbomb.
This left both men in a crumpled heap on the floor, leading the ref to start the 10-count. They manage to answer at 8, when The Walking Weapon unleashed another flurry of German Suplexes. Alexander attempted to hit Cardona with his own finish, only for Cardona to pull the ref in front of him.
On the mat now, Josh Alexander wrenches Cardona’s leg in an ankle lock, but the Ref isn’t up to see him start to tap. He reaches for the ropes, but Alexander pulls him to the center of the ring.
Eventually, Cardona rolls out of the Ankle lock and attempts a rollup on the hometown hero. However, Josh Alexander is able to power out, lifting the American heel into a Tiger Driver, with which he scored the pinfall victory, becoming the inaugural MLP Canadian Heavyweight Champion.
MLP Canadian Heavyweight Champion – Josh Alexander
Following the match, he gave a short promo about his gratitude to the crowd and the importance of Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling.
Here’s looking forward to a long and prosperous title reign.
