Josh Alexander claimed gold inside the legendary Maple Leaf Gardens on Saturday night.
AEW’s Alexander earned the Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling Canadian Championship this weekend, getting past 19 other men in a 42-minute gauntlet match to claim the gold.
His victory headlined “Northern Rising,” a show inside the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The venue previously was the Maple Leaf Gardens, which played host to countless professional wrestling events for decades, beginning in the 1930s.
Alexander entered 13th in the 20-man rumble-esque gauntlet, joining a bout that was a mix of notable talent both domestically and internationally. He shared the ring with Bishop Dyer, Raj Dhesi, Alex Zayne, QT Marshall, and Santino Marrella, outlasting them all en route to his title win.
After Dyer was eliminated, the match came down to Alexander and Matt Cardona. While most wrestlers were taken out of the mix by being thrown over the top rope and to the outside, the match switched to one fall to a finish rules once it came down to two wrestlers.
Alexander avoided a Rough Ryder off the ropes from Cardona, then put the former WWE talent into an ankle lock. Cardona escaped and tried for a roll-up pin attempt, but Alexander kicked out.
Alexander struck Cardona with a right hand, then scored his C4 Spike finisher for the win.
“The Walking Weapon,” a veteran of the Canadian wrestling scene, spoke afterward about how he felt proud to represent his country with the title. “Not only is Canadian wrestling back, it’s here to stay,” he said.
The gauntlet appearance was Alexander’s second match of the night, returning after meeting QT Marshall in the opening bout of the card. A backstage segment featuring Alexander afterward was built around the idea that damage done to him from his singles bout might lower his odds at winning the title.
In the co-main event of the night, Gisele Shaw became the first-ever Maple Leaf Pro Women’s Canadian Champion, going nearly 20 minutes against WWE ID talent Kylie Rae before emerging with the win. Playing a heel role on Saturday’s show, Shaw accepted the assistance of a foreign object during the bout’s finishing sequence before putting Rae away with a Shining Wizard.
Both Shaw and Rae wrestled their way through an eight-woman tournament to earn a spot in this weekend’s title fight. Shaw previously defeated Serena Deeb and Laynie Luck back in March as part of her quest towards gold.
