Results
- Shotzi Blackheart & PCO def. Taylor Rising & Kris Chambers
- Rudra def. D-Man Parker
- Steve Maclin def. Psycho Mike
- Nikki Storm def. Gisele Shaw, Dani Luna & Priscilla Kelly (Four-Way)
PCO exits tag match early, Dan Maff is out to get him again
This week’s episode of Maple Leaf Pro: Mayhem, taped earlier this month from St. Clair College in Windsor, Ontario, opened with mixed tag action. Making her Mayhem debut, Shotzi Blackheart teamed alongside PCO to face Kris Chambers and Taylor Rising. Shotzi and PCO are quite the odd combo, but one that totally works. This was actually a rematch from a smaller show Maple Leaf Pro ran a little under a year ago. This time, it was made as a follow-up to a singles match last week between PCO and Chambers (PCO won, but suffered a post-match attack from Chambers & Rising).
Blackheart scored one of her wild, high-speed tope suicidas to the outside early on. PCO followed up with his, as always, even scarier tope. He landed on the top of his head from the dive. While he stood back up after the dive, the French-Canadian Frankenstein was nowhere to be seen when the show returned from a break. Instead, this became a two-on-one match of sorts for Blackheart. Mixed tag rules be damned, Blackheart was willing to beat up Chambers once he tagged in, scoring a huge senton in a corner of the ring.
Blackheart connected with a superplex to Rising late in the match, then followed up with a huge top-rope senton. Chambers was on the ring apron but didn’t make much of an effort to break the pin, causing Blackheart to win.
It’s clear that this one didn’t play out how they had hoped. It seems PCO, who was meant to be the focal point of the match, suffered a real injury during that tope suicida and had to exit stage left. Blackheart had a great showing in what became a spotlight for her, although the finish felt weird due to Chambers not being accounted for and left simply staring at the final pinfall.
Dan Maff, who feuded with PCO in Ring of Honor years ago and did an angle at last year’s Northern Rising show, hit the ring in the post-match and gave Blackheart a Burning Hammer. PCO and Maff got into a scuffle backstage later on (this will become important later in the broadcast).
Rudra debuts, Sinner & Saint vignette airs
The big story from last week’s episode was the return of Josh Alexander, who hadn’t been seen on either MLP or AEW TV since he suffered a knee injury in March. A short interview touched on his road to recovery and not wanting to give up on his wrestling dream.
The next match saw Rudra make his Maple Leaf Pro: Mayhem debut. This was a new persona for Bhupinder Gujjar, who we’re familiar with via past MLP and TNA appearances. Historically, Rudra is a deity from Hindu texts who is described as the “mightiest of the mighty.” He had quite the animated, shouty entrance, then made quick work of Palm Beach, Ontario’s D-Man Daniel Parker, coming off the second rope with a spear for the pinfall win.
We got a video package teasing the arrival of former TNA tag duo Judas Icarus and Travis Williams. That’s one I’m really looking forward to.
Steve Maclin takes down Psycho Mike, trashes Canadian wrestling
The next match saw recent TNA exit Steve Maclin face off against Psycho Mike. This match was made after Maclin attacked Mike on last week’s episode.
Mike received a huge pop from the Windsor crowd upon entering the venue, but had his parade to the ring cut short by an attack from Maclin. Due to the pre-match attack, Maclin had an advantage for the first couple of minutes. But, Mike was able to catch Maclin with a spinebuster and then a series of splashes in a corner of the ring to get back into the bout.
Mike came off the ropes with a clothesline, then asked the one question synonymous with his name: “Who wants to see a bodyslam?” Just as Mike was about to start setting up for a bodyslam, the brawl between PCO and Dan Maff spilled onto the stage! This brawl distracted Mike and bought some time for Maclin to recover.
Mike turned around after the brawl went out of view and was immediately hit with a KIA from Maclin for the pinfall win. Maclin got some good heel heat by beating one of this crowd’s favorites.
Maclin got on the mic afterward and, to get some cheap heat, talked about how America is better at wrestling than Canada. Considering all of the Adam Copeland promos in recent weeks were about how much he loves Canada and Canadian wrestling, it’s kind of obvious where they’re going with this.
In a clip from a few weeks back, former PWA Champion’s Grail holder Rohan Raja reflected on participating in CMLL’s International Grand Prix match earlier this month. Raja teased that he learned something incredibly valuable while in Mexico. This immediately made me think of Chad Gable finding the El Grande Americano persona, although I think (or at least hope) they’re going in a different direction here.
Nikki Storm wins MLP debut, earns big Northern Rising opportunity
The final match of the night was a four-way, with the winner being allowed to choose their opponent for Maple Leaf Pro’s Northern Rising event this fall. Battling for this opportunity were Dani Luna, Priscilla Kelly, Nikki Storm, and defending Maple Leaf Pro Women’s Champion Gisele Shaw. This was notably the first North American booking for Storm (formerly Nikki Cross) since exiting the WWE roster earlier this year.
Kelly went on a run early, knocking Luna out of the ring with a hard dropkick through the bottom rope. Storm took them both out with a huge top-rope crossbody to the floor right after. Shaw stood tall as the show went to a break, slamming Storm onto the venue’s ramp.
There was a fun sequence between these four as the show returned. Shaw dropped Kelly with her Shock & Awe, but then was wiped out by a beautiful flying head kick from Luna immediately after.
Storm climbed to the top rope but, instead of coming off with a move, fell to the floor after a punch to the head from Luna. Shaw knocked Luna out of the ring with a huge spear, leaving it to just Kelly and Shaw in the ring.
Shaw scored a kick to the body then a headbutt. Kelly reversed Shaw’s attempted finisher into a snap-German Suplex then a Sliding P forearm. She went for the pin, but a distraction from Storm stopped the referee from counting! Storm charged into the ring, tossed Kelly out of the ring, then stole the pinfall over Shaw for the win! Storm will be at Northern Rising and can face anyone she’d like. I didn’t like that finish. It would’ve been nice for this match to have a little more time considering how fun it was, but I understand there are limitations on how much you can do with a 44-minute program.
Here’s what Maple Leaf Pro announced for next week’s episode:
- Steve Maclin & Adam Copeland have a sit-down face-to-face
- Jody Threat debuts
- Michael Allen Richard Clark vs. Zach Gowen
- Ace Austin vs. Jonathan Gresham
