On the big stars coming to Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling: “Well we’ve got Kushida there from New Japan, and from TNA. We just announced that Takeshita is going to be there. The guy’s just lighting it up in the G1, he’s maybe the hottest wrestler in the world arguably when it comes to match quality right now, and having him come there gives us that AEW representation. We’ve got Kevin Knight, who’s an amazing young talent from New Japan. We just announced earlier this week that ELP, who just had that five star with Takeshita in the G1, he’s going to be there. So I think it’s really cool. We’ve got a few people from New Japan. We got a few people from TNA, we’ll have multiple people from AEW. Then we’ve got the best of the best Canadians like Trevor Lee, who had some time in Impact, went on to Cameron Grimes in WWE, we’ve got an amazing group of talent together. So, I think that the matches that night are going to be as good as any pay-per-view. I said it over and over again when I was with TNA, with Impact, for these pay-per-views we don’t take it lightly. I never take it lightly. I would say that people have to reach in their pocket and pay to watch this in a world where you can get so much on your TV, on your tablet, on your cell phone for free. When people invest in you with money and also their time. Because time’s the most valuable commodity we have. So if you’re going to sit out and say not only I’m going to both pay to watch this and I’m going to block out my entire evening to spend with your product we want to deliver and make sure that people get their money’s worth. So I think people see this card come together and say, Okay, this is a card that I want to see. This is two nights of wrestling that I want to be part of. And I think we have one of the very best, indisputably the best combat sports cross genre announcer, because Mauro Ranallo has agreed to be the voice of Maple Leaf Pro.”

On Mauro Ranallo: “I mean, he’s the man. And Mauro has got a passion for wrestling. I met Mauro probably close to 25 years ago in Stampede Wrestling. I was coming in as a heel to feud with Sabu. And he was the 20-21-year-old kid who was doing the play-by-play with Bad News Brown, and we connected then over the years. He loves wrestling. He’s the best. You turned on Showtime for any big boxing fight, or you turned on to watch a lot of the big MMA fights with Pride and everything, Mauro is that voice.” (quotes courtesy of ChrisVanVliet.com)

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“He’s a friend of mine… no. He has mental health issues. He can help any organization, Mauro. Mauro Ranallo is that good. He’s not a great traveler and that’s not knocking Mauro. It’s just he has issues that are more important than who’s doing Dynamite next week.” (quote courtesy of SEScoops.com)

Since leaving WWE, Ranallo did a one-off commentary job at Impact Wrestling’s Rebellion event in 2021.

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“We did this show called Bring It To The Table and everybody points to that show being the point of me taking a shot at Mauro. Well, on that show, before we did it, there were about three to five minutes we needed for the show. They said, ‘What can we do?’. They said, ‘Hey, there’s this internet poll that makes Mauro the number one announcer. Can you do something on that?’. I said, ‘Yeah, of course’. So I went on the show. I did a rant on the show about how they’re calling Mauro the number one announcer. He’s retweeted it, and blah, blah, blah, 100% in character, and people talk about that poll, and I was so jealous of that poll that I went on TV and talked about it. I didn’t know the poll existed until right before we went on the show and I just assumed Mauro knew that that was something I had done in character. That was just me being JBL on camera. I think Mauro took that the wrong way. I hope now he realizes that that was something that I did that was 100% in character.”

“I saw Mauro a few weeks later, everything fell out and I became the bad guy with everything, and I saw him standing by his car on his phone. I think it was New Orleans. Anyway, I walked across the parking lot and he was on his phone so I couldn’t talk to him. But I shook his hand. I just went across, shook his hand and he said, ‘How you doing, man?’. I said, ‘Good, brother’, and I just left. (I wanted to) let him know that there was no ill-intent, at least me toward him. I regret the whole situation. I wish that Mauro had known for sure. I think that was one of the things that was really upsetting. I know it was upsetting to a lot of fans because they all talked about that show.” (quotes courtesy of Fightful.com)

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“I’ve got to tell you, I had a blast working with D-Lo Brown and Matt Striker and what a match between AEW Champion Kenny Omega and Unified IMPACT belt-holder Rich Swann in a title-for-title mega main event. A big thank you to Scott D’Amore and all the people at IMPACT Wrestling for making me feel so welcome. It reminded me of, honestly, when I started my career at 16. Yeah, last night reignited my passion for professional wrestling. Very chill, relaxed atmosphere – a lot of support, a lot of respect, and a lot of hungry and determined roster comprising some decorated vets and some very talented up-and-comers.”

“I thought everyone delivered and from what I understand, the pay-per-view is getting rave reviews, and even more importantly, the pay-per-view buyrate should be one of the best that IMPACT Wrestling has done in some time. Yeah, it was great to see so many familiar faces and I do hope to get to do it again.” (quotes courtesy of PostWrestling.com)

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