AEW's Adam Copeland getting a chance to appear at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto means more beyond wrestling

Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling (MLP) will hold Northern Rising on Oct. 3 at the venue historically known as Maple Leaf Gardens, now known as the Mattamy Athletic Centre at the Gardens.

There is high anticipation for the event. Not only is a Canadian professional wrestling company returning to a place where the National Wrestling Alliance held major matches in the past, but All Elite Wrestling (AEW) star Adam Copeland will finally receive his own full-circle moment.

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Adam Copeland speaks onstage during the “Percy Jackson And The Olympians” panel during 2024 Comic-Con International at San Diego Convention Center on July 25, 2024 in San Diego, California. (Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)

For Copeland, Toronto is home. Going to Maple Leaf Gardens to watch pro wrestling as a kid was a seminal moment for a young Copeland. It allowed him to dream about getting into the squared circle himself.

“Maple Leaf Gardens was the very first time I saw wrestling live, and to see it live and for it to be this tangible thing and wait, these guys and women, they’re real,” he told OutKick in a recent interview. “I can go see them and actually smack hands with them and that kind of thing? But just the feeling that it gave me as a release and as a place where I didn’t have to worry about things as a kid and I didn’t have to think about, you know, the stuff that goes on in life. We lost my uncle when I was very young and I was very close to him and I feel like that was a big hole that wrestling helped try and fill, it doesn’t fill it, but you know what I mean.

“Man, the first time I saw it, I just went, I got to do this. But I’m 9, 10 saying that, right? But it was Maple Leaf Gardens and the fact that it was in that venue added more importance to it for me because all I ever did was watch stuff from Maple Leaf Gardens whether it was Maple Leaf wrestling or the Toronto Maple Leafs. My world kind of revolved around that arena and I never got down for a Leafs game, but we could afford wrestling tickets and so to get down there, experience so many shows over there over the years and just experience what it felt like because, I’ve said before, I feel at a certain point, if the arena’s been around long enough and had enough shows and experiences there, they almost start to soak in some of those experiences and some of that energy and some of those emotions so that when you walk in them, you feel like, oh, stuff has happened here.”

Copeland said being able to actually compete at Maple Leaf Gardens had eluded him.

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Adam Copeland and Christian Cage wrestling in a ring at AEW Double or Nothing in Queens

Adam Copeland and Christian Cage win at AEW Double or Nothing in Queens, N.Y., on May 24, 2026. (Lee South/AEW)

By the time he was fully performing in the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE), the company was doing shows in the SkyDome (now Rogers Center) and the Air Canada Centre (now Scotiabank Arena).

“But I just missed it and I just missed a lot of them. I just missed Boston Garden. I just missed the Spectrum. I just missed these ones,” he said. “So, the fact that I can go back and have an opportunity and also do my first, ‘indie show’ in I don’t even know how long and to do it in Canada, to do it in that arena, to do it with (MLP owner) Scott D’Amore, who, you know, we started in the industry at the same time and rode so many roads together and lived together and experienced so much together and remained in contact all these years and he had seen an interview I did where I said I think I might have to run a show at Maple Leaf Gardens in order to check that one off my list and here we are, four years later, maybe five, and get a chance to do it, I mean I was going to make sure it happened I just thought it might be on my own trying to figure it all out once I retire, but then when I retire, I just want to retire.”

Copeland said he was thankful D’Amore was able to help put together Copeland’s appearance and was excited for the opportunity.

“And man, I just can’t wait. I can’t wait to feel it to just to experience that and have my own working experience there,” he told OutKick. “I have my own personal experiences there that I know and I’ve kept and I always will keep close to heart. But to be able to create one of my own, that’s very special. And to do it off the back of Arena México, Wembley coming up, Maple Leaf Gardens, it’s like, man, I’m checking them. I’m getting them. I’m getting them done. And it’s fun at this stage of my career, this deep in to still have those things to chase. I think that’s what’s kept me kind of like, right, OK, and then the danger is there’s always that thing to chase but I’ve come to terms with that.”