Thom Latimer Will Defend The NWA Worlds Heavyweight Title At MLP NORTHERN RISING

Thom Latimer will make his return to Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling.

The current NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion made his debut for the Canadian promotion back in March as Latimer successfully defended his title against Bishop Dyer (aka Baron Corbin). Latimer will be defending his title on MLP Northern Rising, but against a very interesting name: Stu Grayson. 

The match is set! @Stu_dos Grayson looks to put his name in the history books as one of the few Canadians to hold the @NWA World's Heavyweight Championship when he challenges the reigning World Champion @Thomas_Latimer_ at #MLPNorthernRising! It all goes down on May 10 at the… pic.twitter.com/Hm0P8woVcq

— MAPLE LEAF PRO Wrestling (@MapleLeafPW) April 15, 2025

If you’re unfamiliar with Grayson then he’s one of the original members of AEW's Dark Order. Grayson's first stint in AEW ended in May 2022. The 36-year-old was vocal about his unhappiness with simply wrestling on AEW Dark and Elevation. The two sides came to an agreement a year later as Grayson returned with his buddy Evil Uno on Dynamite. But his time on Dynamite didn’t last long as he was soon relegated to Ring of Honor shows.

Grayson competed down there for a while and he even turned on his Dark Order faction. However, once that feud ended, his tenure with AEW/ROH didn’t last long as Grayson was released on April 1, 2024. There was no reason why the former AEW star was released. Since then, Grayson has been working hard down in the indie scene.

Now Grayson has been working in Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling for quite some time. He originally made his debut in October 2024 teaming with Josh Alexander and El Phantasmo to take on Alex Zayne, Rocky Romero, and Trevor Lee. This will be his first title shot for the NWA Worlds Heavyweight title. 

Overall, this will be Latimer’s 17th title defense since beating EC3 at NWA 76 in September 2024. The upcoming MLP show is filled with plenty of recognizable names such as Billy Gunn, Serena Deeb, Kylie Rae, QT Marshall, and Rich Swann.

Check out the current lineup for MLP Northern Rising:

MLP Northern Rising (5/10)

• Serena Deeb vs. Miyu Yamashita
• MLP Women's Canadian Championship: Gisele Shaw vs. Kylie Rae
• MLP Canadian Championship - 20 Man Gauntlet Match: PCO vs. Rhino vs. Johnny Parisi vs. Billy Gunn vs. El Phantasmo vs. Josh Alexander vs. Raj Dhesi vs. QT Marshall vs. Rich Swann vs. Psycho Mike vs. Bishop Dyer vs. Michael Allen Richard Clark vs. Sheldon Jean vs. Alex Zayne vs. Bhupinder Gujjar
• NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship: Thom Latimer (c) vs. Stu Grayson