POST Wrestling catches up with Mike Bailey.
This upcoming weekend, ‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey has a handful of matches ahead of him. He’ll be wrestling Hiroshi Tanahashi at NJPW x IMPACT Multiverse United, he has Kota Ibushi’s first match since the fall of 2021, he’ll be taking on AAA Mega Champion El Hijo del Vikingo in addition to other bouts.
POST Wrestling’s John Pollock and Wai Ting caught up with him for a chat (POST Café subscription required) about the current happenings in his career. During the conversation, Bailey teased that there are matches he’s in that have yet to be announced.
Also, not to spoil anything but aside from the crazy number of matches that I have announced coming up, I’ve got even more that are unannounced so expect some surprises on top of the insanity there already is… I think I made a mistake (he laughed). But I’m sure it’ll all work itself out somehow.
In IMPACT Wrestling, Bailey has won two year-end awards in the company and is a former X Division Champion. There were changes made to the world title scene within IMPACT as both Mickie James and Josh Alexander went down with injuries and in Alexander’s case, he had to relinquish the World Title.
Bailey said it has caused some turmoil but the IMPACT locker room is strong and injuries are a part of the sport.
It’s turmoil but that is professional wrestling. You gotta roll with the punches, right? Injuries are a part of the sport and Josh Alexander injured, Mickie James, the Knockouts Champion injured as well. There is a lot happening and everything headed into Multiverse (United) which is the New Japan versus IMPACT show at The Globe (Theatre) on Thursday where I’ll be wrestling (Hiroshi) Tanahashi is chaos and everything is ready for that but man, the IMPACT Wrestling locker room is strong and we’re just moving ahead. IMPACT has been, as you said, doing better and better since I got there and I don’t wanna take all the credit. I mean, I wanna take some of the credit for it but not all of it. The team has been absolutely fantastic and IMPACT has been making some fantastic choices in terms of who they hire and who they present and who they feature and I think that definitely has given some results and as we saw in Windsor, sold-out crowd, huge arena, super excited for what comes next.
Looking at the match versus Kota Ibushi at Bloodsport, it will be his first since the G1 Climax final in 2021. Bailey feels himself and Ibushi have the DDT Pro-Wrestling factor between them which he feels gives them the ability to be prepared for any and everything.
So, you’re absolutely correct. We (Bailey & Kota Ibushi) both have striking. I think where our styles both match the best is the DDT (Pro-Wrestling) factor and the fact that we both came up within that universe where you truly learn to expect the unexpected and if there’s any promotion in the world where literally anything in the world might happen, it is DDT. So I think we’re both gonna welcome that part with open arms.
Throughout the week, POST Wrestling will have a multitude of reports from shows in the LA area. To get a look at this week’s schedule, click here.
