Before joining IMPACT/TNA, ‘Speedball’ almost joined WWE.
After ‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey’s five-year ban from entering the U.S.A. ended, he began working multiple independent shows in the country and would end up signing with IMPACT/TNA Wrestling.
Prior to inking a deal with IMPACT/TNA, Bailey was close to putting pen to paper with WWE to join their NXT brand. He guest appeared on Talk Is Jericho and said his signing was halted due to ‘new hiring guidelines.’ Bailey had been in communication with Canyon Ceman, former WWE S.V.P. of Talent Development.
He mentioned that when his ban came up, he had talks with IMPACT/TNA, WWE and All Elite Wrestling. Joining WWE almost became a reality and it was to the point where Bailey began making the steps to relocate to Orlando, Florida.
January 2022 is when I debuted with TNA, with IMPACT then. But it was a long road, even then. When my ban came up, the day, I tweeted a little highlight video that I made, a little announcement my ban was ended and then that got a lot of attention and that got me talking to everyone. That got me signed with NXT for a couple months until they let me go without actually hiring me.
After that video came out, I had already been talking with TNA, talked to some people from AEW, talked to NXT, got a bunch of offers and ended up taking the NXT one. Very excited to be there, they do the background check, they do the visa paperwork, that takes a couple months. Just (a) couple days after I submit the visa paperwork, for this one, you have to go and do a whole career retrospective and all the articles with all your accolades, you have to gather that and send it in. So I worked on that for several weeks, sent it all in. Then I see they’re starting to release a lot of people in NXT. They’re letting go of people and the person that had hired me, there was rumors that they had gotten released so I texted them and I was like, ‘Hey, is everything okay? Are we good?’ And they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, no problem. Contract’s in the mail. We’re sending it tomorrow’ and then the next day, I got an email saying, ‘Hey, due to new hiring guidelines, we’re gonna have to stop your hiring process…’ Yes, it was (Canyon Ceman that I was talking to).
I was not like, whatever (he laughed). I was freaking out. I was pretty panicked. Again, this is a big deal for someone like me. I had made some very serious steps to plan my move to Orlando. Uproot my whole life and then here we are again so it’s like, well, let’s see what we can do to fix this and so I got back in touch with everyone that I had spoken to and I ended up signing with TNA, with IMPACT.
You made that decision not even two months ago (Bailey said about WWE wanting to bring him in). You haven’t even brought me in yet. The only thing I wished is that they had at least gave me the visa and flew me down so I would have (at) least have something to show for it but not even me just sitting at home.
Bailey has previously stated that his contract with TNA expires at the end of 2024. He’d love to stay with the company, but is not ruling out venturing elsewhere.
I’m in my contract year (with TNA). My contract ends at the end of the year and I’m super excited. I feel like you’re (Chris Jericho) right. I’ve worked so hard, so hard to get the momentum that I have over the last two and a half years so I’m really hoping that it’s gonna pay off.
I mean, of course it would be silly of me to say that I’m just, blanket, not interested in going to whatever place. So, of course I’m looking to make the most out of my career. I still have many, many years left in me. I love TNA, I’d love to stay with TNA but who knows what the future holds? The wrestling world has been moving so incredibly fast over the last few years. I’m expecting it to be completely different six months from now. But I’m remaining very hopeful.
Bailey was featured on the 6/6 TNA iMPACT as he and Trent Seven defeated Champagne Singh and X Division Champion Mustafa Ali.
Seven defeated his partner Bailey in singles action to secure a shot at Ali’s title at Against All Odds on June 14th.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Talk Is Jericho with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
