“Speedball” Mike Bailey wants to face one of the best in the world.
The former X-Division Champion had a stellar 2024. The man was the face of the X-Division and became the champion on three separate occasions. But it wasn’t just the fact that Bailey won the prestigious belt; it was the fact that the 34-year-old was opening eyes to wrestling fans thanks to his tremendous matches. He had memorable matches against Mustafa Ali, El Hijo del Vikingo, and Will Ospreay; the sky was the limit for Bailey once his contract expired late last year.
Naturally, many thought that he would be WWE bound, but the rumors spread like wildfire that AEW was his ultimate destination and Bailey finally made his debut in the International Eliminator tournament. The winner gets to face Kenny Omega at Dynasty, and it’s a match that the new AEW star has been chasing for a decade now.
“Eventually, I started wrestling for DDT, which is the same promotion in Japan that Kenny Omega came up with, trying to follow in his footsteps,” Mike Bailey said to Sid Pullar III for The Takedown on SI. “And I mean, that’s been the journey, that’s been the goal for me, that’s where I been looking at.
“In 2015, I was in PWG with all the best wrestlers in the world and it took me another 10 years to finally make it and officially be “ALL ELITE”, officially be back “Where The Best Wrestle” with those very same people. But yeah, I mean I’ve been literally chasing Kenny Omega for 10 years.”
This should be a great matc, should Speedball win the International tournament. Now Mike and Kenny had a match back at PWG All Star Weekend 11 in 2015 and not surprisingly, these two had one hell of a match. Like Mike said, it’s been ten years since these two fought one another so it would be great to see how much these two have grown since their first encounter.
We’ll find out who Omega’s next opponent will be this Wednesday as AEW has confirmed that the four winners of last week’s tournament matches will meet in a four way bout to determine the number one contender. That means it will be Ricochet vs. Mike Bailey vs. Mark Davis vs. Orange Cassidy. On paper, this match could easily be a match of the year contender. It should definitely be fun to watch.