'Well-liked' 34-year-old star headed to AEW, WWE almost signed him two years ago [Reports]
A massive star is reportedly AEW bound. He also almost signed with WWE two years ago.
"Speedball" Mike Bailey is one of the most entertaining stars in professional wrestling at the moment. During his career, he wrestled for several promotions such as Combat Zone Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, and Ring of Honor before eventually signing with TNA Wrestling in 2021.
During his time in TNA, he won the X-Division Championship and established himself as one of the top stars in the company. He was also a fan favorite due to his in-ring skills. Hence, Mike Bailey was able to attract interest from World Wrestling Entertainment two years ago but nothing came through.
Sean Ross Sapp addressed Bailey's future on The Fightful Report noting that he finished with TNA in Detroid and said his goodbyes to his colleagues. Sapp also mentioned that the star being written off TV is an indication that he is headed to AEW instead of WWE or NXT.
"He finished up with the company in Detroit, said his goodbyes to a lot of people on the roster. We had so many people after the news of that emerged that spoke so highly of him, how professional he is, how well-liked he is and all that and he's headed towards AEW my friends. So, an indication that we were given was well he wouldn't need to be written off if he was headed to NXT or WWE because he could just continue to appear as a part of this talent exchange." [1:50 - 2:23]
Mike Bailey was spotted backstage in AEW after getting an offer from WWE
Mike Bailey is one of the most entertaining in-ring performers and he has been performing on the independent scene for a long time. Given his talent, he attracted a lot of offers from a lot of promotions before signing with TNA Wrestling. Even WWE was interested in the former X-Division Champion at one point.
During the same Fightful Report, Sean Ross Sapp confirmed that Mike Bailey was backstage recently for an AEW show. He also stated he did have an offer from the Stamford-based promotion that fell through.
"He was actually backstage in an AEW show this summer and like I said he did have an offer from WWE that didn't end up going through a few years ago but good to see him immediately getting the attention he deserves." [3:03 - 3:18]
It will be interesting to see how Mike Bailey is booked if joins Tony Khan's pormotion in the near future.