Canadian wrestler “Speedball” Mike Bailey have revealed that he will wrestle with Impact wrestling “for a few more years” amid speculation of a move to AEW or WWE. Bailey is seen as one of the premier young talents in wrestling over the past decade, impressing from an early age and putting on some incredible matches during his career so far.
He was poised to become a break out star but suffered a setback after trying to enter the country in 2016. He was detained for illegally entering the United States from his home country of Canada and was banned from America for a further five years. It was reported by Dave Meltzer that he was in the process of obtaining a visa to work in the country through Combat Zone Wrestling, but a delay in the process caused him to be banned for the US for half a decade.
This meant he was not able to wrestle in any of the major American promotions, missing out on wrestling in places like WWE, TNA and ROH, among many other places he was likely to wrestle him as his stock grew and grew. A supremely gifted wrestler, he found work wrestling in places like Canada, Europe and Japan while he eagerly waited for his ban to expire.
Once he was allowed back into the country, “Speedball” Mike Bailey joined up with Impact wrestling. He signed a contract with the former TNA after a match against Josh Alexander for the Impact World Championship. He has since revealed that that deal was for a good few years and that we should not expect to see him signing for someone like the WWE for a long, long time.
Speaking to Chris Van Vliet, Mike Bailey said this about his Impact Wrestling contract’
“I mean, I’m gonna be with IMPACT Wrestling for a few more years. And I’m very excited about that. I want to grow along with IMPACT, and I think that’s a big part of it. I feel like — I’m not taking any credit for it, but they have absolutely been making all the right moves. And Scott [D’Amore] has taken the company in a very, very interesting direction. And they have been growing, the shows have been consistently getting better. They’ve come out of the pandemic, and just knocked it out of the park. The live events are absolutely fantastic. And I think that I don’t think there’s a limit right now, to what I can do in IMPACT. And I think that the more all of us at IMPACT grow, the more the company is going to grow. And I feel like that’s limitless, kind of.“
In the same interview, he also revealed where the name Speedball came from and talked about the dream matches he has had since his return to the country, including bouts against top stars like KENTA and Jon Moxley.