Mike Bailey on signing with AEW: ‘It’s where I belong’

  • Ian Carey
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Mike Bailey’s career has taken a few twists and turns over the years, but following his AEW debut, Bailey says he’s exactly where he belongs.

Bailey defeated The Beast Mortos in his first AEW match on Dynamite last week. He’d been with TNA Wrestling since January 2022, winning the X-Division title on three occasions.

He told Bleacher Report recently that it was time for him to “step up and make it to the big leagues.”

“I think my biggest accomplishment in pro wrestling, and in life to be honest, is making every single year better than the last,” he said. “It was time for me to step up and make it to the big leagues, and AEW is where the best wrestle, and in my opinion, it’s where I belong.”

Bailey isn’t limiting himself to AEW. He also hopes to wrestle for NJPW and CMLL, both of which have working relationships with AEW.

“Over the last three years under my previous contract, I was allowed to do all the independent bookings that I want. I wrestled for every single promotion in America that I could because I love variety,” he continued. “Obviously, right now, AEW is my focus. It’s where I want to be, it’s where I want to wrestle, but wrestling for New Japan and CMLL and going to those places to represent AEW would be a huge honor.”

Bailey is scheduled for the four-way match on tonight’s Dynamite to determine who will challenge Kenny Omega for the AEW International Championship at Revolution. Bailey says Omega is the greatest Canadian wrestler of all time, even better than Bret Hart.

“I get a lot of flak for this and this is when I get very controversial,” he said. “I think 2025 is the best year for professional wrestling in history. It’s hard to not be nostalgic, and of course you have to give people like Bret Hart his credit for what an innovator he was and just how special he was as a performer.”

“But I don’t think there is or has ever been a Canadian pro wrestler as good as Kenny Omega. I’m sure and I hope that there will be 10 years from now. Maybe we don’t know him or he’s just gotten started in professional wrestling and 20 years from now he will be outdone.”

“But for now, it’s Kenny Omega by leaps and bounds. My goal is to make it as far as I can so that I can one day have someone I train surpass me, and that’s a much bigger goal for me than making it far myself.”

Before signing with TNA Wrestling, Bailey believed he was headed to WWE for a run on the NXT brand. During an appearance on Talk is Jericho last year, he revealed that he was in the hiring process when WWE informed him that new recruitment policies—which coincided with Vince McMahon’s return—meant they could no longer bring him in. Shortly after, he debuted in TNA Wrestling.

Prior to signing with TNA in 2022, Bailey spent five years banned from entering the United States due to a 2016 visa violation when he attempted to work an EVOLVE event without proper documentation. Similar bans have previously impacted other Canadian wrestlers, including Nicole Matthews, who is now cleared to work in the U.S. again. Evil Uno and Stu Grayson were once flagged for a similar issue.