Mike Bailey realized his talent early on.
Many pro wrestlers have admitted that it was their goal to be in the industry since they were a young child. Although this is the case for 'Speedball' Mike Bailey, the current IMPACT X-Division Champion was seemingly way ahead of the game at that young age.
In a new interview with Fightful, Bailey revealed that he was practicing wrestling from the very young age of nine years old.
"So that happened very, very young. I want to say probably eight / nine years old. Me and my brother would do—not quite backyard, ‘cause we’d do it indoors, but—wrestling on our mattresses and we were smart about it. We would watch people on TV and we’d try to accurately replicate the technique in what they were doing. So nine year old Mike Bailey could probably do way crazier moves than he can now. So we had dressers on each side of the mattress, that was our top ropes."
Bailey went on to reveal that he was doing phoenix splashes off of desks at the same age.
"My brother would stand up on the dresser with his little brother, he’d pick me up in a powerbomb and I would counter it into a hurricanrana off of there. I did phoenix splashes off of desks when I was nine years old and I’d land them properly and hit them properly. It happened very often. We’d have friends come over to wrestle with us and my brother and I—who did this many, many hours a day every day—we’re like, ‘Oh, wow. These guys can’t really move.’"
Bailey now does hurricanranas, powerbombs, phoenix splashes, and much more on a weekly basis for IMPACT Wrestling, where he currently holds the company's X-Division Title.
Elsewhere in the interview, Bailey named some of his favorite matches in his career. To learn more, click here.
