Mike Bailey speaks about the safety net of being a contracted professional wrestler, believing he might not have gotten to that point in his career, and what life was like in wrestling before social media.
After decades of grinding away on the independent circuit, Mike Bailey is a full-time wrestler for AEW. The journey has allowed him to appreciate what he has now, and during a recent interview on Fightful's Grapsody podcast, Bailey was able to discuss the positives of having a contract in pro wrestling and the perspective his particular road gives him at this stage in his career.
"It's great to have the kind of safety net that I never thought I would in terms of being able to be fully focused on professional wrestling and not like worried about, ‘Is this gonna, gonna end,’ right? It could end at any moment," he said. "That's kind of where I've been for the last, probably, 10 years before that, even when the whole world shut down for nearly two years and I didn't know if there would ever be professional wrestling. I didn't know if I was going to be able to go back to it after giving so much time to it. But man, pro wrestling in 2025 is by far the best it's ever been.
"It was rough out there for many reasons," he continued. "For many, many different groups of people, it was impossible and a literal nightmare. In 2005, when I started wrestling, again, it was very different. As you said, it was pre-social media. There was no way to get your name out there. There was no way for the shows I was on to even be advertised, past promoters stapling flyers to telephone poles and hoping that people see it. This is pre-Facebook we're talking about. I'm sure a lot of your audience doesn't even remember a world before Facebook. But looking at where pro wrestling was even when I started and where it is now really makes me question the people who are nostalgic for the good old days. Because man, what is being presented now is fantastic. Locker rooms are a nice, supportive, healthy place to be, and it wasn't always that way, and I'm just thankful that I get to be in AEW in 2025."
Bailey's path has taken him to AEW Dynasty, where he will challenge Ricochet and Kenny Omega for the AEW International Title. Fans can view the entire lineup for the event here.
Bailey's path has taken him to AEW Dynasty, where he will challenge Ricochet and Kenny Omega for the AEW International Title. Fans can view the entire lineup for the event here.
