At GCW Middle of the Night, "Speedball" Mike Bailey challenged Nick Gage for the GCW World Championship.
The action spilled to the outside during the match, and as Bailey was crouched on the ground, he was kicked by a fan. Bailey turned around and began walking towards the fan before turning his attention back to Gage.
Speaking on his Twitch stream, Bailey commented on the incident.
He started by noting that he was playing the heel because Gage is the top face in GCW. He enjoyed the banter with the crowd who were yelling insults, but not crossing any lines. He liked one fan who was constantly flipping him off.
Bailey pulled up the video and began breaking it down.
"I'm crouching because I'm waiting to Nick Gage to turn and face me while he's holding his door, so I can jump side kick his door. I'm 20 feet from Gage. The floor is soaked in beer and I have to do a running jump kick. He just nudges me in the butt and I'm like, 'what the hell is that? What the hell just happened?' The Orange Cassidy kick, essentially. It's fucked up, don't do this. In a Simpsons shirt, which I just noticed. If I had saw that, I would have been like, 'this is fine.' He represents Homer," Bailey said with a smile.
Bailey continued, "He pushes me, I turn around. This is the moment where I have to make a decision. You see him move back, his friends hold him, you promptly see Adam [the referee] get in the way. He has a job to ref the match. I firmly believe this, never hit anyone unless, speaking as a wrestler, you're ready to hit back. I will never hit anyone. Two reasons to hit someone, you need to protect yourself and it is for self-defense. Two, the person is an actual problem for society, for example, a Nazi. Being a Nazi is a good reason to hit someone. Am I in danger? This is what I'm assessing. He pushes me and quickly backs off, you have guys (getting in-between), I can tell he's fucked up and drunk. Not a danger to me. He's just a drunken idiot at the show. I have nothing to gain by hitting this guy."
This is the video. I asked permission to post this. https://t.co/av19es7xyn pic.twitter.com/6FbsS7forj
— Anissa Barr (@AnissaBarrr) February 20, 2023
Bailey said he's never been in a fight that wasn't sanctioned and told people they shouldn't be fighting in the streets. Bailey noted multiple times that he never felt in danger after assessing the situation and noted that he was in a position to kick him in the head if needed.
Bailey also said that his priority was the match against Gage. "I didn't give a single fuck....this happens and then I have to run across a floor covered in beer and jump side kick Nick Gage. It would have taken away from the match. What happens if I start beating his ass? The matches screeches to a halt. The match changes, stops, gets fucked up. My job is to wrestle, not inflate my ego by hitting someone who is clearly intoxicated and has very little fighting experience judging by that kick."
Bailey wasn't sure if the fan was kicked out, but could see why he wasn't because it was a quick incident and Bailey didn't say anything to the referee about kicking him out. Bailey said he would be a lot less tolerant when it comes to kicking people out if he was a promoter, noting he would kick someone out if they had a megaphone or a horn.
Bailey did shutdown anyone body shaming the man by saying, "Body shaming is not it. There are a lot reasons to condemn this guy and call him out. I hope he's shamed publicly. There are 125,000 people who watch the video, saw this guy, and went 'wow, what an asshole.' That's a lot of shame. I hope he knows it and feels it," he said.
Bailey said he hopes the fan gets banned from GCW unless there is a hand-written letter of apology. "That should be the standard."
He closed by saying, "The guy was just a dick, not a threat. Different things."
Bailey noted that he won't be suing anyone and you shouldn't get the law involved unless needed. He also joked that if Gage had caught the incident, he may not have been so kind. He also said he didn't think about the incident until it was brought up after the match and it became a thing on Twitter.
Fans can find full results from GCW Middle of the Night by clicking here.
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