"Speedball" Mike Bailey looks back on winning the Battle of Los Angeles tournament.
Mike Bailey is the latest winner of the Battle of Los Angeles tournament. Adding his name to the list of modern Superstars that have also won the tournament, including Ricochet and Adam Cole.
Speaking with Sports Illustrated, Bailey reflected on his victory and feeling that PWG helps make wrestlers a star.
“PWG is the place where you go to become a star,” says Bailey. “If you look at their history, the best wrestlers in the world have all been there. It’s completely out-of-this-world talent. My favorite part of this year’s ‘BOLA’ was the diversity among all the people competing. Backstage, there were so many languages being spoken that it became extremely confusing. I started speaking Japanese to Bandido because we were all so mixed up.”
To win the tournament, Bailey had to defeat four individuals from several different promotions. Jordynne Grace, Shun Skywalker, Bryan Keith, and Konosuke Takeshita all fell to "Speedball."
Reflecting on his match with Jordynne Grace, Mike said after the first match, the idea of winning felt out of reach as the odds felt insurmountable.
“I went over 15 minutes with Jordynne Grace—after that, I was thinking, ‘I have three more of these?’” says Bailey. “At that moment, it felt insurmountable. But it was a lot like when I competed in taekwondo tournaments. You’d start at nine in the morning, you’d be there all day, and you didn’t know how much time there would be between fights.
“The hardest part for me is always cooling down. Luckily, there wasn’t much time between my semifinal match and the finals. Before the semis, I got to cool down, rest, and relax, but then I warmed up, and I could feel all the damage from the first two fights. So I knew I couldn’t cool down or lose focus for a second because I needed to keep my adrenaline.”
In the end, Bailey defeated AEW's Konosuke Takeshita. Reflecting on that match, Bailey recalled a springboard moonsault to the outside, saying that even though the most difficult part of the match was still yet to come, the moment felt unreal.
“Right before the end of the finals, when we went to the outside, and I did that one last springboard moonsault onto Takeshita, I remember feeling a great sense of relief,” says Bailey. “We still had the most difficult part left, but I just felt unreal. It was a truly amazing feeling.”
Bailey will be in action against five other competitors during the Countdown to IMPACT Hard to Kill 2023 event. Fans can learn more about that at this link.
Also, Bailey has an upcoming "Pit Fight with Kenny King. Fans can learn about that here.
Despite the tournament being the normal takeaway from BOLA, this year, the event will likely be remembered for an appearance by Chris Jericho and the Jericho Appreciation Society. Fans can read about that appearance here.
