Mike Bailey

Mike Bailey in May 2023

###

Laval, Quebec, Canada

**Émile Charles Baillargeon-Laberge** (Born July 16, 1990) is a Canadian professional wrestler and taekwondoist, better known by the ring name **"Speedball" Mike Bailey**. He is currently signed to Impact Wrestling (IMPACT), where he is a former X Division Champion. Through a working relationship between Impact Wrestling and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), he also makes appearances for the promotion.

He has multiple worked for promotions around the world including Japan's Dramatic Dream Team (DDT) and its sub brand, DDT New Attitude (DNA), where he is a former KO-D Tag Team Champion, while also being the winner of DDT's 2016 DNA Grand Prix.

## Professional wrestling career

### Early Career (2006–2010)

In 2006, Bailey began training at the age of 15 with Fred "La Merveille" at the Montreal Wrestling Federation. Despite his training with MWF, Bailey had his first match at Paul Leduc's Fédération de Lutte Québécoise in early 2006. Bailey made his IWS debut on January 10, 2009 at Season's Beatings, and stayed there until the promotion held its (then) final show on October 9, 2010.

### Dramatic Dream Team/DDT New Attitude (2016–2020)

After he was banned from entering the United States, Bailey began working internationally and debuted for Japanese promotion DDT in August 2016, losing to Isami Kodaka. The following day, Bailey competed in a special Royal Rumble as Mike Tajiri, where all of the wrestlers involved dressed and acted like current and former WWE Superstars. On August 28, Bailey teamed with Dick Togo in a tag team match, losing to Damnation (Daisuke Sasaki and Tetsuya Endo). In October, Bailey entered the DNA Grand Prix, finishing first in his block and defeating Kazusada Higuchi in the finals to win the tournament. On November 23 at God Bless DDT, Bailey lost to Daisuke Sasaki. Three days later, Bailey teamed with Konosuke Takeshita to defeat Tetsuya Endo and Mad Paulie. On December 4 at Osaka Octopus, Bailey and Takeshita defeated Endo and Sasaki to win the KO-D Tag Team Championships and successfully defended them one week later against Danshoku Dino and Keisuke Ishii. On January 3, Bailey unsuccessfully challenged HARASHIMA for the KO-D Openweight Championship, and on January 9, he and Takeshita lost the KO-D Tag Team Championships to Masakatsu Funaki and Yukio Sakaguchi. Following the loss, Bailey started to compete in singles competition. During a six-man tag team match, Bailey pinned Takeshita to win his Right to Challenge Anytime, Anywhere contract. This contract granted a shot for the KO-D Openweight Championship anytime he wanted. However, Bailey didn't want to cash in anytime and anywhere so he choosed to cash in his contract on July 2. On July 2 Bailey unsuccessfully challenged Takeshita for the KO-D Openweight Championship. On July 22, 2018 Bailey and MAO defeated Tetsuya Endo and Mad Paulie to win the KO-D Tag Team Championship and later formed a team named the Moonlight Express. From November 30 until December 15, Bailey took part in the 2019 D-Oh Grand Prix, where he finished the tournament with a record of three wins and three losses, failing to advance to the finals of the tournament. During the tournament, Bailey briefly held the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship, before losing it at the tournament. On January 5, 2019 Bailey and MAO defeated Shiori Ashai and Makoto Oishi to win Strongest-K Tag Team Championship, becoming double crown champions in the process. On March 21, 2019 Bailey and MAO lost the titles to Daisuke Sasaki and Tetsuya Endo.

### New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2022–present)

On February 27, 2022 it was announced by NJPW that Bailey was going to take part of NJPW Strong's Lonestar Shootout event with Bailey challenging Jay White to match at the event as part of White's US of Jay Open Challenge. On April 27, Bailey was announced to take part in the 2023 Best of the Super Juniors in Japan. Bailey finished the tournament with a record of seven wins and two losses, advancing to the semifinals of the tournament. On May 26, Bailey was defeated by Master Wato, in the semifinals.

On August 19, 2023, at All Star Junior Festival USA, Bailey defeated Kevin Knight in the finals to win the All Star Jr. Festival USA tournament, earning a shot at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. Following the win, Bailey called out reigning champion, Hiromu Takahashi, and challenged him to a title match, which he accepted. On August 23, NJPW announced a three-way match between Bailey, Takahashi and Lio Rush for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship at Destruction in Ryogoku, following the latter's title challenge at Multiverse United 2. However, Rush would be forced to pull out of the title match, due to an ilness, leading to a three-way match at Destruction in Ryogoku, on October 9, between Bailey, Rush's partner Yoh and Takahashi for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, which Bailey failed to win, after arriving in Japan hours before the title match.

## Personal life

Bailey holds fourth degree black belt in taekwondo.

In March 2016 Bailey attempted to travel to Florida to compete for Evolve, Bailey was stopped by US border control who found that he had no work visa, and Bailey was subsequently banned from entering the United States for the next five years. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that he was in the process of obtaining a Visa through Combat Zone Wrestling at the time of his ban, however the process was going extremely slowly and would have forced him to miss the Evolve booking.

Bailey has been engaged to fellow wrestler Veda Scott since November 2020. They were married in May 2022.

Bailey speaks French as his first language; although he is also fluent in English and Japanese.

## In wrestling

* **Finishing moves**
	+ High speed roundhouse kick to a kneeling opponent
	+ *Ultima Weapon* (Shooting Star double knee drop)
	+ *Green Tea Plunge* (Running Corkscrew Shooting Star Press)
	+ *Meteor Rain* (Avalanche Fallaway Fisherman Buster)
	+ *Flamingo Driver* (Cross-legged one-handed electric chair driver)
* **Signature moves**
	+ Frankensteiner, sometimes from the top rope or inverted
	+ Fisherman Driver
	+ Multiple kick variations
		- Drop
		- Front thrust
		- *Machine Gun Kicks* (Multiple shoot to both sides of the opponent ended with either an enzuigiri or a roundhouse)
		- Roundhouse
		- Shoot
		- Spinning heel
		- Spinning thrust
	+ Multiple moonsault variations
		- Corkscrew to the outside of the ring
		- Standing fallaway slam, as a counter to an oncoming opponent
		- Standing double knee drop
	+ Multiple shooting star variations
		- Regular
		- Plancha
		- Standing
		- Running
* **Nicknames**
	+ **Speedball**

* **Entrance theme**
	+ "Fly Me To The Moon" by Saw Loser (DDT/DNA)
	+ "Over Time" by Vibe Tracks (Japanese Independent circuit)
	+ **"Where Do The Gone Things Go"** by Sergey Kolosov (IMPACT and NJPW)

## Championships and accomplishments

* **Dramatic Dream Team**
	+ Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship (1 time)
	+ KO-D Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Konosuke Takeshita (1) and MAO (1)
	+ DNA Grand Prix (2016)
* **Kaientai Dojo**
	+ Strongest-K Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with MAO
* ***Pro Wrestling Illustrated***
	+ PWI ranked him **#425** of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2014
	+ PWI ranked him **#324** of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2015
	+ PWI ranked him **#145** of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2016
	+ PWI ranked him **#249** of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2017
* **Southside Wrestling/Revolution Pro Wrestling**
	+ SWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with MAO