Add as a preferred source on Google Mike Bailey had a historic night at AEW Redemption on July 26 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He won a six-way ladder match to earn a shot at the AEW International Championship.
During the post-event press conference, Bailey recalled the difficulties he faced early in his career as a French-speaking wrestler from Quebec, and took a jab — albeit an indirect one — at WWE. He never named the company, though it was clear who he meant.
“Basically, it was very difficult to start in Quebec. This is Quebec wrestling in 2005, when I started—before social media—when there was only one major promotion that really didn’t have any wrestlers whose first language wasn’t English and didn’t look around the world for the best wrestlers. They just hired whoever they wanted, whoever fit that very specific mold.”
“As someone from Quebec who didn’t fit that mold, the entire province—no one wanted to make it outside of Quebec because it seemed so unlikely, because it just didn’t make sense. No one aspired to be the greatest wrestler in the world. But now here I am in AEW, where the best wrestle.”
After his five-year ban on entering the United States ended, Bailey even accepted an offer to work for NXT. But the hiring process was halted before he signed a contract, because of new guidelines the company had adopted.
Bailey’s road to Redemption also came with some inconsistencies. Just six days before the pay-per-view, he admitted being frustrated that he still didn’t have a match booked for the Quebec show. Místico’s injury led Tony Khan to create the ladder match that Bailey went on to win.
Bailey will now face Kyle Fletcher for the AEW International Championship at Grand Slam Mexico on August 5, at Arena México.