Impact Wrestling’s Mike Bailey discusses his in-ring style, the art of pro wrestling, and when he finds pro wrestling to be the most interesting

By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)

Brass Ring Media interview with guest Mike Bailey
Host: Zack Heydorn
Podcast available via YouTube.com

Mike Bailey on his style in the ring: “There are two very important parts to that. The first one is my martial arts experience and the fact that I already had an athletic background — something that I basically mastered as much as you can when I started professional wrestling. So, it’s not like I started my professional wrestling career mirroring other wrestlers, I started my career with a skill set that I had to protect. I had things that I liked. I had professional wrestling that enjoyed and wanted to do and there were other forms of media that I wanted to incorporate within my wrestling like martial art films — of which I was always a huge fan.

“The other is, in the last ten years of my wrestling career, I travelled the world so much and what you understand when you do that is how important it is to be able to adapt and be able to do different things — not stuck in your own pattern and your own rhythm. Pro wrestling is different wherever you do it. There is always a cultural difference that affects the audience. There are expectations. The promoter’s expectations. How your opponent will expect the match to go. And I think being able to understand all that is what’s led me to be so adaptable.”

Mike Bailey on when pro wrestling is most interesting: “I think pro wrestling is at it’s most interesting when two people who don’t know each other, have never met, and don’t speak the same language, get together in a room and put together a flawlessly choreographed fight scene. I think that is the most beautiful part of professional wrestling.”

Mike Bailey on the art of professional wrestling: “Anyone in the world could have a good pro wrestling match if they had an infinite amount of time to put it together. Knowing the goal — to go out there, to put on a show, to put out something that’s memorable and will create an emotional connection with the audience. Literally anyone could do that if I had a whole team help them script the fight and we could micromanage everything. A big part of the art of professional wrestling is that it can happen ten times a week with no preparation and no control over the environment. It’s portable by definition.”