WWE: “Speedball” Mike Bailey in Contract Talks, More WWE Tryouts Held, More on Recent Releases

May 22, 2021

“Speedball” Mike Bailey Reportedly in Talks for WWE Deal

Canadian wrestler “Speedball” Mike Bailey reportedly is currently in talks with WWE regarding a potential contract with the company, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s issue that WWE is currently working on getting Bailey’s visa issues in the United States resolved first before talks can progress any further. Bailey had been on a five-year ban from entering the United States following an incident in March of 2016 where he was stopped at the US-Canadian border while trying to enter the country to work for an event for EVOLVE at the time.

During a recent live stream on his official Twitch channel, Bailey commented on reports of him being in talks with WWE for a contract. Bailey stated “when I have anything to confirm or deny, I won’t do it on my Twitch channel.”

More AEW Dark Talent at WWE Tryouts This Week

Fightful Select reported that WWE held a new set of male wrestlers tryouts at their Performance Center earlier this week featuring several talent who have worked for AEW’s Dark series on YouTube.

It was reported that John Skyler, Will Allday, Tyson Maddux, Brady Pierce, David Ali, and Ariel Levy were among those from AEW’s Dark series who were invited by WWE for this past week’s tryouts. It was also reported that indies wrestlers Wheeler Yuta, Alexander James, and Jason Cade were also invited for a tryout.

Full list of indies talent at WWE’s tryout this past week:

Idris Abraham
David Ali
Will Allday
Jason Cade
Nate Carter
Joshua Dawkins
Robert Fuchs
Alexander James
Ray Jaz
Ariel Levy
Jake Logan
Tyson Maddux
Brady Pierce
Romeo Quevedo
Rayo
EJ Risk/Eric James
Patrick Scott
John Skyler
Tony Vega
Wheeler Yuta

More on WWE’s Talent Releases This Week

As noted before, WWE released nine talent earlier this week as part of a new round of roster cuts in the company.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources within the company stated that all of the developmental talent and referees released this past were were informed that the reason was due to “budget cuts.”

Johnson also reported that WWE officials originally had planned for this round of releases to take place around three weeks ago but made the decision instead to wait for a later date.