![TNA Wrestling Star Reveals He Almost Signed With WWE Before Hiring Guidelines Change TNA Wrestling Star Reveals He Almost Signed With WWE Before Hiring Guidelines Change](https://cdn.wrestletalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/wwe-tna-logo-january-13-a.jpg)
WWE/TNA
TNA Wrestling star Speedball Mike Bailey has detailed how he almost joined WWE, explaining why his deal didn’t come together.
While Bailey has made a name for himself as a notable star on the independent scene, the Canadian wrestler is currently signed to a contract with TNA Wrestling.
Speaking on Talk Is Jericho, Bailey recalled several companies showing interest in signing him, noting that he initially chose to sign with NXT.
Noting that WWE stopped his hiring process after changes were made to the hiring guidelines, he explained:
“January 2022 is when I debuted with TNA, with IMPACT then. But it was a long road, even then. When my ban came up, the day, I tweeted a little highlight video that I made, a little announcement my ban was ended and then that got a lot of attention and that got me talking to everyone. That got me signed with NXT for a couple months until they let me go without actually hiring me.
“After that video came out, I had already been talking with TNA, talked to some people from AEW, talked to NXT, got a bunch of offers and ended up taking the NXT one. Very excited to be there, they do the background check, they do the visa paperwork, that takes a couple months.
“Just (a) couple days after I submit the visa paperwork, for this one, you have to go and do a whole career retrospective and all the articles with all your accolades, you have to gather that and send it in. So I worked on that for several weeks, sent it all in. Then I see they’re starting to release a lot of people in NXT.
“They’re letting go of people and the person that had hired me, there was rumors that they had gotten released so I texted them and I was like, ‘Hey, is everything okay? Are we good?’ And they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, no problem. Contract’s in the mail. We’re sending it tomorrow’ and then the next day, I got an email saying, ‘Hey, due to new hiring guidelines, we’re gonna have to stop your hiring process…’”
After confirming that he had been talking to Canyon Ceman, Bailey continued:
“I was not like, whatever (he laughed). I was freaking out. I was pretty panicked. Again, this is a big deal for someone like me. I had made some very serious steps to plan my move to Orlando. Uproot my whole life and then here we are again so it’s like, well, let’s see what we can do to fix this and so I got back in touch with everyone that I had spoken to and I ended up signing with TNA, with IMPACT.
“You made that decision not even two months ago (Bailey said about WWE wanting to bring him in). You haven’t even brought me in yet. The only thing I wished is that they had at least gave me the visa and flew me down so I would have (at) least have something to show for it but not even me just sitting at home.”
Canyon Ceman, previously the Senior Vice President of Talent Development of WWE, parted ways with the company in July 2021. Bailey signed with TNA Wrestling that October.
Transcription via POST Wrestling.
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