Former TNA Champion Reveals WWE Signing Was Halted Because of “New Hiring Guidelines”

WWE has been scouting various talent on the independent scene over the past year. Former AEW wrestler Brian Pillman Jr. (NXT’s Lexis King) debuted on the brand last October and in recent months so has Ethan Page, though he claims he remains a free agent. 19-year-old Je’Von Evans (formerly Jay Malachi) is also part of the NXT brand alongside Uriah Connors (Brogan Finlay). 

As it turns out, WWE has scouted some of the top talent on the scene as well, including “Speedball” Mike Bailey who is currently signed to TNA. Bailey has been in the wrestling business for nearly two decades, appearing in many of the world’s top companies over the last few years. He continues to dominate everywhere he goes with his innovative style so it’s not hard to see why WWE would find him to be a valuable asset.

Bailey recently spoke about “signing” with WWE prior to his TNA signing. As it turns out, a highlight reel that he had posted got the attention of several companies including WWE. He was part of NXT for a few months but they let him go before he could actually be hired. After he did what was asked of him, he noticed a lot of the NXT roster was being fired.

Mike Bailey Almost Signs With WWE

“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,” Bailey said on Talk Is Jericho. “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’” (h/t: POST Wrestling).

After that, Bailey says he was panicked but he made the best out of the situation and ended up reaching back out to the companies that had made him offers and that’s when he opted to sign with TNA. Bailey has been with TNA for two years, first appearing in 2022. Over the course of his tenure he’s won the X-Division Championship and has even competed for the IMPACT/TNA World Title. Now, he works in a tag team with Trent Seven, Speedball Mountain.

Of course, with WWE now collaborating with TNA and the possible crossover to TNA television soon, that opens the door for many possibilities, including for Bailey. He has also made it known that his current TNA contract expires at the end of 2024 and though he’d be interested in staying, he wouldn’t mind pursuing ventures elsewhere either.