Michael Oku issues great praise for “Speedball” Mike Bailey.
In the midst of AEW All In in London next weekend, several UK-based independent promotions will running their own shows as well. On August 26, Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro) will host their 11-year anniversary show with a stacked card of international talent. One of the marquee matches will see Michael Oku defend the RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship against Trent Seven.
Before Oku squares off with Seven, though, he reflects on his experience working with and learning from former IMPACT X-Division Champion “Speedball” Mike Bailey.
“I 100 percent credit ‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey for me starting to have great matches,” Oku told Post Wrestling. “He was the guy that gave me the blueprint of how to look at wrestling matches because the going thing, as you know, he was pretty much a regular here in the U.K. for a while. The running joke was, ‘You can try as hard as you want, but if you’re on the card with Speedball Mike Bailey, he’s having the best match of the show.’ So, it made sense for me in the infancy of my career to go to him and say, ‘Let me ask that guy for advice on how to have better matches.'”
“He gave me the blueprint of how he approaches matches and how to approach putting my own moves together,” Oku continued, “because as well, if I look at my move-set, it really hasn’t changed in the last five years really but what’s changed is learning how to perfect where to put them and at the right time of a match. I guess it’s match psychology, and that’s what he taught me is his philosophy on match psychology. So, when you say that it seemed like we just clicked, it’s mostly because when he’s giving me feedback, and it’s detailed feedback. It’s from him seeing a lot of my matches as well as wrestling the way he’s advised me to wrestle.”
“So, when we come together and that (West Coast Pro contest) was our second singles match, it’s just like, okay we both know each other’s stuff. We both are on the same wavelength of how we like to pace our wrestling matches. So, let’s go for it. We know exactly where to be for each other’s stuff, we trust each other and he’s incredible. He has a claim to say he’s the best wrestler in the world right now for sure. So, that match, again, it was the week after Mania week in San Francisco. I hold that really in a high regard, again, in terms of showing me to a new audience, to people who had never seen me before and connecting with them because of that match. I’ll always be grateful to Speedball.”
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H/T to Post Wrestling for the transcription.
