Mike Bailey looked back on how his tag team with Kevin Knight started in AEW.
Speaking on Close-Up w/ Renee Paquette, Mike Bailey explained that his tag team with Kevin Knight started by chance during a four-on-four match, but their chemistry quickly turned them into a full-time tag team.
“Man, it’s crazy how that happened. It was just a random pairing. It started in a four-on-four match, but then we just became a tag team off the vibes… Yeah, I’ve been wrestling a lot longer than he has, but still, in his relatively short career, he’s done a lot of traveling. And I feel like that’s what really made me the wrestler I am today going and wrestling in so many different countries, having to wrestle in front of so many different audiences, against so many different kinds of opponents. And he trained with New Japan in America. He spent his entire career going back and forth between America and Japan, having to learn both styles, having to adapt to both audiences. And I think that international style is really what makes the team work.”
Bailey and Knight’s tag team, now known as JetSpeed, has been active since early June. Their first match as a team was back in April when they faced The Young Bucks on AEW Dynamite.
Mike Bailey breaks down wrestling cultures in Japan and Mexico
When asked about adapting to different wrestling audiences around the world. AEW star Mike Bailey explained that fans in each country react differently and shape how matches are performed.
“I think we just saw a little bit of it in Grand Slam and New Mexico, where the audience’s expectation is completely different. And I like to describe professional wrestling as always existing on a spectrum, somewhere between Japan and Mexico.”
“Where the way audiences consume wrestling in Japan, it’s extremely serious. Just as a culture, they take fandom extremely seriously. When someone is a fan of something, it’s in a different way, right? So, they pay attention to every single detail and all the stories, and they take great care in knowing the wrestlers.”
“And so, you have to as a wrestler you have to perform for that kind of audience, right? That’s going to be super focused on detail. And you hear it in Japan when the wrestlers are wrestling, the audience is quiet, and they’re paying attention and then once there’s a break in the action, they’ll erupt and come together. And I think that’s super satisfying to perform there.”
When asked about whether he was surprised by the crowd’s quiet reaction in Japan. “No, because I had been watching Japanese wrestling for so long that I knew what to expect, because I wanted to be there so bad.”
Bailey explained that in Mexico, wrestling is deeply rooted in the culture and treated as a fun. He said, “But in Mexico, Arena Mexico is very different, right? But for the most part, Lucha Libre is cultural. There is no “you’re a wrestling fan or you’re not.” It’s just, hey, the wrestling’s in town or there’s a show tonight we’re going to go and have a blast and enjoy it and drink beer, right? But obviously, that impacts how how wrestling in Mexico happens. That’s why it’s so, you know, huge acrobatics, colorful costumes. They don’t tell in-depth storylines that span over several years.”
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