"Speedball" Mike Bailey has no problem with Mustafa Ali's message, but he did take issue with the people that Ali chose to represent his words during his recent World Tour campaign vignette.
Mike Bailey is one of several opponents that Ali will be taking on now that he is free to compete on the independent circuit following the expiration of his no-compete clause associated with his WWE release. Recently, in an effort to hype up their upcoming match on February 25, Bailey took to his YouTube channel to comment on the vignette released by Ali and why he takes exception to some of the claims.
In his video, Ali referred to the "corrupt leaders" of the industry but utilized images of names such as Alex Shelley, El Hijo del Vikingo, and Will Ospreay. While it's not known if there was a direct correlation between the people that Ali chose to display and the words he was using, Bailey took the time to let Ali know that the independent circuit has changed since he was last a part of it and that he's not going to simply allow him to come in and take everybody's spot.
"This is a fantastic-looking promo. The video looks absolutely amazing. I love the message, right? These are things that need to be said, but the independents aren't what they were when he left. There's plenty of highly competent leaders," said Bailey. "What you have now in American independent wrestling is a scene that is built on everyone trying their best to just help each other out and help elevate each other and that's what I personally have been doing. That's what I know guys like Alex Shelley, El Hijo del Vikingo, Will Ospreay [have] been doing, a lot of people have been doing.
"If what Mustafa Ali wants to do is come in and just put himself to the test, and show that he can still hang with some of the best wrestlers in the world, he is more than welcome to do that," he continued. "I will accept him with open arms, and we will have a great fun match for everyone to see on February 25, at PRESTIGE, but if he thinks that he's going to somehow remove everyone that's on top, like me, from the scene and just take our place and position himself as the leader for good. I think he's got another thing coming... I wish Mustafa Ali the best of luck on his World Tour and I just hope that his heart is in fact, in the right place."
Learn more about Ali's forthcoming tour at this link.
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