Mike Bailey on His Upcoming Matchups With Kota Ibushi & Will Ospreay

– During a recent interview with True Heel Heat, wrestler Mike Bailey discussed his upcoming matchup with Kota Ibushi for Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport 9 and more. Below are some highlights (via Fightful):

Mike Bailey on if he sought out the matchup with Kota Ibushi for Bloodsport 9: “No, it is absolutely not a match that I sought out because I did not think it was possible, nor did so many other people, which it came as a great surprise. But of course, Ibushi I been watching for a long time. I was a big fan of his when he was back in DDT, which is the promotion in which I spend a lot of time in Japan. And also it’s BloodSport so it’s a different set of rules so I have no idea what to expect from Ibushi for that one. But the match for which I am most excited is at the IMPACT/New Japan show, my match with Will Ospreay, who I regard as the best wrestler in the world right now and so maybe of all time.”

On getting matched up against Will Ospreay at Multiverse United: “Yeah this is, there’s a lot on the line. This is a high pressure match because I truly believe, and this is a long tangent, that pro wrestling is better now than it has ever been, which I know is a controversial take. But if I’m your favorite wrestler then you’re probably in agreement with me. For many reasons, wrestling is the best it’s ever been. The main reason most likely is because pro wrestling is open to everyone now. But pro wrestling is become more and more international and there’s so much more access to information with professional wrestling. You can watch, any pro wrestler now can watch any other pro wrestler from anywhere in the world so it’s a lot easier to put on better matches given what you already know and what you seen. And so I think Will Ospreay is the best pro wrestler now and maybe the greatest wrestler of all time. I think it’s hard to have an accurate self assessment again, but I like my matches the best, I love my matches. I’m good enough of a pro wrestler to be in control enough to decide what I want to do and I really enjoy what I do. And I’m glad you feel the same way in being my own biggest fan here (laughs). But I think that the kind of match that me and Will Ospreay could be regarded as the greatest professional wrestling match of all time and that’s definitely what I’m gonna shoot for, you know. If it’s gonna be regarded as such is not up to me, but that’s what my goal is for this one.”