Dustin Rhodes comments on former TNA champion's AEW Dynasty debut

Modified Apr 08, 2025 04:26 GMT

Dustin Rhodes is a double champion in ROH [Image Credits: Rhodes' X profile]

A former TNA champion recently debuted in AEW and came up short in a major title match at the company's latest pay-per-view, Dynasty 2025. Dustin Rhodes has praised the talent in question for their performance at the event, the latter being "Speedball" Mike Bailey.

The Canadian striker and high-flyer made a name for themselves through their work across several independent promotions over the past several years and became a free agent this past November after their contract with TNA expired. Reports began circulating soon afterward that Bailey was AEW-bound, and the company confirmed the rumors on Collision in February, revealing that the former X-Division Champion was soon set to arrive.

Speedball ended up co-winning the Dynasty 2025 International Title contender's tournament alongside Ricochet, earning a shot at Kenny Omega's belt scheduled for the event. Despite their best efforts, Bailey was unfortunately unable to get their first taste of All Elite singles gold in Philadelphia, as they were forced to watch The Cleaner pin The One and Only following an avalanche One Winged Angel, being tied up in the turnbuckles ropes and unable to intercede.

Numerous viewers of AEW have been showering Mike Bailey with praise for their performance against Ricochet and Kenny Omega at Dynasty 2025. Sometime earlier, veteran Dustin Rhodes took to X/Twitter to applaud the 34-year-old star, writing:

"You had a phenomenal showing brotha!!"

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It remains to be seen if Bailey will still be on the hunt for the International Championship, seeing how Omega could be reportedly gearing up for a title vs title feud against his iconic rival, Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada.

Ricochet is glad Mike Bailey hurt himself at AEW Dynasty

While Mike Bailey may have taken their loss at Dynasty 2025 in stride, Ricochet has not. The Excellence of Elevation ranted about his failure at the pay-per-view on X/Twitter, albeit taking solace from Speedball seemingly hurting their leg during the match, presumably during their failed attempt at hitting Ricochet with a moonsault double-knee on the ring apron that the latter dodged in the nick of time.

"Once again, I am completely SCR*WED out of a title match. Multiple occasions I had the match won. But thanks to Dummy Omega, my quest for Championship Gold continues on. #AEWDYNASTY was a total failure. At least Dumbballs Mike Bailey's leg is hurt," the former WWE Speed Champion tweeted.

Check out Ricochet's tweet HERE.

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It remains to be seen what lies next for Mike Bailey and Ricochet moving forward in AEW.

About the author

Anurag is an AEW writer for Sportskeeda Wrestling. He holds a BA and MA degree in English along with a TEFL certification to teach English. Before Sportskeeda, he worked as a Content and Correspondence writer at Nayabad Titas, a theater group. He has also worked as a English language tutor.

To ensure complete accuracy, he uses internet resources, social media platforms, and especially pieces composed by his peers to find solid, verified information that he presents as objectively as possible. Thanks to his academic background, he can research different subjects thoroughly.

Anurag's interest in wrestling began as a child. He watched RAW and Smackdown frequently from age 10 or 11 and was officially hooked by the YES Movement story in WWE heading into WrestleMania 30.

As a lifelong wrestling fan and lover of stories, Anurag would read news, articles, and other content about the talent and events he enjoyed watching. His understanding of the business continued to grow with time, and his interest in the art and sport of wrestling led him to pursue a career as a writer.

Apart from writing, he loves to read books, watch movies and television programs, play and listen to music, and write poetry and fiction.

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Edited by Angana Roy