Former IMPACT Wrestling X-Division champion “Speedball” Mike Bailey is slated to mark another historic first for LGBTQ pro wrestling this month. He’ll be the first out wrestler to compete in New Japan Pro Wrestling’s prestigious Best of the Super Juniors tournament.

Bailey’s name was among the 20 participants announced by NJPW for the round-robin tournament ahead of its May 12 start date (May 13 in U.S. time zones), along with IWGP Junior Heaveyweight champion and three-time defending tournament winner Hiromu Takahashi and other top NJPW names, including El Desperado, Robbie Eagles and KUSHIDA.

This month’s event will be the 30th Best of the Super Juniors tournament in NJPW history. The format sees two blocks of 10 wrestlers face each other in a round-robin format with the two block winners facing off for the trophy May 28.

Bailey will compete in the A Block, which includes Takahashi, KUSHIDA, Taiji Ishimori and Lio Rush among others.

The tournament winner is typically guaranteed a shot at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title, unless the current champion wins.

Bailey said his intention is to “show to the world that the X-Division is the best division in all of professional wrestling, that IMPACT Wrestling has some of the best wrestlers in the world and that I am the best professional wrestler in the world,” in a clip released on IMPACT Wrestling’s official Twitter account.

It seems that making LGBTQ history in NJPW is a family affair for Bailey. His spouse, Veda Scott, became the first out broadcaster to call a NJPW show last month.

Their appearance in the tournament will also mark the first time that Bailey will wrestle in Japan since April 2020. He was a regular of Japanese promotion DDT between 2016 and 2020, becoming a three-time KO-D Tag Team champion and winning the DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight title.

Don't forget to share: