Mike Bailey thinks social media can be a powerful weapon for professional wrestlers—but he says Twitter has become an absolute dump. The AEW star ripped into the platform’s algorithm, political slant and users who treat rage-baiting like a full-time job.
Speaking to POST Wrestling ahead of AEW All In London, Bailey explained that social media became critical to his career when he was banned from entering the United States for five years. While wrestling in Japan, Mexico and Europe, Bailey used the internet to keep his name alive and remain connected with American fans. Bailey said professional wrestling is now tied directly to social media, and talent who refuse to use it are leaving a valuable tool on the table.
“I think that the world of professional wrestling is connected through social media. I think it’s a wonderful thing. I think wrestlers are doing themselves a huge disservice by not leveraging it to their full advantage.”
That does not mean Bailey likes what Twitter has become. He unloaded on the platform, calling its algorithm politically biased and taking direct aim at users who generate attention by provoking people and trolling them.
“Twitter, for many, many reasons, is an awful, awful place. The algorithm is politically biased and ruined, and most people on it are just rage-baiting and bad and trolling. It’s a terrible place.”
The interviewer compared the platform to a game where users stop viewing the person on the other side of the screen as an actual human being. Bailey agreed and said anyone with a public profile has a responsibility to push against that behavior—even if their platform is nowhere near the size of a government account.
“Exactly. And so many people are doing that. As a real human being with some level of notoriety—I mean, I’m just a pro wrestler, right? I’m not a government account—I have a responsibility to try to be positive, to try to speak like a real human being and engage with other real human beings on there.”
Bailey believes that approach has helped him establish an identity within the wrestling community that goes beyond whatever fans see from him during an AEW broadcast.
“I think that I have formed a place for myself within the pro wrestling community beyond just what you see on TV, and I think that has helped my career a lot.”
For Bailey, the days of wrestlers disappearing once their television segment ends are over. Fans immediately head online after shows such as AEW Dynamite because they want reactions, conversations and continued access to the performers they just watched.
“I think the era of only being a pro wrestler 15 minutes a week on TV is gone. What people want when they see the show now—any show that is beyond you fully playing a character, like a movie or a series—they want it to be an interactive experience. They want the engagement to continue once the show is over.”
“When Dynamite ends, people seek out, ‘What do other people have to say?’ They want to be in the conversation. They want to engage. That is what I think I can offer people.”
Bailey may hate Twitter’s current environment, but he has no plans to surrender the space to trolls. He sees social media as part of the modern wrestling business, and he intends to use it to connect with fans without feeding the outrage machine.
Do you agree with Mike Bailey that Twitter’s algorithm has turned the platform into a rage-bait playground, or do wrestlers simply need to ignore the worst parts of it? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.
