Backstage Update on Awkward Ending to “Speedball” Mike Bailey vs. Shelton Benjamin Match at 11/19 AEW Dynamite & Collision Show

Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite & Collision 3-hour show in Boston, Massachusetts featured Shelton Benjamin defeating “Speedball” Mike Bailey in a #2 Spot match for the AEW National Championship Casino Gauntlet at AEW Full Gear 2025. This match was notable for an awkward sequence involving Benjamin hitting a stiff looking kick to Bailey and the referee holding up the three count after it appeared that Bailey was not going to kick out in time. Benjamin and Bailey went through another similar looking ending sequence to finish their match. This quickly led to online speculation of Bailey had suffered a potential injury for the reason for the initial awkward sequence.

SHELTON KNOCKS SPEEDBALLS HEAD OFF #AEWDynamite #AEW pic.twitter.com/H56CODBpws

— TalonWulf91 (@TalonWulf91) November 20, 2025

Bryan Alvarez reported in a recent episode of the Wrestling Observer Live that his sources provided some clarification over the awkward situation during the match.

Alvarez reported that those spoken to stated that everyone in the match is fine and the finish was always going to be a superkick. Alvarez reported that the way Bailey sold Benjamin’s initial kick by taking a full-flip bump making him look like he’s dead caused Benjamin to react feeling it looked so cool that it should be the match finish.

Benjamin reportedly called an audible and wanting that to be the finish but the referee did not hear him and stopped his pinfall count since that was not the actual planned finish spot for the match.

Alvarez reported that the whole situation was simply just a case of miscommunication between Benjamin and the referee on the fly.