Bobby Roode Says He Was Inspired By Bret Hart, Talks Tag Wrestling, Working With Flair, More
Joshua Modaberi of Sportsvibe.co.uk and Wrestling101.com recently interviewed Bobby Roode, before last Sunday's Destination X pay-per-view. Here are some highlights:
If he was inspired by any Canadian wrestlers: "Bret Hart obviously paved the way for all of us Canadians getting into the business, and I was a huge Bret Hart fan and enjoyed watching him wrestle. Whenever the big shows came to my hometown my parents would always buy front row tickets. So, I not only got to experience it on television but got to experience it live as well."
Working with Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff and Ric Flair: "As a kid I grew up watching these guys and then to end up working with them was kind of surreal, but at the same time you have to remember to rise to the top in this business you have to bring yourself to that level.
"That was something I was very conscious of. I had a great time working with all three of those guys but would like to think they enjoyed working with me as well."
The current state of tag team wrestling: "When James [Storm] and I formed Beer Money, TNA was putting a lot of focus on the tag team division, and it worked in their favour because James and I were becoming very hot with the fans. The likes of Motor City Machine Guns, The British Invasion and Team 3D came into the mix, and with four great tag teams, TNA didn't really have a choice but to push the division.
"Right now I think tag teams have kind of fizzled off. James and I split, Team 3D have split, the British Invasion are no more, so it is quite hard to focus on the division when there are no official tag teams."
If he enjoys Impact being live this summer: "Yeah, absolutely. We have done live shows before, but this is the first time we have done consecutive live shows. When your live, anything can happen so I think it is a win, win not only for our company but for the fans to tune in and not knowing what is going to happen.
"When we were doing the taped shows, people would read the results before watching, which probably makes the show a little less interesting. For the talent, it gives us that extra little encouragement to go out there and be the best we can be because we know we are live and anything can happen. And, I think the results so far have been good."
How TNA has improved and grown while he was there: "We have grown leaps and bounds. I came into the company in 2004, and we were doing the weekly PPV's on Wednesday nights. Soon after I joined, we then got a weekly TV show on a network that aired us at 11pm. We then got a deal with Spike TV, but there was a period when we weren't on TV at all. We just ran a monthly PPV.
"Once on Spike, we then went on primetime. And, now going live and doing international tapings are shown in a hundred plus countries. The faces and the talent we have in our locker-room now is incredible with the likes of Hulk Hogan, Sting, Kurt Angle and Jeff Hardy, but we have also built a lot of our own talent. So, I think TNA has grown overwhelmingly over the last ten years, but I think it is just the start of something special, and I think the next ten years will be great."
If he enjoys being a heel: "With what I am doing now, what you see is what you get. If people hate me, let them hate me and if they like me, they like me. What you see on television, that is who I am. I feel very comfortable and am very confident in my abilities, so it doesn't bother me if people choose to like me or hate me."
Source: SportsVibe.co.uk