Bobby Roode Talks Who He Wants To Work With, TNA's Growth, His Title Reign And More
Bobby Roode recently spoke to The Big WrestleShark Show hosts Simon Cassidy and David Thomson. Roode discussed his start with TNA, his run as World Heavyweight Champion, whether it lived up to his expectations and much more.
The entire interview can be found under WrestleShark in the iTunes store, or at WrestleShark.podbean.com. Here are some highlights:
How TNA has grown since its beginning: "Immensely. I mean we have Sting here now, Hulk Hogan, people that have come into this company over the past several years is pretty amazing considering how young our company still is. We've grown so much talent wise, television wise, international pay-per-views, our company is only just a little over ten years old and every year we're getting bigger and bigger. It's just great to be a part of it all."
How he first get started in TNA: "I got a phone call from Scott D'Amore, I believe he was part of the creative process at TNA along with Jeff Jarrett at the last minute to be part of the Team Canada for the X-Cup Tournament in 2004. I flew in, did three pay-per-views and the rest is history. I impressed the people I needed to impress and they sent me home with a contract. I signed it and here we are today: basically I was a last minute replacement."
Becoming world champion: "Starting back when I first broke in in 1998, being the world champion was something I always aspired to be. I think if you don't want to be the world champion then you're in the wrong business. I think everyone needs to want to be the best of the best, and in 2012 I was finally able to cash in and win that world championship, and make history with it. It was a great feeling and I look forward to being world champion again."
If being champion lived up to his expectations: "Absolutely. I got to do all the extra media, I came over to the UK last May, I went to Australia? and of course getting to work main events, competing with all the top guys: the Angles, the Hardy's, the Stings, on not just TV but Pay-Per-Views and all the live events all around the world, just to carry the load and carry the company on my back. And that's what the world champions job is: to be able to go out every night and compete at that level and have great matches. I think I was able to live up to that and if I was given the opportunity I think I would be able to do so again. A little experience on my side now. You know, that first run everything is kind of shiny and new. The second time I hope to take what I learned and be that much better."
The roster now compared to when he first came in: "I think you can compare our roster to anybody in the world. I mean when you look at the guys like Austin Aries and Zema Ion who just came in. Even the guys who are really untapped in their character, like Robbie E., I think we have such depth in our locker room and it's only going to get better. Once these guys mature and get a little more spotlight?I don't think anyone in the world can touch our roster."
Who he would like to still work with: "I would love to get into a program with Kurt Angle, we had the match at Bound for Glory which was kind of a one and done deal which was quickly forgotten about, so I would love to sink my teeth into something creatively with Kurt. Samoa Joe is another guy that we've been in this company together for many years and never had a chance to do anything creatively together. We had a chance to fight last year at Manchester for the title and I think we just had great chemistry and could really do something great in the future."
Source: The Big WrestleShark Show