Wrestler of the Day – January 1: Bobby Roode
This is the sequel to On This Day and is something I’ve been planning on doing for awhile now. The idea is simple: every day for the year I’ll be selecting a wrestler and posting reviews of some major matches from his career in a kind of timeline format. I’ll also include my thoughts on the person as a whole. I won’t bother with a bio or anything unless it’s someone not very familiar. I’m not sure how many matches there will be but it should be at least three a day. The primary way I’ll be picking them is by birthday, though of course this won’t always work. I’ll also do two guys or a tag team if a particular day doesn’t have a good option. Hope you enjoy and let’s get to it.
We start with the It Factor of Professional Wrestling: Bobby Roode.
We’ll start REAL old school here with a match from Roode’s jobbing days on Sunday Night Heat. Yes, Roode wrestled in WWE for a handful of matches.
Sunday Night Heat
Date: March 2, 2003
Location: Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Attendance: 10,000
Commentators: Jonathan Coachman, Lita
Bobby Rood vs. Al Snow
It’s so old he doesn’t even have the E. Snow takes him down with a fireman’s carry as Coach talks about Limp Bizkit performing at Wrestlemania. Rood fights out of a hammerlock with an elbow to the face, only to be taken down by an armbar. Bobby comes back with that running lariat of his and sells the arm as he should. A rollup gets two for Snow but he gets caught in a backbreaker for a near fall for Bobby. Snow fires off right and lefts before hitting the trapped headbutts. A northern lights suplex puts Rood down and the Snow Plow is good for the pin.
Rating: C-. It’s just a squash to put Snow over but it’s always interesting to see someone like this thrown in there. I really liked how Roode sold the arm as so many wrestlers, including veterans, would just ignore something like that. Obviously he was still young, but there’s clearly potential there.
On to TNA and the first PPV, Victory Road. Roode is part of Team Canada and defending the tag titles along with Eric Young against 3 Live Kru.
Victory Road 2004
Date: November 7, 2004
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 700
Commentators: Don West, Mike Tenay
Tag Titles: 3 Live Kru vs. Team Canada
Team Canada here is Bobby (Robert) Roode and Eric Young while 3LK is Konnan and Road Dogg. They use the Freebird rule to fight and will use it if they win the belts here, along with Ron Killings. Anyway, this is the finale of a long feud between them which of course didn’t end here. We start with Roadie and Roode. For the life of me I do not get the hype on this guy. He’s ok and that’s it.
People to this day think he could be a main event guy. Why? Tell me one thing that he could do that would validate him as a main event guy. And I don’t mean a line like just watch him or how can’t you see it. Pretend I’m stupid and tell me what it is that this guy has that makes him a big star. Konnan is in now with Young and these two just amuse me to no end.
We have a guy that no one cares about that tries desperately to play up the gimmick of being from another country which makes him interesting when he’s just bland otherwise and no one cares about him, and then we have Eric Young. We hit the formula portion of our event with the heels working over Roadie to build up Konnan for the hot tag.
Does anyone else see this sucking harder than a Diva wanting to get a job? I miss Scott D’Amore. The guy was a fat waste of oxygen but he was a decent talker and heel manager. Nothing great here but it’s kind of like the first Mania where the tag titles changed: it allows you to have a title change so the show is memorable and has some impact to steal a pun from myself.
Konnan finally gets the tag after a heel miscommunication (remember folks: TNA is breaking NEW ground!) spot and cleans house. It of course turns into a brawl with Roadie being fine after getting taken out for about 4 minutes. D’Amore tries to use the hockey stick but Killings comes in for the save and a BAD looking X-Factor gives the Kru the titles.
Rating: C. It was average, plain and simple. This match could have been on any TV or house show or PPV and it would have been fine. At seven minutes long they didn’t have much time to get anything substantial going but still, this wasn’t much but it was fine for what it was I suppose.
After this Roode would stay in Team Canada for another few years before becoming a solo act for awhile. I never found Robert Roode: Rich Guy to be interesting at all so we’ll skip over that and jump to something much more fun: Beer Money. This was one of the best teams to ever exist in TNA with Roode teaming up with James Storm to form a country/city tandem. Their biggest rivals were arguably the Motor City Machine Guns so let’s take a look at I believe their first meeting with Beer Money defending. This is REALLY old so please bear with my horrible writing skills.
TurningPoint 2008Date: November 9, 2008
Location: ImpactZone, Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 1,100
Commentators: DonWest, MikeTenay
Tag Titles: Beer Money vs. Motor City Machine Guns
One of the taglines things is will the Guns finally get the titles. Oh that’s rich. Neither team has their current music so things are just ridiculously bland. Again they mention the Guns possibly winning the titles. Wow that’s funny. So despite acting like heels in the back, they of course act like faces here. Could the psychology have been more messed up in TNA around this time?
The challengers of course are all over the place and getting a ton of damage in on Storm. Shelley reminds me of Miz a bit looks wise. ALL Guns here as Shelley hits a Lionsault for two. The champions take over as I think we’re going to be in for a long while here. Storm puts on his hat which of course makes him fail.
I love the missing the tag thing which is as basic as possible of a tag cheating tactic but it works every time and is perfectly legal. Shelley hits a combination Downward Spiral/DDT to get enough time for the hot tag to Sabin. The crowd is uncommonly quiet here. Dang the Guns are fun to watch.
Storm has been gone for a LONG time. It’s a double team clinic from the Guns here and they’re completely dominating. Storm comes back in and botches what is now Madison Rayne’s move. The big Tower of Doom spot does nothing special at all as they kind of just fall backwards. ASCS Rush to Roode but here’s Jackie of course because we have to have the annoying pest in there once at least. Storm spits Beer in Sabin’s eyes so that DWI can keep the belts for Beer Money. Yes the Guns lose again. Film at 11.
Rating: B-. Not bad here. This was another one of those matches where they let them do their thing and it worked for the most part, but at times the Guns’ offense gets so ridiculous that it’s a waste of time and takes away the point of it. The Guns have to win the titles eventually. Not bad, but nothing classic.
Eventually Beer Money broke up, and things got REALLY fun. Roode became the #1 contender for the world title by winning the 2011 BFG Series, only to lose the title match to Kurt Angle. James Storm would go on to pin Angle in about a minute on Impact less than a week later, setting up Roode vs. Storm for the title on Impact.
Impact Wrestling
Date: November 3, 2011
Location: Macon Coliseum, Macon, Georgia
Commentators: Taz, Mike Tenay
TNA World Title: James Storm vs. Bobby Roode
Feeling out process to start as they’re playing up the idea that they know each other very well. Off to a test of strength which doesn’t last long. Neither guy has an advantage as we go to a break. Back with Storm ramming shoulders into Roode in the corner. They keep countering each other and Roode can’t get much of an advantage. Storm stays ahead with a superplex but both guys are down.
They slug it out and Storm takes over with some running shots. Blockbuster gets two for Roode. Backstabber gets two for the champ. Eye of the Storm is countered into a spinebuster for two. They head to the floor and both guys barely get back inside in time. Storm tries an Orton DDT but gets countered into a Crossface. Storm makes a rope and Roode is frustrated. Roode tries a superplex but Storm counters into a top rope elbow for two.
This is getting good. Last Call misses as Roode grabs the fisherman’s suplex. Storm counters that and is almost sent into the referee. The referee avoids the contact but twists his knee in the process as Roode is sent to the floor. Roode succumbs to the demons inside and grabs the beer bottle which he breaks over Storm’s head to BIG heat. It gives him the world title at 17:40.
Rating: B. This was a very solid match that could have easily main evented a PPV with about five minutes extra. Still though, good stuff here and that’s what they needed to do. I’m really not sure I like the ending but it’s TNA after all so how good can it get? The heel turn was needed, but Roode is going to have to step up his emotions as a heel to deserve this spot. Good match though.
These two would feud for months, eventually culminating in Roode vs. Storm inside a cage at Lockdown 2012.
Lockdown 2012
Date: April 15, 2012
Location: Nashville Municipal Auditorium, Nashville, Tennessee
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz
TNA World Title: James Storm vs. Bobby Roode
Storm drives a truck into the arena. He has something resembling the AMW trenchcoat but it’s not quite the same. Storm jumps him on the floor before the bell rings and takes the fight to him. He rams Roode into the cage and drops an elbow from a table. The bell hasn’t rung yet and they have over half an hour. Storm blocks a cage shot and they fight up the entrance. All Storm so far.
Storm swings a chair at the cage but misses, allowing Roode to hit a clothesline to the back of the head to drive Storm’s head into the steel. Roode gets a beer bottle and Storm is busted. The beer is put on the steps as Roode hammers away. Montgomery Gentry and Storm’s wife are here. They go into the cage and there’s the bell. Roode is in full control and rams Storm into the cage again.
Roode yells a lot and the crowd is quiet enough that you can hear most of it. Suplex and knee drop get two. That cut is opening more and more. Storm Hulks Up and wins a slugout but a running elbow takes him right back down. Storm gets a boot up in the corner but Roode takes him down with a big clothesline for two. Roode does the cheese grater spot on the cage and the tape on Storm’s wrists are all covered in blood.
Roode is still shouting in Storm’s face and has Storm’s blood on his face. We cut to Storm’s wife and she looks as interested as parents when their kid isn’t on stage in a third grade school play. Storm comes back with a bunch of punches and clotheslines. Here’s the Eye of the Storm but Roode escapes. A catapult sends Roode into the cage and the Eye of the Storm gets two.
James walks into a spinebuster for two. Roode is busted also. Closing Time (Codebreaker/Backstabber combo) gets two. Now Roode gets the cheese grater treatment. Roode ducks a dive and Storm eats cage, allowing Roode to hook the Crossface. Storm manages to roll to the ropes but both guys are spent. They go to the corner and Storm fights out of a superplex but gets his head rammed into the cage.
Roode climbs on Storm to try to get out and he kicks Storm down to the mat. Storm climbs up and gets Roode dangling on the top of the cage. He’s back in now and they slug it out on the top rope some more. Storm pulls him down and loads up the Last Call but it hits the referee flush on the jaw.
Roode takes him down and has the door wide open but he wants the beer bottle. He busts it over Storm’s head and demands that Hebner come in for the cover but it only gets two. Instead of sprinting out the door, Roode walks into the Last Call but Storm can’t follow up. Storm superkicks Roode out the door, AND HE KEEPS THE TITLE at 17:39.
Rating: B. This company amazes me. If there was EVER, I mean EVER, a more perfect setup than this, I’d love to see it because this was as perfect as you could get and they go the other way. On top of that, they do it TONIGHT, with the crowd being as uninterested as they’ve ever been. The match was great, the ending…..oh dear.
We could keep going with this all day so I’ll cut it off there. Roode is a guy who everyone talks about but I’ve never seen the massive appeal. He’s definitely got talent, but I don’t see him as the be all and end all for TNA. I had no problem with him as world champion and his reign went well, other than a far too long feud with Sting. For as basic of a look as he has, Roode has come a long way and is definitely a success.
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