A glorious NXT run
New WWE Smackdown star Bobby Roode is wrapping up his NXT run close to home on Saturday in Toronto
To say Peterborough native Bobby Roode’s long wrestling career has been, well, glorious, would be something of an understatement.
A career that started in the late 1990s and that featured a 12-year run in Total Nonstop Action, where he became one of the most decorated performers in the company’s history, has reached the pinnacle of wrestling with his current run with World Wrestling Entertainment.
Despite having competed in thousands upon thousands of matches, very few have been in and around his hometown.
“I cut my teeth in the business in the Maritimes in the early 2000s,” he said during a telephone interview to promote one of those rare Toronto area appearances, when NXT comes to St. Catharines (at the Meridian Centre) on Friday and Toronto (Mattamy Athletic Centre in the former Maple Leaf Gardens) on Saturday. “I kind of broke in in the Hamilton area, and knew a lot of the local guys at the time back in ‘98. It’s almost been 20 years ago since I’ve really done a lot in the area.”
The former NXT champ lost his title to Drew McIntyre at SummerSlam in Brooklyn and made the jump to WWE’s main roster a couple of nights later when he debuted on SmackDown Live. These Ontario appearances will mark the final NXT appearances for the 40-year-old Canadian.
“It’s really fitting to be able to come back for my last show in Toronto for the NXT brand, and being in my hometown and being able to perform at the old Maple Leaf Gardens, that’s where I became a wrestling fan, back in the ‘80s when the old Maple Leaf Gardens used to host a lot of the old WWE events.”
Roode’s rise to the main WWE roster came relatively quickly. The veteran made his first appearance on WWE programming in the audience at NXT Takeover Dallas in April 2016, prompting speculation he’d finally signed with WWE.
There was a time when a 12-year veteran signing with WWE and being assigned to its “developmental” brand would have been uncommon, but the incredible success of WWE’s NXT brand has changed that perception.
“To be honest, when I was with TNA, I just didn’t have the drive any more, I didn’t have the passion,” Roode said about the NXT opportunity. “It was unfamiliar territory to me, because I’ve always loved the business and I’ve always been passionate about it. It was the first thing that I thought of when I woke up, last thing I thought about when I went to bed. I just didn’t have that any more.”
Having watched the likes of friends such as Samoa Joe, Austin Aries and Finn Balor flourish in NXT, Roode admitted the lure of NXT was strong. “It was very intriguing to me.” Roode said while his passion for wrestling had taken a hit, he knew he hadn’t worked his last match.
“Honestly, I didn’t want to do anything else with my life. I knew that I still had a lot of really good years left in this business. I really wanted to get the opportunity to come to WWE. NXT was presented to me and I was very excited about the opportunity that was given.”
Roode’s instincts proved spot on, as shortly after he joined NXT, he won the NXT Championship and went on to dominate. He never looked back.
“I have absolutely zero regrets,” he said. “Honestly, the year and a half I spent with NXT was the most gratifying year and the funnest year I’ve had in a very, very long time, maybe in my entire career.”
Roode arrived at NXT a bonafide star of sports entertainment, but even he couldn’t have predicted how well he would be received by WWE fans. He was an instant hit in NXT, the perfect package of talent, experience and packed with one of the greatest entrances and theme songs in recent memory.
Even Roode admitted he wasn’t sure how his “Glorious” entrance would be received by fans.
“It’s funny because waiting on my debut with NXT, I had a different song picked out; I had four or five songs that were presented to me through Neil Lawi, who’s the music guy with WWE. We decided on one. I went to TV one night, it was before I was about to debut, and I was waiting for some paperwork to finish up,” Roode explained. “I was at ringside and he called me over and said that Triple H had this song and he wanted me to hear it.
“Previously, Triple H and I had sat down and talked about what I wanted to do there, and the character, and everything that I wanted to try to do at NXT. He felt that this song fit the character a little better. When I listened to it, I wasn’t really sure what to think about it. It was obviously very different from the song that I originally chose. I thought it could go one of two ways — it could really suck or it could be really great. Obviously it’s been real great.”
Complemented by his hit theme music, Roode quickly rose to the top of NXT.
“When you get a something like this handed to you and it takes off the way it does, it makes your job a lot easier,” Roode said. “At the same point though to that, I knew that I just couldn’t have a song, the entrance had to go along with it and the performance in the ring had to go along with everything else.”
Roode also acknowledged the special entrance WWE had in store for his hometown NXT debut last November during Takeover Toronto, beating another Ontario wrestler, Tye Dillinger. Roode was seranded by a massive choir as he entered the Air Canada Centre.
“It was fun,” he said. “That was one of my favourite ones actually, the one with the choir. I think it was 80, 84 people in the choir and just coming up from underneath the stage. Being in my hometown, of course, at the Air Canada Centre, that was probably my most memorable entrance by far.”
With nearly 20 years of wrestling behind him, Roode moves onto the next, and arguably biggest, opportunity of his career, a full-time roster spot on Smackdown. He admitted he’s excited about what the future holds in WWE.
“Nearly two decades doing this, I try not to overthink it, try to stay humble, and know the road ahead, I still have some learning to do. NXT and Smackdown are totally different. I’m looking forward to what’s ahead.”
But before all of that comes one final NXT tour at home, and a chance for some of Roode’s family to get the rare opportunity to watch him in action.
“I’ve got some family coming,” he confirmed of the show in downtown Toronto. “My parents are going to be there. They very rarely get to see me live. That’s going to be special. For me to be able to end my NXT run, so to speak, in front of friends and family, in my home country, it’s going to be very special.”