Glorious PMC debut for Bobby Roode
Victorious homecoming for WWE wrestler
Bobby Roode made a triumphant homecoming to a standing crowd chanting his name on Monday night.
In a professional wrestling career that spans 20 years, the 41-year-old Peterborough native had never performed in front of his hometown.
Until Monday night that is as a special attraction Monday Night Raw match on the WWE’s Smackdown Live show at the Memorial Centre.
To his signature song Glorious Domination, Roode entered the ring to a deafening roar from the approximately 2,500 fans in a sparkling robe.
The chants of “Bobby Roode, Bobby Roode” struck up the moment the bell rang to start his match with rival Mojo Rawley.
For a while it looked like things might not go Roode’s way. Rawley got the upper hand catching Roode as he flew from the top rope and depositing him on the canvas with a knee to the gut. Twice Roode came within a whisker of being pinned.
With a chant of “Rudy, Rudy” rising from the crowd, Roode’s renewed energy allowed him to gain control. After several hard chops to the chest, Roode fired Rawley through the ropes onto the floor.
Upset at the turn of events, Rawley shook off Roode and began to walk towards the exit.
Roode chased him down attacking him on the runway before firing him into the ringside barriers. Once he got Rawley back in the ring it was only a
matter of time.
A couple of slams and his signature Glorious cry led to him pinning Rawley to the delight of the hometown throng.
Roode jumped up on the ropes to salute fans on each side of the ring. He made a triumphant exit with a flurry of high-fives with fans as he made his way to the dressing rooms.
Watching from the stands was childhood friend Tracey Kelusky, Roode’s former hockey and lacrosse teammate at Kenner Collegiate.
“When he was doing stuff in Oshawa 20 years ago we’d go to watch,” Kelusky said.
“I was able to watch him in Florida and get a glimpse of him five years ago in TNA (Total Nonstop Action wrestling) but to be able to be here in Peterborough and watch him is unbelievable.”
Kelusky is a National Lacrosse League Hall of Fame member who, like Roode, performed in the Memorial Centre with his hometown Peterborough Lakers. Kelusky said it doesn’t quite compare.
“What he is doing is about a thousand times bigger scalewise,” Kelusky said.
“I know what it’s like to come back and perform in front of your family and friends, so I can identify that way, but he’s a world superstar. It’s not even on the same scale.”