Bobby Roode recently spoke to Sporting News and he talked about his infamous entrance song, making the jump from TNA to WWE and more. You can check out the full interview here along with some highlights below.
If it was hard for him to leave TNA: “At the time, not really. I don’t really have a negative thing to say about that company. I was treated extremely well there for 12 years and financially I was taken care of. Honestly, it was just time for me to go. I never really got into this industry for the money although it’s nice. I’ve been able to make a career and support my family for the last 12 years doing what I love to do. But that was just it. The last two years of that company, I didn’t love it any more. I started to lose my passion which was concerning to me. I didn’t like being away. I didn’t like performing. TNA became a place where it was just a television product and I got into this business to perform and be on the road. There was a time in that company where you could do that. You could go on the road and do live events. I’ve always been about learning. No matter how long I’ve been in the business or where I’ve been in a company, I’ve always wanted to continue to learn. During those times in TNA when we were on the road doing live events, I would always ride with guys like Bully Ray or Kurt Angle, Christian at the time. Guys like that and sit under the learning tree and learn from these guys.”
“It got to a point those last two years there in TNA that we literally just went and did television and it wasn’t fun for me anymore. I had 12 great years and I just felt like at my age and at my stage in my career I wanted a different opportunity and that’s all I wanted. My first conversation with WWE was just that. I want opportunity and they’ve given me the opportunity and here I am today.”
If he was worried that WWE would change his name: “Obviously, the WWE had a history of changing guys names and personas and stuff. Joe got to keep his name, Austin got to keep his name, AJ got to keep his name so I got to thinking, I’m hoping that if I get there I’ll be able to keep what I have. Honestly, Triple H said that all of us, even guys like Shinsuke Nakamura, we all have a fanbase. He have a following and in this day and age it would be kind of silly to change that. I wasn’t thinking of names that’s for sure. I thought it they wanted to change my name they would probably have a name in mind. I’m just fortunate enough to be Bobby Roode and be comfortable out there doing what I love to do.”
