10 Questions With TNA's Bobby Roode

Bobby Roode has been a part of TNA Wrestling for the past 10 years, initially coming in as a member of the Team Canada group that also gave us Eric Young, before forming arguably TNA's most successful and beloved tag teams in its history, Beer Money, with James Storm. The two eventually split, with Roode turning heel on his old partner before embarking on the longest TNA World Heavyweight Championship reign of all time. Roode has continued to be an integral part of the TNA roster, and I managed to catch up with him in the afternoon prior to an Impact Wrestling taping in Orlando to ask Bobby Roode ten questions. 1. You're one of TNA's longest serving stars. What's your secret to staying fresh and relevant in the fans' eyes? Just keep improving, keep getting better and giving the fans new something to watch. I guess, in my situation, I'm continually learning and wanting to learn. I'm trying to do new things to keep my character fresh all the time. That's been something that I've been working on my entire career. 2. How confident are you that you'll get another reign as TNA World Heavyweight Champion? Oh, I'm very confident that I can get that opportunity again. I think I've proven myself significantly from the first time I had the World title, becoming the longest reigning champion in the company's history. You know, there will come a time when I get another opportunity to become champion and I'm going to make the best of that opportunity and hopefully, if I have it my way, it'll be a bigger, better, longer reign than the first one. 3. You're in your 16th year as a pro. Do you have a long-term plan - how many more years do you intend to wrestle? Right now, physically, I feel good. I think I have a lot of years left to serve here, a lot of great years left. So long as I am able to go out there and produce great matches and keep the fans intrigued, and stay healthy, I think I have a lot of years left. Once I'm physically unable to do this any more, I'd like to stay in some sort of role where I can help guys get to certain points in their careers. But for right now, obviously the most important thing for me is my career and to continually get better, and to re-iterate the other question you just asked me, to once again become the World Heavyweight Champion and be the top guy in this company.

4. Do you view the WWE as competition, or do you feel that TNA and WWE can co-exist quite happily? Oh, definitely I think we can co-exist. I think that competition is very good, I can't see why WWE or TNA, one or the other, should go away. It's great for the fans, it's great for the wrestling business. I think that TNA offers the wrestling world an alternative in a way that they haven't had in many years. Hopefully, the TNA Impact Wrestling brand can continue to grow, with the changes that we've made and the fresh faces we've brought in, the future's looking very good. 5. Sticking with that theme, you had an incredible bloody battle with James Storm at Turning Point last year which was one of the most intense matches I've seen in years. Do you feel that blood still has a place in wrestling in this day and age, or is it something that sets TNA apart from WWE? I don't know if blood separates us from WWE, I mean, there's a time when it calls for it in certain situations. You talk about James and I, our rivalry lasted almost a year and a half, so you know, things happen in matches and obviously there's a lot of hatred there, so to answer your question, I don't think blood separates TNA wrestling from the WWE, no. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVhqXpvVK_Q