10 Specific Ways WWE Stars Can Recover From Awful Booking
8. Bobby Roode
The first Bobby to fall into a corrosive WWE boobytrap, Roode is dead. Cast in the face role, his schtick, already ridiculous, is recalibrated from arrogant to goofy. The man looks like a buffoon out there, waving his hands about with no winning track record nor confident aura to back it up. The act isn't too dissimilar to that of Curt Hawkins or Curtis Axel, really: this Bobby Roode only has delusions of Glory.
So just go back to the old Bobby Roode - the Bobby Roode cast as a callously intelligent character wrestler capable of crippling Shinsuke Nakamura with his cerebral in-ring game. Roode is a natural heel, from demeanour to antiquated ring style - so naturally, to WWE, he is a one-note babyface gimmick based entirely on his entrance theme. Dolph Ziggler was right. Dolph Ziggler, incredibly, is in a better position than him. To elevate Roode back to a position of prominence, he must turn - ideally at the expense of one of few interesting RAW performers, lest the impact be wasted.
Enter Seth Rollins and his rediscovered Midas touch.
The dynamic promises to enliven and make best use of Roode's slow-loading arsenal, with Seth's surgically-repaired knee offering the dramatic heft needed to reinforce Roode as a proper sh*thouse.