On March 19, both Bobby Roode and Eric Young were released from TNA, at their own requests, after 12 years with the company. This week, Dave Meltzer announced on Wrestling Observer Radio that both men have held preliminary talks with WWE officials, via an intermediary. Roode, 39, and Young, 36, both trained in their native Ontario and first made an impact in TNA in 2004 as part of Team Canada. Though that stable disintegrated after a few years, Roode and Young feuded after its dissolution. When both men went their separate ways, Roode formed the championship tandem Beer Money with James Storm, while Young primarily played a comedy babyface. In 2011, Roode - who had grown into one of the best workers in the company - turned on Storm to become the TNA World Heavyweight Champion. In 2014, the popular Young upset Magnus for the title in a storyline that many saw as inspired by Daniel Bryan's meteoric rise to the main event. Meltzer is reporting that WWE has shown more of an interest in Young than Roode, but given that WWE has recently started bending long-standing rules regarding age and previous employment when it comes to recruiting talent, both men could easily wind up with the company. Undoubtedly, Roode and Young could both contribute to NXT or the main roster.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
