TNA heavyweight champ Bobby Roode admits he can't party like some wrestlers

Jun 6 2012 EXCLUSIVE by Ben Spencer

WRESTLING champion Bobby Roode may be a heavyweight in the ring but he admits he did not even attempt to keep up with the notorious party lifestyle of his former mentor 63-year-old Ric Flair.

The Canadian grappler returns to Glasgow with TNA wrestling in January, but the last time he visited the city, in January 2011, his tag team Beer Money were being mentored by 21-time veteran world champion Flair.

Bobby, 35, told the Glaswegian that he relished the chance to work with one of the icons in the sport, but did not even try to match Flair when it came to partying outside the ring.

He said: “Working with Ric was good. I admired him and he was one of the inspirations for me becoming a wrestler so having the opportunity to work with him was a lot of fun.

“Two years ago when we came over for the UK tour he was our manager and I got to spend some time with him outside of the ring as well. He truly was a mentor, that’s for sure.

“My tag-team partner James was able to keep up with him outside the ring, but I didn’t even try!”

While Bobby may not be a champion at partying, in recent weeks he has celebrated becoming the longest reigning heavyweight champion in the history of TNA Wrestling.

He said that he was relishing the opportunity of being the face of the company as well as the chance to perform again in front of the city’s wrestling fans.

Bobby added: “I wanted to get into this business and be a world champion. There’s a lot of responsibility that comes along with that and it’s not something I expected, but it’s something I always wanted.

“I’ve been to Scotland twice and every time we perform over there it’s been a lot of fun. The fans are really receptive and really respectful of the Impact stars.

“Unfortunately the last years we didn’t make it there but we are looking forward to coming back next year. The UK is such a great tour that everyone looks forward to.”

As a member of tag team Beer Money with fellow grappler James Storm, Bobby helped create a team widely accepted as one of the greatest of all time.

But Bobby insisted he had no fear of making it as a star in his own right.

He added: “It wasn’t a huge transition for me because I started out as a singles wrestler. It was a little strange at the beginning because James and I tagged for almost four years so every single night we
would be out together.

Bobby catches up with The Glaswegian's news editor Ben

“I think we both ultimately wanted to go out on our own and be singles wrestlers as that’s what we wanted in the first place.

“We had a lot of fun and I think Beer Money helped us both get to where we are today. We’re proud to just be mentioned among other great names.

“But also James and I made that tag team what it was. They just kind of threw us together and didn’t give us any kind of direction but we came up with the name, the merchandise and the entertainment part of it.

“We played off each other and had a lot of fun with it, so to be able to be remembered as one of the best tagteams of all time is definitely something special.”