Robert Roode

Robert Francis Roode Jr. (born May 11, 1976) is a Canadian professional wrestler signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand. He is currently inactive due to undergoing neck surgery.

Roode is known for his 12-year tenure for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). After debuting for TNA as part of Team Canada in 2004, he won the NWA World Tag Team Championship with Eric Young. Following the team's breakup, embarked on a singles run before forming a tag team with James Storm as Beer Money, Inc. Together with Storm, he is a six-time TNA World Tag Team Champion and they are the longest reigning champions in TNA history. Roode eventually became a two-time TNA World Heavyweight Champion, with his first reign being the longest reign in the company's history at 256 days. In his later years with the company, Roode also won the World Tag Team Championship with Austin Aries and was a one-time TNA King of the Mountain Champion.

In 2016, he began his WWE career in NXT, where he was a one-time NXT Champion prior to his main roster call-up. Roode debuted on SmackDown in August 2017, winning the United States Championship in January 2018, his first championship on the main roster, and he won the Raw Tag Team Championship with partner Chad Gable that December. Since 2019, he has held the 24/7 Championship once and has held the Raw and SmackDown Tag Team Championships with partner Dolph Ziggler once each. Overall, he is a three-time world champion in professional wrestling.

Professional wrestling career

Training and independent promotions (1998–2004)

Roode grew up around an athletic environment playing minor hockey in Peterborough and attended Kenner Collegiate Vocational Institution. He was also a stick boy for the OHL's Peterborough Petes and witnessed players such as future NHLers Mike Ricci, Tie Domi, and Chris Pronger train for the local major junior team.

Roode was trained in his hometown of Peterborough, Ontario by fellow Ontarians Shane Sewell and Sean Morley. He completed his training after a year and wrestled his debut match in June 1998 as "Total" Lee Awesome against Pete Rock. He then went on to work for various Canadian independent promotions, as well as making appearances for the Puerto Rican promotion, World Wrestling Council (WWC). He also went on to work a series of dark matches for World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment (WWF/WWE) between 1998 and 2004 before he was signed by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).

Roode began working for Real Action Wrestling in 2001, where he formed a villainous stable known as The Kardinal Sinners along with Kingman and Mike Hughes as well as part-time members Wildman Gary Williams and The Acadian Giant. Roode later rejoined them as a part of their ''Wrestling Reality'' show to be aired on The Fight Network, but he was not seen on these episodes due to contractual obligations with TNA.

While in TNA, Roode also wrestled for BSE Pro in Ontario, Border City Wrestling in Windsor, Ontario and at NWA Shockwave in New Jersey. On March 18, 2006, he won the NWA Shockwave Internet Championship from Josh Daniels at an NWAS/New York Wrestling Connection cross-promotional event. Eight days later on March 26, Roode won the vacant NWA Shockwave Heavyweight Championship at ''Disturbing the Peace 2006'' in a four-way match. Roode held both titles until May 21, when he dropped the Internet title and successfully defended the Heavyweight title against Slyck Wagner Brown. Due to the restarting of the company, all of the NWA Cyberspace championships were vacated, including Roode's Heavyweight title.

Roode performed for the WWF/WWE numerous times between 2001 and 2004. He usually appeared in secondary television programs like '' Jakked/Metal'', '' Sunday Night Heat'' or ''Velocity''. He also wrestled dark matches before ''Raw'' and ''SmackDown''.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2004-2016)

Team Canada (2004–2006)

In May 2004, Roode was brought into Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) by Scott D'Amore, the owner of Border City Wrestling, a Canadian independent promotion for which Roode had worked on occasion. Roode debuted in TNA as part of the Team Canada stable, and took part in the World X-Cup, which was won by Team USA. Team Canada went on to feud with 3Live Kru and America's Most Wanted. on the October 12, 2004 episode of Impact, Team Canada (Roode and Eric Young) defeated Christopher Daniels (4) and James Storm to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship. at Victory Road, Team Canada lost the titles to 3Live Kru ( B.G. James and Konnan). As the biggest and most powerful member of Team Canada at the time, Roode acted as the enforcer of the group, a role popularised by Arn Anderson. In early 2006, recognizing his comparisons to Anderson, he made the request that he be called "The Canadian Enforcer" from that point onward, and began coming to the ring in sequined robes reminiscent of the flashy style popularized by the Four Horsemen and Rick Rude in the late 1980s.

Roode began a feud with Dustin Rhodes in early 2005, losing to him at April's Lockdown in a best of three falls steel cage match, with the third fall a blindfold match. At Hard Justice, Roode competed in a Twenty-Man Gauntlet for the Gold which was won by Abyss. After that Roode feuded with Lance Hoyt, who he defeated at Slammiversary and at No Surrender with Team Canada, Hoyt teaming with The Naturals. At Sacrifice, Team Canada defeated America's Most Wanted and The Naturals in an Eight-man tag team match. After defeating Jeff Hardy at Unbreakable in September, Roode and the remainder of Team Canada resumed their feud with 3Live Kru. At Bound for Glory, Team Canada defeated 3Live Kru. at Genesis (2005), Team Canada lost to 3Live Kru in a 6-Sided Stick Fight with Kip James as special guest referee and at Turning Point Team Canada defeated 4Live Kru (B.G. James, Kip James, Konnan and Ron Killings) in an Eight-man tag team match.

At Final Resolution, Roode began a singles career, while still being linked to Team Canada, by defeating Ron Killings. Five months later, on the June 29 episode of ''TNA Impact!'', TNA Management Director Jim Cornette forced the breakup of Team Canada. However, on the July 6 episode of ''Impact!'', Cornette gave Team Canada one more chance to stay together but only if they could win a match a week later against Jay Lethal, Rhino and Team 3D ( Brother Ray and Brother Devon). On the July 13 episode of ''Impact!'', Team Canada lost the match when Jay Lethal pinned A-1, disbanding Team Canada once and for all.

Robert Roode Inc. (2006–2008)

After the breakup of Team Canada, Roode began referring to himself as "TNA's hottest free agent". Vignettes began playing with various TNA managers such as Simon Diamond, Jim Mitchell, and Shane Douglas putting over the idea of Roode being an NWA World Heavyweight Championship contender and stating their interest in becoming his manager, but he eventually dismissed them. Having chosen not to work with a current TNA manager, segments began airing with Roode interviewing managers for the position; Bobby "The Brain" Heenan on September 7, Col. Robert Parker on September 14, and Sherri Martel on September 21. He revealed his chosen manager, Traci Brooks, at Bound for Glory, and promptly started going by "Robert Roode" while adopting a Wall Street stock trader gimmick, with Brooks now being referred to as "Ms. Brooks", his "Chief Executive Offender" (CEO). His first feud after the retool was against Eric Young, of whom he became jealous when he realized fans still were not cheering him, but cheered Young's every move. After Young beat Brooks in a bikini contest he demanded that Brooks "sign" Young to "Robert Roode Inc.". Finally, at the 2007 Against All Odds event Brooks successfully seduced Young into signing a contract with "Robert Roode Inc.", and Roode began to control Young by ordering him around. However, Young began to fight back due to the advice of a mystery "friend".

At Lockdown, Roode faced Petey Williams, the man he believed to be Young's "friend", and won the match despite Young attempting to help Williams. The following week, Young proclaimed that Williams was not his "friend", and Roode, who controlled Young's contract, gave Young a week to tell him who his friend was or he'd be fired. The following week, Young revealed his "friend" to be Jeff Jarrett, which resulted in Roode facing Jarrett at Sacrifice. Roode went on to defeat Jarrett after hitting him with the Pay Off. Roode eventually faced Young in a match at Slammiversary. Roode scored the pinfall after hitting Young with a steel chair, but, just as he was about to fire Young, Jim Cornette came out and ordered the match to be restarted. Young then pinned Roode with an inside cradle, in the process severing his ties with Roode. At Victory Road, Roode and Ms. Brooks lost to Eric Young and Gail Kim in a Mixed tag team match.

Roode and Ms. Brooks then joined forces with Christian's Coalition to aid in their battles with Sting and Abyss, and on the July 26 episode of ''Impact!'', Mike Tenay stated that Roode had joined the stable. Weeks after that, after Eric Young lost a match against Team 3D, Roode and Brooks "tarred and feathered" Young. On the August 7 episode of ''TNA Today'' Young issued a challenge for a "humiliation match" at Hard Justice to Roode, with the loser to be tarred and feathered. Roode won, but Ms. Brooks ended up tarred and feathered while Roode just watched from the stage and afterwards, as she questioned his loyalty, his apparent bullying of her became a key storyline and side angle.

Roode then entered a mini-feud with Kaz, who confronted Roode when he mistreated Ms. Brooks. Roode defeated Kaz at No Surrender. Soon afterwards, other wrestlers followed in Kaz's footsteps. An interview revealed that Brooks put up with Roode's actions because she needed to raise money for her ill mother. Since then, the "superstars' protest" portion of the mistreatment angle quietly faded, though Roode's egotistical bullying antics got worse.

Roode participated in the Fight for the Right Tournament. At Bound for Glory, he was the last person eliminated in the gauntlet section of the tournament by Eric Young and lost his opening tournament match to Junior Fatu. Around this time, Roode not only started mistreating Brooks even further, he started to show signs of full-blown misogyny in segments involving or referring to other women, such as Karen Angle, Gail Kim or Sharmell. In the loss to Fatu, the dissension was reciprocated by Brooks, who laughed as Fatu gave Roode a stinkface. On the November 8, 2007 episode of ''TNA Impact'', Brooks finally stood up to Roode by shoving him away from his attack on Chris Harris, and herself attacking "Roode's No. 1 Fan". at Genesis (2007), Roode lost to Samoa Joe.

Roode formed a partnership with Christian Cage against TNA newcomer Booker T, claiming that "has beens" like Booker T show up and gain main event status at the expense of long time Talent like himself. at Turning Point (2007), Roode and Cage lost to Booker T and Kaz. Roode and Cage then aligned themselves with Kurt Angle, after an invitation to join the Angle Alliance on ''Impact!''. This only lasted for one night, however, as the Angle Alliance lost to the team of Samoa Joe, Kevin Nash, Kaz, Booker T and Eric Young, when Nash pinned Roode. Cage and Roode then had a face to face altercation in the ring which lead to Angle and Roode attacking Cage, thus kicking Cage out of the Angle Alliance and turning the Angle-Cage tension into a full-blown feud.

At Final Resolution, Roode teamed up with Ms. Brooks in a mixed tag team match against Booker T and his wife Sharmell. After losing the match Roode finally completed his turn on Brooks and as Sharmell ran back into the ring to stop it, Roode turned around and hit her in the jaw, knocking her out. As Booker T ran to the ring to aid his wife, Roode escaped the ring, and looking back at the ring he realized what he had done. The following ''Impact!'', Roode faced Brooks and fired her, but was stopped by Jim Cornette when he tried to lay hands on her. Subsequently, Roode's "number one fan" attacked Brooks when she was leaving the ring. Roode's fan, named Ms. Payton Banks, replaced Brooks.

After Final Resolution, and with Payton Banks by his side, Roode continued his feud with Booker T. at Against All Odds, where the two faced off in a singles match. Roode ran from the ring and escaped the arena in a car, only to further infuriate Booker. Booker and Roode faced off again at Destination X in a Stand By Your Man Strap Match, with the loser's manager (Banks for Roode, Brooks for Booker) to receive ten leather lashes from the winner's manager. Roode won after using a handcuff-armed fist, but Sharmell returned and whipped everyone with a leather belt, including Jim Cornette. The following week on ''Impact!'', Cornette punished her by putting her in a mixed tag team match with Booker against Roode and Banks at Lockdown, which Booker and Sharmell won. After the match, Roode verbally abused Banks for losing, much like he used to abuse Ms. Brooks, effectively ending their alliance. At Sacrifice (2008), Roode and Booker T lost to Christian Cage and Rhino in a Deuces Wild Tag Team Tournament Quarterfinal match. At Slammiversary, Roode competed in the King of the Mountain match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in a losing effort.

Beer Money, Inc. (2008–2011)

On the June 12 episode of ''Impact!'', Roode, along with James Storm, challenged The Latin American Xchange (LAX) (Homicide and Hernandez) for the TNA World Tag Team Championship. Storm and Roode won, after Storm performed a ''Last Call'' on Hernandez, with a belt wrapped around his boot. Hector Guerrero, LAX's manager, was at ringside, however, and got the match restarted by informing the referee about what had happened. LAX then retained, leading to Roode, Storm, and Jacqueline attacking LAX. The next week, LAX challenged Storm and Roode to a Fan's Revenge Lumberjack match at Victory Road. Roode and Storm then began calling themselves "Beer Money, Inc.", sometimes shortened to simply "Beer Money", with their name based on their individual gimmicks (Storm's beer-drinking cowboy gimmick representing "Beer" and Roode's Wall Street stock trader gimmick representing "Money"). At Victory Road, LAX won the match. At Hard Justice, however, Beer Money became the new TNA World Tag Team Champions, defeating LAX after hitting Homicide with a beer bottle. The feud continued through No Surrender with Beer Money, Inc. once again getting the win. At Bound for Glory IV, Beer Money successfully defended their titles in a four-team Monster's Ball match, after Roode pinned Hernandez of LAX.

After that Beer Money retained the tag team championship at Turning Point 2008 against The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin). Beer Money, Inc. later engaged in a feud with Matt Morgan and Abyss, retaining the titles against them at Final Resolution. Roode and Storm lost the titles to Lethal and Creed on the January 8 episode of ''Impact!'' but regained them three days later at Genesis in a 3-way match which also involved the team of Abyss and Matt Morgan. Beer Money, Inc. faced Creed and Jay Lethal at Against All Odds and retained the championship. At Lockdown 2009, Beer Money lost the TNA World Tag Team Championship to Team 3D in a Philadelphia Street Fight, where Team 3D's IWGP Tag Team Titles were also on the line. On May 21, Beer Money turned face by coming to the rescue of Team 3D, who were being attacked by The British Invasion ( Doug Williams, Brutus Magnus and their bodyguard Rob Terry). They stated that from all of the times they have fought, Team 3D showed them that if you are going to fight, you should at least fight fairly. At Sacrifice Beer Money defeated The British Invasion to win the Team 3D Invitational Tag Team Tournament and earn the right to challenge Team 3D for the TNA World Tag Team Titles. At Slammiversary, Beer Money defeated Team 3D to win the TNA World Tag Team Titles for the third time. The following month at Victory Road, Beer Money lost the titles to Booker T and Scott Steiner of The Main Event Mafia.

The two teams' feud intertwined with that of Team 3D and the British Invasion, causing a three-month long war between the four teams. Beer Money went on to lose to the British Invasion in an IWGP Tag Team Championship match at Hard Justice, win a Lethal Lockdown match at No Surrender (teaming with Team 3D against MEM and the Invasion), and lose a 4-way Full Metal Mayhem match at Bound for Glory for both the TNA and IWGP Tag Team Championships, with Team 3D winning the IWGP belts and the British Invasion the TNA belts. Beer Money were permitted one last title shot the following ''Impact!'', where they fought the British Invasion in a Six Sides of Steel match. Brutus Magnus had his team disqualified by punching the referee, causing him and Doug Williams to retain the championships. On the November 12 episode of ''Impact!'' Beer Money defeated the British Invasion in a non-title match to join the Motor City Machine Guns in the Tag Team Title match at Turning Point. At the Pay-Per-View The British Invasion managed to retain their titles after Kevin Nash nailed Storm with the TNA Global Championship belt. At Genesis Roode and Storm scored an upset victory over The Band of Kevin Nash and Syxx-Pac.

With Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff taking over TNA at the beginning of 2010, Beer Money's TV time was significantly reduced. Upon their return to ''Impact!'', Beer Money turned heel on the March 8 episode of ''Impact!'' by first volunteering to face Jeff Jarrett in a handicap match and then defeating him after a low blow and the DWI, claiming it was the only way they were going to get noticed by the new management. Roode and Storm had since acted as Bischoff's henchmen, taking on wrestlers he's had problems with, often in two-on-one situations. At Destination X Beer Money challenged Matt Morgan and Hernandez for the TNA World Tag Team Championship, but were unable to dethrone the defending champions. At Lockdown Beer Money, along with Sting and Desmond Wolfe, represented Team Flair in the annual Lethal Lockdown match, where they were defeated by Team Hogan (Abyss, Jeff Jarrett, Rob Van Dam and Jeff Hardy). They then started a feud with the newly formed team of Jeff Hardy and Mr. Anderson, known collectively as The Enigmatic Assholes, who went on to defeat them at Slammiversary VIII. On the following episode of ''Impact!'', Ric Flair, who had aligned himself with Roode, Storm, A.J. Styles, Desmond Wolfe and Kazarian, revived the Four Horsemen under the new name , stating that each of them had to earn their spots in the group; Flair also compared Storm and Roode to Ole Anderson and Tully Blanchard. After the TNA World Tag Team Championship was vacated in June, Beer Money entered a four-team, two-week-long tournament to decide the opponent of The Motor City Machine Guns for the titles at Victory Road. Beer Money advanced to the title match at the pay-per-view by defeating Team 3D and Ink Inc. (Jesse Neal

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