James Storm and Bobby Roode interview now available

On Wednesday I had the pleasure of speaking with James Storm and world champion Bobby Roode ahead of their upcoming TNA World Title match at Lockdown.
 
During the two 45-minute conference calls, each man took a range of questions from different journalists and I was able to ask them both two questions myself. One thing that struck me was just how different their demeanours were, and how closely they resembled their on-screen characters in many ways. Storm was easy going and happy to answer “insider” questions without completely breaking character (and he talked about beer a lot!); Roode, on the other hand, gives off the impression that he is a guy you shouldn’t mess with, and did an admirable job of staying in character even when questioners tried to steer him away from kayfabe discussions.
 
I’ve only recently given TNA a second chance and I have found the build-up to Sunday’s title match a compelling reason to tune in every week. I think it’s right up there with the best things going on in wrestling right now, and I’m more excited about this PPV than any TNA event in years. TNA has done a lot of things wrong in its time, and it still isn’t perfect, but in recent weeks the storytelling and pacing have come on leaps and bounds, and they are doing a lot more to feature fresh acts in intriguing roles. Storm and Roode are the epitomy of that, and I can see why the company rates both so highly.
 
Much of the talk centred around this Sunday’s cage match between the two, but there was also a lot of discussion about their past as “TNA originals” and their steady rise to the top of the card. Both talked about their favourite wrestlers growing up, their early years in the business (Roode on the Canadian indy scene, and Storm as a WCW developmental wrestler), and of course their time as the Beer Money tag team.
 
I was able to ask James about his character’s moral core, and whether being a TNA original is more of an advantage or a disadvantage. I asked Bobby how different a path his career might have taken if he’d beaten Kurt Angle at Bound For Glory, and the TNA locker room’s reaction to being under the radar in recent months with so much attention diverted to Wrestlemania, The Rock and Brock Lesnar.
 
I can only say good things about both men giving up their time, and the way they interacted with questioners. They conducted themselves with class, and I was impressed that they managed to answer everything that was thrown at them without skipping a beat.
 
The link to the whole interview on the 606v2 journal is http://www.v2journal.com/tna-lockdown.html HERE (at the very bottom of the page).
 
I'd recommend giving the whole thing a listen, but if you're rushed for time my questions are at the following points:
12:09
27:10 (such a good question I had to ask it twice!)
01:00:42
01:11:10
 
I hope you enjoy the interview as much as I did.
 
Note from Adam - I would personally like to thank both Bobby and James for taking the time out of their hectic schedules to talk to us. In addition, I would also like to thank Simon at TNA UK who has helped make these interviews possible. Don't forget to catch the TNA Lockdown PPV on Challenge TV next Wednesday (April 18) from 10pm

I have listened to the whole interview now and I think the Roode one was very good.

I especially love the way he carries his characters arrogance into the answers.

And can I just say that Crips questions were amongst the best asked.

Following on from the article, here is the video that Crips talks about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSSdNrshgSE&feature=youtu.be

I agree - TNA have got some really good montages going on at the moment

An interesting answer that Roode gave is that he thinks that the next breakout star/ young guy to come through will be Magnus.

I really rate Magnus, he's clearly hungry and passionate about learning the trade and he's comfortable on the stick.

He's also got the look.

Its a shame he didnt get longer with McGuiness/ Wolfe as I think he would have learnt a lot from him.

Matt Morgan talked him up too.

First Norfolk born champ on the way then

ncfc_Tooze wrote:First Norfolk born champ on the way then

The third, actually. Dave Batista is from King's Lynn and Ronnie Garvin was born in Cromer.