Bobby Roode got the green light for an in-ring comeback, but will it happen?
Roode has not wrestled since he lost to Omos at a June 2022 live event. He ultimately had two neck surgeries that have kept him on the shelf since then. Roode had neck fusion surgery in November 2022, then he had a second fusion done in May 2023.
During a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet on his Insight podcast, Roode confirmed that he finally got cleared for an in-ring return.
“Ironically enough, I just got green-lighted. The fusion has completely fused. So as far as like, looking at it from a medical point of view, it’s safe to get back in the ring, I guess. But at almost 48 years old, given the opportunity that I’ve been given now to work as a producer, which was my goal coming to WWE almost eight years ago. I’m quite happy doing this,” Roode mentioned. “And I feel like I’ve had a good run, as they say, and I’m happy to do what I’m doing now.”
Will it happen?
Despite getting cleared, Roode is being realistic about the chances that he returns to the ring. Roode says there’s no way he could wrestle full-time now, explaining some of the symptoms he faced in the past couple of years.
“Could I do this full-time? There’s no way I could,” he stated. “Look, to be honest, the injury I have three levels that are bad. The level six and seven are not good either. So when I got my injury, back in 2022, when I re injured it, I got an MRI done the next day. And like, I mean, they said that your three levels are just not good. Two levels are not great. You need to get fixed. So I went to Birmingham and saw Dr. Cordova who was amazing. And he thought we need to do a two-level.”
Roode didn’t have any pain, but he was losing strength in his right arm. He noted how Paul Orndorff went through the same thing where the muscle began to atrophy, which scared him. Roode said his doctor called the night before the first procedure and told him he was hopeful they would only need to do one surgery. Roode says he began to heal, but ended up experiencing a tremendous amount of pain in March 2023.
“We really don’t know what happened”
Roode said he got incredibly sick, which included vomiting and blacking out. He couldn’t raise his arm over his head, and later found out that the level above the surgically-repaired one blew out.
“Level four and five just kind of went for whatever reason. So in hindsight, maybe we should have gotten both done at the same time. Look, that’s life and we just move on,” he said. “But I had to get this other fusion done. And that level six and seven, like I said, is still not great but I’m feeling better. And so I just don’t mentally, I don’t think I could take the risk of going back in the ring and working a full-time schedule. Just knowing that as well. I just feel like I look differently to you know what I mean? I always kind of prided myself in the way that I looked on television. And sure, no, I love being in the gym and working out. And it’s just when you physically don’t look the same, it’s just a mental thing as well.”
Roode spoke about a potential final match, noting that everyone wants one, but it might not always be in the cards.
“I think everybody would like to have one last match, right? But sometimes you just when the wheels fall off, the wheels fall off. It’s just that’s the nature of the beast in this sport.”
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