Robert Roode talks teaming with Dolph Ziggler, reflects on five years with WWE

As a well-documented tag team specialist, it should come as no surprise to WWE fans that Robert Roode currently finds himself holding one-half of the SmackDown Tag Team Championship.

He and his partner Dolph Ziggler have been firmly stationed at the helm of the blue brand’s tag team division since making the move back to Friday nights in October. They knocked off the seemingly-unbeatable Street Profits in January to become the champions and are on their way to WrestleMania 37 with the titles in tow.

Roode is more than just a successful tag team wrestler, however. Since joining WWE almost exactly five years ago, he’s enjoyed reigns as NXT champion and as United States champion. He also has two TNA World Heavyweight Championship wins to his credit.

Alongside Ziggler, he’s been in his element as they’re essentially two peas in a pod. Ahead of SmackDown on FOX, Roode spoke with Daily DDT about The Dirty Dawgs, his WWE journey thus far, his favorite matches he’s had in the company, and more.

Robert Roode talks teaming with Dolph Ziggler and the origin of Dirty Dawgs name

From James Storm to Chad Gable, Roode has had a variety of tag partners throughout his career. That said, he feels he has the best kind of chemistry with Ziggler, who he’s been aligned with for the last year and a half on Raw and SmackDown.

Despite finding success as a singles star at various points, Roode has always been a big fan of tag team wrestling, which would explain why he’s so proficient at it.

“I’ve always loved tag team wrestling and I’ve had some success throughout my career in a tag team and competing as a tag team guy,” he said. “From an early age, when I was eight-years-old starting to watch pro wrestling, sports-entertainment, I was always a fan of tag team wrestling and tag team psychology.”

Sharing a lot of the same beliefs as Ziggler and wrestling a similar style as him has made their time together very fun for Roode.

Before they joined forces in August 2019, neither of them was doing anything of note on WWE TV. It was actually a Paul Heyman call to pair them up because he saw major potential in them as teammates.

“It was Paul Heyman’s idea, basically,” he said. “I wasn’t doing a lot at the time and Dolph’s always been in and out [of storylines], for whatever reason. He’ll be busy one month and the next month you don’t see him. We were showing up to the TV and we weren’t doing a lot of stuff and one day we got to TV and Paul pulled us over and said, ‘I have this idea. I want to pitch it.’”

The same evening, they took part in a Tag Team Turmoil match and won the whole thing to become the number one contenders to the Raw Tag Team Titles. They went on to beat Braun Strowman and Seth Rollins at Clash of Champions weeks later to capture the championship.

Roode recalls working with Ziggler when he first arrived on WWE’s main roster in August 2017 and that being their first major interaction. Even as opponents, they hit it off immediately, paving the way for their future friendship.

“We have that chemistry together,” he said. “To be honest, it was kind of odd and cool at the same time because when I got called up from NXT, my very first program was against Dolph. Even as opponents, we had really good chemistry and we had some really good matches. That’s where it all started, and when we got together as a team, that chemistry reignited and we’ve had a lot of success.”

The two have started calling themselves The Dirty Dawgs in recent months, which Roode confirms is in no way a homage to his old alliance with Austin Aries in IMPACT (where they went by The Dirty Heels). Rather, it was their way of becoming more of a true team, along with adopting one shared entrance theme and matching gear.

“The Dirty Dogs thing kind of started as a running joke among friends,” he said. “I guess we’re the old dogs in the locker room so to speak. We’ve seen it all and we’ve been around it all and we learned sometimes you have to play dirty. This is the moniker we go by. We do whatever we have to do each night to get the job done and that’s what we’re going to do. We’ve been pretty successful so far with that mindset.”

Roode singled out The Fantastics and The Midnight Express as two teams they’ve loosely modeled themselves after a throwback tandem from a bygone era.

“We want to be represented as a team and presented as a team in all aspects,” he said. “When we first started tagging together, I would still wear the robe and I’d have my Glorious gear and he would wear his stuff. We just thought if we’re going to do this, let’s do it right.”

Robert Roode reflects on five years in WWE

Next week, April 1st marks five years since Roode’s premiere appearance on WWE TV (if we’re not counting his matches as an enhancement talent on Velocity back in the day). Within weeks of departing his longtime employer, IMPACT Wrestling, he showed up in the crowd at NXT TakeOver: Dallas over WrestleMania 32 weekend and set the internet on fire.

The last five years have been a whirlwind for both Roode and the WWE Universe. The opportunity to come to WWE was an exciting one for him and it didn’t disappoint upon his arrival.

“You’re actually the first one to point that out,” he said. “It really has [flown by]. It’s been a blast. The NXT experience was better than I ever thought it could be. I was excited when I got there to Dallas and I remember just nervous and anxious at the same time. I was in the business a long time leading up to that, leaving a company I had been at for such a long time.”

“My personality isn’t one for change,” he continued. “I get into a routine. Change is tough for me, but I was looking forward to a change. I remember being in Dallas, walking into the hotel, and kind of being in awe of the way the WWE machine works. I was welcomed with open arms to the locker room in NXT and Triple H had a huge [part] in getting me in there and we had some great conversations. I knew of a couple of guys there already: Samoa Joe, Finn Balor was there in NXT as well. It was an easy transition.”

Once he gave notice to TNA, he admits he had no idea what was next for him. His only goal was to recharge the batteries after a lengthy stay there and to explore other endeavors that came his way.

WWE ended being exactly what he was looking for without initially knowing it.

“I had no idea what was next,” he said. “I just knew I was burned out and I knew I needed to get away from where I was. It wasn’t that I wasn’t happy personally because I had a lot of friends there and I still enjoyed being around everybody, but I needed to getaway. I felt like I was getting stale. Just numerous things.”

Robert Roode talks about the importance of COVID vaccinations and reveals his two favorite WWE matches

Fortunately enough, Roode hasn’t missed any time due to injuries since joining WWE. His only major period of inactivity was last year when the pandemic prevented him from traveling from Canada into the United States for WWE’s television tapings.

He sat at home for almost six months and made a grand return in his return to Raw that September, unsuccessfully challenging Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship. With COVID-19 vaccinations becoming increasingly more available, Roode is ready for the wrestling world to go back to being rowdy again with fans safely able to attend shows.

“I just think it’s time to get back to normal,” he said. “It really is and I can tell you firsthand being a talent and performing in the ThunderDome was an amazing experience, but I really miss the WWE Universe. I broke in in 1998 and one of the things I was taught was to feed off a crowd. You can’t do that now. You just can’t and it’s part of the business. The fans have always been such a huge part of WWE and that part of it needs to get back to normal we’re not too far away right now.”

That WWE title match with McIntyre was terrific, but it isn’t among his favorites. That distinction instead belongs to his bout against Shinsuke Nakamura at TakeOver: San Antonio and his United States Championship clash with Randy Orton from Fastlane 2018.

“I’ve had some really enjoyable matches,” he said. “One that sticks out is the match I had in San Antonio at NXT TakeOver against Shinsuke when I won the NXT Championship. Pretty special night for me, but as far as being on the main roster, I think one of my favorite matches is the one I had with Randy Orton on pay-per-view.

“I think I liked it so much because I wanted to work with Randy for such a long time and in my opinion, bell to bell, there’s nobody better than Randy Orton in my era,” he added. “It was an honor to be in the ring with him and he’s another guy I had really great chemistry with and I can work every single night. He’s just that good.”

Catch Robert Roode every Friday night on WWE SmackDown at 8/7c on FOX.