Bobby Roode hasn’t wrestled in years, but WWE apparently has some pretty big plans for him behind the scenes. Michael Hayes revealed that Triple H personally wants Roode groomed to eventually become the kind of producer Hayes has been for WWE — and compared the whole succession plan to Pat Patterson.
Speaking with Stephanie McMahon on the October 22 episode of What’s Your Story?, Hayes discussed how his own role in WWE has evolved over the years. That’s when he recalled Triple H approaching him with a pretty blunt reminder about the future.
“But yeah, I just made up my mind that this is your new path, and go for it. And I’ll tell you, Trips came up to me one day and he goes, ‘So Michael, you know you’re not gonna be around forever.’”
Hayes couldn’t resist having some fun with Triple H’s choice of words: “What does that mean, life or work?” Triple H then explained exactly what he meant. Hayes said Triple H compared his current position to the role the legendary Pat Patterson once held and made it clear that he wanted Roode prepared to eventually follow in Hayes’ footsteps.
“You’re our Pat Patterson. I need you to make Bobby Roode Michael.”
That apparently got Hayes thinking about the reality that somebody will eventually have to take over responsibilities he’s handled behind the scenes. Judging by his assessment, Roode has already made some serious progress.
“And I said, ‘Okay, that’s a really good point, because I’m not gonna be here forever.’ And boy, has he come along.”
Stephanie agreed that Roode has a bright future in the role, and Hayes went even further with his praise. He believes Roode can become great at the job, although there’s still one part of working behind the scenes that he wants him to master.
“No, I see great things for him. He’s just gotta get out of the stuff where—I don’t know how to really categorize it. This stuff happens in this industry that’s just out of your control, and it’s just gonna happen. And you just gotta kind of let it go and say, ‘Okay.’”
Stephanie understood exactly what Hayes meant. She explained that there’s no point burning energy complaining about something that’s going to happen anyway when that energy could be spent figuring out how to make it work.
“Yeah, so much energy about bitching about doing it, because you’re going to do it. It’s happening anyways. So save the energy to do it and find a way to do it.”
That brought Hayes back to a lesson Vince McMahon once gave him. Instead of explaining why an idea wouldn’t work, Hayes learned that his job was to figure out how to make it work.
“I still have problems sometimes. You actually told that story too. You said, ‘Find a way to make it work. Don’t tell me how it doesn’t work.’ That’s what Vince—‘Tell me how you can make it work.’ He said, ‘Michael, I have many people out on the street telling me why it don’t work. I need somebody to tell me how it will work.’”
The comments give a lot more context to where Roode stands in WWE these days. His profile was quietly moved into the alumni section of WWE.com in September, but there was never any indication that he’d actually left the company, as he’s continued working as a producer after stepping away from the ring.
Roode hasn’t wrestled since 2022 following serious neck issues and multiple surgeries, and he’s since settled into his backstage role. Now it sounds like WWE isn’t simply keeping him around as another producer — Triple H sees enough in Roode that he specifically tasked Haye
What do you think about the newly revealed details surrounding Robert Roode’s backstage future in WWE? Let us know in the comments below.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
