Robert Roode has never felt chemistry with a tag team partner the way he does with Dolph Ziggler.
Speaking with Graham Matthews of Daily DDT, Roode was asked about his pairing with Ziggler and what it has been like for him. He said that he has loved tag team wrestling since he was 8 years old and that being with Dolph has been a lot of fun. The Dirty Dawgs are friends outside of the ring too, which helps a lot. Here is what he said:
"It's been great... Dolph and his record and his career thus far kind of speaks for itself. He's an amazing talent. He's a good close friend of mine, so we share a lot of the same beliefs. We share a lot of the same type of style that we like to work, so it's been a lot of fun. We've had a lot of success. We were Raw Tag Team Champions earlier on too and now, like you said, we're the current SmackDown Tag Team Champions, so we're having a lot of fun. Having that friendship outside of the ring certainly helps as well."
Roode and Ziggler started teaming on the August 26, 2019 episode of Raw, winning a tag team turmoil match to become the number one contenders for the belts. According to Roode, the idea to group them together was Paul Heyman's. He said the following:
"It was Paul Heyman's idea. I wasn't doing a lot at the time and Dolph has always kind of been in and out of, for whatever reason, he'll be busy one month and the next month you don't see him. So we were showing up at TV, we weren't doing a lot of stuff, and one day we got to TV and Paul pulled us over and said 'I got this idea. I want to pitch it.'"
The duo won the Raw Tag Team Titles from Braun Strowman and Seth Rollins at Clash of Champions. Just one month later they dropped the belts on the same night that they were drafted to SmackDown.
Partners now for over a year and a half, Roode was asked about how the chemistry between he and Dolph compares to that of past teammates. He said the following:
"Well, I think it's just one of those things [that] as you move along in your career you kind of mature or see things differently. I had a lot of success with a lot of different tag team partners. Eric Young was another one that I had success with, but you know it's something with Dolph. I don't know what it is. It's the way he thinks in the ring. It's like him and I are on the same level. The style that he works and the style that I work really mesh well together. If I think of something, he's thinking it the next second and vice versa. If we go to do something in the ring together, it's like we know what's coming next. It's a chemistry that's really hard to describe but I feel it more so with Dolph than any other partner that I've ever had."
The Dirty Dawgs have been SmackDown Tag Team Champions since January 8, 2021, when they defeated The Street Profits to win the gold.
They have yet to be announced for a match at WrestleMania 37 but have been facing off frequently with Rey and Dominik Mysterio, Alpha Academy, and The Street Profits in recent weeks.
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