Roode looks like an 80s tag team guy. He's nothing special. The booking is. One advantage TNA has is not being hamstrung by PG level booking. Heels can actually look strong and have personality. Besides Mark Henry's stellar run last year and Lesnar this year, all heels have been booked to be jokes and take a shyt ton of losses. There really aren't any "serious" heels in the WWE. They're either cookie cutter cocky or joke characters. I guess Big Show is an exception, but he's an archetype as well, monster heel. They just don't stand out.
Heels can look strong and have personality with or without PG. The PG thing is just an excuse. Ric Flair, Ted DiBiase, Mr. Perfect, Rick Rude, etc. all were around when WWF was more PG than it is now and it didn't restrict them. Even in recent times- Jericho, Orton (circa '08-'09), SES Punk, Barrett, most recently Daniel Bryan... they were all good heels too. It's the person and his character that makes him a great heel. Just like Bobby Roode. He benefits from how he was booked, but it ain't like TNA's booking is THAT great. He was one of those they did get it right with, and fortunately for him because he took that role and lived up to it character-wise. If Jeff Jarrett was still running shyt and he'd been booked like they booked Roode, it would've been terrible cause it's Jeff Jarrett. So Roode deserves most of the credit.