The TL;DR question is - does the direction a rod bends in, matter for use?
I have a jigging rod combo set up with an inline reel, so when you are using it, the rod guides are below the rod.
If I were to swap that reel with a baitcaster reel, the reel and guides would now be on top of the rod, with the rod effectively bending backwards when under stress. Does this matter? I'm kind of thinking not, until you were to get into super high end or custom rods, which I am not.