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For some of you, the name Ron Simmons is connected with WWE fans by one word. And that word is DAMN! Now, Simmons gets a paycheck just by saying that word. Many years before that, Ron Simmons was more than just a word. He was a trailblazer. A symbol of hard work and perseverance paying off as Simmons made it to wrestling's mountaintop. And made history in the process.
The future Faarooq started his journey in the squared circle on the gridiron. He was a star linebacker and tight end at Warner Robins High School in Georgia. He decided to go to Florida State and play for a not-yet-legendary Bobby Bowden. During this time, Simmons was considered one of the university's best prospects coming out of high school. In four years at defensive tackle, Ron was part of a turnaround for the Seminoles and it jump started the Hall of Fame career for Bowden. Simmons would earn All-American selections and Orange Bowl berths in his junior and senior seasons. He would have his #50 jersey retired at Florida State and entered the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008.
Ron Simmons was selected by the Cleveland Browns in the sixth round of the 1981 NFL Draft. He played for the Browns for 1981 and 1982. He actually played with the CFL's Ottawa Rough Riders in '81 also. His playing career continued in the new USFL with the Tampa Bay Bandits for three seasons. He had a teammate named Lawrence Pfohl while at Tampa Bay. Pfohl had a different start to his football career than Simmons. He had a checkered college football career which ended at the University of Miami. Pfohl's pro football was coming to an end and he went to bodybuilding and then, professional wrestling which he would become.....Lex Luger. Simmons probably saw inspiration in this and knew that his playing career was winding down and it was time for a new calling.....professional wrestling.
Simmons started at Jim Crockett Promotions in 1986, where he was solid during house shows and scored a huge victory against Ivan Koloff and a young Yokozuna. His wrestling career was beginning to take shape around 1988, Simmons was involved in a tag team with "Dr. Death" Steve Williams and began to show heel-like tactics as his character was going to become a dominating jerk. The fruition came true in 1989 when Simmons turned his back on Ranger Ross and abandoned him during a tag team tournament to form another tag team with Butch Reed named Doom. (Side note: During the work of this writing, the wrestling community lost Butch Reed a few weeks ago. R.I.P. Hacksaw). At first, the team was masked which didn't make any sense since everyone knew who they were. As the decade turned into the 90's, Doom became one of the top teams in the company and after a couple of solid feuds with the Steiners plus Arn Anderson and Barry Windham, Doom wore the NWA World Tag Team Title. They also made history in the process as they were recognized as the first WCW Tag Team Champions. In the beginning of 1991, Doom broke up and Simmons feuded with Reed for a short time as he was being pushed to be a monster babyface. He would earn a world championship match at that year's Halloween Havoc, but was unsuccessful at winning the gold from....what to you know, Lex Luger. It comes full circle. However, many people were impressed with Ron's performance at Havoc that the WCW saw Simmons as a certified main-eventer. Good things were about to happen.
1992 rolled in and during this time, Bill Watts became Executive Vice President of WCW and used a philosophy of old school wrestling, banning over-the-rope moves. It was a nice change for Simmons, who was enjoying a great push as this focused on more "powerhouse" wrestlers. He fits that mold. Sting was "kayfabed" injured by Jake Roberts and the company needed a contender to challenge Big Van Vader and his WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Watts held a raffle to determine the #1 contender for the title.....since having matches to make that claim seemed out of stretch, I guess. Simmons won said raffle and was set to face Vader for the championship. The match was exceptional as the audience in Baltimore were fully behind Simmons in this encounter. In a highly heated contest, Ron used a snap scoop power slam to get the shocking three count. After the victory, the crowd went wild and his fellow wrestlers celebrated this historic event. Ron Simmons was a world champion.
Here's where everything becomes complicated. WWE recognizes Simmons as the first black world champion. Unfortunately, many wrestling historians say that he is not. In the early 60's, Bobo Brazil was a predominant grappler who faced the likes of Bruno Sammartino and "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers. He had the fortune of having his promoters ignore prejudice since he was popular in the industry. In 1962, he defeated Rogers for the title.....but Bobo refused the championship since he kicked Rogers in the groin. A.J. Styles saw many of those in 2018. He was not acknowledged as a world champion. So, while looking more into this, I came across an article by Last Word On Sports about this, and found what I was looking for.
Ed "Bearcat" Wright was a mountain of a man at 6'7" 270 lbs. He also had the athleticism to deliver a picture perfect dropkick.
Bearcat had the aura of success during the early 60's when many African-American wrestlers didn't get the opportunity for that. Like Bobo, Wright had promoters see his talent. In 1961, he was an employee of Big Time Wrestling and won the Heavyweight Championship from a well-known competitor and legend in Killer Kowalski. However, it wasn't recognized since BTW had no affiliation with the NWA. Two years later, Bearcat went to the WWA and in that same year, he defeated Freddie Blassie to claim the WWA Heavyweight Champion. He is known as the first African-American to win a heavyweight title and.....Brazil would win one three years later and is credited as being the second African-American to win one, even though some would credit Ron Simmons as being the second. It's confusing I know.
Simmons would hold the world championship for a few months before losing it to Vader on a house show in the same arena where he captured it. He went back to the mid-card and never regained the momentum propelled him to the championship. He left WCW in 1994. After a cup of coffee in ECW for a year, Simmons joined the WWF in 1996 with a Gladiator gimmick named Faarooq Asad. Yeah, they did that. Faarooq would transition into a stable that resembled the Black Panther Party called the Nation of Domination. He was the leader up until 1998 when an up-and-coming talent named Rocky Maivia became to assume the position as leader of NOD. And that Rocky Maivia guy had an okay career in the business and is in movies now from what I hear. Faarooq would chase after the Intercontinental title, coming up unsuccessful in capturing it. He ventured through the mid-card again and then was placed in a tag team with someone who was also wandering the mid-card looking for direction, John Bradshaw. They were dubbed the Acolytes and managed by the Jackyl, or Don Callis. They then joined the Undertaker's Ministry of Darkness stable and actually had a couple of tag team title reigns during this duration. After the stable disbanded, the Acolytes were out on their own and showed the two backstage playing poker and drinking beer. The fans began to love the characters since it made Faarooq and Bradshaw multi-dimensional instead of serious powerhouses. The APA, or Acolytes Protection Agency, enjoyed success as they were faces due to the attendance's reaction of their shenanigans. In 2004, the team disbanded as Bradshaw became JBL and Simmons was retiring from in-ring competition. Ron has made sporadic appearances for the company in the last decade and was inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame in 2012.
Ron Simmons had a long, productive career in professional wrestling, but one night in Baltimore, he became immortal.
DAMN!
(References: Wikipedia, Last Word On Sports, WWE, Florida State University, Complex, USFL)
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