WWE Hall Of Famer Ron Simmons recently appeared as a guest on The Two Man Power Trip Of Wrestling podcast. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On approaching the 25th anniversary of becoming the first-ever African-American World Champion: “First, I like to phrase it like this. I have no ill-respect for the country or nation of Africa but I label myself as the first Black American Heavyweight Champion. As far as I’m concerned my ancestry is here in this country and that is the way I look at it and of course that holds a special meaning and interest in my heart and I can’t tell you that I don’t relive it every day of the month. Anybody that has been in this business whether it be male or female strive to get to the pinnacle in their career and that is becoming World Champion. It will always hold a special place in my heart and who better than to be in the ring with like somebody like Vader where you know it is going to be a brawl and it was. It continues to this day to resonate with me like it happened last week and not only because it holds a special place and meaning and even more than just becoming World Champion is to have others come up to me now and say; “Hey Ron, thank you for inspiring me not only to get into this business but inspiring me to go on to do things that I had reservations about doing.” You cannot ask for a better compliment than that.”
On the success the APA had in WWE and JBL’s personality outside of the ring: “I can’t even express it into words what it was like to be tagged up with someone like Bradshaw. It was just like a natural and like a hand to glove. It had no other way than to go than to be a success. He and I were like two peas in a pod, we shared the same things out of the ring and since we came from similar background since he was football player and an athlete with a college scholarship and all of these things plus all of the out of the ring antics were similar to each other and we had a natural feel for each other as well in the ring and our personalities. There didn’t have to be a lot of verbal conversations between us and it is that way sometimes with tag teams when you get a mixture of people together sometimes it doesn’t come across on the screen if they don’t work together and there was a natural flow with us. We absolutely loved and cared for one another and I think that what resonated the most when people would watch us on the screen.”
On the Attitude Era vs. today’s generation: “I am a little prejudice towards that era back then. I believed about the in the ring wrestling over spending times with out of the ring shenanigans and talking and all of these things. Our stuff was settled in the ring and I think people want to see more of that if you ask me. But times change and I am just prejudice towards that era because guys got in the ring and actually wrestled and that is what the people liked to see.”
Check out the complete Ron Simmons interview at Podomatic.com.