411’s WWE Broken Skull Sessions Report: Ron Simmons on Winning The World Title, Nation of Domination, More

411’s WWE Broken Skull Sessions Report: Ron Simmons

-Run Time: 1:24:09

-Austin welcomes us and says his guest today is universally respected by his peers on the football field and inside the wrestling ring. His guest is WWE Hall of Famer, Ron Simmons.

-They talk health and Ron says he is thanking his lucky stars he is upright, so it is all good. Austin asks him if it was all worth it and Ron says every minute of it and if he had to do it again, he would do it the same way.

-They talk about running into each other at RAW reunion and Ron says it was a joy to see Steve and it happened to be in the hotel bar. They just stared at each other and broke into laughter before hugging each other.

-Austin talks about doing his research and watching Ron’s episode of Legends with JBL. They talk about Ron’s upbringing and Ron says his mother died and his dad moved away. He remembers watching the car leave when his dad left and he and his siblings almost ended up in an orphanage. It made him grow up fast and it changed the idea of how life is supposed to go. Ron bounced from home to home and finally settled with his cousin and mother’s sister who took the younger kids. Ron was 13-14 years old and he was getting noticed by high school football coaches and they talked his family into letting him stay in Georgia instead of heading to Detroit.

-Ron was also into track in high school and set the state record for discus throw. Austin asks how far as he also threw discus and Ron says 180 feet which blows Austin away and he laughs that he quits

-Talk shifts to football and Ron says he weighed the pros and cons at what he was best in. He realized he was better at football, so he put most of his concentration there. He felt football was his way to get out of the situation he was in and the discus probably wouldn’t help with that.

-Ron talks about being a nose tackle and how that helped him with his professional wrestling. Ron played high school in Georgia and his team won National Championship. Everyone assumed he would head to Georgia to be a bulldog, but Bobby Bowden wooed him to Florida State. Ron says that Bulldog Nation is real and everyone assumed if you were great in Georgia you would go to University of Georgia. Ron says that he worked at a battery shop with a guy that did a lot of him as a kid and he played for Bobby Bowden. He asked Ron to hold one visit open for Florida State and Ron felt he owed that to him. He jokes he knew nothing about Florida State. He took visits to other schools and was told Freshmen don’t play much and he might even redshirt. To Ron this was nuts as he was on a National Championship Team and used to playing all the time. Bowden told him he couldn’t offer money like other places (Ron says it did happen) and promised him he would start him as Freshman if he won the job and that’s all Ron wanted. He was sold and was off to Florida State.

-Austin brings up the Trans Am that Ron had with his picture painted on the hood. Ron says he was a junior at FSU and consensus All American and had a girlfriend and he had the idea to take the bird off the car and put his picture on it. Austin says Ron is a god at Florida State and his #50 was retired, which was the first one on the defensive side to be retired. They splice in photos of Ron at FSU and it’s great. Ron thanks the production for flashing a photo of him tackling a UF Gator.

-Austin goes over all the accolades as Ron was a two time All American and finished 9th in Heisman voting as a Nose Tackle which is insane. You can tell Ron is very proud of what he has accomplished and he has every right.

-Ron was drafted to the NFL and it didn’t go great in Cleveland. Ron mentions he was undersized as everyone in the NFL was a superstar and he had been beaten up in college. He was okay walking away and was happy with what he did on the football field.

-Hiro Matsuda saw Ron and started to recruit him to become a pro-wrestler. Ron says he was a fan of wrestling thanks to his grandma who loved Bob Armstrong. Because of that he fell in love with it. Ron had played 3 years in the USFL and was on the same team with Lex Luger. Lex had started his wrestling with Matsuda and Ron mentions there weren’t a ton of black men in wrestling at the time. He credits Matsuda for being liberal minded as he was looking for black athletes that could cut it. Luger suggested Ron to Matsuda and there was a meeting set up between the two. Ron felt the training would be a piece of cake as he was a football player. He says it was the toughest thing he had to go through.

-The training was in a hot barn building with no windows and he trained for 3 months before he was even allowed to step in the ring. Damn! He had second thoughts at times, but knew when he started something he had to see it through. From there it was a month of nothing but hitting the ropes. Remember this is the same camp that produced Hogan.

-Austin has footage from the camp and it’s awesome and looks awful at the same time. Ron says Hiro was a good man. He credits Hiro for everything he did as he made sure they were conditioned physically and mentally. Austin mentions now we know neck bridges are bad for you, but everyone did them. Little side story: My dad played high school football and was doing neck bridges when the other RB on the team jumped on him causing permanent neck issues. He is still heated by that 40 years later.

-Ron talks about his girlfriend and how they were on the road and she wasn’t into this wrestling thing. Ron told her to just give him a little more time to see where this takes them.

-Austin asks if Ron ever got the jitters wrestling in front of people. He admits that he did because he was on an island now and he had his opponent’s health in his hands and vice versa. Austin throws to footage of a young Ron vs a young Yokozuna. Great! Austin: “all the Samoans got a good head butt.” Austin watching wrestling matches is always fun. Ron hits the slam and finishes with a shoulder tackle off the ropes. Ron credits guys like Yoko who wanted to do business. Ron wanted his stuff to look good as possible without injuring and sometimes he would get a little stiff.

-Next we get to WCW and Dusty Rhodes was a football fan and he took Ron under his wing. He credits Dusty as someone that knew the business. He knew Ron was athletic and was a black man when they needed diversity. Things went back to politics in WCW, so Ron decided to go back and forth to Japan to get more work. Dusty had the right mind and the higher ups fired him. Bill Watts came in with a head coach attitude and would chase people off if they weren’t doing what was needed. Ron took Bill well as he was basically acting like a head coach. He continued what Dusty was trying to do. Bill knew his days were numbered so he decided to just do what he wanted and made Ron the World Champion.

-Austin goes back a bit to talk Doom. Ron says he isn’t sure if it came from Herd or Barnett. They were just told they wanted to see what a black tag team could do. Austin says he wasn’t happy being told he was in a team. Ron took it as a learning process but admits Butch wasn’t on board with it as first because Ron was still relatively green. Austin mentions Woman was with them for a bit and we see a photo of her with the team. That’s wonderful they included her. Ron laughs at the idea that anyone was fooled by the masks they wore. Everyone knew it was Ron Simmons and Butch Reed. I mean, Ron’s voice is rather distinctive so that was one of the many dead give aways.

-Austin talks about the matches between Doom and The Steiners and how physical things got. Ron says they were a mutual respect with him and The Steiners. They knew what it took to compete in a combat sport and they were cool making things look damn good. Austin compares working Steiners vs Rock N Roll Express and Ron calls them great. He calls it a joy to work with The Warriors and Rock N Roll Express.

-Austin asks who Ron was getting his learning from as he had Butch and Teddy Long with him. Ron talks about Teddy and how he has done everything you can in the business. He was getting all the knowledge he could from both Teddy and Butch.

-Austin throws to a match between himself and Ron for the TV Title in 1992 on World Wide. AWESOME! Austin: “I’m glad I shave my head. I never was stunning.” Young Paul Heyman on the floor as Austin’s manager as well. They pop over Austin doing a leap frog! This is just so much fun and again, just give me a show where Austin sits down with someone else to watch classic wrestling matches. This whole deal made me smile!

-Austin brings up 6 man tag with him, Larry Z and Rude vs Ron, Steamboat and Sting. Ron knows exactly where this is leading as Ron went off after one of the matches. Ron says the match was going well and everyone was exchanging high spots. It seems Ron didn’t get any of his shit in as he was stuck with Larry who did has stalling and what not. Ron yelled that next time he was getting his shit in. Ron says it was just the wrong way to do business and he was able to calm down and reign it in without really losing his cool.

-They talk Japan where Austin tore his tricep and he was put in 6 man tags to protect himself. So he was in the matches with Ron who would just pound away on the people in the match. Ron says there is a difference in Japan as they expecting something else with their wrestling and you just have to adapt to it.

-Aug 2, 1992: Ron beats Vader to become the first black man to hold The World Heavyweight Title. In Ron’s view Dusty wanted to get Ron to the World Title, but was fired. Bill wanted to do the same and had people pushing back, but figured it needed done as soon as possible. Bill was adament that everyone show up to the show on Aug 2 and Ron had no clue what was going to happen. It was a real moment to Ron because it was a real moment.

-Austin wants to talk Vader. Ron says that at times others will say that Vader was hard to work, but they had an understanding. They worked in Japan and knew what each other was about. He says Vader wasn’t on board at the time, but in the end he did a great job and did business. We get the historic match and Ron was cool with Vader throwing this big paws at him. Austin laughs as he notes that Ron nearly invented the Superman punch. Ron mentions he was about 31 at this time. Ron: “Vader loved to work the way I liked to work.” He was cool with whatever as long as you weren’t trying to intentionally injure him. Ron hits a sweet powerslam and the crowd goes bonkers as he wins the WCW World Title. Ron says he still receives letters about the match to this day. Great stuff!

-Ron says it was a life changing moment for him. He is satisfied with what he has done with his life and did everything he has wanted. He knows the work he put in and what makes him proud is what this moment did for other people. It helped black men get their foot in the door and it helped people of all color change their lives.

-Austin asks Ron why he thinks more black people didn’t get into the wrestling business. Ron says the fans mostly always saw white guys in the ring so they didn’t relate. There were also stereotypes that discouraged younger black men and women from getting into the business. Ron knew when he became Champion he had to take a high road because he knew it could be held against people that came after him. Austin asks about guys thanking him and Ron brings up The Nation and how grateful they were. He mentions Rocky found who he was in the Nation and now look at him.

-WWE: Ron says he was one of 5 black guys in WCW and they had no idea what to do with him. He decided to take work in Japan. Two of his favorite people are Bruce Prichard and Michael Hayes and once he had no more commitments in Japan, they set up a meeting with Vince.

-Faarooq: Austin compares it to him being brought in as The Ringmaster. Ron says he and Vince were just having some talks and Vince mentioned a gladiator gimmick. Ron had a different version of what a gladiator would be and Vince had his own. Ron and Steve break up laughing at the idea of the gladiator having a leather helmet. Ron was expecting some shiny metal and went to get fitted. He asked the guy where the suit was and when he saw the helmet he was speechless. They splice in early promo pictures of Ron in the gimmick. Ron admits he had to do some soul searching on the flight home and then he had to explain to his wife what the suit was like. She laughed at him as well! Ron realized he would be a laughing stock or he had to run with it and just kick everyone’s ass to get over by force of will.

-We see Faarooq’s debut as he beats the crap out of Ahmed Johnson. I forgot Sonny was originally with Faarooq and man, 1996 Sunny is a smoke show! Austin says 99.9% of the guys would get laughed out of the building by the boys wearing that, but not Ron as everyone respected him. They knew the gimmick was awful, but that was Ron Simmons.

-Austin asks why Vince didn’t capitalize on Ron Simmons and his background and that voice. Ron isn’t sure but knows the roster was compiled of characters and that was Vince’s way of fitting him in with that group. Ron is thankful for the character as it set up The Nation Faarooq.

-The Nation of Domination: Ron says the character gave him a chance to voice out racial issues he had been holding inside. Writers would try to tell him what to say and Ron thought they were nuts because they didn’t know how to write for that character.

-Austin mentions that D-Lo Brown was in the crowd when he beat Vader for the World Title and Ron says he was never told that. He and D-Lo talk every month and he will bring that up to him now. Austin mentions the group was full of Alphas and they all looked up to Ron. Ron says that the idea is to help the younger generation that is willing to learn to keep the business moving forward. He laughs because he would says things behind the scenes and Rock would steal them and makes millions with catchphrases. Ron is proud of the fact that they all got along well. Austin goes back to Rock taking “Know your role,” from Ron and Ron says he has no issues with it. He is proud of Rock and everyone in the group for what they did. Ron is most proud that each member had more success after leaving the group.

-Talk shifts to Undertaker and Ron has the greatest respect for him. He has never heard Taker bitch or moan about anything. They have a similar work ethic in that no matter how you feel, you work.

-The Acolytes: Ron says they had football background and had same mentality about work and style of working a match. They hit it off immediately. The writers worked with them to come up with The APA. We get footage from RAW in Jan 2000 as The APA is officially formed. The Dudley Boyz want to hire APA with a check and Ron shoots back: “If the check bounces, so do you.” Fantastic!

-Ron says riding with JBL was something he had always wanted as it was life on the road with a brother. Austin asks if they got into legit fights and Ron says absolutely. They could pick out what guy was going to want to start something in the bar. Austin says he always had people that wanted to arm wrestle him. Ron says people get 10 feet tall when you mix in alcohol and women.

-Oct 1999: The Acolytes beat up “bar patrons” who won’t leave them alone at The Friendly Tap! The first of many times they destroyed that place which always pleased owner Tim White as WWE would replace and fix whatever was destroyed. He would tell them to make sure they broke the big screen so that would get upgraded.
-Road trips with JBL and Teddy Long: Not shocking, but Teddy was the designated driver. They were pulled over for throwing empty beer cans out of the car in Ohio. Teddy sold them out to the police, but the cop made Teddy take the sobriety test. Teddy passed and Ron made a smart ass comment to the cop as he couldn’t leave well enough alone. Backup was called and that cop knew them as wrestlers and they jumped on that and showed off the WWF Tag Titles. They took some pictures and were let go.

-Another story as they were drinking while Teddy was driving them outside Chicago. They were stuck in a winter storm, but had to pull over to piss. Teddy is mad and decided to pull off with JBL in the car not knowing Ron was still outside pissing. JBL asked him how long he was going to keep the rib up and Teddy finally realized he forgot Ron. The snow was so heavy and it was a one way street, so Teddy had to back up and Ron used a lighter so they could see where he was. Ron was so cold he couldn’t get the words out as Teddy did all he could to apologize.

-Wrestler’s Court: Ron says they were fun, but they were serious at the same time. It was a way for the boys to police themselves.

-SmackDown 2002: APA playing cards with LL Cool J, Rebecca Stamos, and Rebecca guzzles a beer. JBL: “A supermodel and beer, I am in heaven.” Ron lets out what may be his first “damn.” Ron says that time with APA was the most fun he has had in the business. I mean, dude got paid to hang out backstage and drink beer while occasionally having to go out and beat people up.

-They talk retirement as Ron says nearing the end his body started failing. His hip was basically gone and he never mentioned it to JBL as he wanted their run to go well for him. He was ready for retirement, but didn’t want John knowing. He said when it finally was pitched to end the team it was perfect timing and he was okay with splitting the team and heading off in the sunset.

-2012 Hall of Fame: Ron gets inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. The crowd chants Damn in unison as they want it from him and instead he tells them the word he has on his mind is “honored.” Always working the crowd! Ron mentions in his speech having guys like Booker T and Mark Henry come after him as World Champions. This was a great speech! Ron finally hits them with the DAMN! His contasnt milking of it has Austin losing it watching this back. Makes for a bigger pop though!

-They talk regrets and Ron has often thought about that, but he knows if he changed anything then who knows who things work out. So he has none and has gotten everything he has wanted out of his life.

-They talk about working together in Iraq and how hard it was to get alcohol, but the snipers took care of them. Austin: “where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

-I mean, can’t really top ending with that story. Austin thanks Ron for joining him and knows they didn’t cover all the stories, but those can be saved for another time.

-This was a blast to watch as Ron has had an amazing life inside and outside wrestling and Austin is great just shooting the breeze with his friends. This could have easily gone another another hour and I would have been fine with it. Thanks for reading!