Ron Simmons on WCW

Including his run as champion

[@FallicIdol]

Simmons was a beast. He had the size, skill and personality. WWF should have pushed him more when he came over but he had a good career.

[@Sammo212]

Always loved Ron Simmons. One of the greats, for sure. Really wish WWF/WWE gave Simmons a better run in the company.

[@83thechaz]

Oh yea. Vince should've given Ron a few world title runs in my opinion. He sells...period

[@AnthonyPitts]

Ron would have been a good WWF champ and there was already precedent to give him a run. Wish it had happened!

[@advocatefish3562]

+Steven Simmons Sure he didn't get a world title but the Nation of Domination and APA were big parts of the Attitude Era. Nation was always involved in story and the APA had funny segments on every show.

[@sugarshark7626]

Are you Ron Simmons' son?

[@codedtestament9914]

I feel that Ron Simmons's victory against Vader was one of the all time best World Title wins ever. It had everything: suspense, drama, emotion, tremendous athletic ability, and the shock factor.

[@dksoulstice6040]

+codedtestament99 One thing about old school matches that's so different than wrestling today; they end out of nowhere. Simmons beat Vader with a powerslam I believe and I remember an old NWA match where Jerry Lawler beat The Rock with a piledriver.
Nowadays, wrestlers can get hit with three finishers in a row and still kick out lol

[@pjay213]

Crowd was popping insane. I was there

[@Mickieshelton]

Legendary victory. It shocked the world.

[@Knightfall937]

I absolutely love Ron!!! Straightforward no bullshit

[@MIKEJ788]

That's Right! A Friend of mine went 2 school with Ron Simmons FSU Tallahassee and he told me he seen Ron nosetackled guys HARD Back In Da Day

[@castieldiallo2945]

no bs responses. ron simmons seems like a cool cat. damn!

[@kenterminateddq5311]

+Castiel Diallo Ron seems like a cool cat but I wouldn't mess with him.
He's no Haku but Ron Simmons looks like the type of dude that would rip any man's head off.

[@jjdillon23]

+kenterminatedbygoogle Haku, Ron Simmons, and Bad News Allen...people I would not want to be in the vicinity of if they were pissed off.

[@kenterminateddq5311]

jjdillon23
There are other names I wouldn't mess with like Andre, Big Show, Bruiser Brody. There are so many others.

[@Mrcheckpointeh]

+kenterminatedbygoogle there's a few interviews where he is rated 2 tough guy in wcw. stieners would mess with people but never touched simmons

[@kenterminateddq5311]

sgcocking87
Oh, cool. Man, I would pay my money to see a real fight with Simmons and Meng.

[@jakethemuss3]

Ron Simmons is a legit badass. Nobody fucked with him backstage.

[@MrBrunothedog]

+jakethemuss3 too much weights not enough speed work, useless prick...

[@quinnnewman9538]

I really like that he is super honest yet, not really bitter. That is a guy with boatloads of integrity

[@kev69323]

Would have loved to see Ron Simmons/Faarooq have a world title reign in the wwf/wwe. He already had the credibility from his wcw days. And I always thought he was entertaining as hell, especially in his 1997 nation of domination days. I never understood why wwe didn't give him that run.

[@ricklandry8769]

he was black that's why .u now if he was white he would have a wwe title run

[@Wurmo]

There was better talent known as The Rock. Why do people conveniently forget The Rock is black?

[@darinfry1543]

I liked him when he teamed up with Bradshaw, what they were called escapes me. DAMN!!!!! Lol

[@JayJackson1981]

The problem was back then is that WWF didn't want to give him creditability because of WCW.

[@TheCodedtestament]

Ron Simmons set the wrestling world on fire in 1992! by the way Too short of a run.

[@thevoid99]

i think part of the reason it was way too short was due to booking. aside from vader and rick rude, he didn't get to face real top heels as he had to face the barbarian of all people for his title defense at halloween havoc. that was lame.

[@mcbrotherhill]

The wwe/wwf never knew how to used black talent

[@reignkaida]

Still don't

[@slimmsayton]

Ron Simmons always sounds like he's seconds away from slapping the shit out of somebody.

[@FireitupBedford]

Back in the wcw days he always came out he said this is what a real man suppose to look like...

[@Antrizzle2009]

I was in the Baltimore Arena the night Simmons beat Vader for the WCW title. That was still one of the greatest wrestling moments I've ever seen and it was completely unexpected. I met Simmons back when I was 10 years old when he was tag teaming with Butch Reed as Doom. I loved them back in the day.

[@rich111272]

I always did support Ron Simmons as an African-American man in what was a very racist, wrestling business years ago. That "good ol' boy" Jim Crockett and his son David tried like hell to suppress Simmons's title run. He was the only wrestler to beat Vader straight up. I don't think Anderson or Flair himself wanted anything to do with this brother. He was a true stud indeed.

[@twgunz]

The Crocketts weren't involved in any way with WCW at that time and hadn't been for 2 years or more

[@TheVileOne]

No Sting as well beat him clean once.

[@jasonvoorhees6416]

@@twgunz lol crocketss we’re LONG GONE and had nothing to do with 92 wcw. Fake news

[@chrischar9428]

The Crocketts were brothers smart guy

[@markbowman6655]

Simmons from his shoots seems like he doesn't sugar coat, the man is black and white, and doesn't appreciate interviewers like this one had a tendency on shoots to beat around the bush and not come right out and ask the question. Simmons seems cool to me.

[@thehouseofentertainmentnet8101]

I'm a WCW guy. But hell it was a dumb move not renewing Simmon's contract. Could you Imagine Simmons career if he would have been kept in a high role with Sting , Luger , Savage etc in 96! .. And all the way through the nWo vs WCW gigg! ..
Ron Simmons would have been so much more... I mean if you ask me WWF/E just wrecked Simmons after N.O.D & APA etc.

[@lewhanna6112]

I remember seeing Ron Simmons win that match. All I could think was, it's about time and he was the perfect person for that. Much respect for Ron Simmons.

[@dewaynewhite2928]

Ron Simmons was awesome I like him and Butch Reed as tag team

[@BFK4LIFE]

Lex Luger and Ron Simmons played football together, of course the chemistry is going to be good

[@bdr113080]

Ron was one of my favorites in the old WCW days. I'm happy he was put in the HOF. Those were days i really loved WCW, before Nitro. Great interview. Ron is the man. DAMN!

[@antoniotjb]

Congrats for makin the WWE Hall of Fame Ron Simmons

[@dutchmantel7224]

The first Black World Heavy Weight Champ, and this was in the south still only one black WWE champ, and he was The Rock,

[@whobitmyname]

Bad News shoudla been the first one...

[@ghubbz36]

*****
Rocky Johnson was Canadian.

[@ghubbz36]

HollywoodKendrick Negative. Rocky Johnson was born in Nova Scotia, Canada.

[@ImmaBeast713]

*****
Ron Simmons was the first black Champion of a major promotion,the Rock is the close thing to a lack wwe champion

[@dutchmantel7224]

That's good point, but got Ron Simmons to be made wcw/nwa champ was a feat in Atlanta. I was really calling out Wwe for not having a real African American champ by now. Booker T was whwc but come on why not give him Wwe strap too? ?

[@corneliusborum1193]

remember Ron Simmons since i was 8. My big bros.talking about Florida st. Ron Simmons,started watching Collage football then still to this day a TRU Seminole

[@TheJuggernautv2]

Not surprising they picked Ron to beat Vader. #1, Ron was awesome, #2 he was afraid of/ took mess from no one, so the best guy to ensure there's minimal fallout.

[@joshuatraffanstedt2695]

If Ron Simmons says "hes not afraid of shit" then you know it's a legit comment and compliment. Lol.

[@joevtr]

Everyone seems to have good to say about Mick Foley except Flair.

[@herbert9241]

Ron was one of the highlights of WCW in his day. I loved the sketches they filmed of him and his gangster crew sitting around playing cards, sending the janitor on errands and whatnot. That would amuse me when I got in from a night out pissed and stoned.

[@kiprandom7208]

Ron Simmons is the man. Big, scary, and positive as heck.

[@JamalTheTitan]

Damn man. Hiro Matsuda trained a bunch of champions. legends.

[@terrellmiller4678]

JamalTheTitan wow you know you wrestling only a few know about him.. that's very true👏👏👏 I'm also wondering why nobody talking about the Von Erichs? or the great Maliko.

[@ScrapNfight]

Ron Simmons was one of the hottest wrestlers in history, particularly in the mid 80's when he started.. He knew how to play emotions when he was the face. Incredible physique.

[@ladyj2552]

DAMN!!!!

[@rodjohnson8899]

That was one of the greatest moments in wrestling history when Simmons beat Vader for the title. I was a Vader fan, but Simmons suddenly winning the title made WCW seem so much more credible than WWF.

[@krlm2280]

"dont step to ron" a childhood hero mr ron Simmons

[@jetgold]

yes ron has it correct, great interview. and yes when he won the belt it a high water mark for wrestling and WCW.

[@jakespaceman2135]

Without Ron there would be no ROCK...he laid the path for GREAT black wrestlers

[@darinfry1543]

Love what arn Anderson's said of Ron Simmons. "He was the kind of guy in the room who you didnt even know was there.......till he needed to be. Then you knew he was there in spades! "

[@442minty]

great wrestler, good guy. loved him

[@DUBtheTIGER]

(pt2) As I said earlier, Vince's ego has created the "we can MAKE this get over" mentality, and not only did Zack get over without the machine behind him, he got over with the machine burying him at every turn. And not only did he get over, he became arguably the biggest babyface in the company, sold a ton of merch, and got Attitude Era pops-- again, not only without a push, but with the machine against him, rarely even appearing on Raw. That's more than incredible, it's damn-near impossible...

[@chrisjohnson4039]

His memoir would be 💥💥💥💥

[@DUBtheTIGER]

To me the commentary was a dead giveaway that he was at least going to get the opportunities most dreamed of. But you're absolutely right, no one saw Rocky Maivia that night and saw The Rock's future ahead.

[@ejones9924]

Vadar n Simmons hell of a match!

[@JuliusC1973]

Ron Simmons was the first African-American World Heavyweight Champion for a Major Professional Wrestling Promotion in The United States.

[@joseaguilera6355]

I was surprised as to how good the matches between Ron Simmons and Lex Luger

[@LemonPepperJones]

considering how luger lacked in ring ability

[@arkansasgreg]

Simmons would never get a big push in WWE because Vince didn't create him.

[@bbodinefan11]

If you want to break it down by race Ron Simmons is the best black wrestler ever.

[@bbodinefan11]

Booker T is the most famous. Ron Simmons however was a physical freak of nature.

[@bbodinefan11]

Rock is half.

[@bbodinefan11]

Im talking about thouroghbreds with papers.

[@bbodinefan11]

Why is that?

[@bbodinefan11]

Im just going by the way people treat it. You never hear a half white half black say im white. Its like they forget the white half.

[@Antrizzle2009]

They were trying to pump him up as the "blue chipper" and all that stuff, but the fans weren't buying. This is right around the exact same time that Stone Cold was getting huge as this ass kicking badass new kind of face. That old school vanilla face character wasn't going to work anymore. If anything Rock has Stone Cold to thank cuz he saw the direction his character had to go in. Not saying he's anything like Stone Cold, but he definately knew he needed an edge.

[@0munchhausen]

@N0GGINB0NKER He was referring to Bill Watts who was running WCW at that time and has been accused of being racist by some people in the business.

[@DUBtheTIGER]

Yes there would. Then Rock would be the first black champion. Rock was all-but-guaranteed that spot, you knew if from his debut match.

[@tommy2chips]

where can I get the rest of the this interview?

[@marcusmajors6948]

a lot of people I know who followed wresting saw him as great when he got to the WWF like he's came outta nowhere nd was very good

[@DUBtheTIGER]

Yeah Rock learned that the hard way lol, but like a true pro, he adapted, instead of saying "fuck it, if they boo me, I'll just try that much harder to be a babyface, even if it means Vince has to feed young talent to me instead of giving them a rub" *cough cough*. The great thing about late '96 - '98 is that for the most-part, the fans decided who they were going to cheer and boo... that's a big part of why that era changed wrestling, and why it thrived back then.

[@Antrizzle2009]

You're absolutely right. That's why I don't buy into HHH's crap when he says "all you gotta do is get over with them". We both know that's b.s. What he means is "all you gotta do is get over with me". Look at the guys on top. With the exception of Punk, all the top guys are HHH's buddies - Cena, Orton, Sheamus, Ryback even. The Breakfast Club indeed.

[@konstantinkoverchenko9587]

It rather strange that guy who wore a zillion elbow pads got a bigger push than Simmons in the WWF. 🤨

[@Antrizzle2009]

Damn you're right I forgot about that, good point.

[@usacyrano]

Let's put that like that!

[@slimmsayton]

I feel like nobody forgot that.

[@Crispy27]

One of only two

[@davidfrederick6003]

Simmons complaining about who WCW put in the offices. Jim Herd, Kip Frye, etc...It was noted that the television division of Turner didnt believe wrestlers knew how to run a company (they didnt understand pro wrestling in the first place).

[@Antrizzle2009]

What's stupid now is you'll have a guy like Zack Ryder who actually works hard and does get over with the crowd through being creative and different and what does WWE do? They bury him cuz it wasn't their idea. Thank God that CM Punk spoke out when he did cuz they would have buried him forever.

[@DUBtheTIGER]

Note: The "lg ea" part... for some reason, those letters just wouldn't go away -__-

[@soulofshiver]

@tommy2chips Booker T has won many many heavyweight titles throughout his career. So has The Rock, I know most people don't consider him "black", but Halle Berry certainly would.

[@harryzimmerman7991]

.....DAMN!!!!

[@SupaStah01]

I get so sick of hearing how bad ass guys like Harley Race and Terry Gordy were, when I know damn well a guy like Ron Simmons would destroy both with one fucking finger. Haku, Simmons, Reed, and Steiner bros are the top bad asses. B4 all the Stan Hansen fans jump in, he took advantage of young(green) guys. He was tough, but not Steiner/Simmons tough

[@SupaStah01]

bullshit..and it's Haku. Not Meng

[@jacobprayer8656]

Harley Race started wrestling at age 15. Against full grown men. As far as Stan "The Lariat" Hanseen, just watch him poke out Vader's eye. Watch him slam Andre 4 years before Hogan even put on his first pair of tights.

[@AidenJustPlayin]

DAMN!

[@Buscar39]

I thought Cowboy Bill Watts was the promoter when Simmons won the WCW title.

[@Jimbomania]

Damn. You know.

[@tommy2chips]

I am a Black male. I luv pro wrestling. I was glad when he Simmons won the championship. However, things did not change much for Blacks. Example Ron killings "r-truth" have been the only Blacks to when world heavyweight titles. R-truth won the NWA title. Shelton Benjamin nevery got a shot althought he was the best all around wrestler in the wwe, and the pope in TNA was getting a push but got hurt.

[@kylelikeskjvbible]

A lot of good examples. I remember as a kid I loved Ahmed Johnson in WWF, he could've been a great long time champion but it never happened.

[@terrellmiller4678]

knowledge 👏👏👏👏

[@Antrizzle2009]

And they had a chance to do that last year when he was feuding with Kane. That could have really gotte him over. Instead they bury him having Kane squash him every time they face. I'm not saying he should have beaten Kane, but at least let him get some offense in at some point. You can do the underdog storyline if you want.

[@DNSV-ex8of]

I still think Simmons & Bradshaw sounds better than Bradshaw and Farooq

[@jprp999]

Meh, i think Doom sounds/was better.

[@DUBtheTIGER]

(pt3) I really feel like people don't understand how big of a deal that is. Ig ea. Yet Vince decides that he will just use Zack to launch the WWE's new social media campaign then buries him (and Eve) in a stupid angle which was an attempt to get Cena cheered at WM -__-.
And now it looks like Zack is reinventing himself. While I hope this gets him a push, if they wanted him to be taken more seriously, one well-booked feud would have done that. *sigh*

[@eccesignumrex4482]

Wrazzlin -

[@nubreaks2]

He is considered more to be African-American even though he is bi-racial.

[@denisemitchell8477]

Gday luv
Ron Simmons and Butch Reed
early Scott Hall before that fake Cuban accent

[@manuginobilisbaldspot424]

The question is...what was he supposed to be buying in to? I've heard the same thing about Tony Atlas and Rocky Johnson. Seems to me from anecdotal evidence, it's a lot of crabs in a bucket. If you don't act a certain way, you're not 'down'. Which is ridiculous.

[@Antrizzle2009]

lol I like how you did that. But yea back then you actually had to have talent, both in the ring and on the mic to make it. If they gave you the ball you had to run with it, otherwise they dropped you. There were guys at that time who they gave a chance to - Test, Billy Gunn, Ken Shamrock, etc... - who just couldn't take it to the next level and you saw where they wound up.

[@Knightfall937]

where can i find more Ron????

[@peterisnardi1197]

Ron Simmons ECW Promo

[@DUBtheTIGER]

Yeah it's ridiculous. In the modern WWE, few guys are truly over, and even less are draws. Ryder was a rare instance of a guy who probably would never have been WWE Champion, but easily could have been a draw as a solid US Champion. I sort of envisioned him being like a mid-card Hulk Hogan if you get what I mean. And the IWC likes to knock him for bitching on UA-cam, but whether you personally like him or not, every single wrestling fan owes him an incredible amount of success...

[@Ryang403]

solid guy man can think of n e one id rather have my back than big ron. by the way who was he talking about at the start bout the hood stuff??

[@dantegood2195]

Bill watts

[@Ryang403]

tar mush ;-]

[@AndrewsOpinion15]

RON LOVE SAY Y'KNOW VERY MUCH LOL ???

[@joevtr]

Is there anybody in the bidness outside of Ric Flair who has a bad word to say about Foley?

[@Dud512]

@joeytrimble yeah. i heard alot of people say he was but i don't know what he did. what did he do?

[@indyphillipconner6252]

Well I never seen him with a hood over his head either he pushed ron didn't he so he wasn't a racist then he put the title on ron so that tells you something

[@adkor3]

@Naim914 the rock was considered a samoan

[@AndrewsOpinion15]

DAMN !!!!!!!!

[@teamchb3143]

Erik Watts might have been the worst wrestler of all time. Greg Gagne might have been the second worst of all time.

[@teamchb3143]

Yes, David Sammartino did suck. I think that is why Bruno hates Vince to this day b/c Vince didn't push David. Mike and Chris von Erich were atrocious. But David Flair actually wasn't that bad. He was at least capable of having a good match. The match he had with his dad was a 3 star match, which is millions of times better than any of the other wrestlers that we mentioned ever had.

[@teamchb3143]

David Flair's matches might have sucked, but I always go the feeling that he actually had more talent than what he was allow to show. I guess his biggest problem was that David Flair had no passion for wrestling. He wasn't willing to do the schedule and the training and wasn't willing to try to keep improving...that's just my take....

[@michaelisajerk]

@kevin1278 Not even five seconds into the video before the first "DAMN".

[@fdecker5168]

Bill Watts

[@joeytrimble]

@Dud512 well this is what he got fired for ..i dunno about the inside stories but this is what they nailed him on .. he went on a racial tirade against hank aaron when they were having a celebration for him .... after that .. he was let go by wcw .. and hasn't really been heard from since ... thats just what we KNOW of .. never mind how he was in the locker rooms and in the back offices ... lord knows

[@Trew-I-Am]

this needs to be updated and include women

[@judahsoremy9857]

4:57

[@Antrizzle2009]

I don't know what debut match you're talking about. But Rock in the ring and his character were not very good at first. Everyone hated his vanilla character and he wasn't great on the mic till later after he changed his character. Nobody knew in 1996 that he would go on to be what he became.

[@0munchhausen]

The only black wrestler that I know he didn't get along with was Ahmed Johnson and very few people have positive things to say about him.

[@andredallas7498]

I be Dam

[@DUBtheTIGER]

Yeah, and obviously, things were better then. And if you go back to a few years before that, Vince gave you literally nothing except wins/losses. It was your job to get over. Fast-forward some time and he developed got this arrogant mentality of "we'll MAKE this get over", and that's why you have Khali beating Zack Ryder in pointless matches on Smackdown.

[@josephdelledonne2098]

Luger not known to have too many great matches with people? Hmm, let's see he had good matches with Flair, Pillman, Steamboat. He even was able to get a few decent matches with Koloff and Spivey, etc. This interviewer didn't know what he was talking about.

[@JimmyJam1125]

Lex was liked in locker room but didnt have rep as a good worker. known as stiff.

[@JimmyJam1125]

Lex was liked in locker room but didnt have rep as a good worker. known as stiff.

[@TheM705]

hi why did wcw let ron simmon go

[@MrObelisk2290]

bill who

[@Samdigiovanni]

watts

[@Rocksteddybelmont]

how do you know?

[@sooowatsup100]

well the fact that he has almost exclusively negative things to say about black wrestlers and other black wrestlers have uniformly negative things to say about him.