411’s Legends with JBL: Ron Simmons Report

411’s Legends with JBL: Ron Simmons Report

-It’s Black History month and WWE is celebrating with another episode of Legends with JBL and his guest, Ron Simmons. This should be a lot of fun as we have two best friends and former tag partners shooting the breeze with each other.

-JBL immediately jokes about all the different Hall of Fames Ron is in and asks if he has run out of room for all his trophies and awards. Ron was born in Georgia and went to Warner Robbins High School and JBL tells a story of seeing Ron’s senior picture. They reminisce about their time at The Friendly Tap which gets a chuckle from both of them.

-JBL goes over how some kids from lower income areas go the wrong direction, and asks Ron what kept him from going the wrong way. Ron talks about losing his mother at 8 and then losing his grandma not long after that. His father then walked out on him, and he still sees the car pulling away and thinking for a long time that his father would be back. He says that put a fire in his ass that was unbelievable. He loves speaking to young kids and he won’t let them say they can’t do something. He feels there is always a way to get out the situation you are in.

-Ron says he had a lot of help in guiding him in the right direction. They were there for him, but he was the one that had to do the work. JBL asks if he felt sports was a way out, and Ron says he honed in on football as a sophomore in high school. He felt it was a gift he was given and a way to get out his current situation. He became one of the top recruits in the country and ended up heading to Florida State with Bobby Bowden.

-They discuss Ron’s college career and his relationship with Coach Bowden. Being from Georgia all his neighbors felt he was heading to the University of Georgia. Ron only took the visit to Florida State as a favor to a friend, and he went in thinking he would just go through the motions. Ron admits to receiving some benefits during his recruiting and JBL doesn’t want too many details as he doesn’t want to get any schools in trouble.

-They get into a story of Ron taking the bird off a Trans AM and putting his picture on the hood. Tremendous! The car also had a picture of his girlfriend on the hood as well. Again, tremendous! Simmons was a hall of fame player at FSU and finished high in the Heisman voting. He ended up getting drafted in the 6th round of the 81 draft by the Cleveland Browns. He ended up playing with Lext Luger in the USFL in Tampa.

-JBL jumps past football and talks about the start of Ron’s wrestling career. It was Lex Luger that gave Ron the idea of getting into wrestling and recommended Hiro Matsuda. JBL brings up the famous story of Hogan getting his leg broken by Matsuda and Simmons says it was no joke. He would rather go through 2 a days in the NFL then what he went through in training with Hiro. The idea behind the rough training was they wanted to run off anyone who didn’t belong.

-They talk about JYD and how any babyface in the south turned on JYD to work a program with him. Simmons loved working with JYD and brings up how he was a fan as a kid. He grew up watching Tony Atlas and Dusty Rhodes.

-JBL briefly touches on the APA and Ron’s reaction when he was pitched the idea. It was the greatest idea ever to him because he was getting paid to sit in the back and drink beer. They joke about how they made the Rock walk through the APA door. The show the footage and once back with JBL he talks about how he is often asked if it was real or stunt beer. Obviously it was legit and it boiled down to fact that Vince caught them drinking and bullshitting in the back and wanted them to do it on camera.

-Ron says he jumped on the idea of drinking beer because he was worried about being put back in the blue helmet. They both have a good laugh over that. Ron says that he was pitched the idea of being a gladiator, and he was all for it. Then he went to get measured and his heart sunk when he saw it was a blue, leather helmet. Ron decided to do what he could with the gimmick as he wasn’t going to let it break him.

-JBL brings up Doom and how nobody was fooled by the masks that Simmons and Reed wore. Ron laughs as their were only 5 black guys in WCW so it wasn’t hard to figure out, though he always denied it was him. When they were finally unmasked it was a big deal just because it verified what the fans had already known.

-We jump to Ron beating Vader for the WCW Title which they show the ending to and the pop was massive. JBL says he was honored to induct Ron, but realized who he was inducting. Ron was the first African American to be World Champion and it made JBL nervous. Ron was the first and since him there has been The Rock, Booker T, and Mark Henry. Ron says he had no idea it was going to be a history making night for him and the industry. People were proud of the way Ron carried himself as the champion and it soon settled in how big of a deal it was.

-JBL asks Ron if he gets upset by the way and how often the race card gets played. Ron says it disturbs him when young kids don’t know any of their history and just jump on the race bandwagon. To him, people just need to get off their ass and do something to improve their station. This will come as no surprise, but Ron is a hell of a man and I feel motivated just listening to him.

-JBL talks about how he and Simmons were one of the first mixed tag teams as far as race. He does give the Dudleys their props, but says their platform in ECW wasn’t as high profile as one they had in the WWE. Apparently the WWE wanted to play up that fact it was a black man and white man teaming, but Ron cut all that noise. To him that had no bearing as they were just friends backstage.

-JBL toots their own horn as he talks about the match they had against each other that drew an 8.6 quarter hour rating. JBL says he wasn’t supposed to get mic time as Russo thought his southern accent made him sound dumb. Ron jumped on that and just handed the mic to JBL because really, who is going to yell at Ron Simmons?

-They bring up The Rock being in the Nation of Domination, and Ron says he used to says things like “Know your role,” and jokes that Rock stole it from him. JBL brings up Ron was in the Main Event with Taker at King of the Ring 1997 and Simmons calls it a great honor. He also puts over the greatness of Taker.

-JBL brings up Ahmed Johnson and how Ron tried to help him numerous times. Ron says he tried his best and that Vince tried his best. He told Ahmed to listen as Vince was trying to give him money and yet he wouldn’t listen enough to take it. They stuck him in the Nation and the first thing he did was talk about how he was the leader, and Ron tried to tell him that he needed to crawl before he could walk. Seemingly Ahmed wanted it all without having to work for it.

-JBL covers all the great things Ron has done and asks if he thinks about how proud his grandma is. Ron says he knows that his grandma is proud and that she is boasting up in heaven. She instilled a good foundation in him and that he has respect for others.

-JBL asks about what Ron does with his spare time and his grand kids take up a lot of his time. How cool is it to have Ron Simmons as your grandfather? Of all the things he has accomplished, Ron wants to be remembered as a great father, husband, and human being. Seeing his father walk out is a scar that has always stayed with him and has fueled him. That set in motion the idea of him wanting to be a great human being.

-JBL talks about how Ron was the best man at his wedding and that he owes a great deal to him, but Ron cuts him off and tells his that he owes a great deal of debt to him. That ends this episode, but we do get previews for future episodes with Booker T, Michael Hayes and Jimmy Hart. Included in the teaser is JBL asking Booker T what went through his head when he heard Hulk Hogan’s rant. Whoa, that is going to be interesting and I’m kind of shocked WWE is even covering that.

-Fun interview this time as the chemistry between these two is great as you would expect. Ron Simmons is a true legend in this business, and is a great man that deserves all the respect in the world. Nothing but high praise for this episode of Legends with JBL.