Mark Henry Recalls Ron Simmons Shooting on Ahmed Johnson During WWE Match For Hurting Him, Johnson’s Career Being Over Afterward

– During his appearance on the Steve Austin Show, Mark Henry recalled how Ron Simmons effectively ended Ahmed Johnson’s career after Johnson injured him in the ring. Henry recalled that Johnson put Simmons out for nine months, and that Simmons’ payback for being put on the shelf was to come back and destroy Johnson in the ring in his first match back.

Highlights from the discussion are below, along with the full podcast:

On Johnson putting Simmons on the shelf: “The only time that I’ve ever seen it [Simmons shooting on anyone] live and 3D was dumba** Ahmed Johnson. Of all the people in the world to pick a beef with, he kicked Ron and lacerated Ron’s liver. And Ron was out for about nine months, and I’m thinking the whole time, ‘When Ron comes back, I feel sorry for this dude.’ Because he gave him his body, and he kicked him as hard as I ever seen him being kicked.”

On being warned by Teddy Long: “Teddy Long was driving the car with me, and he said, ‘Hey man, you know Ron Simmons [is going to] come back next week.’ I said, ‘Oh man, that’s cool!’ He was like, ‘Naw, listen. This is between me and you. I live in Atlanta, I talk to Ron all the time. Ron is pissed, and he said that when he come back, he gonna hurt this dude.’ And I’m like, ‘[laughs] Oh, snap.’ He’s like, ‘Don’t say nothing, you know. I’m just letting you know, like don’t be around him [Johnson]. ’cause he got heat.’ And I’m like, ‘All right, I ain’t messing with him anyway.'”

On seeing Simmons before the match: “So they get back and I remember the first time I saw Ron. Ron is always like, ‘Hey, Henry!’ He walked right by me like I wasn’t there, posted up in the locker room. And I can’t even remember who it was, somebody went and sat next to him. Ron grabbed all his stuff, kind of in a huff, and moved it over into an area where he was by himself. And it was so unlike Ron. He was so angry being back at the arena, knowing Ahmed was coming. And he was mentally preparing himself for what was about to happen. And I remember looking at the card, and Ron had been gone for nine months or more. And it was Ron Simmons [vs.] Ahmed Johnson. And I went, ‘[laughs] Holy cow!'”

On the match itself: “I remember it being a sell-out. For those that don’t know what a sell-out is, this is not when you sell all the tickets in an arena. I’m talking about when all the boys are standing at the curtain and they’re peeking through, because they wanna watch what’s gonna happen with their real eyes rather than watching a monitor, or being in the gorilla position. All the boys were watching, and I remember standing next to D’Lo [Brown], and D’Lo hated Ahmed Johnson, they had had a fight earlier that year where D’Lo stretched his ass. Triple H had a run-in with him, and he threatened to beat up Hunter, and he was gonna moke him. And D’Lo said, ‘Nobody’s moking nobody.’ And that’s when they got in a fight. But D’Lo’s standing next to me, he says, ‘Hey, this ain’t gonna take long.’ And I went, [huffs] like it was a build-up, and I’m telling you, it was not a lockup. It was a mauling. Ron ran through him, his back hit the ground, Ron stomped on his stomach and then when he rolled over to try and get up, Ron kicked him in the ribs, broke three of his ribs, and I mean, it was like watching a tiger or a lion or something attack some helpless animal in the wild. And Ron pinned him, and at this time … Ahmed Johnson was over as hell during that time. The only person getting a reaction like yours [Steve Austin’s] was his. He was that over. Six months later, done. He got killed off in one night. It was that night that Ron came back and whupped his a**. His run was over, and he never was the same. He had to leave, he couldn’t be there no more.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Steve Austin Show with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.