Posted on 8/20/126 by Colin Vassallo
Ron Simmons and John “Bradshaw” Layfield sat down with Chris
Van Vliet in Minneapolis, Minnesota to discuss the formation
of the APA, how the door became a part of their backstage
set, Ron Simmons’ historic world title reign, John Layfield
winning the WWE Championship as JBL, how “Damn!” became
Ron’s catchphrase, JBL’s rivalry with Eddie Guerrero, the
most brutal Clothesline From Hell and more!
Ron, at what point did you know that Damn had gotten over?
Ron: When we were working together, and I’d pull a muscle or
do something, or somebody would do something stupid in the
ring, and I’d just stand there, ‘Damn!’ Because something
that just happened that we didn’t agree on, or I didn’t
agree on, right? So the people, and we would go back to the
towns each time. So the people in the first 10 rows could
hear me. They just start saying, ‘Damn.’ So I look at them
and I said, ‘Hey, man, what the hell are they saying that
for?’ He said I think you say that when something screws up
or something goes wrong. So the writers they got wind of it
right and said, ‘Look, the next time that Booker T and John
Cena were having an exchange in Chicago, just walk out there
simply say, ‘Damn’ after they finish with their exchange.’
When I did that, the people sat there for a moment, then
they just went crazy, and that’s when Damn was born.”
Ron, when you won the World Championship, there is pure joy.
Take me back to that moment
Ron: “Listen, and this is true. Okay, I don’t think there
are many months that I don’t go back and just look at that
clip. Because it’s one I can honestly say that in this
business, like I said earlier, that it was a real moment in
this business. That’s why I came across as it was, as it did
with the boys, with myself, with the fans. In this climate
we’re in now, where we’re telling everything about this
business, which I still can’t bring myself to do, although
everything has been said, I still got a problem with saying
stuff. That’s just the way I was taught. This was a guarded
fraternity, and you were very lucky to get in it. Because if
you weren’t accepted by the guys, you weren’t gonna make it.
I still struggle with doing that today. But for me, man, it
was coming in on a spontaneous thing, being told at the last
moment that something like this was gonna happen. No one
knew it, no one at all. That’s where you got the realism of
it because no one would have never suspected that at a house
show.”
JBL: “We do appearances now probably once or twice a month.
The only reason I do them is because I want to see Ron. I
want to go spend the weekend with Ron. We either watch
college football, do something. We just have fun sitting at
the table, talking to fans the whole time. I have a lot of
fun with Ron, and I miss Ron and being around the
camaraderie of the boys and all that. But at these
appearances, I don’t think there’s been one, and I don’t
know how many we’ve done, that some fan has not come up to
Ron and said that moment when you beat Vader was one of the
most important moments in my life, and I can’t tell you
every single autograph session every weekend. Somebody, at
least one person, will come up and tell Ron how much that
meant to him, that he was the one that broke that barrier,
and that meant the world to them because wrestling was their
thing. They needed Ron.”
Has there been talk of putting the APA in the Hall of Fame
together?
Ron: “I don’t see why not. Why wouldn’t it be?”
JBL: “You need a table and a door in the Hall of Fame.”
Is there someone that took a particularly stiff clothesline
from hell?
JBL: “Oh yeah, Shane McMahon, almost killed him. Shane told
me you got to hit me harder than you’ve ever hit anybody in
your life. Ron goes, ‘Don’t do it, don’t do it!’ So, I mean,
we’re at SummerSlam. Shane’s running around. He’s running
full speed. I’m like, you got to be kidding me! I hit him so
freaking hard. I never hit anybody like that in my life. But
he told me, he was threatening me. ‘All right, you got to
hit me. You got to hit me. You got to hit me.’ It’s all he
kept telling me all day was you got to hit me the hardest
clothesline I ever hit. I hit him, and as soon as I did, Ron
goes ‘We’re fired.'”
Ron: “I just told him, ‘Go back there and start packing. I’m
just gonna go back in and start packing my sh*t.’ The only
thing I just recall seeing was this part of Shane [his head]
disappearing so fast. I was just standing there shaking my
head like it’s been a good run. It’s been a good run, man.
Nice knowing you.”
What did Shane say when you got back?
JBL: “Oh, Shane thought it was the greatest thing ever!
Shane’s nuts. Shane thought it’s the greatest thing ever.
‘Oh, that’s awesome! That’s awesome! It’s so good.'”
Ron: “It was good to see his ass back there still moving!
That’s what I was glad to see!”
We talked about Ron winning the world championship. What was
that night like for you, John, when you won the world title?
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JBL: “It was a dream come true. I’d always wanted to be the
guy. I’d always dreamed of it, and I’d been the man in
smaller territories and things like that. I just didn’t know
if I’d ever get a chance, and fortunately, Ron helped boost
me into that position, and a lot of mentoring that Ron had
obviously helped me as well. But all of a sudden, I got this
title, and a lot of it happened. Taker told the story in
Chicago when I got fired from CNBC, and I cut the promo
instead of going out there and begging for mercy and saying
I’m sorry. I went the opposite way and said, ‘Anybody who
doubts me as a great American would be like calling Mother
Teresa a whore.’ It’s about as strong as it could be. You
couldn’t say anything I said back then now, and Undertaker
was standing back there with Vince. Taker has told the story
as well. And he said, ‘Am I going to put the title on him?’
Taker says, ‘You think?’ That was what did it was that promo
in Chicago. I knew that was sink-or-swim night, and then I
had the right guy with Eddie Guerrero. The perfect guy.”