Ron Simmons: The first recognized Black world champion

Bill Watt’s 1992 Decision to make Ron Simmons the World champ in W.C.W. will forever be one of the greatest professional wrestling moments.

To start this story, I would like to give a history lesson because history has been twisted to professional wrestling. Ron Simmons is the first officially recognized world champion in professional wrestling because Bobo Brazil won the N.W.A. world title in 1962, but it wasn’t recognized because  Bobo refused to accept a title he won by beating  Buddy Rogers, who was injured at the time.

Ron Simmons was born on May 15, 1958, in Perry, Georgia. Simmons stood 6′ 2″ and weighed 270 pounds. Before Ron become a wrestler, he was the top defensive lineman at Florida State and would a Two-Time All-American and Heisman award contender.  Ron was able to get drafted in the sixth round of the 1981 NFL draft and sign with the Cleveland Browns, where he played for two seasons before going to play in Tampa, where he would meet Lex Luger, who would later help him get into professional wrestling.

In 1987 Ron Simmons would debut in WCW, which was known as Jim Crockett Productions back then, and was also a part of the NWA wrestling family tree.  Ron would find success teaming with Butch Reed as the tag team Doom, which had the longest reign as NWA/WCW Tag Team Champions. In 1991 the team run came to an end when Reed turned on Simmons, which started a feud that allowed  Bill Watts to see that Ron could be a big-time player in WCW. Ron would have classic feuds with Butch Reed, Cactus Jack, and even challenge Lex Luger for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.

On August 2, 1991, WCW scheduled a world title match between Sting and Vader but was canceled because Sting was injured, which was part of the storyline to make Vader look like a monster heel. Bill Watts needed to do something, so he decided to hold a raffle to determine who the number one contender was for Vader’s title. Simmons won the raffle and would defeat Vader using a power slam to become the first recognized African American champion. Ron would hold the title for five months and would eventually lose the title back to Vader.

Once Ron loss the title WCW made him a mid-carder again and made him turn into a bitter heel that would lose whenever he would get title shots.  Simmons would leave WCW and make a couple of appearances in ECW before signing with the WWF.

Ron Simmons would debut with the WWF in July 1996 and would go by the name Faarooq Asaad and would have a gladiator gimmick that didn’t get over with the fans. Once the gladiator gimmick was dropped, Faarooq and his manager Clearance Mason formed a stable known as the Nation of Domination. The Nation of Domination was based on the Nation of Islam and Black Panther Party, even though the group was not exclusively of African American wrestlers. Faarooq was able to run the Nation of Domination until a young Rock came and started to question Faarooq’s leadership. The group would eventually kick Faarooq out of the group that he had created and allowed Faarooq to open up a new chapter in his wrestling career.  Ron Simmons would find success teaming up with John Bradshaw as part of the tag team APA, which would become three-time WWF tag team champions.

When we look back at Ron Simmons Professional Wrestling career, we will see that he had the look, the mic skills, and was an excellent powerhouse brawler. Ron Simmons is the perfect example of someone who always pushed himself no matter what character he played in the ring. Ron made sure that his presence was felt in that ring. Even though Ron was never able to win the WWE heavyweight title, he should be looked at as the one who could open the door for African Americans on a big professional wrestling platform.