JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – On this episode of Going Ringside, we’re joined by pro wrestling and Florida State University football legend Ron Simmons.
Simmons made history as the first Black world champion with WCW in 1993 with his historic win over Big Van Vader. That cemented him in the industry as a major player.
Following that, Simmons was on the radar of the World Wrestling Federation (today’s WWE) and quickly was brought over to that company.
Simmons was immediately thrust into a controversial faction called the Nation of Domination. That faction helped launch the careers of stars like Mark Henry, D’Lo Brown, The Godfather and most notably, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who had just entered the company as a rookie.
In this interview, Simmons discusses those parts of his career along with teaming up with Bradshaw as one half of the Acolytes Protection Agency (APA), which became one of the most popular tag teams during the famed “Attitude Era” of WWF/WWE.
On this episode, Simmons also discusses his football background at Florida State University where he was a two-time All-American and had his jersey retired. He is very outspoken over his feelings about FSU being left out of last year’s College Football Playoffs, despite going undefeated in the regular season.
Also on this episode, Victoria Crawford is back. Crawford performed for almost two decades in WWE under the name Alicia Fox. Crawford and Going Ringside have partnered, and she will appear on the show quite regularly in weeks to come.