A Forgotten Moment in Pro Wrestling

[X]

Well earlier today I was just prowling around the CrazyMax board and came across a thread about the best TV matches of all time (hope I'm not offending anyone by name-dropping a different board). One of the matches mentioned, a match that has always been an underrated gem in my book, was Ron Simmons vs. Vader on WCW Saturday night, August 2nd 1992.

It seems that both this great match, and Simmons title reign in general have been completely forgotten by today's modern fans. Most people only know the man as half of the APA, or worse yet as that guy who says "Damn!" alot. Alot of them don't even realize that the man was the first African American World champion of a major wrestling promotion in the US. Forget the WWE's revisionist history that apparently Tony Atlas and Rocky Johnson revolutionized the business for African-Americans, that's a bunch of bullshit. Simmons is the man who finally broke the color barrier in pro wrestling, in a promotion known for having slightly-racist people running the company (looking your way Mr. Rhodes).

So, let us all take a minute to remember one of the great lost moments in wrestling history, Ron Simmon's historic title victory against Vader. Unfortunately all I could find was the ending of the match, but that alone is worth watching people. Look at the ridiculious pop that Simmons get when he wins, does anyone else remember just how over he was at that time? This is one of my favorite pro wrestling moments ever, take note of the guy jumping up and down hysterically in pure joy. Also take note of the fans that begin weeping when Simmons wins, how many men can say that their title victory's had grown men crying in joy? This title win here still sends chills up and down my spine every time I view it.

Enjoy, and discuss. If this goes over well enough I might even make this "Forgotten Moments" theme a series.

[youtube]-HvMxX-za7k[/youtube]​

 

[Uncle Sam]

That does seem to be a good end to the match.

Unfortunately, Ron Simmons is shit. If he weren't, I don't see why he ended up in a crappy tag team in the WWE, instead of headlining pay-per-views.

So he was black and he won a world title. Great. But so what? That only matters if you're a bigot.

 

[CJGV1]

i vaguely remember him as champ. when he was champ he was reasonably charismatic and had the look of a champ. to be fair the right guy at the right time. unfortunately the faarooq gimmick didnt pay for him. i will also say the execution of that powerslam on a guy like vader is awesome!

 

[JenovasWitness]

I remember this quite well, I watched the show the day it happened. I remember thinking to myself, wasn't that the dude who was teamed with Butch Reed? But it was a great moment for the fans of WCW, was a complete surprise and set up some very physical matches with Cactus Jack who, in typical fashion, put the new champ over like a million bucks.

Incidentally, was that the Z-man that jumped in there at the end?

 

[X]

That does seem to be a good end to the match.

Unfortunately, Ron Simmons is shit. If he weren't, I don't see why he ended up in a crappy tag team in the WWE, instead of headlining pay-per-views.

That's pure bullshit Sam, Ron Simmons had many great matches during his NWA/WCW days. He even had a few as Farooq, not as many obviously. But to claim that he's shit because he's not headlining PPVs is a pretty ridiculious statement considering how many great wrestlers have never headlined a PPV.

So he was black and he won a world title. Great. But so what? That only matters if you're a bigot.

More bullshit Sam. Breaking the color barrier only matters if you're a bigot? So Jackie Robinson entering the MLB was just a bunch of bullshit then, and meant nothing? Brush up on history man.

Simmons won the World Title in a promotion that was deeply rooted in the most racist parts of the South, in a promotion that for many years was booked by men like Dusty Rhodes who used the N word more times then a rapper does. It meant alot to African Americans in the business Sam.

 

[rolltide_pisco]

It was groundbreaking for Simmons to win the WCW title. That was when Cowboy Bill Watts was in charge to. I don't remember much about i cause I had turned to the WWF by then after Jim Herd nearly buried the company. Still though it is something that never happened before.

 

[bucwild]

Ta match was in Baltimore when WCW did a houseshow,i remember bcuz my dad was suppose to take me i was mad!!!In August reason i know is cuz Jake the snake attack Sting when he was wrestling,WCW had showed on the next weeks episode highlights from it.And im still pissed cuz thats the only time rarely in houseshow titles change especially a WCW World title.IT is history he was the 1st Black 1 not the Rock and plus WWF i just finding out when Atlas was introduced into HOF that he n Rocky were i mean when Rocky was HOF bound!!WWF NEVA ACKNOWLEDGE it b4 they were in HOF!

 

[ECW Dan Selby]

That does seem to be a good end to the match.

Unfortunately, Ron Simmons is shit. If he weren't, I don't see why he ended up in a crappy tag team in the WWE, instead of headlining pay-per-views.

So he was black and he won a world title. Great. But so what? That only matters if you're a bigot.

Wrong and utterly ignorant. Have you ever heard of something called "age"? You can't expect someone who was winning a World Title ten years prior to be holding up another big league company. Ok, there's some exceptions, but Ron was getting on, hence why he was in a tag team.

Plus, for a "getting on a bit" tag team, they didn't do so bad, did they..?

Selby

 

[Shadowmancer]

X you are wrong about Ron Simmons being the man that broke the colour barrier in Pro wrestling, that honour goes to Bobo Brazil. The man who unofficially won the title well before any of the modern famous black wrestlers ever did. He was the first black man to get over as a babyface, so much so that he was in the title matches.

 

[jmt225]

It was definitely a great, great moment. One that WCW never capitalized on.

Doom was perhaps overall one of the best Tag Teams WCW has ever had up to that point, and Ron Simmons was obviously the star and talented one of the group. So, when the time came for Doom to break up, it was a no-brainer to push Ron Simmons for all he was worth. And it's a shame that he got that push in such a tremendous fashion, only for it to get ruined just a couple of months later. The whole situation ended up benefiting NOBODY. Not the company, Simmons, or any of the wrestlers he feuded with while he was champion. It was really pathetic.

With that said though, that pop when Simmons won was incredible and something I'll never forget. It was definitely a great moment, but unfortunately that's all it was: One moment.

As far the color barrier... I have to agree with Shadow that Simmons is nothing compared to guys Bobo Brazil, Ernie Ladd, The Junkyard Dog, ect. when it comes to African-American breaking barriers in the professional wrestling industry.

 

[DRAGO!!!!]

Wrong and utterly ignorant. Have you ever heard of something called "age"? You can't expect someone who was winning a World Title ten years prior to be holding up another big league company. Ok, there's some exceptions, but Ron was getting on, hence why he was in a tag team.

Plus, for a "getting on a bit" tag team, they didn't do so bad, did they..?

Selby

Totaly and absolutly ignorant. This guy is the reason why people like MVP, Shelton Benjamin, have had legit shots at world titles and why so many people believe they both will hold world titles. Its because of Ron.

People who live in glass houses shouldn't thow stones.

 

[Uncle Sam]

That's pure bullshit Sam, Ron Simmons had many great matches during his NWA/WCW days.

If they were so great they wouldn't be - wait for it - forgotten moments.

He even had a few as Farooq, not as many obviously. But to claim that he's shit because he's not headlining PPVs is a pretty ridiculious statement considering how many great wrestlers have never headlined a PPV.

It doesn't make you a bad wrestler, it just makes you not as good as the wrestlers who are headlining pay-per-views. What compounds Simmons' badness is how it became apparent that he only won the belt because he was black, and how the rest of his career was underwhelming and barely on par with the likes of Rikishi. Hell, at least Rikishi had a major storyline.

More bullshit Sam. Breaking the color barrier only matters if you're a bigot? So Jackie Robinson entering the MLB was just a bunch of bullshit then, and meant nothing? Brush up on history man.

Major... League... Baseball? Lost on me.

Simmons won the World Title in a promotion that was deeply rooted in the most racist parts of the South, in a promotion that for many years was booked by men like Dusty Rhodes who used the N word more times then a rapper does. It meant alot to African Americans in the business Sam.

Seems like poor booking to me. If your fans don't like black people, why would book a face black world champion? It makes no sense.

 

[ECW Dan Selby]

Seems like poor booking to me. If your fans don't like black people, why would book a face black world champion? It makes no sense.

Did you actually see the reaction on that clip?

Selby

 

[Uncle Sam]

Honestly, I'm pretty sure it was because of the white wrestlers coming out to congratulate him. Notice how they were careful to show that, even though he's black, he's just like all those white guys around him.

Then again, he did win that world title a bunch of times after that.

 

[X]

If they were so great they wouldn't be - wait for it - forgotten moments.

More bullshit. It's only forgotten because modern fans have absolutely no sense of wrestling history. Most modern wrestling fans have no idea who Bruno Sammartino is, does that make him irrelevent as well?

It doesn't make you a bad wrestler, it just makes you not as good as the wrestlers who are headlining pay-per-views.

How? First of all Simmons did in fact headline several PPV double main events. Secondly, you're trying to tell me that the only indicator of being a good wrestler is being in main events? That's too absurd to even address.

Being a good worker has absolutely NOTHING to do with headlining PPV.

Major... League... Baseball? Lost on me.

Clearly, which is why you're talking out of your ass right now.

Seems like poor booking to me. If your fans don't like black people, why would book a face black world champion? It makes no sense.

Did you even watch the video?

Honestly, I'm pretty sure it was because of the white wrestlers coming out to congratulate him. Notice how they were careful to show that, even though he's black, he's just like all those white guys around him.

Then again, he did win that world title a bunch of times after that.

I'm just going to assume you're joking here, because no one can be that willfully ignorant purposely.

It was a big fucking deal Sam, if you don't like Simmon's body of work, that's well and good, but don't demean the man. The man is a legend in more then one sport.

 

[X]

X you are wrong about Ron Simmons being the man that broke the colour barrier in Pro wrestling, that honour goes to Bobo Brazil. The man who unofficially won the title well before any of the modern famous black wrestlers ever did. He was the first black man to get over as a babyface, so much so that he was in the title matches.

By no means was I trying to say that Simmons was the first black man in wrestling, that's absurd obviously. But he was the first black man to win a World Heavyweight title in a major promotion, correct? That's what makes this a big deal in my opinion. But of course there were black guys before him making a name for themselves in wrestling, Brazil & to a lesser extent JYD as JMT mentioned.

 

[Uncle Sam]

More bullshit. It's only forgotten because modern fans have absolutely no sense of wrestling history. Most modern wrestling fans have no idea who Bruno Sammartino is, does that make him irrelevent as well?

Essentially, yes. If it makes you feel better, I know who Sammartino is and I think he's certainly several leagues above Ron Simmons.

How? First of all Simmons did in fact headline several PPV double main events. Secondly, you're trying to tell me that the only indicator of being a good wrestler is being in main events? That's too absurd to even address.

How convenient.

Being a good worker has absolutely NOTHING to do with headlining PPV.

I think the logic is that if you're a good worker, you'll consistently headline pay-per-views and be an important part of a company or companies for most of your career.

Clearly, which is why you're talking out of your ass right now.

Because I don't get an example from a sport I've never watched in my life?

Did you even watch the video?

Yeah, impressive pop. Not much else to say, really. I'm guessing your statement about southerners hating black people was inaccurate.

It was a big fucking deal Sam, if you don't like Simmon's body of work, that's well and good, but don't demean the man. The man is a legend in more then one sport.

He's no legend. Ric Flair is a legend. Hulk Hogan is a legend. Ron Simmons is a footnote, having done one barely remarkable thing in his entire career. If he wasn't black, even people who have an encyclopediac knowledge of wrestling would probably forget about him or would at least forget about him pre-Farooq.

Also, what's the other sport?

 

[JenovasWitness]

Also, what's the other sport?

Ron Simmons was a legend in College football, starring for the Florida State Seminoles as a Noseguard. He had his jersey retired and was inducted into the Orange Bowl Hall of Fame.

I don't think I necessarily agree that Ron Simmons was a "legend" in professional wrestling, per se, but to say he was highly successful everywhere he went in the business would be more accurate in my opinion. He was a World and Tag Team Champion in WCW, was a title contender during his first year or so in the WWE and went on to Tag Team championship gold during the end of his career as a part of the APA.