Background and career
Ronald Kyle Simmons (born May 15, 1958) is an American former professional wrestler and football player. He is best known for his tenures in WWE and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) where he was the first ever Black American WCW World Heavyweight Champion. Prior to becoming a professional wrestler, Simmons played football as a defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL), Canadian Football League (CFL) and United States Football League (USFL) for four seasons during the 1980s. Simmons played college football for the Florida State Seminoles and was recognized as an All-American. He played professionally for the NFL's Cleveland Browns, the CFL's Ottawa Rough Riders and the USFL's Tampa Bay Bandits. Simmons performed for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) under his real name, and in the World Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Entertainment (WWF/E) under both his real name and the ring names Faarooq Asaad (sometimes spelled Asad) and Faarooq (sometimes spelled Farooq). In WCW, Simmons was a one-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion; as the first Black American to win the title, he is recognized by WWE as the first black world champion in professional wrestling history. He was also a one-time WCW World Tag Team Champion as one half of Doom with Butch Reed (the longest reign with that championship) and a one-time WCW United States Tag Team Champion with Big Josh. He was one of the most prominent stars in the WWF in the early Attitude Era. In the WWF, he was a three-time WWF Tag Team Champion with Bradshaw as one half of the Acolytes Protection Agency. Simmons was a sporadic world title contender between ECW and the WWF, and led the Nation of Domination stable in the latter promotion. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2012.
Ron Simmons was considered one of Florida State's greatest recruiting victories when he signed out of high school. Simmons played four years (1977–1980) as a defensive nose guard at FSU under coach Bobby Bowden (whom Simmons described as "a second father"), earning consensus All-American honors in 1979 and 1980. The Seminoles were 39–8 during Simmons's years at the school, finishing in the Associated Press Top 20 three times ('77, '79 and '80), and earning back-to-back Orange Bowl trips after Simmons's junior and senior seasons. In 1979 Simmons finished ninth in the Heisman voting behind the winner, Charles White of USC. In 1988, Simmons's jersey (number 50) was retired by FSU, the third time a number has been retired in school history. Simmons was inducted into the Orange Bowl Hall of Fame for his accomplishments while playing at Florida State, and he was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008.
He had a brief career in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected in the sixth round of the 1981 NFL draft by the Cleveland Browns. However, he was cut on August 25, 1981. He played in six games for the Ottawa Rough Riders of the Canadian Football League in 1981. He was released by the Rough Riders before the start of the season in July 1982. Simmons then played for the Tampa Bay Bandits of the United States Football League from 1983 to 1985, and it was in Tampa where he was a teammate of future professional wrestler Lex Luger.
Simmons joined Jim Crockett Promotions in 1987, appearing on the first show of the Great American Bash tour when he defeated The Tahitian Prince in Lakeland, Florida on July 1. Simmons wrestled only preliminary level competition that summer, but on August 7 he scored the biggest victory of his career when he defeated Ivan Koloff in St Louis. The rookie Simmons defeated the likes of a young Rodney Anoa'i (Yokozuna) and The Barbarian. On the October 24 episode of Power Pro Wrestling, he became involved in his first televised angle when he was attacked by Tiger Conway Jr. and Shaska Whatley in an interview. He remained undefeated in singles actions until finally losing to Ivan Koloff on a house show at the Omni in Atlanta on February 14, 1988. Simmons was dominant through the first half of the year against lower-level competition on house shows, including Whatley and The Terminator. Simmons teamed with Steve Williams at the 3rd Annual Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup in Greenville, South Carolina on April 22, 1988. They were defeated in the opening round by Mike Rotunda and Kevin Sullivan when Simmons was hit with a foreign object.
Soon after, in March 1989, Simmons began showing signs of a heel turn as he got more aggressive in his matches, including a non-title match against fellow babyface, then-NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat and a match on the April 29, 1989 episode of World Championship Wrestling, where he broke the rules during what was supposed to be a face vs. face match against Junkyard Dog. Simmons won the match when the referee, Ron's future manager Teddy Long made a fast count (Long was fired (kayfabe) as referee by Jim Herd immediately following this match). He completed his heel turn on the May 27 episode of World Championship Wrestling during a tag team match, where he teamed with Ranger Ross against the Samoan SWAT Team as part of a tournament for the vacant NWA World Tag Team Championship, leaving him in the ring alone when Long came out. Simmons later teamed up with Butch Reed to form Doom. In the beginning, the members of Doom were masked and only known as Doom #1 and Doom #2, managed by Woman. In their pay-per-view debut at Halloween Havoc 1989, Doom defeated The Steiner Brothers. In the "Iron Team Tournament" at Starrcade '89: Future Shock, Doom finished fourth, losing all three of their matches. Doom's misfortune continued as Woman soon dropped the team to manage The Four Horsemen. Then on February 6, 1990, at Clash of the Champions X, Doom hit rock bottom when they were defeated by Rick and Scott Steiner and as a result of the stipulation were forced to unmask. With new manager Long, they rebounded and defeated the Steiner Brothers for the NWA World Tag Team Championship at Capital Combat in 1990. They held the title for nine months, defeating teams like the Rock 'n' Roll Express and feuding with The Four Horsemen (becoming tweeners in the process). Among their most memorable encounters during their title reign was a street fight against Horsemen Arn Anderson and Barry Windham at Starrcade '90: Collision Course which ended in a no-contest when Windham pinned Simmons while Reed simultaneously pinned Anderson. During Doom's reign, the titles first became known as the WCW World Tag Team Championship in January 1991. Doom - by then the longest reigning champions of the title's 1975-2001 lifespan - finally lost the titles to the Fabulous Freebirds at WrestleWar '91 in February 1991 after Reed accidentally struck Simmons with a foreign object, enabling Garvin to pin him. After the match Reed and Long turned on Ron Simmons, ending Doom as a team. Following WrestleWar, Simmons feuded with Reed, defeating him in a cage match at SuperBrawl I in May 1991.
After the dissolution of Doom, Simmons defeated midcarders including Oz at The Great American Bash in July 1991 and Diamond Studd at Clash of the Champions XVI in September 1991. At Halloween Havoc in October 1991, Simmons unsuccessfully challenged Lex Luger for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, losing the best-of-three-falls match one fall to two. Simmons and Big Josh won the WCW United States Tag Team Championship in January 1992 from the Young Pistols before losing them the following month to Greg Valentine and Terry Taylor. He spent the rest of the first half of 1992 feuding with Cactus Jack. On August 2, 1992, at a house show in Baltimore, Maryland, a scheduled title match between Sting and WCW World Heavyweight Champion Big Van Vader was canceled after Jake Roberts (kayfabe) injured Sting. WCW President Bill Watts responded by holding a raffle to determine the number one contender. Simmons won the raffle and defeated Vader with a snap scoop powerslam to win the championship. By defeating Vader, Simmons became the first recognized African American WCW World Heavyweight Champion and the second African American wrestler to win a World Heavyweight title. Simmons held the title for five months. He continued to feud with Cactus Jack, whom he defeated via pinfall at SuperBrawl II. At Clash of the Champions XX: 20th Anniversary in September 1992, Simmons once again defeated Jack. Jack then brought in The Barbarian to challenge Simmons at Halloween Havoc. Reed, embittered at his former partner's success, also issued a challenge to Simmons. The two faced each other in tag matches but Reed was fired before they could have any title bouts. At Starrcade '92: Battlebowl – The Lethal Lottery II, Simmons was scheduled to wrestle Rick Rude, but due to Rude being injured he faced "Dr. Death" Steve Williams instead, wrestling to a double countout that was changed to a disqualification win for Simmons when Williams attacked him after the match. His title reign ended two days later on December 30, 1992, when Vader defeated him to regain the title.
