JBL reveals WWE storyline Ron Simmons rejected
John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL) and Ron Simmons became WWE tag team partners in 1998. In a recent podcast episode, JBL disclosed details about a storyline Simmons repeatedly refused to participate in.
Simmons, aka Faarooq, became the first African-American to win a world title when he beat Vader for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in 1992. By the late 1990s, Layfield and Simmons were one of the only interracial tag teams in the wrestling business.
On Something to Wrestle, JBL recalled how WWE's higher-ups wanted to revolve a storyline around race. However, Simmons rejected the idea.
"All of a sudden, you have two teams at the same time, us and The Dudleyz, both that are this interracial tag team," JBL said. "Neither one made a big deal out of being an interracial tag team. They went to Ron several times and they said, 'Hey, let's make a big story about this about you and John.' He goes, 'No because that makes it the story and that takes away from what we're doing,' and he was very smart in that and very wise in that." [1:45:39 – 1:46:04]
Known as the Acolytes Protection Agency (APA), Layfield and Simmons were three-time WWE Tag Team Champions. They also frequently appeared in backstage drinking segments.
JBL's WWE storyline idea never materialized
In 1987, Kevin Sullivan formed The Varsity Club in Jim Crockett Promotions. The villainous stable consisted of in-ring competitors from different amateur wrestling backgrounds, including Mike Rotunda and Rick Steiner.
JBL wanted a similar group to form in WWE but the storyline never came to fruition:
"I pitched an idea for years in WWE about a bunch of former all-Americans, kinda like The Varsity Club, something similar to that, some real bada**es of all different races. A white, a black, Indian, from the country, because I had Jinder [Mahal] in mind, Hispanic, and you don't say anything about it. It's just there. Because if you say something about it, it becomes about that, and for some reason that never did happen." [1:51:41 – 1:52:13]
The former WWE Champion also addressed why a current AEW personality had real-life heat with the APA during the Attitude Era.
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Please credit Something to Wrestle and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.