Ron Simmons On Pride He Feels For Black WWE Champs

In an appearance on the Stories With Brisco and Bradshaw podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Ron Simmons reflected on winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship from Vader on an episode of WCW Main Event on August 2, 1992. Simmons recalled how the whole thing came together and how he had no idea it would have the affect on people it has nearly thirty years later.

“I had no idea of it,” Simmons said. “I’m asked all the time about that moment, and I say it every time, it was real; I had no idea it was going to take place that night. Never in my wildest dreams did I have any idea it was going to go down like that. It was a real moment that took place. There was no pre-planning, there was none of that at all. I’ve got to take my hat off to Bill Watts for giving me the opportunity, to make that moment happen and having the guts to do it. I showed up there and he called me into his office. My first thought was ‘oh my goodness, what have I done wrong now?’ And Bill said ‘Sting got hurt or something. Tonight we’re going to have some make some changes and we’re going to make a change that’s going to be revolutionary.’ I was like ‘okay, what are you talking about?’ He said ‘tonight you’re going with Vader for the belt.’ At the time I was still midcard, still coming up through the ranks. So we go out, we go through the whole thing of pulling the name out of the hat, and luckily for me, my name just happened to be pulled out of the hat. But that’s exactly how it went down.

“I’ve also got to mention that I’m very grateful to Vader for going out and doing business. He could’ve been difficult and said ‘no man, I’m not going to do things this way because Sting’s not here.’ He went out and he went beyond in my estimation what he delivered in the match. We had a fantastic match. It was so unbelievable. It was a real moment in our business. I never in my wildest dreams would’ve thought it had gotten to this point, to where people…