JBL Reflects On His WWE Run With APA, Teaming With Ron Simmons

WWE Hall of Famer JBL is one of the few wrestlers to have accomplished runs as both a singles star and a tag team star, with his time as part of the APA alongside Ron “Faarooq” Simmons being one that WWE fans remember fondly. 

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During a recent edition of the “Something to Wrestle” podcast, JBL was asked if he preferred being a part of APA or his singles run.

“The APA days because I had Ron Simmons with me, no doubt about it,” JBL said. “I loved Ron, and I still love Ron. I was with him this past weekend and I had so much fun. I sat with him for hours, we had fun, we went to the airport together like we always do. I just love Ron Simmons, and if I had been an APA member my entire career, I’d be fine with that.” 

He admitted he loved working as a singles star as he always thought he could do it and got to work with a number of legendary performers during his time as JBL. But he stated that he would have been happy if he had been in a tag team with Simmons for his entire run in WWE.

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JBL explained that the group came to be because WWE creative had nothing in the pipeline for either man. 

“Vince [McMahon] really liked Ron, and so when I came in, Vince liked me too as well. But he just wanted to find something for us and, believe it or not, they didn’t have something for Ron, which is inexplicable. So they just kind of stuck us together because we were friends and we were riding together anyway,” revealed the veteran star.

Please credit “Something to Wrestle” when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.