As a Vader fan, this day in wrestling history (December 30, 1992) was a great one, but as a Ron Simmons fan it was the end to a weak championship run that should’ve been so much more.
This is a run that can be attributed to poor booking after Simmons took the championship off Vader at a house show after winning a raffle to be the number one contender.
Simmons became the first African-American WCW World Heavyweight Champion and the second to win a World Heavyweight title (Ed “Bearcat” Wright was the first when he won the BTW Heavyweight Championship).
Since the WWE doesn’t own the BTW or NWA history (BTW wasn’t affiliated with NWA at the time of his win) they recognize Simmons as being the first African American world champion.
His reign lasted five months, during which he feuded with Cactus Jack and the Barbarian, whom Cactus brought in to challenge him.
While the feud was lackluster, it has some fun moments. There are also reports that Simmons
Changing of the guard
While Simmons’ run wasn’t booked very well, Bill Watts cited his lack of “it” as the reason he dropped the championship back to Vader.
It’s not the first time someone looked perfect but didn’t fit in the booker’s eyes for a world championship, and it definitely wasn’t and won’t be the last.
Watts wrote about hie reason in his book, The Cowboy And The Cross. Special thanks to @awrestlinghistorian for the excerpt.
“I looked at who was on the roster and went with my best athlete, the guy I thought could do it. Ron Simmons had all the best credentials in the world. He was mobile, strong, had a great look…and stop and think, who else did we have at that time who could have been world champion?
“I believed the championship would elevate Simmons to that elite level. And Ron tried his heart out, but he just didn’t seem to have that knack, that intangible “It” factor necessary to take it to the next level. And as athletic as Simmons was, he wasn’t the greatest worker.
“I hate to say anything negative about Ron because he was…a great guy with a ton of…work ethic. He was a credit to the wrestling business, but he was just missing that…internal charisma that you can’t bottle, that innate sense that lets someone turn any situation into excitement. So few have it and Ron just wasn’t one of the ones who did. At least at that time in his career.”
Though it can be argued Simmons should’ve have a longer run and other world title runs, injuries began to mount up and he wasn’t capable of the workload, according to reports.
Even a mixed bag of emotions like this day in wrestling history is for us is memorable, and that’s due to the emotional attachment more than anything.
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