The Acolytes Protection Agency (APA) was infamous for their relaxed backstage segments that often involved beer consumption, as well as their reputation for a stiff wrestling style. JBL and Ron Simmons, who were central to these segments during their partnership in the early 2000s, recently reflected on these elements of their career.
In an interview on ‘Insight With Chris Van Vliet,’ the duo discussed the lack of a structured approach to their backstage antics and their commitment to realistic in-ring action. Below are key highlights from their conversation:
On Dealing With Arenas Where They Couldn’t Smoke:
JBL: “One of the greatest things ever. Jack Lanza was who was a wonderful human being. They finally started banning smoking. He’d go to light a cigarette. Somebody told him he couldn’t smoke, and if he thought they were an asshole, Jack would sit there and for the next two hours he’d put a cigarette in his mouth and go to light it, and then go to talk to somebody and never light it. He’d make all these guys sitting there waiting to write him a ticket, and he just he just messed with them. I tell you, one time we were in the Staples Center, and they told us a lot of times we did the show earlier in the day, and so we could edit it and make it appear as if it was live. They go, ‘Guys, you got to go live. You got to get this right this time.’ I said, ‘Why are we about to go live?’ They go, ‘You’re slurring your words.’ We had sat back there and got drunk. People asked if it was real beer. Yes, yes, it was.
“For the first ladder matches and stuff, we didn’t have stunt coordinators. We were just guys doing stuff and hoping it worked. The first ladder match was Shawn and Razor. I think they had one ladder. If that thing had broke, good lord, what a disaster that would have been. But when the Hardys and the Dudleys and Edge and Christian first did that stuff, they had no template for it. We had no template for it. I mean, here’s some beer, drink beer, and have a bar fight scene. I remember one time we’re doing a bar fight scene. I’ve got Bull Buchanan. I’m gonna throw him through a wall, and we gimmick the wall, and Bull says it’s the wrong wall. And I go, ‘I’m sorry,’ and we go through a wall. We land in a toilet. He went through it!”
Simmons: “Which, by the way, was this Tim [White’s] wall? So you went through the wrong wall, the one which Timmy did not want torn down.”
Simmons In If Guys Knew What They Were Getting Into In Matches With Them:
Simmons: “Well, look, man. Here’s the thing with us, and same with him. I was taught when you are in that ring, you doing your best portrayal of realism. It ain’t about getting out there and throwing 1,000 punches, but you throw one, make that s**t look good, all right? That’s exactly the way I tried to work. Now some would call it stiff or whatever you’d like to call it, but I called it as real as it can get, and that’s the way we both worked, and that’s the way he was taught.
“A lot of people didn’t like it because they thought it was stiff or whatever. But guess what? We never did anything that we couldn’t take. We never injured anybody, never hurt nobody. That’s called taking your time to learn what you’re doing. Because that’s the way we’re taught. I can hear his words now.’ If you’re doing this, the people right there that’s sitting at ringside have got to look real hard to see that you didn’t hit him.’ That’s the way I was taught, and that’s the way things were back in the day, man. That’s why you had a lot of arguments, and people got into these conflicts back in the day about reporters asking you, ‘Hey, is that stuff real?’ Hell, that’s the way guys worked. That’s the way guys and girls worked back then.”
