During a recent appearance on the “Something To Wrestle” podcast, JBL discussed Ron Simmons’ influence on Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, his legacy, and other topics.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On Ron Simmons’ influence on The Rock: “Ron was the perfect guy for [working with Rock]… Nobody knew he’s going to be the biggest star in the history of the freaking world. I don’t think anybody thought that, but we knew he would be huge. And Ron was a perfect mentor for him. You know, a lot of stuff Rocky got was from Ron, a lot of his sayings. But nothing’s original, you know. And Ron liked Rocky, he really did. And I think it was mutual, I’m sure it was. I know Ron better than I do The Rock, so I certainly can speak more for Ron. But it was a mutual relationship there. You know, Ron knew that he was going to be a mentor to this young, really good-looking, charismatic guy, and Ron took that role very seriously. Ron took his role very seriously about being the elder statesman. He does to this day.”
On Simmons’ legacy: “I inducted him into the WWE Hall of Fame. I was when I got the honor to do it. And right before I did it, I was thinking about all these stories that me and Ron had, and then it kind of overwhelmed me, Ron’s significance in wrestling. Because you forget sometimes when a guy is a real close friend of yours, their significance other than to you personally. And you know, guys that break barriers are not guys that are equal to what’s on the other side. So like, Jackie Robinson didn’t break that barrier. He wasn’t chosen. Josh Gibson wasn’t chosen. Satchel wasn’t chosen. Jackie was chosen at first, you know, because he was a special guy. And better than what was on the other side. And you see that in every sport that happens, we have barriers that shouldn’t be there but are for whatever reason because of society.
“Ron broke that barrier not because he was equal to what’s on the other side. Ron broke that barrier because he was better. Because he’s Ron Simmons. And what he did was pave the way for all of the people out there, not just Black, anybody that should be able to make it. There shouldn’t be barriers. Thank goodness guys like Ron did it. You know, I’ve always said he’s our Jackie Robinson. And Ron is a pillar of this industry, and he takes that very serious. When he talks to young guys, he talks to them in a way that is the wise old mentor. And you see him counsel people. He enjoys being able to do that, and he’s very good about it, he’s a very smart guy. He takes all the stuff, he breaks it down and just — Ron’s one of the best things that’s happened in this business. You know, he’ll talk to guys about, ‘Don’t play this card or that card, just be you.’ And it’s really impressive what Ron has done. And in my opinion, he’s one of the most important guys in our business’ history.”
