Ron Simmons Ron Simmons ( May 15 , 1958 ) is a retired American professional wrestler and retired American football player . He was the first African American to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship , and was thus the first officially recognized African American World Champion . ( Bobo Brazil , who won the NWA Championship in 1962 , was not officially recognized for his win . ) Simmons was a Florida State University All - American football player , and played for the Cleveland Browns in the National Football League and the Ottawa Rough Riders in the Canadian Football League . He became a professional wrestler in 1986 , and went on to wrestle in World Championship Wrestling under his real name and in the World Wrestling Federation under both his real name and the ring name s Faarooq Asad and Faarooq . He was most recently in WWE , where he appeared in backstage segments and did public relations work . He was released on January 13 , 2009 . Professional wrestling career . Simmons returned to prominence several years after the end of his football career when he was recruited by Japanese professional wrestler Hiro Matsuda . Simmons trained under Matsuda and debuted in October 1986 . National Wrestling Alliance / World Championship Wrestling ( 1989 - 1994 ) . Simmons teamed up with Butch Reed to form Doom . In the beginning , the members of Doom were masked and only known as Doom # 1 and Doom # 2 , managed by Woman . In their pay - per - view debut at Halloween Havoc 1989 , Doom defeated The Steiner Brothers . In the " Iron Team Tournament " at Starrcade 1989 , Doom finished fourth , losing all three of their matches . With new manager Teddy Long , they rebounded and defeated The Steiner Brothers for the NWA World Tag Team Championship at Capital Combat in 1990 . They held the title for nine months , defeating teams like The Rock ' n ' Roll Express and feuding with The Four Horsemen . Among their most memorable encounters during their title reign was a street fight against Horsemen Arn Anderson and Barry Windham at Starrcade 1990 which ended in a no - contest when Windham pinned Simmons while Reed simultaneously pinned Anderson . Doom were recognized as the first holders of the WCW World Tag Team Championship in January 1991 , finally losing the titles to The Freebirds at WrestleWar in February 1991 . Subsequently , Doom broke up , with Simmons turning face and feuding with Reed , defeating him in a cage match at the very first SuperBrawl . Simmons defeated midcarders including Oz and The Diamond Studd , then unsuccessfully challenged Lex Luger for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Halloween Havoc 1991 , losing the best - of - three - falls match one fall to two . Simmons spent the first half of 1992 feuding with Cactus Jack , whom he defeated via pinfall at SuperBrawl II . On August 2 , 1992 , a scheduled title match between Sting and WCW World Heavyweight Champion Big Van Vader was canceled after Jake Roberts ( kayfabe ) injured Sting . WCW President Bill Watts responded by holding a raffle to determine the number one contender . Simmons won the raffle and defeated Vader with a powerslam to win the championship . By defeating Vader , Simmons became the first recognized African American WCW World Heavyweight Champion . Simmons held the title for five months . He continued to feud with Cactus Jack , with Jack bringing in The Barbarian to challenge Simmons at Halloween Havoc 1992 . At Starrcade 1992 , Simmons was scheduled to wrestle Rick Rude , but due to Rude being injured he faced " Dr . Death " Steve Williams instead , wrestling to a double countout that was changed to a disqualification win for Simmons when Williams attacked him after the match . His title reign ended two days later on December 30 , 1992 , when Vader defeated him to regain the title . Afterwards , Simmons was relegated to mid - card status , eventually becoming a bitter heel who felt like the fans abandoned him after he lost the championship . Simmons unsuccessfully challenged Dustin Rhodes for the US Championship and Paul Orndorff for the TV Championship during his last months with WCW . Extreme Championship Wrestling ( 1994 - 1995 ) . Simmons appeared in Extreme Championship Wrestling ( ECW ) from late 1994 to early 1995 . During that time he unsuccessfully challenged ECW World Champion Shane Douglas at November to Remember 1994 and had matches with Mikey Whipwreck and 911 . World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment ( 1996 - 2010 ) . Simmons joined the World Wrestling Federation ( WWF ) and made his debut on the July 22 , 1996 , episode of " Raw " . His first gimmick was that of ' Faarooq Asaad ' , a gladiator who wore a black and blue gladiator outfit with a misshaped helmet and was managed by Sunny . Simmons started his first feud with Ahmed Johnson before shortening his ring name to ' Faarooq ' . Nation of Domination ( 1996 - 1998 ) . As Faarooq , Simmons dropped his gladiator gimmick and with his new manager , Clarence Mason , formed a stable known as the Nation of Domination . The Nation of Domination was loosely based on the Nation of Islam and the Black Panther Party , although the members of the stable were not exclusively African American . They mostly feuded with Ahmed Johnson , who Faarooq was combating before . Faarooq ' s ongoing " war " with Johnson included matches at the Royal Rumble in 1997 , where Ahmed won by disqualification , and another at Wrestlemania 13 where Ahmed recruited the Legion of Doom to take on the entire Nation in the infamous Chicago Street Fight , which was won by Johnson and the Road Warriors . The group stayed together until Faarooq became angry with them for costing him the World title . After Simmons threw Crush and Savio Vega out of the Nation , Crush and Vega formed their own rival factions , known respectively as the Disciples of Apocalypse and Los Boricuas , and Faarooq recruited more African American members for the Nation . The three stables feuded with one another throughout 1997 . In early 1998 , Simmons ' s leadership of the Nation of Domination was usurped by The Rock , and he spent several months feuding with his former stablemates . The Acolytes / The A . P . A . ( 1998 - 2004 ) . After being dumped from the Nation , Simmons teamed briefly with 2 Cold Scorpio . In late 1998 , Simmons began teaming with Bradshaw as Hell ' s Henchmen . They were managed by The Jackyl until he left the WWF , at which point they were repackaged as members of The Undertaker ' s Ministry of Darkness and were renamed the " Acolytes " , as they acted like acolytes to the Undertaker . The Acolytes recruited Phineas I . Godwinn and Mabel to the Ministry by kidnapping and brainwashing them ( renaming them Mideon and Viscera , respectively ) , and feuded with the Undertaker ' s rivals , such as D - Generation X and The Brood , the latter of which later joined the Ministry as well . After the Undertaker suffered an injury in late 1999 , the Ministry of Darkness disbanded . Simmons and Bradshaw continued to team with one another , and eventually adopted the gimmick of two brawlers who enjoyed drinking beer and smoking cigars , becoming faces in the process . After Bradshaw began hiring out the services of the Acolytes as mercenaries and bodyguards , the tag team was renamed the Acolytes Protection Agency ( APA ) . Around this time , Simmons would start saying his trademark " DAMN ! " catchphrase , though it wouldn ' t be emphasized as much as it would be later on . The APA teamed together until 2002 , when Simmons was drafted to the " SmackDown ! " brand of World Wrestling Entertainment . Around this time , Simmons changed his ring name to his real name by choice , due to the terrorist group Al - Qaeda having a training camp called All - Faarooq . Simmons had a brief heel run when he teamed with Reverend D - Von until he retired in December 2002 , but in June 2003 he returned to WWE with Bradshaw and the APA reunited . One memorable moment during this short return was a joke shared by the two during which they claimed that the Basham Brothers ' then - valet Shaniqua was actually Shelton Benjamin in drag . In his last WWE storyline , he was fired by former " SmackDown ! " General Manager Paul Heyman after he disrespected Heyman ( due to the WrestleMania XX issue between Heyman and Stone Cold Steve Austin during that night ) . It was assumed the APA would be fired , but it turned out to only be Faarooq . Simmons retired from his in - ring career , kayfabe accusing Bradshaw of not being a faithful friend . He had decided to retire quietly in this manner due to injury and age . During that event , Heyman told Bradshaw that it was time for him to break out on his own again . Bradshaw then debuted a Wall Street businessman gimmick with the name John " Bradshaw " Layfield , and went on to win the WWE Championship . Occasional appearances and Retirement ( 2006 - 2010 ) . In 2006 , during a rebroadcast of the 1981 Orange Bowl on Sun Sports , Simmons stated that since that time he has retired from wrestling action , but would like to continue or even improve his role with WWE . Starting on October 23 , 2006 , he began making short cameos on " Raw " under his given name to say his catchphrase of " Damn ! " , often in awe of or shock at odd happenings . On the November 20 , 2006 , edition of " Raw " , Simmons was chosen by Ric Flair to replace the injured Roddy Piper at the Survivor Series to take on the Spirit Squad . He was the first to be eliminated , via countout . He was seen in the ring with Chris Masters in the Masterlock Challenge on the January 15 , 2007 edition of " Raw " , a confrontation which ended prematurely after interference from Super Crazy . Although Simmons technically broke the masterlock , it was not officially recognized because of Crazy ' s interference . On the July 27 , 2007 , edition of " SmackDown ! " , Simmons was named the best man for Theodore Long and Kristal ' s kayfabe wedding . Simmons also engaged in a feud against Santino Marella . On September 10 , 2007 , on " Raw " , Simmons was attacked by Marella . This was the first time that Simmons has been attacked by someone on screen for years . On the September 24 , 2007 , edition of " Raw " , Simmons made a return to the ring and defeated Santino Marella by countout after Marella left the ring and walked out . A week later , Simmons said " Damn ! " one more time after throwing Steve - O out of a nearby door . Simmons occasionally competed on " WWE Heat " , taking on unknown wrestlers from the town in which the show is being taped . At the end of each match , Simmons holds onto a microphone , pulling it toward and away from his mouth while the crowd cheers then eventually will say " Damn ! " . On December 3 , 2007 , Simmons and Bradshaw were hired by Hornswoggle to help him in a no disqualification handicap match against Jonathan Coachman and Carlito in which they helped him win . Simmons appeared on Raw ' s 800th episode on November 3 , 2008 appearing on the entrance ramp and saying his signature phrase ' Damn ! ' while many superstars were dancing in the ring . He also returned during the Slammy Awards 2008 with Mickie James to give The Great Khali the DAMN Moment of that year ' s Slammy Awards . Simmons was released from WWE on January 13 , 2009 due to budget cuts . Simmons showed up on the November 15 , 2010 episode of " Old School " Raw backstage using his catchphase " Damn " .