[1991-10-19-WCW-Saturday Night] Interview: Ron Simmons

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Ron Simmons lays it all on the line in this outstanding promo. Great emotion and good hype of specific points, and Ron seems like the real deal. I'm looking forward to revisiting that match. We get an announcement that Mr. Hughes is banned from ringside, and that Dusty Rhodes will be in Simmons' corner for one night only. I like this hype. I just think Simmons needed a longer chase to the top.

[PeteF3]

Ron talks about his dreams that came true, and those that didn't--he draws parallels to Luger's upbringing, and their past on the football field (which I'd assume is legit--Simmons played for FSU, Luger played for Miami). I like this build, but Simmons could have used another intermediate feud before the World title push. Problem is...it's 1991 WCW. Who was available? He probably should have gone over on a mini-feud with Arn, actually.

[BackToBionic]

They played on the same team (Tampa) in the USFL as well. When my dad was moving out of the house he lived in for 30 years he found a USFL program that listed Larry Pfohl on the Memphis Showboats. What a great team name!

[Kevin Ridge]

I have a dream by Ron Simmons. Nice that they banned Hughes from ringside. Dusty Rhodes will manage Simmons. Hopefully he sticks to the background and he does here by not cutting any promos and instead just embraces Simmons.

[soup23]

Ron gives a great promo and the main event feud is well done again. He announces Dusty as his second for Havoc and Harley pitches a shit fit.

[garretta]

I would have liked to have seen more of Harley; the segment was cut off just as he got rolling.

 

Simmons isn't the smoothest talker in the world, but he delivered beautifully here. Dusty's had a lot of missteps as WCW booker this year, but this push for Simmons has been done well for the most part. Yes, it was a bit out of the blue, but Ron's overcome that by being the humble, hard-working man of the people, which is a nice contrast to Luger's entitled arrogance. I liked how he mentioned their past on the football field, which probably should have been emphasized more as a reason why the championship committee thought he'd be a worthy title challenger. His message of hanging on to your dreams and working your butt off to make them come true is simple, but the crowd ate it up. Yes, we all know they'd probably have rather seen Sting in his place, but for right now they've put their hope in Simmons to bring the title back to them.

 

I like the idea of Dusty as Ron's cornerman, given his past history with both Harley and Luger. Maybe it should have been Windham, since I don't think he's wrestling (regardless of what the Control Center might say), but Dusty actually adds more gravity to the situation than an active competitor would. Kudos to JR for taking time to explain why Hughes was banned instead of Harley.

 

I would have loved to see Luger's reaction to this, but if he had one it didn't make the set for whatever reason.

[dawho5]

Really good promo from Simmons. I thought it got a little heavy handed at points, but overall very good. Harley's reaction to it was good too and I really do wish we'd have gotten that full segment.