WWE Hall of Famer JBL appeared on Something To Wrestle With, where he talked about a number of topics including how the APA came together.
JBL said, “APA came together on my birthday. We were in Philadelphia, and it was my birthday. Just like it happened a few days ago. And again, I don’t celebrate that stuff. Well, I’m riding with Teddy Long, Godfather and Ron Simmons, as usual… So we get down to Baltimore, and the one thing you don’t want to do is go to the TV hotel. Because there’s too many stooges, you’re going to get stooged if you go to TV hotel and you’ve had too much to drink or whatever. And I’d had too much all the above, whatever drink, you name it. So I get to the TV hotel because I’m — you know, it’s my birthday, and I’m bored, and I don’t want to go to bed yet. And in walks Shane and Vince, and I’m sitting there and I’m blind. I could barely even see, and I look up. Vince says, ‘It’s your birthday?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ He goes ‘Well, you better drink.’ So they start pouring tequila and whiskey, all this stuff down me. Ron had already gone back to the hotel. We’re at the Red Roof in Baltimore. I come in, stumbling in. He goes, ‘How’d you get back?’ I said, ‘Vince loaded me in his car.’ And he sent a limo to take me back to the Red Roof, which was probably the first time that Red Roof had ever seen a limo, unless it was a drug dealer. And so I stumbled. Ron goes, ‘I think we’re fine.’ And so the next day, I get a call from Vince in the building. Not a call, but somebody came in and said, ‘Vince wants to see you.’ And I said, ‘I’m in trouble.’ And I walk in, I thought, ‘You know, I did it. I’m just gonna say I did it. And whatever happens, happens. Shouldn’t have been at the TV hotel and under the influence.’ And I walk in, he goes, ‘You look terrible.’ I said, ‘I’m lucky to be alive, and I feel worse.’ And he goes, ‘I’m going to put that on television.’ I said, ‘What?’ He said, ‘I put that on television.’ I said, ‘Put what on television?’ He said, ‘You and Ron sitting around drinking, bantering. That’s what men do. That’s what men do, I just love it! That’s what we’re going to do.’ So I walk out and I walk to Ron, and Ron goes, ‘What happened?’ I said, ‘Vince wants us to drink on television.’ Ron said, ‘Best idea I’ve ever heard.’ And that’s pretty much the APA started. Vince came up with the whole APA idea. He wanted Ron and me to do what we had done every single night of the loop: go out and have beers and banter and have fun.”
On the APA’s split in 2002:
“It wasn’t like a sentimental thing. You know, Ron and I are not really sentimental guys. You know, we enjoy being together. We enjoy riding together. We enjoy being in the ring together. You know, you look at great tag teams. And — not if we’re great or not, that’s subjective. That’s for someone else to decide. But very few are like the Road Warriors. You know, Animal and Hawk did not like each other. They went for years without speaking. That is unheard of, to be such a great tag team. Most great tag teams were like the Steiners. You know, they were brothers, or they were close. The Hardys, Edge and Christian. The Funks, the Briscoes, Harlem Heat. Most were very close people. Me and Ron were very close. You know, we might as well have been brothers. In fact, one time, we’re going to the Newark Airport, and the guy goes, ‘I know who you are.’ And Ron said, ‘Who?’ He goes, ‘You’re those twins.’ To this day, we laugh about the fact that some guy called Ron and me twins. So you know, we got along so well together, and in the ring that we’re going to miss that. But you know, life goes on. And it wasn’t like a big thing, like, ‘Oh, we’re going to protest this.’ We just figured we would be back together at some point. And it didn’t — you know, unless we’re on different shows, which we were in on different shows, we’re still going to ride together. So things didn’t really change. It wasn’t something like we’re like, ‘Oh no, this is the worst thing ever.’ You know, Ron and I, we’re both way too pragmatic for that.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
