JBL Credits Ron Simmons For Creation Of APA Door

The creation of the A.P.A. door.

A new interview with A.P.A. (Ron Simmons & JBL) was pushed out by Chris Van Vliet. As the chat was ongoing, they discussed the creation of the A.P.A. door that was used in backstage segments.

John Bradshaw Layfield credited Simmons for the idea.

JBL: “I’ll tell you a funny story on the door. They’re building the APA set, and they got the door. Ron goes, ‘That’s good.’ He’s got that deep voice. They go, ‘What do you mean that’s good?’ He said, ‘That’s good.’ They go, ‘It’s just the door?’ He goes, ‘Yeah, that’s perfect.’ They’re looking at it, going, ‘Wait a minute. Wait a minute…’ So they left the door, and then they realized this is a pretty freaking cool gimmick. But that was Ron’s idea.” 

Ron: “It just resonated with the people, and hey, and even now, they still love it.”

They were asked if the initial idea was to build an entire set and JBL responded:

“I think they were going to, but when they had the door, they had the door frame up first, and Ron goes, ‘That’s good.’ I’m looking at him going actually, that is pretty funny. They were sitting there going, I don’t know Then everybody else started thinking this could be pretty funny if they just have a door.”

Both Bradshaw and Simmons are in the WWE Hall of Fame. They went in as individuals. Simmons was inducted in 2012, and Bradshaw went in in 2020/2021.