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Vince McMahon has created numerous legendary characters that will go down in pro wrestling history as being some of the best. Some of the WWE Chairman's ideas have been downright absurd, but there have been a few that have been fresh and out of the box.
One popular tag team in the 90s, during the Attitude Era, is APA. APA, or Acolytes Protection Agency, was a tag team featuring Bradshaw and Faarooq, aka JBL and Ron Simmons, respectively.
JBL, in his recent appearance on Corey Graves' After the Bell podcast, revealed how the APA was formed, and how Vince McMahon got the idea.
How Vince McMahon created WWE's APA?
JBL narrated the incident which resulted in Vince McMahon forming the APA. The former WWE Champion said that on his birthday, Ron Simmons, Teddy Long, and The Godfather got him very drunk. After Simmons and JBL returned to the hotel, JBL once again left to go to the bar, and began drinking with the rest of the crew.
He then returned to the hotel in Vince McMahon's car. JBL then revealed what Vince McMahon told him the next day:
"He goes (Vince McMahon), ‘I wanna put that on television.’ I said, ‘Put what on television?’ And I’m still so hungover, I’m seeing triple and he goes, ‘You and Ron, sitting around bs’ing having beers.’ He goes, ‘That’s good stuff.’ He goes, ‘I like that.’ He goes, ‘That’s just guys’ and I said, ‘You want me and Ron to sit around and drink on television?’ He goes, ‘Yes!’ He goes, ‘I got it all figured out. The Acolytes Protection Agency, The APA, you’re gonna beat people up for money.’ Really? So I go back and tell Ron, Ron goes, ‘Yeah, when are we going to Japan?’ I said, ‘Ron, Vince wants us to drink beer on television.’ Ron goes, ‘That’s the best idea I’ve ever heard’ and that was it. That’s how The A.P.A. started was Vince seeing me and Ron just sitting around bs’ing and goes, ‘I just wanna put that on television. You guys be you guys,’ he thought that was entertaining and that’s how The A.P.A. as far as the backstage [stuff] started.” (H/T Post Wrestling)
APA was formed in 1998 and they had a run together for a few years. The pair had a few tag team title reigns in the late 90s and early 2000s. The duo have made sporadic appearances since, with their last appearance on WWE television coming at the special RAW 25 show in 2018.
