The Acolytes Protection Agency (A.P.A), were a professional wrestling tag team that consisted of John "Bradshaw" Layfield and Ron "Faarooq" Simmons. They wrestled for the American promotion, World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (WWF/E) between October 1998 and March 2004.

History

Hell's Henchmen

The Acolytes were originally known as Hell's Henchmen and were managed by The Jackyl.^[1] Faarooq and Bradshaw were both on a losing streak before teaming together - The Rock had recently taken over leadership of the Nation of Domination from Faarooq in a coup, and Bradshaw's tag team partner Terry Funk had left the WWF. The two resurfaced as an unstoppable tag team under the management of The Jackyl, squashing other tag teams.^[2]

The Acolytes

When The Jackyl left the WWF, the duo joined The Undertaker's new heel stable, The Ministry of Darkness.^[3] They adopted the name The Acolytes, as they acted as acolytes of the Undertaker. The Acolytes kidnapped Dennis Knight and Mabel, indoctrinating them into the Ministry, where they were renamed Mideon and Viscera respectively.

Throughout 1999, The Acolytes feuded with, won and lost tag team titles to some of the enemies of the Ministry (and later The Corporate Ministry) such as X-Pac and Kane, The Brood and the Hardy Boyz, until The Undertaker was injured in late 1999, leading to the dissolution of the Corporate Ministry.^[4][5][6]

Acolytes Protection Agency

At the beginning of 2000, Bradshaw came up with the idea of charging for protection, and the Agency was born. The A.P.A. were nominally a face team, but would protect heels if the price was right: the Dudley Boyz paid the A.P.A. to help them assault the Hardy Boyz, and Edge and Christian. Also, Crash Holly paid the A.P.A. to protect him while he took an hour long nap so that he would not lose the Hardcore Championship, which was defended 24/7; after the hour was up, the A.P.A. left their office, leaving Crash alone (asleep on their couch), and Gerald Brisco was able to pin him, winning the title.

The tag team were notable for their series of backstage vignettes, usually involving them drinking beer, smoking cigars and playing cards in their "office" (which was merely an open space behind a stand alone door; the A.P.A would insist, however, that anyone entering the area used the door). Their bar room brawls were frequently alluded to, and the A.P.A. eventually did engage in a brawl with the occupant of "JB's Pub" while feuding with Edge and Christian. Their motto was "'Cause we need beer money!" They would also have on and off alliances with Kai En Tai and Crash Holly.

The A.P.A. feuded with T & A (Test and Albert) after T & A, lacking money, staked their manager Trish Stratus' clothes in a game of poker, but attacked the A.P.A. when Trish was obliged to go topless. The A.P.A. were sidelined with injuries after being ambushed at No Mercy, and left Crash Holly in charge of the office, however, T & A took over their office, renaming the Agency the "T & A.P.A." until the A.P.A. returned and reclaimed their property at Armageddon.

The ultra-conservative Right to Censor faction then feuded with A.P.A. throughout the autumn of 2000 and the spring of 2001. The R.T.C. had taken offense to the A.P.A.'s beer drinking, poker playing, girl ogling ways, and the feud culminated in a six-man tag match at WrestleMania X-Seven pitting the A.P.A. and Tazz against Bull Buchanan, Val Venis and The Goodfather, where Bradshaw pinned The Goodfather. During this time, the A.P.A. were often accompanied by Jacqueline.

The A.P.A would then win their third World Tag Team Championship on June 9 2001, defeating The Dudleyz on RAW.^[7] The A.P.A. were at the vanguard of the resistance against The Invasion of World Championship Wrestling, and guarded the arenas to ensure that no WCW wrestlers could interfere in matches. When WCW wrestlers Sean O'Haire and Chuck Palumbo ran in after a Hardy Boyz versus Dudley Boyz match on June 28, 2001, the A.P.A. and many other WWE wrestlers prevented them from leaving and put them both through tables. After Booker T managed to attack Vince McMahon in the ring and then escape, the A.P.A. reasoned that a mole was aiding the invaders. The mole was eventually revealed as Paul Heyman, but not before the A.P.A. had organized a group beating of Test, believing him to be the traitor (due to Test's long time friendship with then-Alliance head Shane McMahon). Test, feeling that the A.P.A. was insincere in a later apology, would join The Alliance anyway, causing the A.P.A. to lose the World Tag Team Championships to Diamond Dallas Page and Chris Kanyon.

Drafted apart

In 2002, the A.P.A. were split up when the WWE roster was divided into RAW and SmackDown! brands. Bradshaw competed on RAW for the European and Hardcore Championships (winning it 18 times), carried a lasso with a cowbell to ringside (a la Stan Hansen) and had a short partnership with Stone Cold Steve Austin. Meanwhile, Faarooq (going by his birthname Ron Simmons) briefly teamed with Reverend D-Von on SmackDown! in an attempt to win the then newly established WWE Tag Team Championship.

Reunions

2003-2004

Following a hiatus by Simmons and Bradshaw recovering from an arm injury, they were reunited on SmackDown! in June 2003, joining The Undertaker in feuding with the Full Blooded Italians.

At Vengeance 2003, the A.P.A. hosted a Bar Room Brawl, which Bradshaw won.^[8] The match featured Bradshaw, Shannon Moore, Doink The Clown, Faarooq, Brother Love, Nunzio, Matt Hardy, A-Train, Danny Basham, Doug Basham, The Easter Bunny, Sean O'Haire, John Hennigan, Orlando Jordan, Funaki, Los Conquistadores (Rob Conway and Johnny Jeter), The Brooklyn Brawler, Johnny Stamboli, Chuck Palumbo, Matt Cappotelli and Spanky.

On March 18, 2004, SmackDown! general manager Paul Heyman forced the A.P.A. to face Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hotty after they mocked his being Stunned by Stone Cold Steve Austin the previous week, with the added stipulation that "If you lose, you will be fired". After they were defeated, Heyman clarified that he would only be firing Simmons, not both men as he implied. He then informed Bradshaw to worry about his own career, claiming that as a published author and a Fox financial analyst he was a valued asset to the company. Bradshaw opted to stay, and Faarooq left in disgust.^[9][10] In reality, Ron Simmons was released from WWE immediately after his on-screen firing because he wanted to quietly retire from wrestling due to back problems.^{[citation needed]}

Layfield would retire two years later due to injury problems of his own,^[11] and both men would find separate niches on WWE programming, with Simmons appearing in backstage scenes (And occasionally wrestling) on RAW to say his trademark "DAMN!" (or anything that rhymes with it) in many different ways for many different situations, and Layfield serving as the color commentator on SmackDown! when Tazz became the color commentator for the revived ECW brand.^[12]

2007

The two were reunited briefly on the August 13 2007 episode of Monday Night Raw, where William Regal was hosting WWE Idol. Backstage, Layfield & Michael Cole were seen in costume singing Hall & Oates, at which point Ron Simmons approached and Cole asked who his favorite band from the 80's were. Simmons responded with "WHAM!" (Simmons' character at the time involved saying nothing except DAMN! or words that rhymed with it).^[13]

The APA had an in-ring reunion on the December 3 2007 episode of Raw when Hornswoggle hired their protection services for his Handicap match against Jonathan Coachman and Carlito.^[6]

In wrestling

• Signature moves

• Spike Superbomb
• Spike powerbomb
• Clothesline from hell-Bradshaw
• Dominator-Farooq
• Double spinebuster
• Back suplex / Neckbreaker slam combination

• Managers

• Jacqueline
• The Jackyl

Championships and accomplishments

• Memphis Championship Wrestling

• MCW Southern Tag Team Championship (1 time)

• Ohio Valley Wrestling

• OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (1 time)

• World Wrestling Federation

• WWF World Tag Team Championship (3 times)

References

External links

• Ron "Farooq" Simmons WWE Profile
• John "Bradshaw" Layfield WWE Profile
• OWoW Profile