The Acolytes/APA: looking back are they just cringe?

[The Rick Jericho]

They teamed up from the fall of 1998 until spring 2004 when JBL went heel and Ron Simmons got released.

If you look at their run do you find it fun and they were a good act in the tag team division. They really got over when they formed the APA.

Or.

Do you see these guys, especially Bradshaw as bullies and took liberties with guys? We all know the Public Enemy "match" which was pretty much an on-air assault. Then we have stories of them working stiff as payback to put wrestlers in their place or they simply worked stiff because they didn't like the opponents on the other end. I remember their was a period during the InVasion where they worked stiff as hell against O'Haire and Palumbo.

The Dudleyz wrongly got lumped in with the Enemy when they showed up to WWE, just because they too came from ECW and felt like a similar act. The difference is they passed the APA test and eventually moved up the card.

So when history looks back at this tag team. Was it just a fun act and that us good WWE action, or these two guys worked too dangerous, Bradshaw was a bitch this entire run and the less said about Undertaker's boys the better?

[jason1980s]

In looking up what may have happened between Don Callis and Bradshaw, I recently found a site that has multiple accounts of Bradshaw's bullying including a match with Acolytes v. Duane Gill and Blue Meanie. Meanie has a quote and says that Duane Gill passed out twice during the match. He doesn't say who specifically did anything to Duane, it could have been either Ron or Bradshaw but whoever it was, I'm sure that wasn't necessary. Duane had been around a long time and deserved better. Even a brand new guy deserved not to pass out or be seriously hurt.

I think their legacy should absolutely include the good and the bad. And there was a lot of bad with Bradshaw and some with Ron. But Ron seems to get a pass because one of his target like Ahmed seem pretty disliked by peers. That Public Enemy match was an assault, it wasn't a wrestling match. Ron's dominator to Rocco is very close to a spot where Rocco's neck could be broken.

Ron could be physically bad but Bradshaw was worse with not just physical bullying but emotional and mental bullying. And I'm sure if someone asked him, he'd have no regrets about his actions even now.

[Ronny Rayguns Is All Elite]

At the time I was really into them as a duo on screen.

The APA gimmick was just bad ass to me and I loved their backstage sketches with them and Mae Young/etc.

Later on learning how Bradshaw was a bully (and that BRUTAL ass Public Enemy match) tarnishes them a little in my estimation but I still enjoyed their act

[Push R Truth]

[Natural Born Farmer]

Looking back?

[Sir Woodrow]

A couple of overrated c***s if you ask me

[Mozenrath]

Frankly speaking, not that it defends them, but Bradshaw and Faarooq going after guys was basically an indication Vince or someone else in authority already had an issue with you, more often than not. So maybe "bullies" is less accurate than "shitty henchmen".

If I am just talking about onscreen, though, they were welcome depth for the tag scene during arguably its height. This isn't to say I'd put them over the Hardyz, etc, in importance, but that was kind of the beauty of the tag scene at the time, where there were top teams, ones in the middle, and enhancement teams like Kaientai tended to be. The Acolytes were probably on the high end of the middle tier, where it was not an upset if they pinned the Dudleyz or E&C, but they also were more likely to lose than win those big matches against them.

[KingPooper]

I don’t really think of Bradshaw the person when I think of APA. Outside a few months at the end. Do looked like a completely different person.

They were okay as a tag team. But I love random crap in my wrestling, the poker games, the protection gimmick advanced a lot of fun and ridiculous storylines.

[wildojinx]

I preferred the babyface All American Ron Simmons to anything he did in WWF/E, and that includes the APA. Ok, the Damn schtick was funny at first but got real old real fast.

[ehead]

Nov 30, 2023 19:54:47 GMT -5 Push R Truth said:

 I may or may not have bought this shirt for my 13-year old brother at a Smackdown taping.

[The Summer of Muskrat XVII]

The original APA run from 2000-2002 was pretty damn entertaining, everything else was hit or miss. They could be fun, but they also tended to get old quick

[Bo Rida]

The APA was a great gimmick and at least the door to their office didn't do anything wrong.
Although it did inspire a lot of other doors to get into the business and most of them are physical wrecks now.

[Lizuka #BLM]

Shout out to the bit in Edge's autobiography when he talks about Bradshaw sexually assaulting him in the shower.

[Futureraven: Beelzebruv]

Nov 30, 2023 23:24:32 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

Frankly speaking, not that it defends them, but Bradshaw and Faarooq going after guys was basically an indication Vince or someone else in authority already had an issue with you, more often than not. So maybe "bullies" is less accurate than "shitty henchmen".

If I am just talking about onscreen, though, they were welcome depth for the tag scene during arguably its height. This isn't to say I'd put them over the Hardyz, etc, in importance, but that was kind of the beauty of the tag scene at the time, where there were top teams, ones in the middle, and enhancement teams like Kaientai tended to be. The Acolytes were probably on the high end of the middle tier, where it was not an upset if they pinned the Dudleyz or E&C, but they also were more likely to lose than win those big matches against them.

I think you had one of each.

Wrestler seem to have a ton of respect for Ron, you rarely hear a bad word about him, he was tough and wouldn't put up with shit, but wouldn't go out of his way to be an asshole. Downside is he would rough up who he was told to, so more of a shitty henchman. But in that toxic world, you could prove yourself to him and there was respect.

Bradshaw was an out an out bully in it for the fun of that, both directly and bullying people into doing more dirty work for him, he was a complete 100% asshole. There's the Edge incident, and the office was high on Edge, the Blackman incident where Steve never had heat and in fact they gave him a job after checking in on his health for like, a decade so it wasn't an office thing.

[tirtefaa]

As onscreen characters, they were okay. To be perfectly honest, they served a purpose in the grander scheme of the tag division, however compared to other tag teams from that era, especially after 1999... I'd say they're on my lesser favorites.

Faarooq's best stuff was behind him and Bradshaw's best stuff was to come, so most of the time it was just essentially Stone Cold-lite. But I can't think of a single time when I preferred them to any other tag team. Maybe APA vs. Too Cool they have the edge.

[David-Arquette was in WCW 2000]

Dec 1, 2023 8:23:44 GMT -5 tirtefaa said:

As onscreen characters, they were okay. To be perfectly honest, they served a purpose in the grander scheme of the tag division, however compared to other tag teams from that era, especially after 1999... I'd say they're on my lesser favorites.

Faarooq's best stuff was behind him and Bradshaw's best stuff was to come, so most of the time it was just essentially Stone Cold-lite. But I can't think of a single time when I preferred them to any other tag team. Maybe APA vs. Too Cool they have the edge.

Yeah this. You knew you were going to see a physical match when they came out, but there were better teams around that time. Even T&A had Trish haha

[Phosphor Glow]

i mean you're comparing two different things here

their backstage behavior has no bearing on whether or not the APA was a good and entertaining tag team; they were, i would be shocked to find many people who would disagree

your statement about their shitty locker room behavior is absolutely true but has no bearing on their quality and success as a tag team

[nickcave]

Bradshaw is one of the worst men to ever be involved in professional wrestling and the business was worse because he was in it from a backstage standpoint. But also as a performer he's a guilty pleasure because I really liked the APA and the JBL character so it's hard lol

[Urn Anderson]

Dec 1, 2023 11:22:41 GMT -5 nickcave said:

Bradshaw is one of the worst men to ever be involved in professional wrestling and the business was worse because he was in it from a backstage standpoint. But also as a performer he's a guilty pleasure because I really liked the APA and the JBL character so it's hard lol

That covers my feelings about a lot of wrestlers. Straight up scumbag person, excellent performer and character.

[msc]

Them being sods behind the scenes doesn't make them a lesser tag team. The Road Warriors were sods. Hulk Hogan is one of the greatest characters in wrestling history and also a gobshite in real life.
Even today FTR are tag team excellence but problematic as shit.

The Apa were a good tag team. Still are. They were involved in some of the greatest moments I've seen as a fan.

They're also both sods. But, well, that's wrestlers.