WWE superstar Ron Simmons, born on May 15, 1958, was the very first African American wrestler to hold the WCW World Heavyweight title.  He worked for the WWE doing PR work for Raw, but he only made occasional appearances in the ring due to his semi-retired status.  In addition to wrestling, Simmons is a retired football player.  He has also wrestled under the name Faarooq.

Following his American football career, Simmons began training under Japanese wrestler Hiro Matsuda.  He made his professional debut in 1986, although he mainly worked the independent circuit.  In 1989, he debuted at the pay-per-event Halloween Havoc 1989 as part of the team with Butch Reed known only as Doom.  They later joined the National Wrestling Alliance, where Doom won the NWA World Tag title.  They later joined WCW, where they became the first pair to hold the WCW World Tag Championship.  However, in 1991, Doom split when Simmons and Reed began a feud.

In August of 1992, Simmons defeated Big Van Vader and became the first African American to hold the WCW World Heavyweight title.  He held it for five months.  In late 1994, however, he began wrestling for ECW, and he stayed with the company until early 1995. 

Simmons was out of the ring until July of 1996, when he appeared on Raw as Faarooq.  He and his manager set up the Nation of Domination stable, which feuded with several other stables.  When the stable dissolved, he joined the Undertaker’s Ministry of Darkness until it, too, disbanded. Simmons and John Bradshaw Layfield continued to work together and started the Acolyte Protection Agency where they would protect lowly wrestlers.

In 2002, Simmons moved to Smackdown, where he wrestled under his real name until his retirement in 2002.  However, he returned to the WWE in June of 2003 for a short time.  Finally, he was “fired” from the WWE by Paul Heyman.  He later returned, and in 2006, he began doing backstage interviews and other cameo appearances.  He occasionally wrestled, as well.  In January of 2009, Simmons was released by his contract with the WWE.