10 Things We Learned From Ron Simmons On Stone Cold’s Broken Skull Podcast

10. How Gruelling His Training Was

Apologies for being so curt, but f*ck Ron's training.

Lex Luger was the one who introduced Simmons to Japanese great Hiro Matsuda. They played on the same football team, and Lex knew that his friend would dig Hiro's notoriously-rugged style of putting aspiring wrestlers through their paces. He was right, but still...it sounds horrible.

Ron spent three months doing conditioning training before he was even allowed to step foot inside the ring. "Guys were dropping like flies", he told Austin. Then, Steve wanted to know how long it took between in-ring drills and having his first match. The answer? A long-assed time. Simmons spend a month just running ropes.

Matsuda would also blast his trainees with wooden boards across the back, chest and ribs. He wanted to toughen them up, but was determined to make sure that they understood pain so that they'd take care of peers during matches.

In short, he wanted them to be reliable (and hate 2x4s forever).