During a recent episode of the Something to Wrestle podcast, WWE Hall of Famer JBL (John Layfield) addressed one of the most infamous pieces of Attitude Era merchandise—the APA’s “Always Pounding Ass” t-shirt.
The phrase, which was meant to play off the Acolytes Protection Agency (APA) initials, quickly became a hilariously questionable piece of WWE history due to its unintended double entendre.
JBL revealed that both he and his tag team partner, Ron Simmons, were fully aware of how the phrase could be interpreted—but that’s exactly why they liked it.
“They showed us the draw up for this shirt, and Ron [Simmons] goes, ‘That’s great. Leave it.’ We thought it was funny. We approved it. So if it’s stupid, we said it was fine.”
Rather than viewing the shirt as an oversight, JBL confirmed that the team leaned into the absurdity.
“ook, I thought it was funny. I know the double entendre. That’s why we thought it was funny, because it was so stupid, it was so corny that we thought it was great.”
JBL also laughed at the notion that people were questioning whether they understood what the phrase implied.
“People go, ‘Don’t you know what this means? Of course, we do. Yes. That’s why we thought it was funny. We’re like, ‘Who’s going to wear this? This is insane.’ That’s why we thought it was so funny and wanted to prove it. Me and Ron got a — I don’t know, maybe it’s a wild sense of humor, but we thought it was funny.”
The APA was known for their hard-hitting, no-nonsense persona, as well as their legendary backstage poker and beer-drinking segments. While their merchandise may have been unintentionally infamous, it has become a cult classic among longtime WWE Attitude Era fans.
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