Line #6 Wrestling/TheAPA


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/acolytes_protection_agency.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:L-R: Bradshaw and Faarooq]]
3	->''APA Protection''
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5	The Acolytes Protection Agency (or simply the APA) was a ProfessionalWrestling TagTeam who consisted of [[Wrestling/JohnBradshawLayfield Bradshaw]] and [[Wrestling/RonSimmons Faarooq]]. They wrestled for Wrestling/{{WWE}} between 1998 and 2004.
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7	As single competitors in the WWF, Bradshaw and Faarooq's careers had stalled, with Faarooq having come out as the loser of his feud with [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]] after being expelled from Wrestling/TheNationOfDomination, and Bradshaw having gone through two failed gimmicks: Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw, a tough cowboy similar in appearance and character to Wrestling/StanHansen who after victories branded his opponents with the letters "JB" in ink rather than being seared into the flesh, and teaming up with his {{kayfabe}} cousin Wrestling/BarryWindham to form [[Wrestling/TheBlackjacks The New Blackjacks]]. This changed when they were put in a tag team as the Acolytes, which had them sport occult symbols on their tights and chests, managed initially by [[Wrestling/DonCallis The Jackyl]] until he left the WWF, at which point they went on to become a part of Wrestling/TheUndertaker's Wrestling/MinistryOfDarkness. As The Acolytes, they won two World Tag Team Championships in 1999, while feuding with [[Wrestling/SeanWaltman X-Pac]] and Wrestling/{{Kane}} and the Hardy Boyz (Wrestling/{{Matt\|Hardy}} and Wrestling/{{Jeff\|Hardy}}). After renaming themselves the Acolytes Protection Agency in 2000, they adopted the gimmick of bodyguards-for-hire to other wrestlers, and won a third tag team championship in 2001.
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9	In 2002, the brand split also split the duo as the 2002 draft sent Faarooq to [[Wrestling/WWESmackDown SmackDown]] and Bradshaw to [[Wrestling/WWERaw Raw]]. As a singles competitor, Bradshaw was put in the hardcore division, winning the Hardcore Championship on various occasions. The two reunited as a tag team in Ohio Valley Wrestling and then on [=SmackDown=] in 2003. The team again split in 2004 when Simmons was on-screen released by WWE; Bradshaw continued his singles career before retiring in 2009, and the group has made sporadic appearances afterwards, mostly in a non-competing capacity.
10	----
11	!!"Acolytes Troping Agency":
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13	* TheArtifact: The "Acolyte" name. It made more sense if you knew that the origins of Bradshaw and Faarooq as a team were as a sub-unit in the Wrestling/MinistryOfDarkness known as "The Acolytes", but it made less sense if all you knew about them were as the beer-drinking, cigar-smoking, poker-playing HiredGuns, especially since rarely it was mentioned what "APA" stood for.
14	* BerserkButton: Don't ''ever'' tip or spill the APA's beer.
15	* {{Beergasm}}: Oh boy did they love their beer. Spilling it was enough to set them off.
16	* TheBigGuy: As faces, they would protect good guys from despicable heels (provided they were paid, obviously) Sometimes they would even save the face in a [[TheCavalry pretty theatrical manner]].
17	* BigDamnHeroes: Their HiredGuns gimmick meant that, if a {{Face}} hired them, they could get to save the day in a big, awesome manner.
18	* TheBrute: As a heel.
19	* HiredGuns: As the APA, one could hire them for protection if they paid them. Their clients included people like The Rock, The Big Show, Wrestling/CrashHolly (who hired them to protect the Hardcore Championship, which they did for about one hour.) and ''Wrestling/{{Hornswoggle}}''.
20	* IgnoreTheFanservice: Bradshaw [[NoSell no-sold]] Wrestling/TerriRunnels flashing him during the APA-Radicals (Wrestling/DeanMalenko and Wrestling/PerrySaturn) match on the May 21, 2001 episode of ''Raw'', where the APA beat up Saturn as punishment for Saturn having stiffed {{Jobber}} Mike Bell on the May 12 episode of ''[[BShow Jakked]]''.
21	* OnlyInItForTheMoney: As part of the APA -- they didn't give a crap about ''why'' you hired them, only if you paid them.
22	* PowerStable: Thy were part of Wrestling/TheUndertaker's Wrestling/MinistryOfDarkness as "The Acolytes".
23	* RunningGag: They quickly came up with the idea to have their 'office' set up in an open area backstage, using a freestanding door and its frame as the 'entrance'. If someone came up to their table from any other direction, they were firmly instructed to go to the door and knock, ''then wait to be told to come in''. Needless to say, this was only made funnier by the two keeping totally straight faces while doing so.
24	* SmokingIsCool: They were seen chomping cigar during their backstage segments as the APA.
25	* SpiritualSuccessor: Their APA gimmick may have been inspired by the WCW tag team the Hardliners/Hardline Collection Agency of Dick Slater and Dick Murdoch, who Bradshaw was a fan of.)
26	----
27	->...cause we need beer mone
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Context Wrestling / TheAPA