D’Lo Brown on Life as a TNA Agent, Ron Simmons and Mark Henry’s Rise

Fred: Fred Richani for The Sports Courier, joined by wrestling legend D’Lo Brown. D’Lo, what brings you here today in TNA? A lot of people are wondering what you’ve been doing since you’ve been out of the ring.

D’Lo Brown: Since I retired from in-ring competition, I’ve moved to the office side of wrestling, and what I do now is work as an agent. An agent is the guy who helps organize the show on the other side of the curtain. All the great action you see in the ring or on camera, the agents help put together on the back side.

Fred: What made you make the call to go from the ring to the office after so many years of success?

D’Lo Brown: My back. No, it just came time to move to the next stage of my career. There’s only so far you can go, and I felt my career was starting to plateau and could possibly go south, and I didn’t want that to happen. So I felt I needed to jump to the next step, which was the office, and here I am.

Fred: We’re just a few days away from Raw’s 1,000th episode. You were on a lot of episodes of Raw, and you were very successful with the Nation of Domination: a four-time European champion and former Intercontinental champion. What’s your one great memory from being with that group?

D’Lo Brown: Just being paired with Ron Simmons. It’s one of the greatest things that’s ever happened in my life. To this day, he’s a great friend. I talk to him probably five times a week. Without Ron Simmons, I wouldn’t be standing here in front of you right now, so no memory is greater than just being paired with him.

Fred: Someone who was under the radar for a while was Mark Henry, and he really came into his own last year. He’s been a friend of yours for a long time. What are your thoughts on his success?

D’Lo Brown: I was happy from the day he won the World Heavyweight title. I called him and told him I was proud of him. We shared our own moment, and I just told him, “Keep going, man. It took a long time to get where you are. Let’s keep going forward.”

Fred: We’re here at a TNA event in Brooklyn. We know about Austin Aries, Bobby Roode and all these guys. As an agent who sees the talent all the time, is there anybody who’s caught your eye who’s ready to explode?

D’Lo Brown: There are tons of guys, and I’ll tell you the guy you don’t want to see: Robbie E. You do not ever, under any circumstances, want to look at Robbie E. Other than that, we’ve got some great young talent here in TNA, guys like Gunner and Crimson, young, hungry and up-and-coming. We’ve got Austin Aries, we’ve got Bobby Roode, and the list goes on and on. Our talent roster, from top to bottom, is the best in the world.

Fred: Where can fans find you online? Are you on Twitter or Facebook?

D’Lo Brown: I’ve got my little Twitter out there. Hit me up and tell me you saw me here, and I’ll give you a little shout-out. You never know.

Fred: Thanks so much. Appreciate the time.

D’Lo Brown: Peace.