scoop powerslam to win the championship. By defeating Vader, Simmons became the first recognized African American WCW World Heavyweight Champion and the second African American wrestler to win a World Heavyweight title. Simmons held the title for five months. He continued to feud with Cactus Jack, with Jack bringing in The Barbarian to challenge Simmons at Halloween Havoc. At Starrcade, Simmons was scheduled to wrestle Rick Rude, but due to Rude being injured he faced "Dr. Death" Steve Williams instead, wrestling to a double countout that was changed to a disqualification win for Simmons when Williams attacked him after the match. His title reign ended two days later on December 30, 1992, when Vader defeated him to regain the title. Afterwards, Simmons was relegated to mid-card status, eventually becoming a bitter heel who felt like the fans abandoned him after he lost the championship. Simmons unsuccessfully challenged Dustin Rhodes for the United States Heavyweight Championship and Paul Orndorff for the World Television Championship during his last months with WCW. In the spring of 1994, Simmons was working for WCW without being signed to a contract, also Simmons was briefly managed by Sherri Martel during this time. Simmons competed in the European Cup Tournament, winning his 1st round match against Marcus Bagwell but lost the next round to Sting. He would go on to feud with Sting and Bagwell, mostly competing in tag matches. His final match was a win over Scott Armstrong on the September 10, 1994 edition of WCW Worldwide. Extreme Championship Wrestling; New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1994–1995) Simmons debuted in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) in September 1994. In November 1994, he began teaming with 2 Cold Scorpio, with the duo unsuccessfully challenging The Public Enemy for the ECW World Tag Team Championship. At November to Remember in November 1994, Simmons unsuccessfully challenged ECW World Heavyweight Champion Shane Douglas. He faced Douglas again in December and January, but was unable to win the title. At Extreme Warfare in March 1995, Simmons defeated Hack Meyers then issued a challenge to 911, who came to the ring and chokeslammed Simmons. The following month at Three Way Dance Simmons lost to Mikey Whipwreck by disqualification after he chokeslammed the referee; following the match, 911 attempted to attack Simmons again, only for Simmons to give 911 a low blow and chokeslam him. At Hostile City Showdown later that month, 911 defeated Simmons after chokeslamming