Theodore Long

Theodore R. Long

Long debuted as a referee in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1985 as **Teddy Long**. In 1989, at the Chi-Town Rumble event, Long was the replacement referee when Ricky Steamboat won the WCW World Championship.

Shortly thereafter, Long began to turn into a villainous character when he started to bend the rules for heel wrestlers. On April 2, 1989, at *Clash of the Champions VI* in New Orleans, Long blatantly made a fast count allowing Mike Rotunda and "Dr. Death" Steve Williams to defeat The Road Warriors for the WCW World Tag Team Championship. After this match, WCW management relieved Long of his refereeing duties.

Long became the manager of Doom (Ron Simmons and Butch Reed) and led them to the WCW World Tag Team Titles. He also managed Johnny B. Badd, One Man Gang, Norman the Lunatic, The Skyscrapers (Sid Vicious, Dan Spivey and "Mean" Mark Callous), Marcus Bagwell, 2 Cold Scorpio, Joey Maggs, Craig Pittman, Jim Powers, Bobby Walker, Ice Train and Bobby Eaton while in WCW.

Long debuted in the WWF as a referee on the December 21, 1998 episode of *Raw is War* and stayed in that role until September 2002, when he was taken off the road. Like his previous referee stints, Long went by the shortened Teddy Long name during this period. He was a referee at the Over The Edge 1999 pay-per-view during the match after Owen Hart's tragic death: a mixed tag match between Jeff Jarrett/Debra and Val Venis/Nicole Bass.

He was re-packaged as a villainous manager once again under his full name, and perhaps his most notable managing stint in this period came when managing D'Lo Brown, Rodney Mack, Christopher Nowinski, Rosey, Mark Henry and Jazz at different times, telling fans to "Get down wit' da Brown" and to "Back da Mack." When he was drafted to *SmackDown*, he managed Mark Jindrak. On the January 5, 2004 edition of *Raw*, he was filling in as the guest General Manager for Eric Bischoff. During a match between Mark Henry and Rob Van Dam, announcer Lilian Garcia had announced that Van Dam had won by DQ in a No Disqualification Match. But, Long grabbed the microphone and ordered to restart the match. Just then, Stone Cold Steve Austin, as the "Sheriff" came out with an ATV and chased him around the ring and the arena. After Van Dam won the match, Austin continued to chase Long until he was cornered by both him and Van Dam; in which they pushed Long back into the ring. As he begged Austin not to hurt him, Long offered him a handshake. He accepted it, only to give Long a stunner in the process for restarting the match.

After Kurt Angle was fired from the General Manager position in July 2004, Long became the new and first African-American general manager of *SmackDown*. Long immediately turned face on his first night as GM when he fined Angle $1,000 for not having his wrestling gear with him. Because of his face turn, his new position saw him giving the fans what they wanted and making matches that put villains at disadvantages, notably John "Bradshaw" Layfield, a stark contrast to other WWE managers, such as Eric Bischoff and Mr. McMahon, who would blatantly favor heels. At first, he continued to use the "Hate-orade" catch phrase he started using as a bad guy, but less aggressively, and with more humor in it. One example was when he stripped Booker T of the United States Championship for "drinkin' Hate-orade." Long would also introduce the *New Talent Initiative* during this time, which saw the likes of Bobby Lashley and Mr. Kennedy début in 2005 and Montel Vontavious Porter in 2006, among others. The *New Talent Initiative* would continue, with a name-change to the *New Superstar Initiative*, when Long moved to ECW in 2008 and would see the débuts of Sheamus, Jack Swagger, Kofi Kingston, Evan Bourne, Tyler Reks, Trent Baretta, Caylen Croft, DJ Gabriel, Ricky Ortiz, Gavin Spears, Braden Walker and ECW referee Aaron Davis.

As part of the *SmackDown* vs. *Raw* feud, Long defeated then *Raw* General Manager Eric Bischoff at Survivor Series 2005 with the help of The Boogeyman.

Theodore Long still had problems with Booker T and his defense of the United States title, however, as Booker T attempted to get out of title defenses on a number of occasions by pretending to be injured, and having other wrestlers fight on his behalf. Eventually, Long got tired of these shenanigans, and at No Way Out 2006, Booker was told to face Chris Benoit or be stripped of the US title. Benoit won the match and was congratulated by Theodore Long.

After Randy Orton had cheated to obtain Rey Mysterio's title shot at WrestleMania 22, Long placed Mysterio back in the match and made it a Triple Threat match, at the same time warning Orton that he could still remove Orton from the match if he disobeyed Long.

At Judgment Day 2006, Long fired Melina and Johnny Nitro from *SmackDown!*. On the following *SmackDown!*, JBL suffered the same fate after losing the United States Championship to Bobby Lashley, and then losing a World Heavyweight Championship match to Rey Mysterio in his Judgment Day rematch.

In April 2007, Long became the on-screen boyfriend of Kristal Marshall, after weeks flirting with each other backstage. Long then began to look for an assistant so he could spend more time with Kristal, eventually revealing Vickie Guerrero as his new assistant on May 25, 2007, an appointment made partly at Kristal's request. At Vengeance: Night of Champions, he appeared after Edge won a Last Chance match against Batista via disqualification as a result of a low blow and reset the match, with the DQ and countout rule waived. On the June 22, 2007 episode of *SmackDown*, Long asked Kristal to marry him. Kristal ran out of the ring, crying, but later agreed to marry him. On the July 27, 2007 episode of *SmackDown*, Ron Simmons was named the best man for "Theodore Rufus Long" and Kristal's wedding on the September 21, 2007 episode of *SmackDown* emanating from Long's hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. The wedding was not completed, however, due to constant disruptions and Long having a heart attack just as he started to say "I do". He then fell into a coma. The storyline never finished out as planned as Marshall left the WWE shortly afterwards. Long returned on the November 30, 2007 episode of *SmackDown* as the assistant general manager and made a match at Armageddon for the World Heavyweight Championship. He started to feud with Guerrero over her position as the General Manager as she continued to favour Edge. On May 16, 2008, Long quit his role of assistant general manager.

On the June 3, 2008 episode of *ECW*, it was announced that Long had become the new general manager of the ECW brand by order of the WWE board of directors.

On the April 7, 2009 episode of *ECW*, Long announced he was returning to *SmackDown* as general manager, with Tiffany replacing him on *ECW*. By doing this, he became the first person in the history of the company to have a second term as general manager. He made his official TV return to *SmackDown!* on April 10, when he announced that the Hardys (Matt and Jeff) would face each other in the first-ever stretcher match in *SmackDown* history.

At the Breaking Point pay-per-view, Long restarted the World Heavyweight Championship match between CM Punk and the Undertaker after Undertaker made Punk submit using his *Hell's Gate* submission finisher, stating that the ban on the maneuver was still in effect. On the September 18, 2009 episode of *SmackDown*, WWE chairman Mr. McMahon instructed Long to go down to the ring and explain his actions regarding the conclusion of the World Heavyweight Championship submission match between champion CM Punk and The Undertaker in which he (Long), as well as referee Scott Armstrong and CM Punk played key roles in recreating the infamous Montreal Screwjob at the Breaking Point pay-per-view event (held at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada), site of the 1997 fiasco. This time, with The Undertaker being the target of a planned conspiracy. As he returned from the ring to the back stage area, he entered his waiting limousine only to be kidnapped by The Undertaker, who was in the driver's seat. The following week on *SmackDown!*, Long was brought into the arena inside a coffin by Undertaker's druids where he again legalized Undertaker's Hell's Gate submission hold. Teddy Long made a guest appearance on *Raw* and later Shawn Michaels performed his finishing maneuver Sweet Chin Music on Teddy Long after Long refused to draft him to *SmackDown*. He then began a feud with Drew McIntyre, the first part of which revolved around McIntyre qualifying for the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania XXVI, which was instead won by Jack Swagger. On the 7 May episode of *SmackDown*, after McIntyre brutally assaulted Matt Hardy, Long stripped McIntyre of his Intercontinental Championship and fired him. As a result, the Intercontinental Championship was vacant. Thus, Long issued the Intercontinental Championship tournament involving Christian, Kofi Kingston, Cody Rhodes and Dolph Ziggler. However, after Kingston emerged victorious against Christian, Long was issued a letter from Vince McMahon reinstating McIntyre and forcing Kingston to give his title back to McIntyre. He then made a match for McIntyre's Intercontinental Championship at Over the Limit against Kofi Kingston.

On the May 28 episode of *SmackDown*, Long read a letter from Mr. McMahon's office given to him by Drew McIntyre which stated that Matt Hardy was suspended until further notice after Matt attacked McIntyre at the Over the Limit pay-per-view event and told Matt not to go near McIntyre and if he did so, Long would be fired as the general manager of *SmackDown*.

On the June 11 episode of *SmackDown*, a frustrated Drew McIntyre announced a match between Long and McIntyre would take place the following week on *SmackDown* per orders of Mr. McMahon. Drew said if Long didn't compete, he would be fired. McIntyre then went on to win the match the following week, after it was ordered that Long had get down on his knees, proclaim Drew as "The Chosen One" and then lay on his back and let McIntyre pin him without a fight. On the next episode of *SmackDown!*, Long reinstated Matt Hardy into the *SmackDown* brand and made McIntyre compete against the returning Matt Hardy. Hardy would win the match, but after the match, Long came out and told McIntyre that his work visa had expired, and made security carry him out of the arena. On the July 9 edition of *SmackDown*, McIntyre was reinstated and pleaded forgiveness from Long, even going so far as to nominate Long as a member of the WWE Hall of Fame as well as get on his knees and proclaim Long "the best boss he ever had." Long, however, did not believe him and announced a Money in the Bank qualifying match (for the upcoming Money in the Bank pay-per-view) against Kofi Kingston.

On the January 21, 2011 episode of *SmackDown*, Long was found unconscious in his office, suffering a head injury. He returned on the February 18 episode of *SmackDown*, where he revealed Vickie Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler to have attacked him. He then scheduled a match between the new World Heavyweight Champion Ziggler and Edge. Edge would win the match, becoming an eleven-time world champion. After the match, Long would then fire Ziggler. The following week, he fired Vickie Guerrero after she lost a mixed tag team match.

On the May 6, 2011 episode, Long scheduled a World Heavyweight Championship match between Randy Orton and Christian who had just won it for the first time five nights previous at Extreme Rules. On the June 3 episode, Christian was chosen by Long as the special guest referee for a World Heavyweight Championship match between Orton and Sheamus who beat Christian and Mark Henry in a triple threat number one contender's match for the title the week before. Christian would turn heel by hitting Orton with the title he had retained and lost to Orton again at Capitol Punishment despite his foot being under the bottom rope. Christian blamed Long and as a result Long scheduled Orton to defend his title against Christian at Money in the Bank. Christian would manage to find a way to include a clause that if Orton were to get disqualified, the title would switch hands.

On July 25 episode of *SmackDown*, new COO Triple H made Zack Ryder Theodore Long's new assistant.

On the November 25, 2011 episode of *SmackDown*, after Daniel Bryan seemingly successfully cashed in the Money in the Bank briefcase on Mark Henry to win his first World Heavyweight Championship, Long rushed down to the ring and declared the title change void, as Mark Henry had not yet been medically cleared to compete in an official match. He would schedule Bryan in a fatal four-way match against Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes and Wade Barrett to determine the number one contender for Henry's world title which would be defended on the November 29 episode inside a steel cage.

After TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs, Santino Marella replaced Zack Ryder (who had just won his first United States Championship) as the assistant to the *SmackDown* general manager.

On February 21, 2012, Long was criticized by Interim *Raw* General Manager John Laurinaitis, which prompted the WWE board of directors to switch the general managers of their respective shows for one week. Long took charge of the March 5 episode of *Raw*, with Laurinaitis taking charge of the March 9 edition of *SmackDown* During Laurinaitis' time in charge of *SmackDown!*, he set up a match between himself and Long, where, if Long lost, Aksana, Long's girlfriend, would be placed in a match with Kane. Long won the match when Randy Orton attacked Kane at ringside, which distracted Laurinaitis. The Aksana versus Kane match never took place.

A 12-man tag match was then set up at WrestleMania XXVIII, where six superstars would represent both general managers. Long chose Santino Marella as his team captain, along with Kofi Kingston, R-Truth, Zack Ryder, The Great Khali and Booker T over the following weeks. A stipulation was added that the winning team at WrestleMania would determine who would become the general manager of both shows. At WrestleMania, Team Teddy lost to Team Johnny, ending Long's run as *SmackDown!* General Manager.

On the April 6 edition of *SmackDown*, Long prepared to give his farewell speech, but Laurinaitis threatened to discontinue a trust fund Long had set up for his grandchildren's college education unless he took a job as his new assistant, to which Long reluctantly accepted.

For the next few weeks, Laurinaitis would humiliate Long by doing ridiculous antics; such as wearing a huge name tag and standing guard by his door as a Queen's soldier. When things would go wrong, he would always blame Theodore saying, "Why Teddy?", with which the other heel wrestlers would agree. At Extreme Rules, he was criticized for spinning a wheel to determine what match Cody Rhodes and Big Show would face off in by making it a tables match. At Over the Limit he mocked David Otunga and Eve Torres ahead of Laurinaitis' bout with John Cena which if he lost, he would be fired. This further angered Laurinaitis who kept his job with help from Big Show. At No Way Out, Laurinaitis was finally fired and Teddy enjoyed watching him being beaten up by John Cena the following night on Raw.

After Laurinaitis' firing as general manager, Long served as guest general manager for both *Raw* and *SmackDown* for the week of July 2. On the August 3 edition of *SmackDown*, Long was made the senior advisor to General Manager Booker T. Despite originally getting along with Booker very well, beginning in March 2013, Booker began to get angry at Teddy for booking matches without his permission on both *Raw* and *SmackDown*. However, from mid April onwards, Teddy began running *SmackDown* again temporarily with Booker T away due to surgery. On the July 19 episode of *SmackDown*, after the returning Booker T and Raw's General Manager Brad Maddox had an argument on who was to be *SmackDown* GM, Mr. McMahon came out to say Vickie Guerrero was named *SmackDown*'s new general manager. After a backstage segment, with Guerrero, Long was escorted out by a security team. This marked his last appearance as a major authoritative figure.

On June 12, 2014, after nearly a year of inactivity, Long was released from WWE along with ten other contracts, ending his long tenure with the company.

At the October 7 taping for the 15th Anniversary of *SmackDown*, Long made a surprise appearance; getting into an argument with John Laurinaitis. This led to a 16-man Tag Team match, in which Team Teddy (Sheamus, Mark Henry, Jack Swagger, The Usos, Los Matadores and El Torito) defeated Team Johnny (Cesaro, Gold and Stardust, Bo Dallas, Damien Mizdow, Heath Slater, Titus O'Neil and Hornswoggle).

After the announcement of the restored WWE brand extension, on the June 6, 2016 episode of *Raw*, Long returned in the opening segment between the Money in the Bank participants, requesting another run as General Manager of *SmackDown*, only to be turned away by Stephanie McMahon. He would make several other appearances throughout the course of the night including his attempt of making a tag team match between The Golden Truth and Breezango before being escorted out of the building by security.

On February 13, 2017 it was announced that he would be inducted in the 2017 WWE Hall of Fame. On the April 3, 2017 episode of *Monday Night Raw*, Long made an appearance, thinking that Vince McMahon would appoint him to be new General Manager of *Raw*, but Vince said it wasn't him; instead, Vince chose Kurt Angle, another 2017 WWE Hall of Fame inductee, as General Manager. On January 22, 2018, Long made a brief backstage appearance during *Raw 25 Years*. Long also made an appearance on the January 4, 2021 episode of *Raw* under the *Raw Legends Night* special, wherein he announced that he booked The Miz and John Morrison in a tag team match against The New Day, in which the latter won. He also appeared on a special throwback episode of *SmackDown* on May 7, 2021. Long next appeared on *Raw is XXX*, celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of *Monday Night Raw* on January 23, 2023.