Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Teddy Long: Smackdown's Best GM! One-on-One With The Undertaker, Buckle Up Teddy & More!

Episode Date: May 14, 2024

Teddy Long is a WWE Hall of Famer known for his tenure as Smackdown and ECW General Manager and as a referee in WWE. Big thank you to Chris Hughes from Appalachian Championship Wrestling for helping to make this interview happen! Teddy sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Indianapolis, IN to talk about this legendary career as a WWE personality, his role as the Smackdown GM, his iconic lines like "One on one with The Undertaker", "Lemme holla at ya, playa" and being part of the "Buckle up Teddy" segment. He discusses how becoming friends with James Brown led to him working in wrestling, how he got hired by WWE, working as a referee before becoming an on-air personality, his dance moves, being chased by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin on an ATV and much more! Quote I'm thinking about: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.” ― Winston S. Churchill Sponsors: PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank which was designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/ PRIZEPICKS: Download the app today and use code INSIGHT for a first deposit match up to $100! RHONE: Upgrade your closet with Rhone and use CVV to save 20% at https://www.rhone.com/CVV BLUECHEW: Use the code INSIGHT to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at http://bluechew.com ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and experience financial freedom: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv BETTERHELP: Get 10% off your first month with the code INSIGHT at http://betterhelp.com/insight MUDWTR: Get 15% off with the code CVV15 at http://mudwtr.com/cvv PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at http://plunge.com For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Oh my goodness. Welcome back to another one here on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Fleet, and yes, my friends, the brand new intro to the show. Samantha Irvin is in the house. How cool is that? Thank you for being with us. Thank you for making Insight one of the top wrestling podcasts on the planet. Could you do me just one small favor? Could you hit that follow button on Spotify or Apple or?

wherever you're listening to this right now, because if you don't, you will go one on one with The Undertaker. Hala, holla, holla, hala, player. Such a good one today. It has been a long time coming. I don't even do that on purpose. His last name's long. That wasn't even intentional.

I have never had the pleasure of interviewing Teddy Long, but big shout out to Chris Hughes from ACW, Appalachian Championship Wrestling, who connected us together. and made this interview happen during the Squared Circle Expo in Indianapolis. What a great guy, Teddy is. And think of how many amazing moments he's given us. Not just as the most beloved Smackdown GM of all time, but also as a referee before that, he has an incredible story.

And he tells incredible stories. And wow, this is a guy who is so grateful and so appreciative for all the opportunities that he's been given in his life. I love talking with him about how meeting James Brown led to him working in wrestling, which is crazy to say that out loud. And that got him a job in WWE.

Then we got Buckle Up Teddy, the flashy suits, the dancing. Let me holl at you play a. And of course, going one-on-one with The Undertaker. It's a great conversation. Snap a screenshot and share this episode with someone who loves Teddy Long. I would say tag us on social media, but he doesn't seem to be using Instagram.

He's at Teddy Long Wrestling on Instagram, but he hasn't posted on there in like eight years. So I don't see the point in tagging him on there. He had Twitter. Then he got hacked, and the hacker blocked everybody, myself included. I should have brought that up during the interview. Hey, Teddy, why did you block me? Wasn't me, player? So I'd say just tag me.

Take a screenshot and, of course, send this to someone who loves Teddy. but then tag me and I'd be happy to show this out. What a great one. Enjoy this conversation with the WWE Hall of Famer, Teddy Long. All right, sir. Thank you so much. I can't believe we've never done this before. So it's a pleasure to have you sitting down with me for this.

Well, it's a pleasure for you inviting me, man. Thank you very much. I'm so excited about this. What a career you've had. It ain't over. I love that. I ask every Hall of Famer, what's on the inside of your ring? What's the inscription say?

Says my name and the time I went in the Hall of Fame. Nice. Because I know you can put anything you want in there, right? I didn't do anything. I just took it just like they gave it to me. Oh, wow. Yeah. Where does this all begin for you? Where does your love of wrestling begin? Well, you know, I really never had a love of wrestling. But I first I broke into this business was I was a disjockey at a radio station when I was a young guy. And what happened is I met James Brown when I was disjacking on a radio station.

Well, when I met James Brown, James started talking to me and stuff, and me and them got to be friends and everything. And then I went to work at a radio station called WOKJ in Jackson, Mississippi. Then I run into James again. So me and James started talking, and so then James offered me a job at a radio station that he had in Augusta, Georgia. Well, I was going to take that job, but then I don't know. know what happened. I didn't get a chance to go there. I think I went from Mississippi. I think I went over to Memphis, the WDIA. I went there to try to interview for a job. And anyway, make a long

story short. I started, when James came to Atlanta, James Brown had a TV show called Future Shop. It was like Soul Train. You know, people came and then. Well, I saw that, and I saw him advertised it. So I went down to the TBS studios and, and caught him, you know, and I look, I said, What are you doing? So he started talking to me, and he talked me about the TV show, and he says, I'm great, I run into you. He says, I want you to be the music director for me. So I started selecting the music that the kids were dancing by, like Soul Train,

like I was like the music selector, whatever. Yeah. But anyway, Jane gave me a job, symbol is that. I started, and they used to tape that show at WTBS Studios. Well, by me being down at WTBS Studios, they also taped Georgia Championship of wrestling. So then that's when I started looking and watching wrestling, getting kind of interested in it. And so by me being working for James on Saturday morning, I could go to the TV stage and get in free because they all knew me. So I started taking my son down to TBS studios

and we'd watch wrestling on Saturday morning. Well, one morning, I think I went down and we run into Abdullah the Butcher. And Abdullah the Butcher was looking for somebody to show him around. He had just come to town. And Abdul at that time, he liked a party. You know, he loved to go to the clubs. And so they had a club in Atlanta called Mr. V's. And Abdullah loved that place. And so Abdullah got me, I just hooked up with him some kind of way. And after TV, then I take him straight to Mr. V's, you know, and drive him around, hang out with him. He loved a party and have a good time. So that's how to hook up with the resting. I'm sad at the morning. The Abdullah come get me, take me down to the TV station with him. So when we left, then I drive and take him everywhere

need to go. By me hanging around at the TV station and with Abdullah, I could get in the back where the boys were. So I started hanging in the back and I felt real strange because everybody's eyeing me looking at me like, what are you doing back here? And back then it was real serious cave. You know, they didn't want people knowing. So I just had to start making myself busy. I started emptying garbage cans. I started going to the ring, getting the ring gear from the guys. and that kind of got me over because a lot of the guys would leave their stuff sometime at ringside and some of the fans would take it. But I made sure that if they left their stuff, I got it, picked it up, and got it back to them.

So they started locking me for that. Then I started running errands. I would go outside and get food for them if they wanted to eat because it wasn't much going on there at the TV station. And I just started hanging around like that and the job come open. And it was to put the ring up, take the ring down. and the promoter, her name was Louise Manning. She's alive to date. She gave me that job.

She said, tell you long, we need somebody to put the ring up, take the ring down. And what they really gave to me because they wanted to keep it in-house. I had been there and been around, they kind of trusted me. So that's how I got the ring job. Well, one night I took the ring to Cobb Civic Center in Marietta, Georgia. And just around 7 o'clock, they had no referee. Referee hadn't showed up. So they're kind of panicking now.

Then Louise, the promotion, come to me. She said, tell you, long. She said, I'm we going to send out to the varsity, and we're going to get you a referee shirt. And you're going to have the referee tonight. And I said to us, I don't know anything about that. She said, well, don't worry about it. She said, the guys will talk to you.

They'll take care you. First match I had was Black Bart, Ron Bass. They're in a Texas death match. They're bleeding all over the place. I'm scared to death. Oh, my God. I don't know what's going. it's real to me because I don't know now, okay?

They scared me so bad till they bleed so bad till I jump out of the ring. I'm leaving. I'm like, I don't know more of this. So about that time I jumped out the ring, I could hear the guy Charlie McGowan, God rest of the soul. He was ringing, he was the bell timekeeper. And I heard him say, get back in the ring.

He's cussing me. You know, God damn it, what are you doing? But I'm panicking, man. I'm scared. These guys are bleeding all over the players. You know, I'm thinking they're coming after me. So I'm serious. So I'm outside, man.

I'm just panicking. And finally, you know, I'm just looking, so I slide back in. And I could hear Blackbar, it might have been Blackbarre. Either one of them that said something about, did you see what the referee just did? And they were talking about me when I jumped out and left them. So anyway, finally I slid back in, got back in the ring. Matt started going good and everything.

So I'm kind of getting the hang of it. Remember, this is my first time ever referee in anything. Yeah. So I'm so lucky, man. Thank God. till at the end, by the time that match ended, the guy that was ringing the bell, Charlie McGowan, the timekeeper, he ringed the bell too quick.

He screwed the finish up. So they got so mad at him till they forgot about me. And as of the day, I believe that's how I survived. Wow. That's how I got started with Ryan. You tell such great stories. I can't wait to dive into all of this. Big shout out to Chris Hughes from Appalachian Championship,

wrestling for just connecting us and making this happen. Like, I reached out to him a few weeks ago and I said, is there any chance? I know you're bringing Teddy in. Is there any chance we can sit down? So a big shout out to Chris for that. Okay, no problem, man. Yeah, he told me about you and I also have a podcast that I do along with Mac Davis. It's called Road Trip After Hours.

And so I told Mack, I said, this gentleman here wants me to come talk to him. I said, do you know him? I said, I never talked to him. And then Mac told him, oh, yeah, fuck yeah, I know him. Okay, good. Yeah, he said, goddamn that guy. okay, I just want to let you know what we're doing, you know. Awesome.

What I'm hearing from that story is you are such a product of being in the right place at the right time. James Brown, I've Duel of the Butcher, that's legendary. But it's just a matter of, I guess, seeing the situation for what it is. Yeah. It's just God, man. Your blessing, you don't ever know where they are. I'd never dream that I'd be running Smackdown or Hall of Fame ring.

That's just beyond my wilder's dream, man. What did you dream that you were going to be when you were a kid? You know, I never really thought about it. See, the way I come up, you know, I didn't have no parents. You know, I come up in the street. I was a heroin addict, man. You're looking at a guy that shot Heron into his veins, okay? I survived all that.

God brought me out all that. So that lets me know that there's a plan or there's something here for me, you know? So that tells me, man, you need to straighten up, buddy. okay, you're going to be gone. So like I said, after heron, and then I guess what went back to work for James, my heron's spreeing, and then I went up Jane, then, Brescent,

and I've just been going ever since. I love that you just drop his name. Like, I worked for James. This is James Brown, an absolute legend, you know, one of the greatest of all time. I was running all the time, man, he's a character. That's amazing. He used to, I mean, but he's real serious.

His guy had no education, none whatsoever. but he could play every instrument in that band. And he was so critical. I mean, he was like a perfectionist. And they'd be performing on stage. I mean, live performance. And he'd hear somebody that hit a bad note. He'd hear that.

But he didn't stop performing. He'd keep red on dancing. But then he'd let them know he heard it. So he's telling him this is going to cost you. Five, ten, 50. He's doing that to him while he's performing. That's right. A lot of people didn't know that.

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including EES system. Early on in your career, you managed a guy by the name of me and Mark Callas. Yeah, yeah. What was Mark Callas like at that time? Mark Callow is one of the greatest guys you could ever meet, man. Me and him started way back in the day when he was me, Mark Callas. And I had a chance to ride with him and stuff, you know, even before I even before you start managing, you know what I mean?

Him just became friends. But The Undertaker is one of the nicest people you could ever meet. He's a guy that don't forget about where he come from. He don't forget about the young talent. He's the only guy that I saw one or two other guy, but Mark was. was always consistent. Whenever he got the TV, he would always go to ringside and watch and sit down and observe. And he would always, if he saw something wrong out of some of the young talent, he would call him, take time to him and talk to him. And I always went to try to help him.

And there's a lot of guys, you know, and there's been a walk about them guys, don't give him time a day. You know what I mean? Just, yeah. But anyway, like I said, they don't come no better than the Undertaker. People talk about him being a locker room leader. When did you start to see that happening with under time. Well, you started to see that when things were out of control. Sometimes the locker room gets a bit out of control. You got some guy coming in, you know, with a big mouth. You know, I'm going to be the guy today. No, you're not. So, you know, that's when we're, and like people, like when we were working for law, well, I'll just, I won't put people, I'll speak for myself. Uh, what I had this problem with John Laurinitis with

this racism. And so he told me one time, I went to him and I asked him why I did not have a action figure. He said to me, he says, well, the reason you don't have one is because we wouldn't talk to the consumers and they said that they wouldn't buy your dog. But I'm the general manager of SmackDown. I'm the face of the company for nine years, but nobody will buy my dog. How can you even tell somebody that? That got me so hard mankind to catch myself because you have to play the game here. You'll expose yourself. So I just, okay, no problem. And I went straight to Take her. And I said, you ain't gonna bleed what he just said to me. And I told that to take her. And I think, Taker, I don't know what Taker said anything to him. Because Taker didn't

really, I, well, I ain't gonna say that because I don't know. But anyway, I went to Taker with it and I just left it at that. You're not afraid to say that you had issues with John Laurenitis. No. Like, but he was still with the company up until about a year ago. Yeah. You didn't, you didn't think that that would cause issues with WWE? Or you mean? You know, you're, they were one. It was one of their employees and you're saying these things about him. Now he's not there anymore. Well, I'm just saying the truth. And if the truth will get me in trouble, then I'm ready to go and get in trouble.

You know, trouble sometimes it would be good trouble. Yeah, I'm just telling the truth. And there's a lot of other people that I can speak out on, you know, but I let it go. I'm done with it. That's in the past. You know, God has blessed me to make it, you know, so I don't have no reason they keep talking about all this mess that they've done back in the past. But to me, to sit down and just think about, you know, to mistreat me not because I'm not doing my job.

I stayed in my position nine years. So Vince McMahon, he'll have you on his TV to face of his company for nine years if you're not doing your job. Yeah. But you want to, but you fire me? He wouldn't even give me my legends deal. Really? Okay. Nothing.

Didn't give me nothing. What was your relationship with Vince like? Very good. had a great relationship with Vince. Vince McMahon told me right to my face. He said, Teddy, he said, they wasted you down south. And the other thing he said to me that let me knew he was interested in me, he says, I can't believe I've had you right here under my nose all this time.

That's what he said to me, those two things. So Vince McMahon, I knew how to play the game a long time, just don't let everybody know because if you do, you know what I mean, they're going to get you. When Vince McMahon said those two things to me, that let me knew then my position. So that don't mean go crazy. That don't mean, hey, I'm a real.

This loves me. I can do what I want to do. See, that's the trick. You don't do that. You still be the same guy, no matter what. Don't let nothing go to your head. Then the other thing I found out, I went to law and I was trying to get a raise from him, told me I didn't, I didn't qualify for a raise or something.

He said to me, and then the next thing I knew, and he didn't know, one of the referees told me how much money he made, and he was making more money than me, the referee. was making more money than you as a general manager. Right. Then what happened? Well, I just left it along with nothing you can do. Yeah. Ain't nothing I can do.

I can't go argue with him because that's what he wants. Yeah. He wants me to come start bitching. You know what I mean? Now they really can get rid of him. Well, tell you long, he's out there holl and screaming now, you know, think we better get him out of here. Did it take a while to feel like you were one of the boys?

Because I feel like there's like a hierarchy in wrestling. Like the wrestler. and you've got the referees and the managers. Well, no, I never even, never thought I was one of the boys. I mean, I was around. Some guys would make me feel comfortable. JBL, John Bradshaw, nicest guy in the world, gave me a great speech at my Hall of Fame. And he told the truth.

That's what really made me know, you know, because a lot of things guys say about you, Desmond Tell, he put me over one time, just don't even know me. And he didn't have to do that. So that lets me know when somebody's lying or they're telling me. the truth, you know what I mean? And I thank Dutch for that. But I think after I got the general manager spot, I felt a little kind of. But then, like I said, I never even thought about being one of the boys.

I just come in, go to work, do my job, and keep on moving. And this is why you're so good at what you do. Yeah, I'm not a character. I don't get out there and then turn into somebody else. I'm Teddy Long 20-0-0-7. I do it on the, I mean, in the gym, so where I go walk around here, the player. And I got that from my dog. I had a Labrador retriever.

His name was boss. And as boss, I got him as a puppet, his boss started getting bigger and bigger, boss started getting in the way. So every time boss would be in the West, I would just walk by him. I mean, I swear, this was why he went to Vince TV and everything. I'm like, come on, Claire, get out the way, move, player.

You know, I'm just talking to him. And so one night, and finally when I went to TV, I just thought using the slang, calling people player. So, you know, and that's how the player started. That's amazing. The way I got to dance is my grandson, let's see, he's 19 now. Well, when he was about two years old, we was trying to learn him how to walk. So we bought this walker to put him in.

So at that particular time, we was taping Smackdown on Tuesday night, and then you could go back home on Friday and look at it. So we bought him this walker. And every time we put him in the walker, that's all he would do. Just pop up and down like that. So I went to TV one night, and I think I walked out on Smackdown and was playing my music, but I was just thinking about him and just having fun. So I started doing the dance like he's doing in the walker.

Okay, so I'd get back home on Friday's, and so we'd watch the show. I'd say, come here, come here, go there. I look, look, look, I'm doing your dance. And I swear, man, one night I got ready to walk out, and just as I got to the curtain right there, Vince standing up, he's yelling. do that dance, do that dance. So I'm like, what dance? And he starts doing it.

Vince is doing it. And that's how the dance started. What about holla, holla, holla? I made that up to. That's all was my own creation. One-on-one with The Undertaker. That was me. And the reason, I'll tell you how I put so much emphasis on that,

and people never know this. I convinced one night we was in Madison Square Garden. And Stephanie went out to introduce somebody. or something I think. I don't remember. But anyway, she'd come back and Vince stopped and he was talking to her and he was sent Stephanie. I want you to put emphasis on that. When you introduce the guy, I would hear John Williams, you know, like that, you know. And I was just standing back. I didn't say a word. So next time I did Undertaker, one-on-one with the Undertaker. That's how I learned to do that. And that's how that come about. I said, oh, Vince wants it like this. Okay, gotcha.

Would they write shows around you saying, one-on-one with The Undertaker? Like, would they look at the match card and go, instead of The Undertaker's just having a match, let's set it every 10? Well, when they caught onto it and seen that it was catchy, people liked it, and then that's, they always wrote it.

They put it in there, but I was going to do it anyway. Not that I'm going off, you know, not doing what I'm supposed to do, but I know Vince didn't mind me. Vince gave me free ring to say what I wanted to say, but he knew I won't go say nothing that, would get the company in trouble. And I never really say none.

I don't want to say they'd write stuff. I just add my stuff to it. The best part about saying one-on-one with The Undertaker is, obviously the way you delivered it was great, but then the look on the person's face after you deliver it. Well, you got to sell it. And they sold it. It was so good.

And then back then that's why because Vince was high on that. Because when I did that, if somebody got, didn't wreck it didn't say, oh, then Vince would be right on them. God damn it, when you sell that. I want to take it back to before you were the general manager and you were a referee. How did that happen? How did you become a referee in WWA? They called me, I left every CW.

If he had the book of there, I'm not sure. I think he might have been when I left I left. I left WCW. They cried me. I left Wever C, DeV, and I went home. I was at home two months, three months, I don't know, two or three months. I don't know, two or three months. Anyway, they called me one day from Providence, Rhode Island,

and they said, we need you to come in for TV. Okay. No, no, no, no, no. I went in referee first. That's right. I got, I left WCW and then Jim Ross called me. Jim Ross called me in 1998, I believe it was, to come into WWL to be a referee. That's how I got the referee job.

That was out there that managed, Dune, skyscrapers, all the big names and everything. Yeah. So now you got to drop down. So that didn't bother me. See, I don't care about that level. This is not real what we do. And that's where a lot of people got to understand. It didn't bother me about being a referee.

Just give me my check. Whatever y'all want me to do, just pay me. So then I started refereeing. And after I started refereeing, I'll make this short. They had a meeting one day. Sergeant Slaughter, Earl Hebner, and Michael Hayes. But the three guys, they were looking for a manager. I think they wanted to bring in Ernest and Kat Miller.

That's who Lord Niders wanted, I believe. And Slaughter and Heaven and Michael Hay spoke out. They said, no, no, no, no. They said, Miller's okay. He said, but if you want to manage it, said, that Teddy Long can talk. So this is like, damn, you got a guy right here, you know what I mean? But he don't know. So after they recommended me, they called me about 3 o'clock one afternoon.

They told me they needed me to come to Providence for TV. Law Niders called me that day. And it wasn't a real, you know, like exciting call. So it scared, man, phrase. I almost didn't go. Because it wasn't, you know, like, hey, yeah, I mean, we need to bring you in the Rob Providence. And they want to do this. You know, just so I'm like, are this serious?

Are you ripping me? Or what is this called? But anyway, so they got to sit me a ticket and all that. So I left my house. I flew and went straight to Boston. They picked me up in the car, drove me to Providence. Okay, I walked out on Vince's TV. I walked, I cut this promo on DeLo Brown.

And I walked out with DeLo and I cut the promo and Tommy Dreamer. And when I come back through the curtain, that's when Ben stood up and looked at me. And those were the times that he said to me. He said, I can't believe I had you ready under my nose all this time. Yeah. And he used to come to me and stuff and he'd tell, what are you saying out there tonight? And he knew because he, you know, everything that's written, he, before it goes on TV, Vince approves it.

So, but he wanted me to repeat it and stuff. And Vince was, was, he made, he really helped me a lot. He made a man out of me because I didn't understand the wrestling business. We know about the money and this is business. So I had to understand all that. And after I went to work for Vince, Vince, Vince, and I, I found, okay, this is how this works. This is what's supposed to be done.

But I never let anybody knew. I always just kept everything to myself. And one time, I'll tell you why I got real educational with it is dusty roads. God rest of his soul gave me my first. job. He gave me the referee job. And I remember when I was just picking jackets up and just running errands that one time I had to go downstairs at the TV at the studio and get some food for them. And they had these bouillon soup, liquid soup. And I did about six cups of the liquid soup and bring it upstairs for JJ, Jim Crockett, and everybody that was in the production meeting.

So one day I got, I brought the soup up, I sat it down, I got ready to walk out and Dusty looks at it. Where you going, baby? And I said, well, I'm getting out. No, till the long, don't you stand right over there, standing right there. And he made me stand there in this production meeting, and I heard everything that went on in that room. And at that time, me, I definitely wasn't supposed to be in there.

And definitely wasn't supposed to be in here and what's going on because everything was really cave then. But I just don't know how that worked out. And Dussie just had me stand there. And I stood there, and when I finished, I left. But as I stayed in this business, I learned, And I start coming back to me, I'm like, okay, now I know why they said this. Now I know why they've done this.

So it was very educational to me. So what I found out then, you got to learn here. This is on the job training. Ain't nobody going to tell you shit, okay? You got to learn. And that's the way it would. So I think they were, I picked some people off because I learned. This is not just right place, right time.

It's also right place, right time, and right person, too. Yeah. Well, it's all God, man. You know, it's just God been taking care of me, man. Like I said, as a kid, I had no parents. A mother died when I was young. My education was all messed up for I could get all that straight now. I was just in the street, man, living day to day, you know, not a clue.

And to come, go from that, like I said, I was a heroin addict. And to go from that to where God has brought me today, it's all God. It ain't me. But there's a lot of people that wouldn't take those opportunities that are in front of them. and actually do something with it. You took these opportunities? You know why I did something with them? Because I didn't know they were opportunities.

Wow. That's why. See how God fixed you? Yeah. If you did, I didn't know, he knows. Wow. I got you. Yeah.

Because I didn't know what, I had no clue. I didn't know what opportunities were. And I think about this right here, too, man. When I was General Manager there and I was in that spot there for that long, don't you know there were outside people calling by giving me up opportunities? Like some of the rest of you see on some of the game. shows. You see them go on those shows and do them. You know, them people call me, but they had to go through talent relations to get me. You know what Mark Arana told me one time, and he was Johnny's

assistant. And I told him, and Mike Keota, he'll tell you this, because I smarten him up. Me and Mike knew what they were doing to me. So I went to Mark Carana. I said, Mark, I want to ask you a guy, I had Michael Keota. I said, stand right over there. I said, what about my legend deal, Mark? He looks at me and he says, you don't have one? Here's the guy to give him out. That's how dumb they thought I was. That's how dumb they thought I would. Well, they're both out, you know?

Well, that's karma. Yeah, what goes around comes around. Were you surprised by the lawsuit, the stories that came out about John Laurinitis? Not at all. Were you aware that it was happening when you're- Not aware. not aware, but not surprised. Yeah.

And then I spoke to somebody. I remember, oh, a little bit. One of the girls one time came there. I forget her name. Tiffany might have been her name. She was supposed to have been my assistant. And she pulled me off. But I was trying to help her as much as I could.

Anybody came in. I didn't care what y'all want to do. You won't be Teddy Long. Just that simple. Now, if you want to be myself, y'all do, you can bring them all. I don't care who you bring. Because they tried it.

Farmer Cannon. You remember him? Yeah. They stuck him now. Okay. All right. They brought in Santina Morella. He was my assistant at one time. Then they had, then when Johnny gave me the girl, Tiffany, or whatever, that she was my sister at ECW. Well, I helped her so much to, she come and pulled me out. Well, it didn't really pull me out one day. We were just talking. She said, Teddy. She said, I thank you for all your help. But don't ever mention this.

And I don't care now. You know, she said, but Johnny brought me in to take your job. Wow. Wow. When you were a referee, you were part of, of some, you were part of some big matches. Mm-hmm. You were also part of some difficult matches. What do you remember from Over the Edge, 1999? None of it. You refereed the match right after Owen fell.

That night, Kansas City, Missouri. And all that day, it was me and Godfather and Owen. Owen had been just prank. You know, he's a prankster. And he was just pranking people all day. We were just having fun. It was just a fun day. And me and Owen and Godfather had been playing around all that day.

And then finally, when the fall happened, I was standing there and I was getting ready to go out. And I saw Owen, they brought him back on this table. And he had his whole body like he had just turned white like snow. And I don't know whether he was dead then or not, but it was just, you know, I've never seen that color before. but, yeah, that was pretty rough. Was there any talk at that point of, we got to stop the show? Well, I don't know because my position, just a referee.

Yeah. You know, if any talk about that, that would have been between Kevin Donn, Vince, and guys that are on headsets. So you were told just go out there? Yeah, yeah. Because you went out, you were the... Yeah, that's all.

And that's all I was told. Wow. That's how, like I said, you don't hear, unless you, in production, you were guys, in the guerrilla position with heads and stuff. They're talking to Kevin and whoever's in the truck. What did the crowd feel like during that match?

Well, it was, you know, people don't know. You know what I mean? And then they saw this happen. They don't know the outcome. So they're just sitting there on needles and pins. You know what I mean? Like what? You know?

So some of them were pretty much in the dark, much as we were. Yeah. It's not like this was the era of social media, right? Or cell phones. People weren't sitting there getting updates of what was going on. No, no, you know, they're filming, you know, like you see, pull out a cell phone, you got everything right now. People wouldn't do it.

Yeah. What about the match between Deel Brown and draws? You were the referee for that. Delo, I think he had, this was a pure accident. Delo, I think he had oiled up or something. He put a little bit too much oil on that night. A lot of guys did that. Tony Allen, a lot of guys did always oil up.

And as I can remember, I think Delo went to pick Draws up for something, like a Power Driver. But some kind of way, draws slipped right out of his hands. Like I said, I don't know how it happened. I just looked. Next thing I knew, draws was down, and I never forget, I walked over because this is my first time witnessing this. Something, you know, an accident really actually happening. So I look over at Draws, Draws looks up at me, and he says, Teddy, Teddy, I'm dying, I'm dying. I remember those words out of his mouth.

I'm really scared now because I don't know what to do. So their own head says they're talking to me and I give them the signal. You let them know that this was real. And just like I said, the first time I experienced that too, that was pretty shocking, man. Yeah. And he just recently passed away,

but he said, you know, there was no ill will to delo, it's, you know, it happens. It's an accident that happened. It was an accident. I was there. What are you hearing in your earpiece as a referee? Well, what they were doing was talking to me?

He was asking me, is he heard? Is he heard what's going on in there? What's going on? So I can't tell none until I finish talking to draw. I went draw. So I was telling me that, you know, he's about to die. Then that's when I give him a signal. Yeah.

So now they know they got to get the dock and paramed and everybody down there. What about in a normal match? Mike Keota's a good friend of mine. He was telling me, you know, great stories about what you'd hear in your earpiece. but what are you hearing in a typical match? Basically, if the guys are going over, they'll get in my ear and tell them, you know, hey, you got one minute, let them know they got one minute,

okay, you know, wrap it up. But you've got to tell them that they've got one minute left without telling them that, like you've got to tell them. Oh, it's easy. That's no problem to do, man. You can just walk around one minute player. You're saying player as a referee too. No, I didn't say it then.

But I come back. Come on, get out of the corner. You got one minute. Get out of the corner. I won't tap my microphone up here. I get it. You're talking with your hands. It's great.

I love the play. It just comes out, you know? Like I said, I do it right now. Everywhere I go, I mean, it's just me. That's me. The United States Soccer Federation present the U.S. soccer podcast. My name is David Goss, and I'm joined by my co-host, Megan Clemembert.

And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup. Times ticking. I think you can feel the intensity. All the guys are wanting to really take their claimant, and they want to be on that World Cup roster. There's no doubt about it. Hosting the World Cup on the home soil comes with its pressures, but we're just really excited just as the people are.

The U.S. Soccer Podcast, presented by Henko. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. When you say that your career is not over yet, what do you mean? Well, I'm still active. I'm here in Indiana today with you. another blessing. A big wrestling convention here, so I'm able to do this. Next week, I'll be over in Philadelphia for Russell Khan for WrestleMania Week.

Then I'm in Ohio and some other places in April. I got a lot, some other bookings, May and June. So that's what I mean when I'm not retired. Not, a lot of people don't know when to take the Cape off. So I know when to take the Cape off, but I also will put it back on. So that's how I look at it. What's the first thing the fans say when they come up to you at a convention? One-on-one with the Undertaker.

I swear. Did they say, buckle up, Teddy? Well, I had somebody to give me that to a couple of times, too. Yeah, buckle up, yeah. What's the story behind buckle up, Teddy? Well, Taker brought that up. That was just his line. I remember the day we went over there.

And this is another thing I have to say about Vince, you know. that day we was leading up to all that you know the story and everything so that day we come up before before we talked about the coffin putting me in the casket and so it was Vincent for me and

Taker so it's now there's me and Taker in the room with Vince and we're talking and I'm sitting here and the only thing I'm thinking about wow I'm sitting in here with Undertaker and Vince that's all the thing I'm thinking about what a hell

of a position I'm in, but I didn't let it go to my head. So next thing, you know, we're talking about the match. So I don't say nothing, because, you know, like I'm saying, I ain't got no business over in my mouth and let me hear what y'all want me to do. Vince looks at me. You going to say anything? I said, by what, what do you want me say? God damn it, we're going over the match.

Are you anything here you think you might have to add or what is? I don't know I can add anything. I don't know I can say anything. So, uh, they started. going over something, man. And so I stepped in, I put, oh, I about the, about the coffin. They were talking about the, you know, breathing and all that, you know, and I'm like, oh, no, I got it covered, man.

So I said, what I'll do, I says, when they start to roll me down, I said, I'll take one finger and I'll ease that lid as much as I can so that you can't see it, but I can get some air. God damn it, that's good shit. Yeah. So, and, and, and, and, and that's exactly how that went down. But my thing is, you asked me for input. And that made me feel pretty good. Was Buckle?

Nobody else would ever done that. You know, they thought I was just, just dumb, you know, he don't know shit. That valiant count the three. Hmm. Was Buckle up Teddy a line that he had prepared? No. No, he just said that. That wasn't written.

None of that, man. But, you know, if you're in this business, you know, you know, how great was that? So great. Your reaction's even better. Oh, yeah. Oh, shit, no, no. Let me out. What made you so great is you were okay with making yourself the butt of the joke.

It ain't real. See, that's what people got to understand. This is a movie. And I had to understand that too. I had to learn to. Because you got so many guys right now, you know, you'll ask them to do something on TV. And it might be something that they think they buddies or their friends

or something will see. And they'll tell, no, I can't do that. I ain't doing that. What about my kids? Well, if you don't have no job, how are you going to feed you here? It's also a lot of fans, I think it's real. Well, yeah, some of them, well, yeah. Some of it.

They're a good joke. One time. One time, me and Jimmy Valyam, the Bougar-Wiggy Man, we were in Waterloo, Iowa. We'll forget this. So me and Bougar was standing outside the locker room, and so we were talking. So this little kid shoots right by, and he stops. He speaks to me, and he speaks to Bougie, and then he look at her, then he said to Bougar, hey, hey, Bougie, hey, Bougie, hey, Bougie, ain't the, ain't the Rassin'clock? And Bouged told him, no, no, no, the kid said, Bouging, Jimmy Vagin, Rassin's fake, ain't it?

you and jimmy said back to him yeah yeah it's fate he looked up at jim and told no it's not that's right that happened to it one night it's amazing was there anything that you ever said no to they present you with a script a storyline and you go map i don't want to do that no you know why because I learned that whatever Vince would ask me to do, he would do it. So how in the hell am I going to tell this man what I ain't going to do when he will do it? You watch Vince go out on TV and do stuff that he didn't even really have to do. He's the boss, the owner of the company. He ain't got to go out and get in the ring, get beat up by CM Punk, come back all blooded of and stuff.

So if this man can go out and say, well, and do it. who what these be, look, let Rickisha sit this big ass right in his face. That's true. Set his ass and step in his face. His wife, he doesn't care. He bought the money. What Vince is letting you know, this is the real is a movie. So stop talking about what you ain't.

Well, you ain't going to do it. You don't work yet. And we'll get you on your way out. Stone Cold chasing you on the ATV is hilarious. And I know, and me and Steve, we laughed about it now. And I know this. Once we come out at that live, I got to run. If I don't, Steve gonna run over me with it.

Okay, because this is TV now. We ain't playing. So I knew. But you ran in the most comical way? That's the fun. There's a moment during that where he takes that one corner around the ring. A little too tight? Does he stall it out?

Does he get stuck? I don't know. I don't know what I'm. I'm just trying to make sure he don't run over me. He's so good. I mean, he was gunning it for you. Yeah. He told me he's coming out to you. I said, I know, don't worry. So that's letting me know I can't slack either. I got to keep on move. I can keep my eye on it.

Because he could run over me anytime he got ridden. I think he got speed. Obviously, you've had a Hall of Fame career. What did it mean to you to get that call to be inducted? Let me tell you something about that. That wouldn't have never happened if it hadn't have been for Vince McMahon. You know what Markerunner told me? He called me that day about the Hall of Fame. He said, yeah, he said, Teddy, we was all sitting down and we was having this meeting, and I was sitting there with Vince and him and everything,

and they were just trying to fill around and see who could they put in the Hall of Fame. And I yelled out over at Vince. I said, hey, Vince, why don't we put Teddy Long in? That piece of shit ain't told Vince to put Teddy Long in the Hall of Fame. He lied. Now, you understand my feelings, man. He told that man that. Because he didn't have, Vince don't, he don't operate like that.

Vince knows who he wants in and who he wants in the Hall of Fame. But he told me that. Mike Yoto tell you that, too. Wow. So Vince wanted you. Yes. That's who called, that's who made the decision on him. And then Mark Carrano called me and act like it was him.

It wasn't never him. I knew who was in that meeting and I talked to him. Did Mark Carrano personally do something that makes you dislike him so much? Yeah. Yeah, not only to me, he did stuff to a lot of people. I can't speak for them, but he was just a liar. You know, I hate people that just lie for no reason. And then what got me so mad with him is that he just kept talking to me like I was a child.

Like I didn't have no knowledge of the wrestling business. I was in the wrestling business when Marker Runner was walking around running to the 7-11 stores for Earl Hebding and Dave having to buy them beer. He was a gopher. I was right there when he was doing that. So you're going to tell me, I don't know, you know, but I kept my mouth closed. I never did let him know. So that's like they thought, no, there's law and I just told me one time, too, he says, he walks up to me and he says, um, and Teddy, uh, you got the card blunt.

So I look at him. What's that, Johnny? As that exactly what I said, I said, what's that Johnny? Yeah, yeah. Well, anyway, he didn't want to let me know what the card blunt would. I knew what the car is Blancel. That means that you can't bother me. That's what that means.

Benson told you, don't bother me. Do you think Mark Carrano was let go because of all of this stuff? Mark Carano would let go because he, I don't know what happened. It's a lot of stuff he's done to, man, to people. You know, like I said, I don't know, maybe this may come out to. But if we can go back, you know, he's sending Mickey James all hushed up one time in a garbage bag. You know, that's not how you treat people. But like I said, his day is coming too.

He was, you ever talk to Keogdo, Keito can tell you about him too. His day's coming. Believe me. Interesting. And that's the other reason. People like him were mad at him because they couldn't understand how I kept surviving. How did you keep surviving? God.

You know what I said to all of them in my mind? You stop God and you stop me. Get that simple. What are your memories of working with Eddie? Guerrero. Yeah. A lot of good memories. Eddie was a super nice guy, man.

Y'all always loved being around Eddie. And Eddie made me feel real special one night because a lot of guys like Eddie, Chris Benoit, Gras and so, people like that that I rode with and traveled with, they were perfectionists in the ring. They cared about their craft. You know, they cared about how they looked in the ring and what they did. And they took their job serious.

And one night I knew, we'll forget, like, Eddie did something. I think it might have been, he went up for the frog splash. And I mean, this was just a minor. Just, just, when you're a perfectionist, though, you just pick stuff. You can see stuff. And so I just, Eddie come back as he was coming back to the locker room or something, and he stopped me and he was talking. And Eddie said, what did you think?

I said, well, I said, on the frog flash, I said, Sometime, Eddie, but I'm just having conversation. You know, I'm just talking. I said, you know, sometime when you go up, you go red up, you come right down. I said, this time, I thought you just took a little bit too much time. I said, wasn't noticeable. You're right. You're right.

You're right. You're right. I felt that, too. I felt it when I was, thank you, thank you. And I mean, I'm just, you know what I mean? But that lets me know. You know what I mean? Yeah.

You know what I mean? Yeah. And I wouldn't, wasn't trying to hurt him, you know, and then, like that. I was just trying to make sure that he asked me what I think so. That's great that he would take your advice, too.

Chris Benoit was another one one night made me feel real good. I told him something about something he'd done, and it was always quicker. I can't remember what it would, but Chris looked at me. He said, damn, Teddy, I didn't think anybody noticed that. I said, well, maybe they didn't.

I said, but I did because we are who we are. Yeah. Yeah, but if you noticed it. Yeah, you know, yeah. So I appreciated, you know, that, you know, being able to talk to people like that. The segment where Eddie destroys your car and we don't know it's your car, we think it's Angles car, and the payoff is,

that car doesn't belong to Kurt Angle. Right. That's just brilliant. That was a good car, man. I think they tore that car. I think, where did they go? They went somewhere like then. They'd get $1,500 or something for that, Lincoln.

What? $1,500. They bought it, man. But it was nice. It was running, man. That thing, nice engine. You should have bought it. I'd rather knew.

I didn't know that until, you know, later. Yeah, all that would have said it. You were there when wrestling was at its hottest. Late 90s Attitude era, the Monday Night Wars. We're getting what feels like a taste of that right now. what do you think it is about this era that we're in with wrestling right now that is making wrestling so exciting again? Well, I think right now, like you just mentioned,

and I saw this past Monday night with the promo segment with CM Punk, Drew, and... Rollins. Rollins. And everybody was so comfortable. You know, I look at everything. A lot of times you'll see guys come out and they'll do promos, but you can tell when they're nervous. You know what I mean?

You can tell when the jitters is there. And you can also tell when somebody is sounding like they're reading a point. You know, I can tell that. But like those, but that's past money, those guys were right on the money. They were so comfortable. They was having a good time. They were just enjoying themselves. And you could see from expressions on their faces,

like we would always know when some guy would have to go out and he knew he had to get beat, do a job. Well, a lot of them didn't want to get beat, but they'd always show it on their facials when they walked out. You know, they'll throw a hand up at the crowd or a little bit of smile, but we knew. But you don't let nobody know that to be able to read you like that. If they say get beat, where you want to beat me at? Let's go to D.C. beat me right in the center of the White House. Let's go right over there. So that's what I'm saying, man.

Just I thought I saw more of the attitude error coming back a little bit. I think there's going to be a lot of changes. just thank God for rock, you know, somebody to come back and kind of straighten it out, man, and let's get this good old buddy, good old boy system. You know what I mean? It's been in wrestling for many, many years, probably some part of it still now. But let's just get this out of there and let's just, you know, put some good TV out there, some good entertainment, and make sure everybody have a good time and have fun.

Because that, without attitude era, man, we worked, we had fun. You know, it was a great time. Yeah, one of the great things about the attitude era was everybody, no matter where you were on the card, everybody had a storyline. Everybody had something that mattered. And that's, like I said, that's what I think, too.

We're coming back to the changes. And I mentioned this too, the segment between Cody and Rock at the end there, where Rock destroyed him just beating from one end to the other. And it's raining in Chicago. And I look at it like this.

Cody Rose done business. That's what we call, you know, when they'll say, well, I got this plan for this, guy tonight, you think he'll do business? A lot of guys won't go out. Like you said, you guys will say, well, I ain't doing that. Yeah.

Don't want to get beat up in, like, all the rain and all that, you know, like, but Cody didn't mind because Cody knows this ain't real. And Cody knows if I do business, I'm here. So that's what Cody let Rock know. I'm your guy. Okay. So what y'all want to do? I'm on the team.

There's a few things that make it feel like it's certainly not the PG era anymore. Yeah. And you feel so much better, you know, working with somebody, you know, that's not going to lie to you right in your face. And they got people that'll do that. You know what I mean? You know, that's the stand-up to tell you the truth. If you ain't doing the job, just they ain't doing it.

No stop. You know, back in the day, I never would forget it, man. Sometimes I see a lot of the guys that come right back through. Good, baby, good shit. Good job. Good job. And they didn't pay me much attention. As soon as they walk away, they tell other guy, that was the shit.

Fucking match with horrible. Why don't you tell him that? Why'd you tell him good shit, good, good, you know, and let him walk away thinking he'd done good and he didn't. Yeah. You know what I mean? See, I witnessed that all that. I'm like, godly, how can you be? Honesty may be your superpower, Teddy.

Well, that's what I go by. I've lived about all my life, man. You know, I ain't going to lie about nothing. And I ain't going to, you know, because I don't have no reason to. You tell one lie, you're going to tell two. Next thing you know, you're going to be up to 200 lies. that's good right you tell one lie you're gonna have to tell two to bag up that lie yeah right how many suits do you own uh i got maybe about 20 now okay something back in the day sure a lot of my i did get rid of

at some of the comic cons i go sometimes i bring one to auction off or some but i still got about 20 so during your prime you know days of being the smackdown general manager how many did you have because it didn't look like you ever repeated a suit i didn't Either if I did, it was so long that I used. Say, if I bought a suit, you might not see that suit no more in two months. So you maybe don't forgot about it. And then if you put a different tie on, a different pocket square, a different shirt. When I had a deal, I used to go to K&G, the suit place.

Yeah. And the guy, they knew me there, too. And so they were big time marks, man. They would give me suits. I would buy two. They'd give me two. Okay. But I'm advertising this year.

So how many suits? during that time. Do you think you had in your closet? 30. 30. So that's like, you know, you could wear it twice a year. Yeah. Wow. Yeah, I got enough in there and out.

Just sitting there now from back in the day. I probably don't fit up my loss a little bit more weight now than back in the day. You're looking lean and mean. Well, I stay in the gym, man. That's part of my life. I started back training with Butch and Run. And they used to take me to the gym with them. And they were rugged.

and they make me grind, man, you know. But after I started doing it for so long, I started liking it on my own. My body started feeling together, and I started doing cardio. And everybody used to get on me by cardio because there was nobody could do, keep up with me on cardio.

And I remember we had a bet one time, me, seeing punk, and Kane, we was overseas. So I was in, we was in the hotel, and I did this hour of cardio. I was just about done. I was about to finish up. And I remember Kane, seeing Punk were there. And T.M. Punk says, me and him are good friends, too, man.

Me and Punkers said, but he says, I bet you can't do another hour, Teddy. I said, well, I said, well, you want to bed. And then, no, no, he's asked Kane that. He says, I bet Teddy can't do another hour of Kane. And then they got to the bed. And so I think it was a $100 bet there. So I told him, I said, okay, hold on. I said, let me go take a piss, and I'll come right back.

And I got off, that hour took him with a pill. And I come back, jump back on. and I did another hour. On a treadmill, elliptical? The elliptical, the cross trainer. I ride that right now, brother. I ride it right now, one hour. But my body has adjusted to that.

I've done this for over 20-some years. Yeah. So that's what I'm saying. My body is like, if I don't do the hour, we ain't right. Yeah. Yeah. And then someday the mind is bad. You got to not listen to the mind.

Because I'll get on some days and I'll get in about 30 minutes and then my mind will say, well, you know, you're all right, you do an hour every day, so don't worry about it. Come on, let's quit. So then I look at myself and I said, you just take two steps back, Teddy Long, and go fuck yourself. And we're going to do, and we're going to do this hour now, leave me along. And I said, that's how I'll do my mind.

I swear I talk to myself just like that. With you being friends with CM Punk, did you think he was going to come back to WWE? Well, you just don't ever know in this business. It's hard to make decisions. because I found this out, too. Once you say never, that's wrong. Never say never.

You think, like some guys, they leave or they go, well, you think this guy's gone forever, the next thing you know, boom, there he is. So it's just, it's hard to make decisions because you just don't know when somebody may make a comeback or they may decide they find something for you and bring you back to do something. You just don't ever know.

That's why I mean about I would put the cave back on. And another reason why I stay in the gym, you have to stay ready. Because I may get that call. I may not. I don't care what I do or not. But if I do, I want to be ready. I feel like you'll get that call at some point.

I doubt it. You don't think you'll ever be back in WWE? No. Why not? Well, with the changes now, and you know what I mean? I think they're going in another direction. You know, that GM stuff is probably going to be played out, you know, in a little bit. I mean, I don't know.

I just think I'm not going to go. They may what somebody else may think or something else. I don't know, but I just don't think so, man, unless it be some major changes there. But when they do the memorial episodes of Raw or SmackDown, you feel like an easy phone call, you know, to make. It is easy. That's why I don't have it.

Because it's easy? Right. But it just feels like when there's Smackdown 1000, Raw 30, Raw 25, feels like you should be. Well, the last thing I went there was for the draft. Yeah. Right. Yeah, like you said, looked like I should be.

That was a phase of Smackdown. Yeah. That's why I'm not there. Tell you what. That doesn't even make sense. Think about this. You had Taker going into the Hall of Fame. Here's the guy that everybody's waiting to hear of one-on-one with the Undertaker,

and you don't invite me to his Hall of Fame ceremony. Huh. You'd think Taker would invite you. It ain't Takeers' job. I can look at that part, too, but that's not Takeers' job. Yeah, you wouldn't think that you'd be there. You should be there front row. No.

What should have been would have really popped them is maybe they'd like, Vince was the one that came out and induct him. Maybe Vince come out, starts to give an induction. Then here, hold on a minute, player. I got this. Me and Vince may have a little something going to, wait a minute, Vince. You don't want to go one-on-one with the undertaker hit out. You know what I mean?

So way to do it. That would have popped him for sure. That's where I didn't go. Because that would have popped them. Let's go through your entire career. Manager, referee, general manager. What's your favorite match or moments? So as a manager.

I don't know, man. I've had so many good moments. I guess as a manager, I guess the first, I guess when they gave me the general manager job. And they didn't tell me that until five minutes before air time. I had no idea I was going to even be the gentleman. Wow. And Vince, they stopped telling people stuff because guys that start putting,

that's, I think, social media just started popping me in. So, guys would put right on, well, hey, I'm going to be on raw tonight. I'm going to be doing this, blah, blah, blah. So guys will start, once they got their finages or what they do, they tell people and put it out on social media, so Vince wouldn't let nobody knew. You know what they wanted me to be when I first got there, you know, Vince didn't know what I could do. They wanted me to be like Don King.

That's what they came and told me. And I didn't never go like Don King, but I didn't tell him no. I just told him, okay, whatever you guys want me to do. But I just walked out and just started being Teddy Long, just on my own. And Vince liked it. Yeah. And that's how lucky I was to be myself. That's why I was so good because I wasn't trying to betray nobody.

I would just meet. Yeah. I do the shit right now. I mean, you kind of are. Yeah, I talk to people, you play a hey, holler, you know, yeah. What about as a referee? What's your most memorable match? The Shottown Heat, Flair Steamboat. That was really good, really good.

Then that's when I started to understand a little bit better about the wrestling business. Things are coming to the light a little bit. Okay, I got this. And during your very long tenure as the Smackdown General Manager, is there a certain moment or match? Well, I don't think it was a certain moment. I think the whole thing with the kidnapping, with me,

take her in the car, in the casket. I don't think you can talk to that. I don't think you can. And I went in with the promos I did with Vince. I'll tell you another story. They had me in the, remember I come in the office,

my suits all tore up, and Vince wants to see his picture. You know, he gave me a big portrait of me. He wanted me hanging in my office next to Mont Luther King. So Vince wants to see the picture now. So the pictures all tow up, rip, picture ain't even ready. So I'm trying to, you know,

he's about his business talking to me. Well, is my picture Teddy Long? And I'm like, Vince, we're trying to get a new frame. I wanted to look perfect. It wasn't perfect. I'm trying to fix it. And all of a sudden, he pops up on Indiarty as Artora. And he looks at me.

Now he goes off script on me now. He's talking to me now that's not written on the script. So I'm telling you, man, I swear, this is God. He looks over at me and he says, my picture, why is it like that or something else? he said, and then he looks at me, said, why? And I said, I work for you, sir. And he didn't say nothing no more.

He just looked at me, and he walked away. So now we're out on me looking at him leave and looking at the tour of picture. So I ain't thought no more about it, but it was good because this, you know, the thing was good. So that night, no, right after that, I saw Taker. So Taker said, come here, come in here. I said, yeah, what? I said, anything wrong? He said, no.

He said, you stumped him. And then he made, he said, yeah, he said, I've never seen him where he had no words where he couldn't have a comeback. But when I told him, I worked for him that he didn't have no words for me. And so Taker told me, he said, you stumped him. He said, nobody has never done that. Wow. And then later on that night, Vince saw me. I was leaving.

I think he was leaving. He walks, he looks over at me, and he says, you're too much. What a compliment. That's why I was in my son. spot. I did my job. Benz wanted you to do your job. He didn't play. He was strictly business, and so I understood. I got it. I know what you need. He got on me one time, but it was only once. He let me know. We don't play here. Wow. Yeah. Such a legend. This has been such a fun conversation. I said it at the start, but I'll say it again

now. Hey, thank you, man. Thank you for you. You tell such great stories. And they're the true. I love it. I ask the same question at the end of every interview because gratitude, is such a big thing for me. What are three things in your life, Teddy, that you're grateful for as we sit here right now? Well, number one, I'm just grateful to be alive. Number two, I'm grateful to have the success that I have had and I'm still receiving.

Number three is my dog. My wife, she's been dead now for two years in May. And so after my wife passed, I got me a dog. And, well, I always had dogs. But when I was on the road, my wife didn't understand about animals. And I didn't understand either. I didn't know about taking them to the vet, get the shots and all that. I didn't know.

So we just didn't take care of the dogs that were had in the future. So after my wife died, she wouldn't let me get a dog while she was sick. So I said, well, now go and get a dog because now I understand about them. So I got me another puppy. and I got his shots. Oh, he's like a child now. Because I understand how you got to take care of him. What's his name?

His name is Rufus. Rufus. Tell you about that. You know, my real name is theater or Rufus Long. Well, JBL, every time he'd call him, every time he'd see me, hey, Rufus, Rufus Long. So as I, and when I went and got Rufus, I was going to name him Peter from Family Guy. I love family guy. So I was going to name him that.

And then when I thought about JBL, I said, I got to do this for John. And I sent John a picture of him and I told him, I said, this is my dog. And I said, guess what his name is? And I called him Mr. Rufus. And John, I sent pictures, John compliment me. He wanted to see a picture of Rufus every day. Oh. So he loves Rufus.

Let me see a picture of Rufus. Oh, yeah. I'm sure you got. I'm sure he's the lock screen on your phone. I got Mr. Rufus right. Let's see Mr. Rufus. Let's see here. Hold on that. That's Mr. Rufus right there.

Oh, man. Look at that good boy. Is it a shepherd? A shepherd and pit bull. Wow. That's a handsome boy. And see, how blessed I was that dog was free. Y'all, that, you know, John Lurdeck because he called me cheap.

You know, they're all here to run. You know, they say I won't pay for nothing. And so I told him that, he said, you bastard, you mean you tricks him out of that dog? I said, no, I mean, God gave me the dog. That's what you said to me about your shoes when you sat down. I met one of Kanye's. Look at this drip. I don't know if you can put that up there.

You got the Yeezysys on, yeah. And these were free. I met this guy that worked for Kanye West, and he was a big Teddy Longmark, and he gave me two pair of them. So these I just saved for the road, but I got another pair I went to the gym every day. I have two pairs of Yeezysys. Those are so comfortable. Oh, brother, believe me, like walking on air. Yeah, they're so good.

You ever tried to Osh? You've heard of them as a brand called OSH? No. For Osh or something. No. Man, those things are so light. I swear I wore them one time in the airport and forgot, I had them on. You know, you take your shoes off?

Yeah, yeah. I forgot to take my shoes off. That's how light they are. But it was, I put wearing them. They were too light, man. You could just ball them up in your hand. Yeah. Yeah.

These are gangster shoes. Yeah, man. I love me, man. I just try to stay comfortable. Well, thank you again, sir. Hey, thank you for having me, man. This has been an outstanding blessing and a blast. And before I go, I just want to tell everybody to subscribe to a road trip after hours with me and Mac Davis. And just we have a great podcast and we have a lot of fun.

We will link that down below. But again, thank you for making the time. And you are a true legend, sir. Hey, I'll have a player. What a guy. I feel like this is an interview. have happened years ago, but I'm so glad that it happened here today. He has so many great stories. Super grateful for Teddy Long and grateful to Chris Hughes from ACW, Appalachian Championship

Wrestling, who connected us together and made this thing happen. I feel like we've got to do at least a part two, if not a part three or four, with Teddy Long. We just scratched the surface of all the amazing stuff he's done in his career. Please send this to somebody who loves Teddy Long and snap a screenshot and tag me because like I said in the intro, he's not exactly active on social media. So tag me so I can share this out. And I'll share this quote from Winston Churchill that I saw on social media at it. It just really hit me. Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. That is the courage to continue that counts. But the idea there that success is not final and failure is not fatal. That also reminds me of the phrase, this two shall pass. So success is not final. So you might be

having a great time. Success may be great right now. That's not final. You still got to keep going forward. Failure is not fatal. Ah, man, you might have, you might have not had this thing go the way that you wanted to go. That's okay. Failure is not fatal. Just keep going. It's the courage to continue that counts. Be great and be grateful, my friends. We will see you on the next one for some more. Insight with Liv Morgan. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do. With rapid fire takes.

So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it. Get up in here.

The Jim Rome Show podcast. What should be? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.