Jim Crockett Promotions/World Championship Wrestling (1985–1996) Long started out as an errand boy for wrestlers
Tommy Rich and
Abdullah the Butcher. He eventually became a member of the ringcrew and was promoted to referee in the
NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions in 1985 as Teddy Long. In 1989, at the
Chi-Town Rumble event, Long was the replacement referee when
Ricky Steamboat won the
NWA World Heavyweight 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
NWA World Tag Team Championship. After this match, the National Wrestling Alliance relieved Long of his refereeing duties. This was actually a story lifted from
Championship Wrestling from Florida, where Long had been a referee and did several heel-decisions in the ring, including one for
Ron Simmons over
Skip Young. Long got his head shaved bald after losing a
Hair vs Hair match to
Paul Ellering at
Capital Combat PPV. While riding with
Kevin Sullivan and
Eddie Gilbert, Long would DJ for them. After hearing Long talk, the two convinced
Jim Ross to give Long a
managerial role, managing
Norman the Lunatic. Because of his face turn, his new position saw him giving the fans what they wanted and making matches that put heels at disadvantages, notably
John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL), 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 "Hater-ade" catch phrase he started using as a bad guy, but less aggressively, and with more humor in it. Long would also introduce the
New Talent Initiative during this time, which saw the likes of
Bobby Lashley and
Mr. Kennedy debut in 2005 and
Montel Vontavious Porter in 2006, among others. As part of the
SmackDown! vs.
Raw feud, Long defeated Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff at
Survivor Series with the help of
The Boogeyman. Long had problems with
Booker T and his defense of the
United States Championship, 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, Booker T was told to face
Chris Benoit or be stripped of the title. Benoit won the match and was congratulated by 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 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. On the September 4, 2006 episode of
Raw, Long appeared to a tremendous ovation in his hometown of
Atlanta. During a six-person, intergender tag match between Randy Orton,
Edge, and
Lita against
Trish Stratus,
Carlito, and
John Cena, some fans chanted Theodore's name. 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. On the June 22 episode of
SmackDown!, Long asked Kristal to marry him. Kristal ran out of the ring, crying, but later agreed to marry him. At
Vengeance: Night of Champions, Long appeared after Edge lost a Last Chance match for the World Heavyweight Championship against
Batista via disqualification as a result of a low blow and restarted the match, with the disqualification and countout rule waived. On the July 27 episode of
SmackDown!, Ron Simmons was named the
best man for "Theodore Rufus Long" and Kristal's wedding on the September 21 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 due to creative differences. Long returned on the November 30 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 favor Edge. On the May 16, 2008 episode of
SmackDown, Long quit his role of assistant general manager. On the June 3 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. Long continued the
New Talent Initiative, with a name-change to the
New Superstar Initiative, which would see the debuts 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. 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 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 PPV, Long restarted the World Heavyweight Championship match between
CM Punk and
The Undertaker after The 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 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 Long, as well as referee
Scott Armstrong and CM Punk played key roles in recreating the infamous
Montreal Screwjob at Breaking Point (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 The Undertaker's
druids where he again legalized The Undertaker's Hell's Gate submission hold. Long made a guest appearance on the February 8, 2010 episode of
Raw, in which
Shawn Michaels performed his finishing maneuver
Sweet Chin Music on Long after Long refused to draft Michaels 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 May 7 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 Hardy attacked McIntyre at Over the Limit and told Hardy 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 McIntyre announced a match between Long and McIntyre would take place the following week on
SmackDown per orders of McMahon. McIntyre 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 June 25 episode of
SmackDown, Long reinstated Hardy and made McIntyre compete against the returning 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 (
kayfabe) 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 Guerrero after she lost a mixed tag team match. On the May 6 episode of
SmackDown, Long scheduled a World Heavyweight Championship match between Randy Orton and Christian who had just won it for the first time five nights prior at
Extreme Rules. On the June 3 episode of
SmackDown, 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 the July 29 episode of
SmackDown the 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 SmackDown 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 title which would be defended on the November 29 episode of
SmackDown in a steel cage match. After
TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs,
Santino Marella replaced Zack Ryder (who had just won his first United States Championship) as the assistant SmackDown general manager.
Feud with John Laurinaitis and Eve Torres and becoming senior adviser (2012–2014) 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-Kane match never took place. A 12-man Tag Team 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. Laurinaitis hired the evil
Eve Torres to be his Executive Administrator, and informed Long that he would now be working under Eve and would report to her. As Eve's subordinate, the next few weeks were hell for Long. Eve found the role to be a power trip and enjoyed abusing her position by bullying and humiliating Long on numerous occasions. She took great pleasure in humiliating him by forcing him to do menial, degrading tasks; such as making him wear an apron and name tag at all times, like a maid. As well as stand guard by a door dressed as a Queen's soldier. She also enjoyed ordering him to get her coffee, and would throw the coffee all over him if it wasn't to her satisfaction. Long was also forced by Eve to rub oil on
Antonio Cesaro for a photoshoot, this was particularly humiliating for Long as it was in front of his ex love interest (and Cesaro's girlfriend) Aksana, who seemed to find Long's predicament extremely entertaining. 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 defeated Cena to keep his job with help from Big Show. At
No Way Out, Laurinaitis was fired, and Long enjoyed watching him being attacked 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 on July 2 and July 3 respectively. On the August 3 edition of
SmackDown, Long was made the senior advisor to new SmackDown General Manager Booker T. Despite originally getting along with Booker T very well, beginning in March 2013, Booker T began to get angry at Long for booking matches without his permission on both Raw and SmackDown. However, from mid April onwards, Long 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 General Manager
Brad Maddox had an argument on who was to be SmackDown General Manager, 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.
Hall of Fame and sporadic appearances (2014–present) On October 10 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 (
Goldust and R-Truth) and Breezango (
Tyler Breeze and
Fandango) 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
Raw, Long made an appearance, thinking that Mr. McMahon would appoint him to be the new general manager of Raw, but McMahon said that it was not 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 the special throwback episode of
SmackDown on May 7, 2021. On January 23, 2023, Long appeared on
Raw is XXX, celebrating the 30th anniversary of
Monday Night Raw, where he booked a six-man tag match between
Seth Rollins with
The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) and
Imperium (
Gunther,
Ludwig Kaiser and
Giovanni Vinci), after Imperium disrespected
D-Generation X. On April 26, 2024, Long was seen as part of SmackDown backstage team during the
2024 WWE Draft.
Independent circuit (2014–present) In 2014, Booker T had announced that Long would serve as the general manager for his
Reality of Wrestling promotion's Summer of Champions iPPV. Teddy Long acted as the general manager for
SWE Fury, a nationally televised wrestling promotion based in
Plano, Texas. Long left the company in August 2021. From 2021 to present, Long has worked as commissioner for
Alabama Independent promotions Main Event Wrestling and Independent Wrestling Network. == Filmography ==