JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It’s not often a person in wrestling starts at the absolute bottom and works his way to the absolute top. That’s exactly what Teddy Long spent decades doing.
It all started for him in the late 1980s. A young Long ran errands for wrestlers in Jim Crocket Promotions, which was broadcast weekly on WTBS out of Atlanta. He would also set up the ring before the matches. And quickly, he got his first promotion when he was given a referee shirt.
“I went out and the first match I did was Ron Bass and Black Bart. They were in a Texas Death Match,” Long said.
But unfortunately for the young Long, he didn’t quite understand the pre-scripted nature of pro wrestling, specifically when the wrestlers started bleeding.
“So that kind of scared me. So I just jumped out and left them,” he said.
After a while as a referee, some wrestlers noticed Long, who was also a part-time disc jockey, had a gift for gab. He would ride from town to town with some of the wrestlers, including Kevin Sullivan.
“I started turning the radio down in the car and started DJ’ing for them. And I just think I’m giving them some fun but they saw something else. So Kevin went to the booker at this top and told him this man Teddy Long can talk so let’s make him a manager,” said Long.
Then Long’s more prominent role in the wrestling world began as a manager. He managed the likes of the team Doom which consisted of Ron Simmons (FSU Football legend) and Butch Reed. Along with another team called the Skyscrapers, which included a young man named Mark Calloway. Calloway years later became an iconic wrestling character, The Undertaker.
“I’ve known Taker a long time. One of the greatest guys to work with,” said Long. “He was really respected. Anytime you had any problem -- like the locker room captain. You could go to Taker, Taker would straighten it out for you.”
Eventually, years later Long was hired by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). He managed several wrestlers and would play into race-related wrestling angles as part of his character. He said former WWE owner Vince McMahon knew how Long had been treated in the past sometimes unfairly and utilized that as part of his character.
“What happened to me as far as the way they were using me there (in World Championship Wrestling),” said Long. “Back in the day, the racism was out there. So when Vince told me that they wasted me down there, he was telling me then, you know, I didn’t understand it then, but as I kept going I knew that’s why he said that.”
And Long’s ascent in WWE continued when he was eventually given an on-camera figurehead character when he was dubbed Smackdown “General Manager.”
Along the way, he had numerous on-camera roles with the most famous members of the company from John Cena to Brock Lesnar to all members of the McMahon family.
Interestingly enough, Long said Vince McMahon’s daughter, Stephanie McMahon, was more of a stern boss.
“She was a little stricter than Vince,” said Long.
Eventually, Long was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2017 and remains a semi-retired performer who often gets called by WWE to come in and still appear on some of their shows.
Also on this show, we’re joined by Continental Championship Wrestling based in Jacksonville as they talk about all the local events they’re putting on in Northeast Florida.