"They went out of their way to embarrass him" -Wrestling veteran opens up about Teddy Long's initial struggles in WWE
Wrestling veteran Kevin Sullivan recently opened up about WWE Hall of Famer Teddy Long's initial struggles in the company.
Long joined WWE (then WWF) as a referee in 1998. He was then made a villainous manager and was known for managing some of the biggest names in the business, including Mark Henry. The veteran also filled in as a guest General Manager of RAW in Eric Bischoff's absence. The 76-year-old also became the first African-American General Manager of SmackDown and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2017.
On the latest edition of Road Trip AFTER HOURS, wrestling veteran Kevin Sullivan talked about the struggles Teddy Long had to go through during his initial days in WWE.
The veteran said that many people went out of their way to embarrass and hurt Long, but the latter showed his worth by becoming a Hall of Famer.
"So, when Teddy started talking, that really poked my interest, and Teddy and I are brothers from a different mother. We just got along the first time we met each other. I had seen the slights that Teddy had to endure with a bunch of rednecks... It was ridiculous, they went out of their way to embarrass him, to hurt him but he succeeded, he's in the Hall of Fame, they ain't bro[laughs], he won bro." [From 06:28 to 07:30]
You can check out the whole video below:
WWE Hall of Famer Teddy Long shared a hilarious incident with D-Von Dudley
On a recent edition of Sportskeeda's The Wrestling Time Machine, Teddy Long shared a hilarious story of him and D-Von Dudley. The Hall of Famer said he used to jokingly act like he was gay with D-Von and Lex Luger.
"Me and Lex used to play around with each other like I used to play around with D-Von. I'd always act like I was gay with D-Von (…) D-Von was on the airplane and I got on the airplane and I started being gay. I was getting on him in front of everybody and telling the people that he left me asleep in the bed. 'He didn't wake me up. He was trying to make me miss my flight.'"
Long is still active in the industry and has been working as a commissioner for several independent wrestling promotions since 2021.
What was your favorite moment of Teddy Long in WWE? Let us know in the comments section below.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit the Road Trip AFTER HOURS podcast and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for transcription.