"You continue to count" - Former WWE employee recalls Vince McMahon's strict orders amidst confusing situation (Exclusive)
Former WWE employee Teddy Long recently spoke about his days as a referee for the company.
Long has had a successful career in the wrestling business, working as a manager, referee, and even the General Manager of RAW and SmackDown. He worked with various promotions, such as the NWA, WCW, and WWE. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2017.
On a recent episode of The Wrestling Time Machine, Teddy mentioned that during his days as a referee, he was always careful not to count till three before a wrestler kicked out. He recalled Vince McMahon telling him that it was the star's responsibility to kick out and the ref shouldn't stop counting.
"I was always told this. The referees had to be real careful. I've been in this position before, you know. Sometimes, you already know the finish. So when you start the counting and the guy ain't kicking out, you're scared to death. You don't want to count him out because you know that's not the finish and you think you're gonna be blamed for it. But Vince said this, 'If a guy doesn't kick out, the referee doesn't stop. You continue to count. It's on him, it's on the wrestler.' Like I said, that's a really bad spot to be in because the referee is scared to death. He thinks he's gonna be blamed for it. It's just a bad situation." [10:13 - 10:51]
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Teddy Long recalled having to face similar situations in WWE
During the same discussion, the Hall of Famer mentioned that there were a couple of situations during his time in WWE where he had to make the count when the wrestler didn't kick out.
"It was with Test and Christian. Then I had another one with X-Pac and Mick Foley. That happened... Well, they're gonna blame you if you're the referee, you know what I mean. But they didn't kick out, like I said, it's just a tough spot to be in. I never made no mistake. If I counted, the guy didn't kick out. I came up the old-school way, so I know. If I counted somebody out, believe me, they didn't kick out." [11:01 - 12:03]
teddy long, wwe | hold on a minute, playa pic.twitter.com/2jAOb2JwPX
Long made it clear that he hardly made any mistakes. He only counted to three because the star did not kick out.
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