Theodore Robert Rufus Long was born on September 15,1947 and is an American former professional referee and manager known for his work for WWE and WCW serving as an on-screen authority figure.
43 Facts About Theodore Long
2.
Theodore Long transitioned to be an on-screen manager in 2003 and later served as general manager of SmackDown for two tenures lasting a combined six years as well as one stint as ECW general manager.
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Theodore Long started out as an errand boy for wrestlers Tommy Rich and Abdullah the Butcher.
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Theodore Long eventually became a member of the ringcrew and was promoted to referee in the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions in 1985 as Teddy Long.
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In 1989, at the Chi-Town Rumble event, Theodore Long was the replacement referee when Ricky Steamboat won the NWA World Championship.
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Shortly thereafter, Theodore Long began to turn into a villainous character when he started to bend the rules for heel wrestlers.
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Theodore Long got his head shaven bald after losing a Hair vs Hair match to Paul Ellering at Capital Combat PPV.
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Theodore Long became the manager of Doom and led them to the World Tag Team Titles.
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Theodore Long debuted in the WWF as a referee on the December 21,1998 episode of Raw is War and stayed with that role until September 2002, when he was taken off the road.
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Theodore Long was the referee when Darren Drozdov ended up paralyzed and can be seen in WWE's Don't Try This At Home warning looking at the paramedics lift Droz up on a stretcher.
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Theodore Long wrestled in a 3 on 2 handicap match with The Rock and Jack Doan defeating Kane and Rikishi on Monday Night Raw January 6,2001.
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But, Theodore Long grabbed the microphone and ordered to restart the match.
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Theodore Long accepted it, only to give Long a stunner in the process for restarting the match.
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Theodore Long immediately turned face on his first night as general manager when he fined Angle $1,000 for not having his wrestling gear with him.
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Theodore Long would 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.
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The New Talent Initiative would continue, with a name-change to the New Superstar Initiative, when Theodore Long moved to ECW in 2008 and 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.
17.
Theodore Long had problems with Booker T and his defense of the United States Championship 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.
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Theodore 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.
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The wedding was not completed due to constant disruptions and Theodore Long having a heart attack just as he started to say "I do".
20.
Theodore Long started to feud with Guerrero over her position as the General Manager as she continued to favor Edge.
21.
At the Breaking Point PPV, Theodore Long restarted the World Heavyweight Championship match between CM Punk and the Undertaker after Undertaker made Punk submit using his Hell's Gate submission finisher, stating that the ban on the maneuver was still in effect.
22.
Theodore Long 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.
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However, after Kingston emerged victorious against Christian, Theodore Long was issued a letter from Vince McMahon reinstating McIntyre and forcing Kingston to give his title back to McIntyre.
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Theodore Long then made a match for McIntyre's Intercontinental Championship at Over the Limit against Kofi Kingston.
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McIntyre said if Theodore Long didn't compete, he would be fired.
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McIntyre then went on to win the match the following week, after it was ordered that Theodore 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.
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Hardy would win the match, but after the match, Theodore Long came out and told McIntyre that his work visa had expired, and made security carry him out of the arena.
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Theodore Long then scheduled a match between the new World Heavyweight Champion Ziggler and Edge.
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On February 21,2012, Theodore 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.
30.
Theodore Long won the match when Randy Orton attacked Kane at ringside, which distracted Laurinaitis.
31.
Theodore 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.
32.
At WrestleMania, Team Teddy lost to Team Johnny, ending Theodore Long's run as SmackDown General Manager.
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Theodore Long 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.
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Theodore Long enjoyed ordering him to get her coffee, and would throw the coffee all over him if it wasn't to her satisfaction.
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Theodore Long was forced by Eve to rub oil on Cesaro for a photoshoot, this was particularly humiliating for Teddy as it was in front of his ex love interest the evil Aksana, who seemed to find Theodore Long's predicament extremely entertaining.
36.
At No Way Out, Laurinaitis was fired and Theodore Long enjoyed watching him being attacked by John Cena the following night on Raw.
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On June 12,2014, after nearly a year of inactivity, Theodore Long was released from WWE along with ten other contracts, ending his long tenure with the company.
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Theodore Long would make several other appearances throughout the course of the night including his attempt of making a tag team match between The Golden Truth and Breezango before being escorted out of the building by security.
39.
On January 22,2018, Theodore Long made a brief backstage appearance during Raw 25 Years.
40.
Theodore Long 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 appeared on the special throwback episode of SmackDown on May 7,2021.
41.
In 2014, Booker T had announced that Theodore Long would serve as the general manager for his Reality of Wrestling promotion's Summer of Champions iPPV.
42.
Teddy Theodore Long acted as the general manager for SWE Fury, a nationally televised wrestling promotion based in Plano, Texas.
43.
From 2021-present Teddy Theodore Long has worked as commissioner for Georgia Independent promotion Main Event Wrestling and Independent Wrestling Network.