Theodore Robert Rufus Long (born September 15, 1947) is an American former professional wrestling referee and manager. He is best known for his long time with the WWE where he served as the General Manager of SmackDown! and ECW.
Career
National Wrestling Alliance/World Championship Wrestling
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, Long began a heel turn when he started to bend the rules for the heels. At the Chi-Town Rumble event, Teddy Long ran in and counted three, making Ricky Steamboat the NWA World Champion. On April 2, 1989 at the Clash of Champions in New Orleans, Long blatantly made a fast count allowing Mike Rotunda & "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 Teddy had been a referee and did several heel-decisions in the ring, including one for Ron Simmons over Sweet Brown Sugar. Teddy was fired as a referee and became a talent scout/manager.
Long became the manager of "Doom" (Ron Simmons and Butch Reed) and led them to the World Tag Team Titles. He also managed Chris Jericho, Johnny B. Badd, One Man Gang, Norman the Lunatic, "The Skyscrapers" (Sid Vicious, Dan Spivey & Mark Callaway), Marcus Bagwell, 2 Cold Scorpio, Joey Maggs, Craig Pittman, Jim Powers, Bobby Walker, Ice Train and Bobby Eaton while in Jim Crockett Promotions and WCW.
World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment
Long performed as a referee in WWF from the late 1990s until September 2002, when he was taken off the road.
He was re-packaged as a manager and perhaps his most notable managing stint in this period came when managing D'Lo Brown, Rodney Mack, Christopher Nowinski, Rosey, Mark Henry and Jazz at different times, telling fans to get "Down wit' da Brown" and to "Back da Mack." He played a stereotypical "held-down" minority, using ebonics (such as, "Don't be drinkin' that Hate-orade." and "You know I'd look good on the dolla dolla bill.") His stable would be referred to by fans as "Thuggin' & Buggin' Enterprises." When he was drafted to SmackDown!, he managed his second white wrestler, Mark Jindrak.
After Kurt Angle was fired from the General Manager position in July 2004, Long became the new and first African-American General Manager of SmackDown!. Unlike other WWE managers, such as Eric Bischoff and Mr. McMahon, his new position saw him as a face, giving the fans what they wanted and making matches that put heels at disadvantages, notably John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL). At first, he continued use of his "Hate-orade" talk, but less aggressively, and with humor. One example was when he stripped Booker T of the US Championship for "drinkin' Hate-orade."
As part of the RAW vs. SmackDown! feud, Long defeated then RAW GM Eric Bischoff at Survivor Series 2005 with the help of The Boogeyman.
However, Theodore Long still had problems with Booker T and his defense of the United States title. 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 2006, Booker was told to face Chris Benoit or be stripped of the US title. Benoit won the match and was congratulated by Theodore 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 2006 Long fired Melina & 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 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. 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.