Teddy Long Recalls The Moment Vince McMahon Decided To Make Him A Manager In WWE

Teddy Long has stated that a promo in WWE changed the course of his career. Before Long became a general manager in WWE, he served as a referee and on-screen manager and had aligned with the likes of Doom, the team of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed, Norman the Lunatic, and Johnny B. Badd, to name a few. He started his wrestling career with NWA and WCW before joining WWE in 1998.

During his early years with WWE, he continued his role as a referee until 2002, when a change was made to his character. Long would once again play a heel manager for wrestlers such as Mark Henry, Jazz, and D'Lo Brown, and it was during his partnership with Brown when chairman Vince McMahon saw something special in Long.

"I went to Providence, Rhode Island and I walked out the first night with D-Lo Brown and I cut this promo on Tommy Dreamer," Long recalled in an interview with Sportskeeda. "When I come back through the curtain, Vince McMahon was standing up and he was waiting on me. He called me over to him and he said to me, 'I can't believe I had you right here under my nose all this time.' He said that to me and the next thing he said to me [was] 'I want you to know that they really wasted you down south [WCW].'"

Wrestlers familiar with Long's work had already known about his potential and it was about time that McMahon could see it as well. He was grateful for the opportunity and vowed to give it his all, and it's safe to say he did just that as he went on to be an authority figure in WWE for several years and was later inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.