During a recent interview with the Pancakes and Powerslams Podcast, former WWE talent Teddy Long discussed a variety of topics, including the following:
Why he isn't a big fan of The New Day: "I look at them, and these are the WWE Tag Team Champions, and to me, I donāt think that they are portraying them as serious champions. Thereās a lot of entertainment in the game, and thereās a lot of ha-ha from them. You know, I guess maybe times have changed. Maybe thatās what it is. As long as I remember, the world title and the tag team titles were serious positions to be in [and now] thereās so much comedy to it."
His role as SmackDown General Manager: "I really donāt know why [it] happened. Iām being honest with you. One time, I remember I came out, I did a promo on Tommy Dreamer when I walked out with DāLo Brown, and I think that was the first time Vince had the opportunity to see my skills and see I could really talk. So I remember coming back into the Gorilla Position where Vince was sitting. He calls me over and says to me, āI canāt believe I had you right under my nose all this time.ā The General Manager spot was something that they never [told] me ahead of time that I was gonna be. Nobody came to say, well this is the idea, this is what weāre thinking about, this is the direction weāre gonna go in, youāre gonna be General Manager. Nobody told me nothing. All I did is I walked in one day, and I guess maybe an hour before we got ready to go on, the writers came up to me and told me I was gonna be General Manager tonight; Vince is gonna make you General Manager. I was nervous as I could be, I was real nervous, because Iām like, Jesus Christ! Iāve never been in this position before! And I already understood working with Vince, you donāt play, you got to be able to get out there to perform. So, to me, Iām looking at it as this is a big responsibility, but I canāt say no! I canāt tell Vince I donāt want to be the General Manager and heāll give it to somebody else. When they told me, I just thought about it, and was like, hey, Iām on and running. Thatās exactly how that happened. I had no idea."
The best and worst person he has ever managed: "Everybody was really good. Butch [Reed] and Ron [Simmons], I definitely have to throw their names out there. But when I had the team of Danny Spivey and Sid Vicious, they were great. Marc Mero was great. The worst person that I managed probably was [Marcus] Bagwell, because he was hard to get along with at the time with me, him, and Scorpio. He wasnāt totally bad, but he was just hard to get along with."