WWE Hall of Famer Teddy Long first worked in the WWE as a referee towards the end of 1998. Long would also become a manager for Superstars like Mark Henry, Jazz and Rodney Mack and would later become one of the most popular general managers in the history of WWE SmackDown. Teddy Long was then released by the WWE in 2014, which he discussed during an appearance on Busted Open Radio. According to Teddy, he was stressed a little bit and he put on some weight, which he thinks are the reasons he was let go by the WWE and that he doesn’t blame the WWE, he is blaming himself.
This is what Teddy Long said:
“I was stressed a little bit. I put on some weight. So I think that had a lot to do with it. I’m not blaming WWE, I’m blaming myself, because I got low stress. And I put on this weight and stuff. And then Vince always took care of me. And they have a drug policy there about smoking the marijuana. So I quit smoking weed, because I didn’t want to let Vince down and I didn’t want to fail no drug test because I’ve respected him enough that he gave me this opportunity, and I’m not gonna f**k it up. So that’s why I quit smoking the weed. And then after a while being stressed out after four or five years I started riding with certain people. I won’t call their name, because I don’t want to put them out there. But anyway, I started back to smoking weed and I mess around and failed one of the drug tests and put that weight on. And I know Vince hates that. He hates the weight and Mark and tell you about that. So I blamed myself. I was the cause of my release. But you know, they were gonna do it anyway. But I think I helped them.”
Teddy Long has since made a number of appearances for the WWE and he has even requested the promotion that he be given another run as the General Manager of WWE SmackDown, which was before the 2016 brand split. Teddy was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2017 by The APA.
You can check out WWE Hall of Famer Teddy Long’s full comments at this link. H/T to WrestlingNews.co for transcribing the quotes.
