Teddy Long didn’t hold back with his thoughts on two former high-profile WWE executives!
During his legendary run as the General Manager of SmackDown, Teddy Long butted heads with the likes of The Undertaker, JBL and Drew McIntyre. But more recent fans will likely remember Long for his final major feud with former WWE Head Of Talent Relations John Laurinatis.
Serving as Interim RAW General Manager in 2012, Laurinatis embroiled himself in a feud with Long that spanned several months. The two’s rivalry even featured on WrestleMania 28 and finally came to an end that July when Laurinatis was fired from his on-screen role and subsequently attacked by John Cena.
As part of a recent Q&A with Sportskeeda, the WWE Hall of Famer discussed the lengthy rivalry and claimed part of its success was due to his real-life hatred of Laurinatis behind the scenes.
“They were good because he didn’t know that I hated him in real life. He didn’t know it. I have no respect for a man that tried to stop me from feeding my family. A man that hated me for no reason. I’ve never done nothing to him. To come in my face and laugh and grin, it’s just unreal man.”
Long’s feelings seemingly stem from how Laurinatis treated him backstage, recalling a time when an unnamed referee revealed that he was making more money despite Long being in a much more prominent on-screen position. Long blamed Laurinatis for this and put him in the same category as the similarly-infamous Mark Carrano, deeming them two of the worst people alive!
“I had the opportunity with one of the referees, that me and him rode together. I’ll leave the name out. He came and told me exactly what he was making as a referee. He was making more money than me and I’m the General Manager running this company (in the storyline). That was all Laurinaitis’ deal. Like I told you, him and Mark Carrano are the worst two people on this planet.”
Long went on to say that Laurinatis was “probably” responsible for WWE never selling merchandise featuring him and recalled a time when Laurinatis told him the company didn’t make action figures using his likeness as fans wouldn’t buy them.
Teddy Long Isn’t A Fan Of Ric Flair Either
In the same Q&A session Long also refused to comment on Ric Flair, claiming The Nature Boy had used a racial slur towards him when the pair worked together in the early 1980s and that he had “nothing good to say” about Flair.
h/t to WrestlingNews.Co