Years before the former General Manager of Smackdown would "holla, holla", make impromptu tag-team matches, or force villains to go one-on-one with "The Unda-taka!" Theodore Long was a referee. Long initially earned his stripes in the NWA, refereeing in Jim Crockett Promotions beginning in 1985. The most notable match he refereed during this stint was the 1989 Chi-Town Rumble, when Long replaced the assigned referee at the end of the Ric Flair/Ricky Steamboat NWA World Championship Match. Unfortunately, a fast-count by Long in April of 1989 cost the Road Warriors their NWA Tag Team Titles, and ultimately Long his referee's position, and he transitioned into the role of heel manager shortly after. After taking a hiatus from the sport, Long would debut in WWF as a referee in December of 1998, making his pay-per-view debut at the 1999 Royal Rumble, officiating the X-Pac vs. Gangrel European Title Match. His only other WWE referee "highlight" was officiating the match in which Darren "Droz" Drozdov was paralyzed by a botched running powerbomb by D'Lo Brown. Teddy Long's post-referee career in WWE is what truly solidified him as a WWE regular, as he was the only two-time General Manager in WWE History, and his power-position led to several feuds with the likes of Vickie Guerrero and John Laurinaitis, and relationships with Divas Aksana and Kristal (whom he almost married, although he "suffered a heart attack" before he officially said "I do.")
The 'House is a father of two and husband of one in Minnesota. He is an improv comedian, and in his spare time follows WWE, MLB, The Simpsons, and Bob's Burgers. Growing up he was a huge fan of He-Man, and refuses to believe that it was in fact terrible.
