World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment
Long performed as a referee in WWF from the late 1990s until September 2002, when he was taken off the road.
He was re-packaged as a
manager and perhaps his most notable managing stint in this period came when managing
D'Lo Brown, Rodney Mack, Christopher Nowinski, Rosey, Mark Henry and
Jazz at different times, telling fans to get "Down wit' da Brown" and to "Back da Mack." He played a
stereotypical "held-down" minority, using
ebonics (such as, "Don't be drinkin' that Hate-orade." and "You know I'd look good on the dolla dolla bill.") His stable would be referred to by fans as "Thuggin' & Buggin' Enterprises." When he was drafted to
SmackDown!, he managed his second white wrestler,
Mark Jindrak.
After
Kurt Angle was fired from the General Manager position in July 2004, Long became the new and first African-American General Manager of
SmackDown!. Unlike other WWE managers, such as
Eric Bischoff and
Mr. McMahon, his new position saw him as a
face, giving the fans what they wanted and making matches that put
heels at disadvantages, notably
John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL). At first, he continued use of his "Hate-orade" talk, but less aggressively, and with humor. One example was when he stripped
Booker T of the
US Championship for "drinkin' Hate-orade."
As part of the
RAW vs.
SmackDown! feud, Long defeated then
RAW GM
Eric Bischoff at
Survivor Series 2005 with the help of
The Boogeyman.
However, Theodore Long still had problems with Booker T and his defense of the United States title. Booker T attempted to get out of title defenses on a number of occasions by pretending to be injured, and having other wrestlers fight on his behalf. Eventually, Long got tired of these shenanigans, and at
No Way Out 2006, Booker was told to face
Chris Benoit or be stripped of the US title. Benoit won the match and was congratulated by Theodore Long.
After
Randy Orton had cheated to obtain
Rey Mysterio's title shot at
WrestleMania 22, Long placed Mysterio back in the match and made it a Triple Threat Match, at the same time warning Orton that he could still remove Orton from the match if he disobeyed Long.
At
Judgment Day 2006 Long fired
Melina &
Johnny Nitro from
SmackDown!. On the following
SmackDown!, JBL suffered the same fate after losing the United States Championship to
Bobby Lashley, and then losing a
World Heavyweight Championship to Rey Mysterio in his
Judgment Day rematch.
On the
September 4, 2006 episode of
RAW, Long appeared to a tremendous ovation in his hometown. During a six-person, intergender tag match between Randy Orton,
Edge, and
Lita against
Trish Stratus, Carlito, and
John Cena, some fans chanted Theodore's name.
In
April 2007, Long became the on-screen boyfriend of
Kristal, after weeks flirting with each other backstage. Long then began to look for an assistant so he could spend more time with Kristal, eventually revealing
Vickie Guerrero as his new assistant on
May 25, 2007, an appointment made partly at Kristal's request. On the
June 22, 2007 episode of
SmackDown!, Long asked Kristal to marry him. Kristal ran out of the ring, crying, but later agreed to (
kayfabe) marry him. On the
July 27, 2007 edition of
Smackdown!,
Ron Simmons was named the
best man for "Theodore Rufus Long" and Kristal's wedding on the
September 21, 2007 edition of
SmackDown! emanating from Long's hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. However, the wedding was not completed due to constant disruptions and Long having a (
kayfabe) heart attack just as he started to say "I do". He then fell in to a (
kayfabe) coma. Long returned on the
November 30, 2007 edition of
SmackDown! as the Assistant General Manager and made a match at
Armageddon for the
World Heavyweight Championship
rss feed