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Teddy Long and the late Bray Wyatt shared a storied history. Being a long-time veteran of the business, the former SmackDown general manager recently revealed his earliest memories of Wyatt. He also discussed the incredible tribute The Eater of Worlds paid to him without people even realizing it.
On the latest episode of The Wrestling Time Machine, host Mac Davis asked Teddy Long about his memories of Bray Wyatt. The WWE Hall of Famer said that because of his association with Wyatt's father, Mike Rotunda, he had known him since he was three years old.
Long also revealed a fascinating story of their family rottweiler and said that he spoke to Bray Wyatt about a subtle tribute he paid to him when they last met on RAW:
"I had known Bray Wyatt ever since he was a baby. Me and Mike Rotunda had a chance to ride together, and when we'd go to Florida, Mike would always bring him to the arena because he lived in Florida. When they came to the arena, they had a rottweiler dog. Big rottweiler. Mike would sit Bray right down in his chair, and he'd sit the rottweiler right beside him, and you couldn't go nowhere near Bray."
Long added:
"I remember Bray from when he was a baby, so I had a chance to talk to him when he had grown up, and one night, he used one of my phrases in one of his promos. He said, 'Let me Holla at you, playa!' and I thought about that, so in the last RAW I went to, I had a chance to talk to him, and I mentioned it, and he said, 'Yeah, yeah yeah, Teddy you know me.' Then I said, 'Just keep me relevant, playa!' and that's it. God, we just lost a young man there way too soon." (0:47 - 1:46)
You can watch the full video below:
What was Bray Wyatt's relationship with Vince McMahon like?
Another person who knew Wyatt well is his former tag team partner, Matt Hardy. He divulged a few details about the relationship Wyatt shared with WWE Executive Chairman Vince McMahon.
On The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast, the wrestling veteran revealed that Wyatt and Vince McMahon had an interesting equation.
“Him and Vince had a very interesting relationship, almost like a father-son relationship in some ways. I feel like that probably came to be because he had only known the WWE system, so Vince was the only boss he ever had. I feel like there’s times when Vince shows you all this love, but then if you do something he doesn’t necessarily like or he disagrees with, then he’s really tough on you like a father in many ways."
There were reportedly moments before Wyatt's release when Vince McMahon was frustrated with him. He was released from WWE in July 2021 before returning for his final stint at Extreme Rules 2022.
If you take any quotes from the article's first half, please embed the YouTube video and credit Sportskeeda Wrestling.
