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Former SmackDown General Manager Teddy Long recently spoke about facing racial discrimination during his time in WWE.
Long is one of the most beloved on-screen personalities in WWE history, who served as the General Manager of SmackDown from 2004-2012. The wrestling veteran shared great chemistry with The Undertaker, JBL, and Vickie Guerrero, among others, and was a part of several iconic moments.
However, it wasn't easy for Teddy Long to navigate things backstage, where he fell victim to racism. On Sportskeeda's The Wrestling Time Machine, Teddy Long recalled an incident when one of the Executives in WWE took a subtle dig at him.
The Hall of Famer mentioned that though the said person didn't explicitly refer to his race, he expressed amazement at him becoming the longest-serving General Manager of SmackDown.
"I remember one individual came up to me and said, he didn't say that I was black, but this was someone in the office, too, and he looked up to me and said, 'Wow, can't believe this, Teddy Long. You've been the longest General Manager around here.' So what that individual was telling me is, 'Your time's up.' But they didn't know that I understood because I always kept quiet and act like, whatever," said Teddy Long. [15:05 - 15:35]
Check out the full video below:
WWE legend Teddy Long on John Laurinaitis and Mark Carrano's racist behavior
In the same video, Teddy Long also spoke about how he was on the receiving end of racial discrimination from John Laurinaitis and Mark Carrano. The WWE legend mentioned that there was a point in his career when a referee was making more money than him and that he didn't have the leverage to ask for a raise.
"I'm not afraid to call his (John Laurinaitis) name. This man made my life miserable. I couldn't ask for more money. He never gave me raises, I never got any money, and as I said, there was a referee there who was making more money than me. And I'm the General Manager and head of the show. So, he and Mark Carrano did a lot of nasty things to me," said Teddy Long.
While Laurinaitis was released from WWE last year following a 21-year tenure in the company, Carrano was shown the door in 2021.
If you take any quotes from the first half of this article, please embed the YouTube video and credit Sportskeeda Wrestling.
