March 6, 2025 • 28 mins
Teddy Long takes off the filter and delivers unfiltered wrestling insights in this candid conversation about the changing landscape of professional wrestling. The WWE Hall of Famer weighs in on recent controversies including Pat McAfee receiving death threats after standing up for the American national anthem at WWE Elimination Chamber in Canada. Teddy discusses how modern sensitivities have altered wrestling storytelling, recalling how financially successful the Sergeant Slaughter and Iron Sheik rivalry was because "it was real" during an actual international conflict.
The conversation takes an interesting turn as Teddy shares behind-the-scenes perspectives on WWE's puzzling censorship on Netflix despite the streaming platform's reputation for explicit content. He offers a fascinating glimpse into the significant business differences he discovered when transitioning from WCW to WWE, noting that Vince McMahon personally wrote many of his iconic storylines including the Vickie Guerrero angle and the "White Boy Challenge."
Perhaps most moving is Teddy's matter-of-fact recollection of learning about Eddie Guerrero's death while at a TV taping in Minneapolis, demonstrating the wrestling industry's resilient "show must go on" philosophy that McMahon instilled in his performers. Teddy also shares stories from wrestling's pre-cell phone era, refereeing the classic Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat match, and offers his thoughts on current storylines including Rhea Ripley's WrestleMania status and John Cena's heel turn. Whether you're a longtime wrestling fan or new to the industry, this episode delivers rarely-heard perspectives from one of wrestling's most beloved personalities. Share your thoughts and questions with us for a chance to win exclusive Wrestling Road Trip After Hours merchandise!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hello everybody, welcome to an all-new episode of
the Wrestling Road Trip AfterHours.
I messed that up right off thebat there.
Welcome to Wrestling's RoadTrip After Hours.
I'm your special host tonightbecause we're both on
medications, along with myspecial friend, mr Teddy Long,
wwe Hall of Famer how you doingtonight.
I'm begging you to get in Jesus.
(00:25):
I know, mr Teddy Long, wwhallof Famer, how you doing tonight.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I'm begging you to get in, jesus.
I know, man, you just start out.
I mean, you don't even giveyourself no time, you just start
right in.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Well, you know, I found that when we do these
shows, when I go back and lookat them, that the videos when
they end, sometimes we alreadystarted talking.
I can't figure out why it's notcrossing over like we see on
the screen, so it does somethingkind of funny.
Well, whatever is doing, you'reresponsible.
I'm sure I am.
Man, it is good to see you.
I know that you're not feelingfantastic tonight.
(00:56):
You got some of that crudthat's been going all over, it
seems.
Everybody seems to be gettingthis crap.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Yeah, man, I'm coming down with it now.
So, uh, I did have someantibiotics here, so I took a
couple of them and so, uh,hopefully, uh, you know I can
feel better about.
Well, tomorrow's a gym day.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
I took off today, so I'll go and try and sweat it out
, yep let me ask you have youheard the latest news when it
came to the hall of fame for wwe?
The natural disasters are goinginto the hall of fame but I, I
did.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, I did see that that was a tugboat and somebody
right.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Yeah, that was an earthquake and typhoon because
they went into natural disasters.
But yeah, that was John Tintaand Fred Ottman, who also, for
those of you who are not aware,fred Ottman is also the shock
master of WCW fame.
Did you have a chance, teddy,to work with, uh, john tenta?
At all, I've never asked youthat, yeah, I started in nwa.
(01:50):
If I ain't work with you, thenyou weren't working any memories
with john tenta that you canrecall?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
no, not really just a nice guy.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
You know always, you know playful, had a great
attitude and that that's itthere are a few things in the
news this week, teddy, and thisis something that I wanted to
bring up to you just to get youropinion on this.
Pat McAfee recently revealed onhis Instagram that someone has
been targeting him and sendingsick death threats not only to
(02:20):
him, but also to hisone-year-old daughter following
the Elimination Chambercontroversy.
Have you heard about this?
Speaker 2 (02:29):
I saw something on social media about it.
I didn't take the time to readit.
I follow Pat, and so I wasrunning through my Twitter stuff
today and I saw something aboutthat.
What are the threats?
Speaker 1 (02:42):
I guess they're threatening to hurt him or his
child.
For what reason Did he dosomething like that?
I think what it was, teddy, infact.
Well, let me set this up At therecent premium live event
Elimination Chamber when theystarted the show actually, I'm
not sure if it was even on theactual PLE.
(03:02):
It may have been on thepre-show, but a girl came out to
sing the national anthem.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Now they're in Canada .
Speaker 1 (03:09):
And they booed this girl silly the entire time.
She sang the national anthem.
Well, pat McAfee didn't carefor that too much and he didn't
hold back.
He didn't appreciate itwhatsoever and he let it be
known.
And, quite honestly, I thinkthere are probably a lot of
(03:30):
people who watch that probablythought the same thing, like
what in the hell?
If nothing else, the poor girlin the ring looked like she.
What am I singing?
That bad.
It was all politics that playedinto it.
But aren't there times whenpolitics need to be put to the
side and just enjoy the show,and you don't need to be showing
your ass like that somewhere?
What are your thoughts?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
well, I I really don't know.
I mean, I don't understand, Imean, was the girl singing that
bad to the people?
Speaker 1 (03:51):
no, she was singing fantastic.
That wasn't the problem.
The problem was that the crowddid not want to, uh, show
applause for the united statesof america.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
There's a lot of things going on in canada, so
you had a person from the UnitedStates singing their national
anthem there.
Yep, yep.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
But now they also sang the Canadian national
anthem.
The same person sang theCanadian national anthem, but it
was just the Canadian fans.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
They weren't going to have it.
Well, if they did that, then Ican't see them just booing her.
They were booing the UnitedStates of America, that's what
they were doing.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Yeah, yeah, but at the same time, pat McAfee man,
he just people didn't appreciatehis comments about, you know,
the Canadians booing ournational anthem Sorry, there's
probably a lot of people who arewatching that.
That felt the same way Pat did,if you're from America, so you
know.
But there may be a good thingthere.
Could you run a story right now, teddy, where it would be
(04:45):
Canada versus USA?
Are we still in a period wherewe can do something like that?
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Yeah, you could if you, if you pull it off, right.
I mean, look what Vince and didwith Sergeant Slaughter and the
Iron Sheep.
The reason they made so muchmoney is because at that time
there was really a war and theSheik was originally from Iran,
so all that's perfect.
So if you're from the UnitedStates and you want the United
States to win, then you're goingto cheer for them, and that's
(05:13):
what people did.
They made Slaughter the biggestbabyface of all time man.
So him and Sheik made a lot ofmoney because it was real.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Have you ever been in an arena somewhere where they
were doing the national anthemand the crowd booed the national
anthem?
No, yeah, would that surpriseyou.
I mean, would that shock you?
Speaker 2 (05:32):
well, yeah, when you do something like that, that's
just going a little bit too, toooverboard, I would say, you
know, but I mean, people aregoing to be people.
So, with all this stuff goingon in the world and everything
now you know all this hatred andevil.
So, brother, we just don't knowwhat may happen next,
absolutely true Wyatt Longpopping in and saying hi, teddy
(05:52):
Long.
What's happening there?
Wyatt Long.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
No relation huh.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Well, I don't know, is he black?
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Hey look, we're twins and nobody says anything about
that.
Let's see.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
I know Wyatt.
I've seen him on some of theindependents.
So I know Wyatt and my man,michael Steele.
He just let me know there aretoo many snowflakes for that now
.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
You know, and I'm going to be honest with you,
michael, I completely agree.
I think that the people beingso touchy about anything you do
or say nowadays has killed somany things in entertainment
that we used to enjoy Not onlyprofessional wrestling but
comedians.
They can no longer get up onstage and really say the things
(06:39):
they want because people takeoffense to it when they're just
being funny.
You've got to remove yourselffrom reality sometimes, and that
includes in professionalwrestling as well as in when you
get into a comedic situation,because they're being somebody
to get a laugh out of you.
They're not really poking fun,they're trying to make you feel
good and that becomes reallycrazy.
(07:01):
And too many snowflakes inwrestling create some of the
boring storylines that we getnow.
I can't imagine us ever talkingabout, you know, the Japanese.
You know coming in and we hatethe Japanese and they're evil
people.
Well, back when we were young,the Japanese that was an evil,
you know, type of character thatplayed into professional
(07:21):
wrestling.
Nobody took it seriously, butthey played along with it and
enjoyed the story that was beingtold.
By the way, if you want to joinin the conversation, please do
so.
Also share this link.
Let people know that we're upand live right now.
We'd love to have your commentsin here.
We're not looking for superstickers, we're not looking for
money, we're just looking foryour questions, and they don't
cost you a nickel.
(07:42):
Just simply let us know yourquestions.
And, by the way, teddy, Ibelieve you might have a t-shirt
to give away tonight.
Okay, so if he chooses yourmessage as the one that he likes
best tonight, if you come upwith the best question, he'll
pick that person and that personwill receive a free road after
(08:04):
a road trip after our.
Let me bring up some more news,teddy.
While we wait for some peopleto get in here, um, we do have,
uh, breaking news that rhearipley is reportedly set to miss
wrestlemania this year due toan undisclosed issue.
Uh, does that surprise youseeing her disappear?
I was surprised that she lostthe belt.
Now it's starting to kind ofmake a little bit to an
undisclosed issue.
Does that surprise you seeingher disappear?
I was surprised that she lostthe belt.
(08:24):
Now it's starting to kind ofmake a little bit more sense now
.
Your thoughts?
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Well, I mean, I don't know, man.
You know, because we never knowwhat's going on.
You know behind the scenes, soyou know that may be just
something that may be involved.
You know with her having to dowith her, so maybe that's why to
do with her, so maybe that'swhy I don't know.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Do you think that maybe Rhea has and I've seen
people say this online thatmaybe her character has kind of
played out and they neededsomething fresh?
I'm not sure I felt that way.
Actually, I was kind of hopingwe'd get a Rhea and a Charlotte
matchup or something you know.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Rhea and some of the big girls that are there.
Rhea, you know, we don't knowwhat's really going on, so we're
just going to have to sit backand watch this play out too.
But I hope everything's allright with her because, I mean,
she's a great worker, she'sgreat out there, man, so I hope
they're going to.
You know, keep her around.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Yeah, like I said, it was surprising for me to see Io
Sky win that belt from her theother night and it was just like
what you know, it was the lastthing I expected to see before
WrestleMania, but there's stilla lot of time between now and
WrestleMania to see what happens.
James Malfi, hope I get thatright, james.
It says getting tired of thecensorship of the crowd these
(09:38):
days.
That's a good point, and Ididn't have this down.
But I'll ask you this, teddywe're on Netflix where they say
and do just about anything yetthey're censoring the wrestlers
on Netflix.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Does that make sense to you?
Well, you know, in a way itdoes, and I'll explain it the
best I can.
You know, I'm thinking, youknow, with the crowd saying
stuff and saying whatever theywant to say, that's a whole
different ball game.
But I think with the wrestlers,you know, no matter what you do
, you still got to stayprofessional, and so I think
that's what they're doing there,maybe sensing some stuff that
the guys say, you know, maybenot everything, but, like I said
(10:15):
, they still have to remainprofessional.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
And you know.
The problem is that when theRock gets in the ring, and you
know the Rock seems to have alot more freedom than anybody
else and he'll say what he wantson the microphone.
But there are times when hesays it and you know you're
watching Netflix and of courseI'm not expecting anything to
get censored, because I've heardthe F-bomb thrown on every show
on Netflix.
So all of a sudden they startblanking out what the Rock is
(10:38):
saying because he's usingseveral words in a row and all
of a sudden all you hear issilence and you don't even know
what the hell is going on in thering.
At that point there does come atime.
Now I can almost understandNetflix Monday Night Raw keeping
it censored.
But when you go to a PLE andyou start censoring the PLEs,
that seems to take away frompart of the mystique of a PLE to
(11:02):
me, teddy.
Well, I mean, I want to thinkthat at least on a PLE you can
give me a little more edge thanyou do on your regular weekly
program.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yeah, well, it looked like to me that would be OK too
, but, man, you know, it's justso many changes and stuff that
they're doing now, so we reallydon't know what to say or what
to do.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Let's see.
I got one more thing that wasin the news.
I did see MJF from AEW revealedthat he witnessed John Cena's
heel turn live at EliminationChamber and had nothing but
praise for it, and I saw himputting him over saying heck
yeah, if you didn't mark outwhen that happened, then you're
just not a wrestling fan,basically.
And it was good to see MJF saywhat he had to say, recognizing
(11:42):
the other company, and give themthe props that they deserve.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Right, good, and, like I said, I've always had a
lot of respect for MJF.
I really, you know, respectthat guy.
What a great guy and, like Isaid, he just said it right.
Like I told you, when Cena'sturned, that's the best thing he
could have ever did, becausethat's him Okay.
And so when that is really you,you can really pull that off
because it's you.
Yes, and I'll explain that.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
I might have said something on Sports Keto about
it and I'll tell you, teddy, whyyou catch your breath there,
because I know you've got badcongestion going on.
But I'll say something thatsurprised me.
When we saw the Rock and JohnCena in the ring in the turn the
(12:29):
following Monday Night Raw justthe other night, neither one of
them were on the show.
That surprised me.
They didn't.
They had nobody from thatactually in the ring and talking
about what happened.
Did that seem like a missedopportunity to you?
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Well, it always has been that way.
If something went down likethat, as soon as you open up
Monday Night Raw, that clipwould be right there.
Events would always have thatright there.
In case you didn't see whathappened last night.
Well, here's what went down.
You know what I mean.
So I guess a lot of stuff togetting away from some of the
old school stuff, but that'sgood stuff right there.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
You gotta continue with that, yeah I felt like they
lost the steam.
It's like, man, you hadeverybody waiting to tune in to
see what was gonna happen onmonday night raw, and maybe that
was part of the concept.
In their mind was like, well,we know they'll come, uh, for
this show after the pay-per-view, but the following week we'll
follow it up and we'll get evenhigher numbers then because
people know they'll be coming in.
But in reality, I think as afan, you really wanted to see
(13:29):
more of that story develop onMonday Night Raw and I thought
it was something that wasdesperately missing on the
program.
Let's see, we got somebody elsehere Mike Rosenorta Rosenorta.
I hope that's right, mike.
Uh, rosa Norta, rosa Norta.
I hope that's right, mike, andI apologize if it's not.
Definitely a Teddy long guy.
(13:50):
Best wrestling interview whenhe isn't being politically
correct.
They're all better when it'slike that.
Well, thank you, mike.
Yeah, absolutely All right,let's see.
Uh, I do have some uh lettershere from last week and we got
some that we can get to fromtonight from the fans.
Come in here and if you have aquestion, leave them down below.
This is where we're going tostart answering those questions
coming up next.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Letters oh, we get letters.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
We get your letters every day.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Mailman, mailman, mail.
Today, reach right in and pullone out.
Those letters, I love thoseletters.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Let's find out what you've got to say.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Mailman mail today.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
All right, teddy, here we go.
Our first question that we gotin is Jack in Georgia wants to
know why did you leave WCW?
Speaker 2 (14:58):
I didn't leave WCW.
I left.
Well, okay, I did leave.
I left WCW to go to WWF.
It was the WWF at that time.
So I left there in 1998.
That's when I went to the WWFat that time.
So I left there in 1998.
That's when I went to the WWF.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Was there ever something that you noticed?
Look, this is actually part ofthe next question.
Maybe that's why it's on mymind.
Miguel the whale asked thisquestion when you went to WWE,
what was the first thing younoticed that was different from
WCW.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Well, the first thing I noticed that they were about
business, okay, that when Ifinally went to the WWF I really
understood what this businesswas all about the business side.
I never learned that in in WAand WCW because they didn't want
me to know that side, but whenyou got to Vince you got to know
that side.
That's how you're going to beable to keep a job.
You got to know what yourpurpose is and why you're there.
(15:49):
So it was great for me to gothere.
It was like a blessing from Godand I had a chance to work
closely with Vince on a lot ofstuff the Vickie Guerrero stuff
Vince wrote that.
The kidnapping from Taker Vincewrote that.
The white boy challenge Vincewrote that.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
So he wrote a lot of stuff that I did.
All right, let's see uh mikeagain popping in the room.
Wwe doesn't want to givenetflix any more than they have
to.
Uh, mike, yeah, the saying isthat, uh, the check's already
been cashed, so they're going togive netflix what they can give
them, but they've already gottheir money so they don't have
to go out of the way, and that'ssomething, teddy.
When it comes to wrestlemania,uh, that I worry about.
(16:31):
You know, they know they'regoing to sell tickets to
wrestlemania and by sellingthose tickets, if they reach a
certain once they sell them out,do they have to try anymore?
Or is that just pretty much it?
We don't need to announceanybody else.
We don't need to spend any moremoney.
We got what we's it.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Well, why would you keep advertising If you ain't
got no more seats?
Speaker 1 (16:53):
if you ain't got nowhere to put them, then why
keep advertising?
Now I'm not sure if they're soldout, and somebody who's in the
room right now may know.
I think that they're still wayshy of being sold out for a
WrestleMania in Las Vegas.
But somebody may know I don'tthink so.
Yeah, in Las Vegas.
But somebody in here may know Idon't think so.
Yeah, because that surprised mewhen I heard that or saw that
earlier this afternoon, daveRuby popping in and saying hey
(17:14):
guys, good to see you live again.
Thanks, dave, and thanks forpopping in.
I know you get on our list Forboth of you.
Which storyline in WWE today isthe least interesting or should
scrap altogether?
Daddy, what do you think?
Speaker 2 (17:31):
I've seen quite a few things that they're doing.
I don't really see nothing thatthey should scrap.
Maybe they should tweak it ormaybe work at it a little bit
better, but I think what they'redoing right now is good for
everybody.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
The one thing I think , if they had to scrap something
and I think they need to figureout if they're going to go
forward to scrap it or not wouldbe the Wyatt Six.
That program just seems so outthere and all over the place,
and I've even heard that maybeBo Dallas is no longer part of
the Wyatt Six, which is ratherodd because he was the brother
of Bray Wyatt.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Well, I think that's ran its course.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Yeah, I do too.
I'll be honest with you, Teddy.
The Bloodline story.
I kind of like to see that fadeaway too, because I think
that's played out, Do you?
Speaker 2 (18:18):
No, I don't.
I think what they need to do isto add some new characters to
that.
You can get a lot more out ofthat Bloodline.
Look at that.
You still got Rikishi out there.
You ain't talked to him abouthis boys.
You know what I mean.
So there are a lot more morethan someone's family there that
they could involve right nowbefore they get rid of that.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Adam in Texas writes.
We recently heard from NickDensmore, eugene in WWE that
allegedly his girlfriend or wifewas once cornered in the ladies
bathroom with Mark Caranobegging her to kiss him.
Nick said he had to force thedoor open to help his wife or
(18:59):
girlfriend out.
And the question being doesthat surprise you, teddy Long?
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Not at all.
And I the other thing too.
You know they haven't reallymentioned his name much.
You know what I mean, macaroni,but he was certainly a mean,
evil person, yep.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Diane wants to know do you recall where you were and
how you found out that EddieGuerrero died?
Speaker 2 (19:24):
I was in Minneapolis, minnesota, at that time.
We were working TV that day andso we were all staying at the
TV hotel, which was the Marriottdowntown there.
And so when I left the MarriottI went straight to the arena.
Got to the arena, so I rememberwalking in and I spoke to Fit
Finley.
I remember seeing Fit and hedidn't look right and I kept
(19:46):
looking around and you know,everybody was kind of in gloom
and so I asked Fit.
I said is everything all righthere?
And Fit told me that Eddie haddied because he OD'd in the
hotel where we were all staying,the TV hotel.
So that's how I found it outwhen I got the TV.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
What was that night like backstage?
Was it very quiet back there,or was it just back to business.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Well, you know, back to business.
You know what I mean.
Vince always installed in you.
No matter what happens, theshow must go on.
You know you may feel bad andyou may want to grieve, but you
can do that, and then you canalso do your job too.
So, uh, uh, like I said, theshow must go on, yep.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
All right.
So let's see Yalu ask you getoffered a position in a new
Vince McMahon rest promotion.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
but you find out, johnny Ace, john Laurinaitis is
also working there.
Do you still take the job?
No, and that ain't going tohappen.
John Laurinaitis ain't going tobe working nowhere, you don't
know.
Go ahead.
I don't see Vince opening up acompany and then bringing this
guy in.
You know what that's just liketaking a gun and putting it to
your head?
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Yeah, commit suicide.
You might as well if you'rebringing him in.
Brandon Atkins what's up guys?
Hey, brandon, good to have youon the show this evening.
By the way, we do have severalpeople in here.
Please share this.
Let people know we're out thereif you have a question.
We still have a few moreminutes before we close out.
We only do a 30-minute program,so you get about seven minutes
to get your questions in andwe'll get to them.
And, by the way, the bestquestion of the evening, teddy
(21:20):
will pick and that person willwin a free wrestling's road trip
after hours t-shirt.
All right, adam in virginiaasked was there anyone you
wanted to work with but neverhad the opportunity, such as
hulk hogan, randy savage somebig names like that well, no,
because I had the opportunity towork with all those guys.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
I had a chance to work with hogan when I was
general manager of uh, smackdownum.
Who else did he say there?
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Randy Savage I guess some of the big names, because
you know you were in WCW and JimCrockett and all that stuff
during the time of some of theseearly stars.
Was there ever a star thatyou're like man?
If I could just have workedwith him.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
No, because I pretty much worked with him.
I worked with Randy Savage.
I was with Savage before heever went to New York and became
Macho man.
Randy Savage, I was with himback then.
So, like I said, I basicallyworked with all of them.
I'm sitting here thinking Ijust don't know anybody.
You know what?
I do know somebody.
I wish I would have had theopportunity to work with Bruno
(22:25):
Salmentino.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
That's cool.
Did you get to see him when hefinally came over to WCW?
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Yeah Well, I saw him in New York too, you know,
before he started coming aroundthere after a while.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Here's another question I got for you just out
of curiosity.
In the early days, before wehad the cell phones and texting
and all that other stuff, didyou guys you know the boys?
Were they able to communicatemuch at all on the road?
How did you do that?
How did you get messages to oneanother?
You just simply see each otherat the place.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Because I would imagine you'd be split up all
over the country eventually.
Well, you know, I remember onetime Butch Reed was trying to
call home and he kept callinghome and we had to stop like
every five minutes to a payphone so he could keep calling
home.
So that was pretty rough rightthere, okay, because he'd call
home and then he'd hang up andthen he'd think of something
else he didn't say.
(23:19):
Then he'd tell us pull overhere, I gotta call back, I gotta
call back.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
So, uh, yeah, that was that's pretty interesting
that had to be tough back then,even even if you were trying to
take bookings.
I mean, it's like how did youget a booking?
Was it just a phone call?
You had to catch up on apayphone somewhere and just get
your booking through a payphone.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
No, they gave you a booking sheet back in the day.
You had a booking sheet.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
But I mean if somebody wanted to reach out and
book you for a show back then.
That was outside of somethingyou were doing.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
That didn't happen back then?
No, okay, there weren't nopromoters or running, no
Comic-Cons and WrestleCons.
No, none of that wasn't evenhappening when was the first
time that you.
You wouldn't have been allowedto work for any of those people
back then anyway.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
When was the first time that you started seeing
some of the conventions pop up?
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Because I don't really remember uh, I guess, uh,
when I first left wwe, uh, thenI started getting these calls,
you know, to come to thesedifferent comic cons and
different stuff, so that's whenI started learning about them
then, and also I had theopportunity to work with a great
guy, tony hunter, and uh, so he, you know, is and that's what
you really gotta have.
You gotta have a promoterthat's fair and not don't lie to
(24:26):
you and, you know, swindle youout your money and they got them
out there, I'm telling you.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
Oh yeah, yeah, all right, let's see we have James
Malfi coming in saying Teddy,what was your favorite match to
ref?
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Well, I think the thing that really put me on the
map too was the Ric Flair andSteamboat, and I had the chance
to come in on the end of thatand make the one, two, three.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Yeah, I remember that .
It's funny when I go back andwatch some of the matches with
some of the stars I mean youknow Dusty Rhodes, ric Flair,
these guys Every once in a whilethere's Teddy man.
He is running around that ringand then you told me at one time
you were the only ref.
In some cases that worked.
Every single match was thatwith no other referee.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
I worked a saturday morning show and then I worked a
saturday afternoon show.
So we take all those matchesthat one day, god almighty, all
right let's see, and after thatI took the ring down, put it and
uh, you know, put it up, andthen also, wherever else I had
to go, I had to put the ring up,zach.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Hey brother, holla, holla players, smiz from Falls
Count, everywhere wanting to say, hey, we appreciate you popping
in too, man, it's good to seeyou in here.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Hey, thank you, zach.
Thank you for holla, hollahollin' at us player.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
And let's see who we got here.
We got Scott.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
I know, scott, but they're $20 now.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
That's a good way to end the thing, teddy.
You got to pick a questiontonight or comment, and let me
know which one we're going togive away.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
I thought about it right up at the beginning.
Man, we'll give that T-shirt tomy man, mike.
You know he's a Teddy LaHollaguy.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
So I appreciate your question.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
That was good you talking about Michael Steele.
No, Mike, the guy that had thatgood question for us there.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Gotcha, gotcha, I got you Mike, rosson Tor.
I can't say your last name tosave my soul, rosson Tor name,
to save my soul.
Say it, teddy, can you see it?
Speaker 2 (26:32):
No, I just see Scott Gillespie.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Okay, here we go, let's throw this up there,
pronounce this guy's name, hislast name.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Mike Rosandora or something like that.
Yeah, mike Rosandora.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
or something we tried .
Mike, you'll have to send ussomething.
Let us know how we actuallyshould be saying your name.
All right, so congratulations.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Well, this is not the guy here either, because I look
at his question, that's not him.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Well, he's asked a couple questions, which one was
the question about?
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Remember he said about the holla holla guy, my
teddy long guy.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
Yeah, that's him.
That's him, Okay.
Okay, I'll double check to makesure before we get out of here,
because I always reach out tothe folks after we get finished.
Okay, and, by the way,congratulations to Bryce from
last week Bryce Bordeaux, Ithink you had to say his last
name, ring announcer, but he wonlast week.
And congratulations to Michael,or Mike, for this week's
(27:27):
T-shirt winner.
Teddy, we're out of time.
Anything you want to talk about?
Speaker 2 (27:30):
I'm just going to give a big shout out to
everybody in West Minnesota,south Carolina.
I'll be there on Saturday atthe West Minnesota high school
for a big meet and greet and awrestling show.
So see you in West Minnesota,south Carolina.
West Minnesota high school.
That's on Saturday night.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Sounds good and for everybody who joined us tonight,
thank you so much for joiningin.
We do this every Thursday night7 PM.
Join Teddy and myself and askTeddy.
Ask him anything and maybe evenwin a t-shirt.
We'll see you again next week.
Holla players.
Hello everybody, welcome to an all-new episode of
the Wrestling Road Trip AfterHours.
I messed that up right off thebat there.
Welcome to Wrestling's RoadTrip After Hours.
I'm your special host tonightbecause we're both on
medications, along with myspecial friend, mr Teddy Long,
wwe Hall of Famer how you doingtonight.
I'm begging you to get in Jesus.
(00:25):
I know, mr Teddy Long, wwhallof Famer, how you doing tonight.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I'm begging you to get in, jesus.
I know, man, you just start out.
I mean, you don't even giveyourself no time, you just start
right in.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Well, you know, I found that when we do these
shows, when I go back and lookat them, that the videos when
they end, sometimes we alreadystarted talking.
I can't figure out why it's notcrossing over like we see on
the screen, so it does somethingkind of funny.
Well, whatever is doing, you'reresponsible.
I'm sure I am.
Man, it is good to see you.
I know that you're not feelingfantastic tonight.
(00:56):
You got some of that crudthat's been going all over, it
seems.
Everybody seems to be gettingthis crap.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Yeah, man, I'm coming down with it now.
So, uh, I did have someantibiotics here, so I took a
couple of them and so, uh,hopefully, uh, you know I can
feel better about.
Well, tomorrow's a gym day.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
I took off today, so I'll go and try and sweat it out
, yep let me ask you have youheard the latest news when it
came to the hall of fame for wwe?
The natural disasters are goinginto the hall of fame but I, I
did.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, I did see that that was a tugboat and somebody
right.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Yeah, that was an earthquake and typhoon because
they went into natural disasters.
But yeah, that was John Tintaand Fred Ottman, who also, for
those of you who are not aware,fred Ottman is also the shock
master of WCW fame.
Did you have a chance, teddy,to work with, uh, john tenta?
At all, I've never asked youthat, yeah, I started in nwa.
(01:50):
If I ain't work with you, thenyou weren't working any memories
with john tenta that you canrecall?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
no, not really just a nice guy.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
You know always, you know playful, had a great
attitude and that that's itthere are a few things in the
news this week, teddy, and thisis something that I wanted to
bring up to you just to get youropinion on this.
Pat McAfee recently revealed onhis Instagram that someone has
been targeting him and sendingsick death threats not only to
(02:20):
him, but also to hisone-year-old daughter following
the Elimination Chambercontroversy.
Have you heard about this?
Speaker 2 (02:29):
I saw something on social media about it.
I didn't take the time to readit.
I follow Pat, and so I wasrunning through my Twitter stuff
today and I saw something aboutthat.
What are the threats?
Speaker 1 (02:42):
I guess they're threatening to hurt him or his
child.
For what reason Did he dosomething like that?
I think what it was, teddy, infact.
Well, let me set this up At therecent premium live event
Elimination Chamber when theystarted the show actually, I'm
not sure if it was even on theactual PLE.
(03:02):
It may have been on thepre-show, but a girl came out to
sing the national anthem.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Now they're in Canada .
Speaker 1 (03:09):
And they booed this girl silly the entire time.
She sang the national anthem.
Well, pat McAfee didn't carefor that too much and he didn't
hold back.
He didn't appreciate itwhatsoever and he let it be
known.
And, quite honestly, I thinkthere are probably a lot of
(03:30):
people who watch that probablythought the same thing, like
what in the hell?
If nothing else, the poor girlin the ring looked like she.
What am I singing?
That bad.
It was all politics that playedinto it.
But aren't there times whenpolitics need to be put to the
side and just enjoy the show,and you don't need to be showing
your ass like that somewhere?
What are your thoughts?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
well, I I really don't know.
I mean, I don't understand, Imean, was the girl singing that
bad to the people?
Speaker 1 (03:51):
no, she was singing fantastic.
That wasn't the problem.
The problem was that the crowddid not want to, uh, show
applause for the united statesof america.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
There's a lot of things going on in canada, so
you had a person from the UnitedStates singing their national
anthem there.
Yep, yep.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
But now they also sang the Canadian national
anthem.
The same person sang theCanadian national anthem, but it
was just the Canadian fans.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
They weren't going to have it.
Well, if they did that, then Ican't see them just booing her.
They were booing the UnitedStates of America, that's what
they were doing.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Yeah, yeah, but at the same time, pat McAfee man,
he just people didn't appreciatehis comments about, you know,
the Canadians booing ournational anthem Sorry, there's
probably a lot of people who arewatching that.
That felt the same way Pat did,if you're from America, so you
know.
But there may be a good thingthere.
Could you run a story right now, teddy, where it would be
(04:45):
Canada versus USA?
Are we still in a period wherewe can do something like that?
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Yeah, you could if you, if you pull it off, right.
I mean, look what Vince and didwith Sergeant Slaughter and the
Iron Sheep.
The reason they made so muchmoney is because at that time
there was really a war and theSheik was originally from Iran,
so all that's perfect.
So if you're from the UnitedStates and you want the United
States to win, then you're goingto cheer for them, and that's
(05:13):
what people did.
They made Slaughter the biggestbabyface of all time man.
So him and Sheik made a lot ofmoney because it was real.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Have you ever been in an arena somewhere where they
were doing the national anthemand the crowd booed the national
anthem?
No, yeah, would that surpriseyou.
I mean, would that shock you?
Speaker 2 (05:32):
well, yeah, when you do something like that, that's
just going a little bit too, toooverboard, I would say, you
know, but I mean, people aregoing to be people.
So, with all this stuff goingon in the world and everything
now you know all this hatred andevil.
So, brother, we just don't knowwhat may happen next,
absolutely true Wyatt Longpopping in and saying hi, teddy
(05:52):
Long.
What's happening there?
Wyatt Long.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
No relation huh.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Well, I don't know, is he black?
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Hey look, we're twins and nobody says anything about
that.
Let's see.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
I know Wyatt.
I've seen him on some of theindependents.
So I know Wyatt and my man,michael Steele.
He just let me know there aretoo many snowflakes for that now
.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
You know, and I'm going to be honest with you,
michael, I completely agree.
I think that the people beingso touchy about anything you do
or say nowadays has killed somany things in entertainment
that we used to enjoy Not onlyprofessional wrestling but
comedians.
They can no longer get up onstage and really say the things
(06:39):
they want because people takeoffense to it when they're just
being funny.
You've got to remove yourselffrom reality sometimes, and that
includes in professionalwrestling as well as in when you
get into a comedic situation,because they're being somebody
to get a laugh out of you.
They're not really poking fun,they're trying to make you feel
good and that becomes reallycrazy.
(07:01):
And too many snowflakes inwrestling create some of the
boring storylines that we getnow.
I can't imagine us ever talkingabout, you know, the Japanese.
You know coming in and we hatethe Japanese and they're evil
people.
Well, back when we were young,the Japanese that was an evil,
you know, type of character thatplayed into professional
(07:21):
wrestling.
Nobody took it seriously, butthey played along with it and
enjoyed the story that was beingtold.
By the way, if you want to joinin the conversation, please do
so.
Also share this link.
Let people know that we're upand live right now.
We'd love to have your commentsin here.
We're not looking for superstickers, we're not looking for
money, we're just looking foryour questions, and they don't
cost you a nickel.
(07:42):
Just simply let us know yourquestions.
And, by the way, teddy, Ibelieve you might have a t-shirt
to give away tonight.
Okay, so if he chooses yourmessage as the one that he likes
best tonight, if you come upwith the best question, he'll
pick that person and that personwill receive a free road after
(08:04):
a road trip after our.
Let me bring up some more news,teddy.
While we wait for some peopleto get in here, um, we do have,
uh, breaking news that rhearipley is reportedly set to miss
wrestlemania this year due toan undisclosed issue.
Uh, does that surprise youseeing her disappear?
I was surprised that she lostthe belt.
Now it's starting to kind ofmake a little bit to an
undisclosed issue.
Does that surprise you seeingher disappear?
I was surprised that she lostthe belt.
(08:24):
Now it's starting to kind ofmake a little bit more sense now
.
Your thoughts?
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Well, I mean, I don't know, man.
You know, because we never knowwhat's going on.
You know behind the scenes, soyou know that may be just
something that may be involved.
You know with her having to dowith her, so maybe that's why to
do with her, so maybe that'swhy I don't know.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Do you think that maybe Rhea has and I've seen
people say this online thatmaybe her character has kind of
played out and they neededsomething fresh?
I'm not sure I felt that way.
Actually, I was kind of hopingwe'd get a Rhea and a Charlotte
matchup or something you know.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Rhea and some of the big girls that are there.
Rhea, you know, we don't knowwhat's really going on, so we're
just going to have to sit backand watch this play out too.
But I hope everything's allright with her because, I mean,
she's a great worker, she'sgreat out there, man, so I hope
they're going to.
You know, keep her around.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Yeah, like I said, it was surprising for me to see Io
Sky win that belt from her theother night and it was just like
what you know, it was the lastthing I expected to see before
WrestleMania, but there's stilla lot of time between now and
WrestleMania to see what happens.
James Malfi, hope I get thatright, james.
It says getting tired of thecensorship of the crowd these
(09:38):
days.
That's a good point, and Ididn't have this down.
But I'll ask you this, teddywe're on Netflix where they say
and do just about anything yetthey're censoring the wrestlers
on Netflix.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Does that make sense to you?
Well, you know, in a way itdoes, and I'll explain it the
best I can.
You know, I'm thinking, youknow, with the crowd saying
stuff and saying whatever theywant to say, that's a whole
different ball game.
But I think with the wrestlers,you know, no matter what you do
, you still got to stayprofessional, and so I think
that's what they're doing there,maybe sensing some stuff that
the guys say, you know, maybenot everything, but, like I said
(10:15):
, they still have to remainprofessional.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
And you know.
The problem is that when theRock gets in the ring, and you
know the Rock seems to have alot more freedom than anybody
else and he'll say what he wantson the microphone.
But there are times when hesays it and you know you're
watching Netflix and of courseI'm not expecting anything to
get censored, because I've heardthe F-bomb thrown on every show
on Netflix.
So all of a sudden they startblanking out what the Rock is
(10:38):
saying because he's usingseveral words in a row and all
of a sudden all you hear issilence and you don't even know
what the hell is going on in thering.
At that point there does come atime.
Now I can almost understandNetflix Monday Night Raw keeping
it censored.
But when you go to a PLE andyou start censoring the PLEs,
that seems to take away frompart of the mystique of a PLE to
(11:02):
me, teddy.
Well, I mean, I want to thinkthat at least on a PLE you can
give me a little more edge thanyou do on your regular weekly
program.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yeah, well, it looked like to me that would be OK too
, but, man, you know, it's justso many changes and stuff that
they're doing now, so we reallydon't know what to say or what
to do.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Let's see.
I got one more thing that wasin the news.
I did see MJF from AEW revealedthat he witnessed John Cena's
heel turn live at EliminationChamber and had nothing but
praise for it, and I saw himputting him over saying heck
yeah, if you didn't mark outwhen that happened, then you're
just not a wrestling fan,basically.
And it was good to see MJF saywhat he had to say, recognizing
(11:42):
the other company, and give themthe props that they deserve.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Right, good, and, like I said, I've always had a
lot of respect for MJF.
I really, you know, respectthat guy.
What a great guy and, like Isaid, he just said it right.
Like I told you, when Cena'sturned, that's the best thing he
could have ever did, becausethat's him Okay.
And so when that is really you,you can really pull that off
because it's you.
Yes, and I'll explain that.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
I might have said something on Sports Keto about
it and I'll tell you, teddy, whyyou catch your breath there,
because I know you've got badcongestion going on.
But I'll say something thatsurprised me.
When we saw the Rock and JohnCena in the ring in the turn the
(12:29):
following Monday Night Raw justthe other night, neither one of
them were on the show.
That surprised me.
They didn't.
They had nobody from thatactually in the ring and talking
about what happened.
Did that seem like a missedopportunity to you?
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Well, it always has been that way.
If something went down likethat, as soon as you open up
Monday Night Raw, that clipwould be right there.
Events would always have thatright there.
In case you didn't see whathappened last night.
Well, here's what went down.
You know what I mean.
So I guess a lot of stuff togetting away from some of the
old school stuff, but that'sgood stuff right there.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
You gotta continue with that, yeah I felt like they
lost the steam.
It's like, man, you hadeverybody waiting to tune in to
see what was gonna happen onmonday night raw, and maybe that
was part of the concept.
In their mind was like, well,we know they'll come, uh, for
this show after the pay-per-view, but the following week we'll
follow it up and we'll get evenhigher numbers then because
people know they'll be coming in.
But in reality, I think as afan, you really wanted to see
(13:29):
more of that story develop onMonday Night Raw and I thought
it was something that wasdesperately missing on the
program.
Let's see, we got somebody elsehere Mike Rosenorta Rosenorta.
I hope that's right, mike.
Uh, rosa Norta, rosa Norta.
I hope that's right, mike, andI apologize if it's not.
Definitely a Teddy long guy.
(13:50):
Best wrestling interview whenhe isn't being politically
correct.
They're all better when it'slike that.
Well, thank you, mike.
Yeah, absolutely All right,let's see.
Uh, I do have some uh lettershere from last week and we got
some that we can get to fromtonight from the fans.
Come in here and if you have aquestion, leave them down below.
This is where we're going tostart answering those questions
coming up next.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Letters oh, we get letters.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
We get your letters every day.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Mailman, mailman, mail.
Today, reach right in and pullone out.
Those letters, I love thoseletters.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Let's find out what you've got to say.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Mailman mail today.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
All right, teddy, here we go.
Our first question that we gotin is Jack in Georgia wants to
know why did you leave WCW?
Speaker 2 (14:58):
I didn't leave WCW.
I left.
Well, okay, I did leave.
I left WCW to go to WWF.
It was the WWF at that time.
So I left there in 1998.
That's when I went to the WWFat that time.
So I left there in 1998.
That's when I went to the WWF.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Was there ever something that you noticed?
Look, this is actually part ofthe next question.
Maybe that's why it's on mymind.
Miguel the whale asked thisquestion when you went to WWE,
what was the first thing younoticed that was different from
WCW.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Well, the first thing I noticed that they were about
business, okay, that when Ifinally went to the WWF I really
understood what this businesswas all about the business side.
I never learned that in in WAand WCW because they didn't want
me to know that side, but whenyou got to Vince you got to know
that side.
That's how you're going to beable to keep a job.
You got to know what yourpurpose is and why you're there.
(15:49):
So it was great for me to gothere.
It was like a blessing from Godand I had a chance to work
closely with Vince on a lot ofstuff the Vickie Guerrero stuff
Vince wrote that.
The kidnapping from Taker Vincewrote that.
The white boy challenge Vincewrote that.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
So he wrote a lot of stuff that I did.
All right, let's see uh mikeagain popping in the room.
Wwe doesn't want to givenetflix any more than they have
to.
Uh, mike, yeah, the saying isthat, uh, the check's already
been cashed, so they're going togive netflix what they can give
them, but they've already gottheir money so they don't have
to go out of the way, and that'ssomething, teddy.
When it comes to wrestlemania,uh, that I worry about.
(16:31):
You know, they know they'regoing to sell tickets to
wrestlemania and by sellingthose tickets, if they reach a
certain once they sell them out,do they have to try anymore?
Or is that just pretty much it?
We don't need to announceanybody else.
We don't need to spend any moremoney.
We got what we's it.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Well, why would you keep advertising If you ain't
got no more seats?
Speaker 1 (16:53):
if you ain't got nowhere to put them, then why
keep advertising?
Now I'm not sure if they're soldout, and somebody who's in the
room right now may know.
I think that they're still wayshy of being sold out for a
WrestleMania in Las Vegas.
But somebody may know I don'tthink so.
Yeah, in Las Vegas.
But somebody in here may know Idon't think so.
Yeah, because that surprised mewhen I heard that or saw that
earlier this afternoon, daveRuby popping in and saying hey
(17:14):
guys, good to see you live again.
Thanks, dave, and thanks forpopping in.
I know you get on our list Forboth of you.
Which storyline in WWE today isthe least interesting or should
scrap altogether?
Daddy, what do you think?
Speaker 2 (17:31):
I've seen quite a few things that they're doing.
I don't really see nothing thatthey should scrap.
Maybe they should tweak it ormaybe work at it a little bit
better, but I think what they'redoing right now is good for
everybody.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
The one thing I think , if they had to scrap something
and I think they need to figureout if they're going to go
forward to scrap it or not wouldbe the Wyatt Six.
That program just seems so outthere and all over the place,
and I've even heard that maybeBo Dallas is no longer part of
the Wyatt Six, which is ratherodd because he was the brother
of Bray Wyatt.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Well, I think that's ran its course.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Yeah, I do too.
I'll be honest with you, Teddy.
The Bloodline story.
I kind of like to see that fadeaway too, because I think
that's played out, Do you?
Speaker 2 (18:18):
No, I don't.
I think what they need to do isto add some new characters to
that.
You can get a lot more out ofthat Bloodline.
Look at that.
You still got Rikishi out there.
You ain't talked to him abouthis boys.
You know what I mean.
So there are a lot more morethan someone's family there that
they could involve right nowbefore they get rid of that.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Adam in Texas writes.
We recently heard from NickDensmore, eugene in WWE that
allegedly his girlfriend or wifewas once cornered in the ladies
bathroom with Mark Caranobegging her to kiss him.
Nick said he had to force thedoor open to help his wife or
(18:59):
girlfriend out.
And the question being doesthat surprise you, teddy Long?
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Not at all.
And I the other thing too.
You know they haven't reallymentioned his name much.
You know what I mean, macaroni,but he was certainly a mean,
evil person, yep.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Diane wants to know do you recall where you were and
how you found out that EddieGuerrero died?
Speaker 2 (19:24):
I was in Minneapolis, minnesota, at that time.
We were working TV that day andso we were all staying at the
TV hotel, which was the Marriottdowntown there.
And so when I left the MarriottI went straight to the arena.
Got to the arena, so I rememberwalking in and I spoke to Fit
Finley.
I remember seeing Fit and hedidn't look right and I kept
(19:46):
looking around and you know,everybody was kind of in gloom
and so I asked Fit.
I said is everything all righthere?
And Fit told me that Eddie haddied because he OD'd in the
hotel where we were all staying,the TV hotel.
So that's how I found it outwhen I got the TV.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
What was that night like backstage?
Was it very quiet back there,or was it just back to business.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Well, you know, back to business.
You know what I mean.
Vince always installed in you.
No matter what happens, theshow must go on.
You know you may feel bad andyou may want to grieve, but you
can do that, and then you canalso do your job too.
So, uh, uh, like I said, theshow must go on, yep.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
All right.
So let's see Yalu ask you getoffered a position in a new
Vince McMahon rest promotion.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
but you find out, johnny Ace, john Laurinaitis is
also working there.
Do you still take the job?
No, and that ain't going tohappen.
John Laurinaitis ain't going tobe working nowhere, you don't
know.
Go ahead.
I don't see Vince opening up acompany and then bringing this
guy in.
You know what that's just liketaking a gun and putting it to
your head?
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Yeah, commit suicide.
You might as well if you'rebringing him in.
Brandon Atkins what's up guys?
Hey, brandon, good to have youon the show this evening.
By the way, we do have severalpeople in here.
Please share this.
Let people know we're out thereif you have a question.
We still have a few moreminutes before we close out.
We only do a 30-minute program,so you get about seven minutes
to get your questions in andwe'll get to them.
And, by the way, the bestquestion of the evening, teddy
(21:20):
will pick and that person willwin a free wrestling's road trip
after hours t-shirt.
All right, adam in virginiaasked was there anyone you
wanted to work with but neverhad the opportunity, such as
hulk hogan, randy savage somebig names like that well, no,
because I had the opportunity towork with all those guys.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
I had a chance to work with hogan when I was
general manager of uh, smackdownum.
Who else did he say there?
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Randy Savage I guess some of the big names, because
you know you were in WCW and JimCrockett and all that stuff
during the time of some of theseearly stars.
Was there ever a star thatyou're like man?
If I could just have workedwith him.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
No, because I pretty much worked with him.
I worked with Randy Savage.
I was with Savage before heever went to New York and became
Macho man.
Randy Savage, I was with himback then.
So, like I said, I basicallyworked with all of them.
I'm sitting here thinking Ijust don't know anybody.
You know what?
I do know somebody.
I wish I would have had theopportunity to work with Bruno
(22:25):
Salmentino.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
That's cool.
Did you get to see him when hefinally came over to WCW?
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Yeah Well, I saw him in New York too, you know,
before he started coming aroundthere after a while.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Here's another question I got for you just out
of curiosity.
In the early days, before wehad the cell phones and texting
and all that other stuff, didyou guys you know the boys?
Were they able to communicatemuch at all on the road?
How did you do that?
How did you get messages to oneanother?
You just simply see each otherat the place.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Because I would imagine you'd be split up all
over the country eventually.
Well, you know, I remember onetime Butch Reed was trying to
call home and he kept callinghome and we had to stop like
every five minutes to a payphone so he could keep calling
home.
So that was pretty rough rightthere, okay, because he'd call
home and then he'd hang up andthen he'd think of something
else he didn't say.
(23:19):
Then he'd tell us pull overhere, I gotta call back, I gotta
call back.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
So, uh, yeah, that was that's pretty interesting
that had to be tough back then,even even if you were trying to
take bookings.
I mean, it's like how did youget a booking?
Was it just a phone call?
You had to catch up on apayphone somewhere and just get
your booking through a payphone.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
No, they gave you a booking sheet back in the day.
You had a booking sheet.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
But I mean if somebody wanted to reach out and
book you for a show back then.
That was outside of somethingyou were doing.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
That didn't happen back then?
No, okay, there weren't nopromoters or running, no
Comic-Cons and WrestleCons.
No, none of that wasn't evenhappening when was the first
time that you.
You wouldn't have been allowedto work for any of those people
back then anyway.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
When was the first time that you started seeing
some of the conventions pop up?
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Because I don't really remember uh, I guess, uh,
when I first left wwe, uh, thenI started getting these calls,
you know, to come to thesedifferent comic cons and
different stuff, so that's whenI started learning about them
then, and also I had theopportunity to work with a great
guy, tony hunter, and uh, so he, you know, is and that's what
you really gotta have.
You gotta have a promoterthat's fair and not don't lie to
(24:26):
you and, you know, swindle youout your money and they got them
out there, I'm telling you.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
Oh yeah, yeah, all right, let's see we have James
Malfi coming in saying Teddy,what was your favorite match to
ref?
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Well, I think the thing that really put me on the
map too was the Ric Flair andSteamboat, and I had the chance
to come in on the end of thatand make the one, two, three.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Yeah, I remember that .
It's funny when I go back andwatch some of the matches with
some of the stars I mean youknow Dusty Rhodes, ric Flair,
these guys Every once in a whilethere's Teddy man.
He is running around that ringand then you told me at one time
you were the only ref.
In some cases that worked.
Every single match was thatwith no other referee.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
I worked a saturday morning show and then I worked a
saturday afternoon show.
So we take all those matchesthat one day, god almighty, all
right let's see, and after thatI took the ring down, put it and
uh, you know, put it up, andthen also, wherever else I had
to go, I had to put the ring up,zach.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Hey brother, holla, holla players, smiz from Falls
Count, everywhere wanting to say, hey, we appreciate you popping
in too, man, it's good to seeyou in here.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Hey, thank you, zach.
Thank you for holla, hollahollin' at us player.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
And let's see who we got here.
We got Scott.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
I know, scott, but they're $20 now.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
That's a good way to end the thing, teddy.
You got to pick a questiontonight or comment, and let me
know which one we're going togive away.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
I thought about it right up at the beginning.
Man, we'll give that T-shirt tomy man, mike.
You know he's a Teddy LaHollaguy.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
So I appreciate your question.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
That was good you talking about Michael Steele.
No, Mike, the guy that had thatgood question for us there.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Gotcha, gotcha, I got you Mike, rosson Tor.
I can't say your last name tosave my soul, rosson Tor name,
to save my soul.
Say it, teddy, can you see it?
Speaker 2 (26:32):
No, I just see Scott Gillespie.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Okay, here we go, let's throw this up there,
pronounce this guy's name, hislast name.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Mike Rosandora or something like that.
Yeah, mike Rosandora.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
or something we tried .
Mike, you'll have to send ussomething.
Let us know how we actuallyshould be saying your name.
All right, so congratulations.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Well, this is not the guy here either, because I look
at his question, that's not him.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Well, he's asked a couple questions, which one was
the question about?
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Remember he said about the holla holla guy, my
teddy long guy.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
Yeah, that's him.
That's him, Okay.
Okay, I'll double check to makesure before we get out of here,
because I always reach out tothe folks after we get finished.
Okay, and, by the way,congratulations to Bryce from
last week Bryce Bordeaux, Ithink you had to say his last
name, ring announcer, but he wonlast week.
And congratulations to Michael,or Mike, for this week's
(27:27):
T-shirt winner.
Teddy, we're out of time.
Anything you want to talk about?
Speaker 2 (27:30):
I'm just going to give a big shout out to
everybody in West Minnesota,south Carolina.
I'll be there on Saturday atthe West Minnesota high school
for a big meet and greet and awrestling show.
So see you in West Minnesota,south Carolina.
West Minnesota high school.
That's on Saturday night.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Sounds good and for everybody who joined us tonight,
thank you so much for joiningin.
We do this every Thursday night7 PM.
Join Teddy and myself and askTeddy.
Ask him anything and maybe evenwin a t-shirt.
We'll see you again next week.
Holla players.
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