Teddy Long recently leveled serious allegations against former WWE Executives John Laurinaitis and Mark Carrano for their racist behavior towards him.
Joining in 2001, Laurinaitis remained a controversial figure in WWE due to his alleged backstage politics. He was released in 2022 amid hush-money allegations against him and Vince McMahon. One of the persons he never got along with well was Teddy Long, who has been open about his disdain for John Laurinaitis due to his efforts to undermine his position in the global juggernaut.
On Sportskeeda's The Wrestling Time Machine podcast hosted by Mac Davis, Teddy Long stated that John Laurinaitis made his life miserable in WWE.
The Hall of Famer also mentioned how he was underpaid in the promotion, revealing that a referee was paid more than him at one point. Furthermore, he also called out another WWE Executive, Mark Carrano, for showing unjust behavior against him.
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"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. [16:00 - 16:28]
Check out the full video below:
Teddy Long on how John Laurinaitis set him up to be fired from WWE
Previously on The Wrestling Time Machine podcast, Teddy Long recalled the time when he was fired by John Laurinaitis for a goof-up in a match between Christian and Test.
Long added that it was all a setup as one of the performers in the bout didn't kick out in time, resulting in the match finishing before its stipulated time. He added that it was Test who revealed to him that his firing from WWE was planned in advance.
"After I started refereeing there, I came to find out that John Laurinaitis was in charge then, too, at that time. He sends me up to Hawaii. I refereed a match in Hawaii between Christian and Test; god rest his soul. What I did, I went and made the count, 1-2- you know.... One of the guys didn't kick out, so I went on down to 3, so they tried to say that I screwed the finish up, so Johnny fired me. I had the opportunity to see Test before he died, and he said, 'Hey man, they set you up. I didn't know that they were trying to get me to help them to fire you,'" said Teddy Long.
Teddy Long was deservedly inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2017 for his incredible contributions to the company and the wrestling business at large.
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