Loss Posted March 25, 2012 Report Share Posted March 25, 2012 Why has this guy been so prominently featured in WWE for so long? Weird that not only has he been a TV fixture for so long, but also that he's NEVER discussed really at all. It's just ... odd. He's not particularly good or bad at what he does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Sorrow Posted March 25, 2012 Report Share Posted March 25, 2012 Well, he's well liked by everyone as far as I know. And let's face it...he's freaking over in this Teddy/ Ace feud. The crowds are going nuts for him. I'd imagine that Vince and creative were shocked at just how much the crowds are cheering for Teddy and that's why this mid card Mania match is getting so much build-up now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted March 25, 2012 Report Share Posted March 25, 2012 He is crazy fucking over. Every time I've gone to a live event and he comes out he gets a huge fucking pop. At Mania his music had my entire section getting up to do the Teddy dance. I used to love the little strut he did to the ring in the Doom days I also enjoyed him on the Legends panel talking about how he got into the business by being a gopher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victator Posted March 25, 2012 Report Share Posted March 25, 2012 I'm glad on Raw they finally acknowledged Laurinitis could kick the shit out of Teddy. If Teddy eats an Ace Crusher, I will lose my shit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted March 25, 2012 Report Share Posted March 25, 2012 Hell, I don't just want an Ace Crusher, I want Kobashi and The Patriot doing surprise run ins to support their former GET stablemate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Sorrow Posted March 25, 2012 Report Share Posted March 25, 2012 I've shared this story before, but screw it. I was at the RAW at the Meadowlands the day after Mania 20. We were sitting right next to the production area near the stage. Before the show, Teddy came out to consult with the crew about something. At the time, he was doing a manager deal on SD where he hated white people and was managing Jazz and Rodney Mack. So, a bunch of kids see him and start yelling for him to come over to sign autographs. Teddy comes over, signs stuff for all the kids, and when he was done and had to leave he says, "Ok, I gotta go. Stay in school, ya little crackers." Me and my pal lost our shit and were laughing for a good five minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingus Posted March 25, 2012 Report Share Posted March 25, 2012 I also remember hearing a story once from someone who was backstage at some WCW show as a kid, and Teddy randomly came up to this group of kids sitting around and bought all of them ice cream from a nearby vendor. He's said to be a truly amazingly nice guy. As to why he's popular, I'd say that he does his job well enough that nobody really complains about him, thus never leading to deep discussion. He's not exactly Laurence Olivier out there as a performer and his stuff can get repetitive, but he's consistently decent and that's all he needs to be widely accepted yet also be kind of an afterthought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Sorrow Posted March 25, 2012 Report Share Posted March 25, 2012 And, he's the guy who comes out and gives the live crowd the matches they want, generally. We may goof on the whole "Teddy Formula" but it works most of the time. I'm also loving that since they've introduced Johnny Ace as a character, the guy who the crowd is actually excited to see feud with him is Teddy Long. Not HHH..not CM Punk. It's Teddy Long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricR Posted March 25, 2012 Report Share Posted March 25, 2012 Sometimes his suit choices really bother me. He's a really small man (or at least appears smaller than he really is), but often opts for really long suit jackets that just make him seem like a little child dressing up in daddy clothes, or doing an homage to Stop Making Sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Sorrow Posted March 25, 2012 Report Share Posted March 25, 2012 Sometimes his suit choices really bother me. He's a really small man (or at least appears smaller than he really is), but often opts for really long suit jackets that just make him seem like a little child dressing up in daddy clothes, or doing an homage to Stop Making Sense.That's just his style. Haters gonna hate. Oh and this: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victator Posted March 25, 2012 Report Share Posted March 25, 2012 I like that he is working a George Jefferson gimmick in 2012. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strummer Posted March 25, 2012 Report Share Posted March 25, 2012 Dude is just over. He's naturally charismatic and most of the time doesn't take shit from heels. He also has a great authoritative booming voice which has to help. The GM feud is getting a fair share of criticism in certain areas for taking up too much TV time and wasting talented upper mid card guys but no one can deny that it's crazy over. Teddy and Ace have been great and have gotten it over as a top program. I always felt bad for him in 96 WCW having to manage jobbers like Jim Powers and Joe Gomez Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted March 25, 2012 Report Share Posted March 25, 2012 Criticizing the GM feud is idiotic. It's the only feud that is over and working right now. I agree it would have been nice to see some of the guys featured in better ways, but the way they have set it up has easily been more compelling than the set up for any other match on Mania Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted March 25, 2012 Report Share Posted March 25, 2012 Dude is just over. He's naturally charismatic and most of the time doesn't take shit from heels. He also has a great authoritative booming voice which has to help. The GM feud is getting a fair share of criticism in certain areas for taking up too much TV time and wasting talented upper mid card guys but no one can deny that it's crazy over. Teddy and Ace have been great and have gotten it over as a top program. I always felt bad for him in 96 WCW having to manage jobbers like Jim Powers and Joe Gomez Plus, it started with a really good idea (Teddy shapes Joey Maggs into a guy who breaks out of jobberdom) that got dropped and turned into him managing jobbers for no apparent reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cross Face Chicken Wing Posted March 25, 2012 Report Share Posted March 25, 2012 I could care less who ends up as the GM or Raw, but this feud has me interested, nonetheless. Long should get some credit for that. When he's on screen, there's very little wasted time. He does what needs to be done, does it reasonably well, and the story advances. It also helps that there's actual physical confrontation in the GM feud angle. Long and John L. actually put their hands on each other every now and then. The wrestlers involved actually wrestle or physically confront each other. Unlike the other big angles currently going on, the GM angle segments aren't 20-minute slam poetry battles or long-winded discussions between three guys who came up together in the 90s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blehschmidt Posted March 26, 2012 Report Share Posted March 26, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Liska Posted March 26, 2012 Report Share Posted March 26, 2012 It really is crazy that Teddy still has a significant spot in 2012. His career looked like it was over in 1996. Great run for a guy that started out by holding on to wrestler's ring jackets at the old TBS Crockett tapings. I feel good for him and hope this Mania thing isn't the end of his run. I just looked him up on Wikipedia - is he really 64 years old? So he didn't even start until he was 38? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NintendoLogic Posted March 26, 2012 Report Share Posted March 26, 2012 It's all a matter of perspective, I think. If Teddy had come right after Jack Tunney, everybody would probably hate him for being on TV all the time. But since most people's most recent frame of reference is heel authority figures who revolve everything around themselves, a GM who rights wrongs and is generally unobtrusive seems like a breath of fresh air. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cm funk Posted March 26, 2012 Report Share Posted March 26, 2012 It kind of goes without saying and I know everyone here will agree with me, but the "Board of Directors" and authority figure booking in general is re-goddamn-diculous. wwe.com published "a letter from the WWE Board of Directors" stating that the only way to resolve the issues between Long and Ace was to stage a winner take all 12 man tag. I don't expect WWE storylines to make real world sense, but it's hard to ignore when shit is this stupid. It's cool that the angle is over with the crowds and they're trying to make it feel important, but I'm finding it impossible to give a shit about it. I'm beyond sick of the heel authority figure, so even though I find Ace very entertaining as a character, I don't want him all over both shows skewing everything in favor of the heels. I don't mind Teddy Long since he's generally just a harmless "here to make everything right" kind of authority figure, but I don't really need to see him on both shows either. I think one of the reasons so many people don't mind him is how underexposed he is. He's does some sideshow angles with different girlfriends (or comedy stuff like teaching Hornswoggle to speak) and beefs with the occasional top heel, but in general they limit how much he's used. Just on the basis of the makeup of the two teams Ace's team should win going away. Long's assembled essentially a jobber comedy team so far in my eyes, and they really need Rey Mysterio, or hell even Booker T, to make the team look credible to me. I'm glad to hear the rumour that Del Rio won't be in the match, because the heel side is already loaded, and if they're going to lose might as well not job 5 guys you should be pushing as top heels to a bunch of comedy acts and Kofi Kingston. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Mann Posted March 26, 2012 Report Share Posted March 26, 2012 I'm beyond sick of the heel authority figure, so even though I find Ace very entertaining as a character, I don't want him all over both shows skewing everything in favor of the heels. I don't mind Teddy Long since he's generally just a harmless "here to make everything right" kind of authority figure, but I don't really need to see him on both shows either. I think one of the reasons so many people don't mind him is how underexposed he is. He's does some sideshow angles with different girlfriends (or comedy stuff like teaching Hornswoggle to speak) and beefs with the occasional top heel, but in general they limit how much he's used. Agreed. Although I've enjoyed Laurinaitis and found this feud fairly enjoyable, I'm beyond sick of WWE shows structured around dominant authority figures making impromptu matches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Posted March 26, 2012 Report Share Posted March 26, 2012 Agreed as well. The heel authority figure is way, way overdone. It rarely even makes logical sense for the person to be in that position of power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLIK Posted March 26, 2012 Report Share Posted March 26, 2012 It rarely even makes logical sense for the person to be in that position of power. From that standpoint yeah, it makes sense when it was Vince McMahn who owned the company or one of his friends or family members working the evil gm gimmick but yeah, then they introduced the "board of directors" who could over rule even Vince and the whole premise falls apart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victator Posted March 26, 2012 Report Share Posted March 26, 2012 The Board of Directors has been around since 98. They needed something to explain why Vince did not just strip Austin of the title. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cm funk Posted March 26, 2012 Report Share Posted March 26, 2012 Agreed as well. The heel authority figure is way, way overdone. It rarely even makes logical sense for the person to be in that position of power. The WWE Board of Directors are sadists who seek only to create chaos for their own amusement. I picture their meetings going like something out of Salò Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victator Posted March 26, 2012 Report Share Posted March 26, 2012 The WWF power hierarchy has long been corrupt. At least since the days, they gave Brother Love a televised forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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