With Wrestlemania only a few weeks away, the WWE Hall of Fame is naturally closing in.  As such, some of the inductors have been announced for this year’s inductees. 

Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat had already been named the inductor for the late “Ravishing” Rick Rude, and today it has made known John Cena will be indicting Kurt Angle and Ron Simmons and John Bradshaw Layfield will be inducting Teddy Long.

Cena is an excellent choice.  His first televised match was against Angle, and in later feuds with the former Olympic Gold Medalist, Cena would become legitimized in the eyes of many WWE fans. 

Teddy Long once managed Ron Simmons when he was one half of Doom with Butch Reed in WCW.  Simmons and Layfield teamed together as the A.P.A. in the WWE and though they had no on screen relationship with Long on WWE television, they are all backstage friends.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com are looking forward to what we think should be entertaining speeches from this group of presenters. 

Speculated over the last month, Teddy Long has officially been named to the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2017, joining already named inductees, Kurt Angle and the Rock and Roll Express.

Getting his start in Georgia Championship Wrestling as part of the ring crew, Long got into the ring as a last minute replacement for a referee, a role he would have for years and was regular fixture at NWA events.  Long would segue into managing after a fast count pin costing the Road Warriors the Tag Team Championship.  He was fired as a referee and became the manager of the Skyscrapers, the tandem of Danny Spivey and Sid Vicious who would feud with the Road Warriors. 

Long would later manage Norman and following the dismantling of the Skyscrapers, he took over the reigns of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed (Doom) who would become the first African-American World Tag Team Championship.  Doom would break up in early 1991 and after the his remaining protégé, Johnny B. Badd turned face, Long would occasionally be used as a broadcaster.

Long would be in the corner often for Ron Simmons during his championship run and in the mid 90’s he was a face manager for lower card workers, but was never in another major angle in WCW again.  He would leave WCW for the WWF and would become a referee again.

History would repeat itself as after four years, Long would once again come back as a heel manager.  His charges included D-Lo Brown, Rodney Mack, Jazz, Christopher Nowinski, Mark Henry and Mark Jindrak.  While Long was entertaining, he did not have any major storylines, but in 2004, that would change when he would be named the General Manager of Smackdown.

Often, these positions don’t last long, but Teddy was in that role off and on for nearly ten years.  He was involved in major angles with Edge, Vickie Guerrero, the Undertaker and John Laurinitis.  It is unlikely if we will ever see a non-McMahon in an on-screen authority role longer with a tenure that reached Teddy Long’s. 

We here would like to congratulate Teddy Long on earning this honor. 

A long-time referee in the NWA, Teddy Long got his big break as a heel official who became a successful manager. He would develop a stable of monster tag teams, and his fast talking and sneaky ways put him near the top of managers in the early 90’s. He would turn face and would still manage, though with limited success on screen, though he would always remain employed. He would bolt to the World Wrestling Federation where he again became a referee, but his persona was too large and he again became a rule breaking manager. After that ship passed, Teddy Long would remain on screen as a long-time General Manager of Smackdown. Considering his lengthy tenure on and off screen of the two biggest wrestling organizations of all-time, is an induction for Long impossible?