6 months ago
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WWE
Former "WWE SmackDown" General Manager Teddy Long is one of the most beloved authority figures in the company's history. From his catchphrases to sending many badly behaving stars to go "one-on-one with the Undertaker," fans were charmed by Long.
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The WWE Hall of Famer recently sat down with Chris Van Vliet to talk about his history with the company on the "Insight" podcast. Long spoke about the origins of his dance to his theme music, as well as one of his best-known catchphrases, explaining that both had sweet family origins that included a big dog named Boss.
"Every time I'm like, 'Come on playa. Get out of the way playa, move,'" Long said of the dog. "I'm just talking to him and one night I went to TV, I started using slang, calling people 'playa,' that's how I got the 'playa' started. The way I got the dance, my grandson ... when he was about two years old, we were trying to teach him how to walk. So we bought this walker that we put him in. Every time we put him in this walker, all he would do was bop up and down like that. So I went to TV one night and I think they were playing my music, but I was just thinking about him and having fun. So I was having fun and just started doing the dance."
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Long explained that at another taping, he got ready to walk out to the ring and while he was at the curtain former WWE chairman Vince McMahon flagged him down, and the rest was history.
"Vince was standing up. He's yelling, 'Do that dance,'" Long explained. "[I say] 'What dance?' And he starts doing it, and that's how the dance started."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Insight" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
