Teddy Long On Eric Bischoff Being Inducted Into WWE Hall Of Fame, What Makes Good Authority Figure In Wrestling

In a recent interview on The Wrestling Inc. Daily, Teddy Long discussed Eric Bischoff being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, what makes a good authority figure in wrestling, and much more. Here are some highlights:

Teddy Long on what makes a good authority figure in pro wrestling: “I think what makes an authority figure pop is that the authority figure gives the people what they want. My thing is this, if people came to that arena and spend their hard-earned money to see a good show, then I want them to be happy. I want them to go home happy, and I want them to be able to talk to their neighbors and everybody and say, ‘Hey, I went to see SWE last night and brother, did I have a great time.’ Now not only do I want to make the people happy but sometimes I have to make the wrestlers happy too because sometimes they’re in a situation that they can’t get out of, but I can straighten it out for them. So I just want to make everybody happy and have a great show, and when you leave there, I want you to be entertained, talking about it when you get home and letting everybody know when they come back, I’ll be there and, ‘why don’t you come with me?’”

On how he thinks Adam Pearce has performed in the authority figure role: “Well, I had a chance to meet Adam when I was there three or four weeks ago for the Legends show, and God, Adam Pearce, great guy. I love him to death man, and I think he’s doing a great job. I can see where they’ve had him backed up against the wall a couple of times. So sometimes when they back you up against the wall, you got to know how to get out of it, and so Adam’s doing a good job. Adam Pearce is a great guy, and I think he’s doing an outstanding job.”

On Eric Bischoff being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame: “I already texted him, and I congratulated Eric Bischoff. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. I had a chance to work with Eric way back in the WCW days, and in fact, when Eric Bischoff came in, and he’ll tell you this, I was one of the guys that went with him and kind of helped train him a little bit. We were working for Bill Watts at the time and Bill Watts, for some reason, didn’t like Eric, and so he piled a whole bunch of work on him. And Eric can tell you this story. When we were doing the international TV markets over in Canada, one night Eric had so much stuff to do, it was just unreal, and I stayed there with him, but they were messing with him. That’s why they threw all that work on him, and I said, ‘Come on. I’ll stay,’ and I stayed till midnight one night. Me and Eric doing infomercials all night because I wanted to help him and because he couldn’t do all that stuff, and they knew it, but I stayed there with him. So me and Eric have been friends a long time and congratulations to him once again.”