Bill Apter and Teddy Long Detail Best and Worst People in Wrestling
During an appearance on the “Road Trip After Hours” podcast, Bill Apter and Teddy Long discussed the best and worst people they have encountered during their respective careers in professional wrestling, including top executives and legendary performers.
The hosts addressed a fan question about the best and worst individuals they have worked with in the business. Apter responded first, naming the late Bruno Sammartino as the best person he met. “The best is very easy for me. BRUNO San Martino, the consummate gentleman and athlete in every way,” Apter said. Sammartino’s reputation for professionalism and integrity was well-established throughout his record-setting 11-year run as WWWF Champion.
When asked to name the worst, Apter avoided naming a performer but recalled a negative experience with a promoter during the Vince McMahon Sr. era of the business. “I’d say that Phil Zacko, a promoter in Philadelphia back in the Vince Sr. days. He didn’t want any part of anybody with the magazines and would try to eject it from some of the biggest matches,” Apter noted. Apter explained that promoters sometimes guarded their local markets fiercely, and he was only allowed to stay at the arena due to the intervention of performers like Lou Albano and Fred Blassie.
Teddy Long’s Career Assessments and Trust with Executives
Teddy Long responded by listing the people he considered the best he worked with, highlighting the access Vince McMahon gave him during his long tenure as General Manager of SmackDown. “I’d say Vince McMahon. I’d have to say that first, because I was able to get a chance to work close to him,” Long said.
Long detailed the level of trust McMahon showed him: “I wouldn’t sit down with him in meetings and there was just me him and Taker or me him and somebody else. And he didn’t do that with everybody. So I thought, I consider myself as real lucky, and for him to put me in that position… I consider him one of the best people”. Long also praised JBL, Ron Simmons, and others: “JBL, real good guy. Had so much fun with John. Enjoyed with him. Godfather, another good guy, Ron Simmons, Jesus The Rock, me and Dwayne. We had a lot of fun when he was there too”.
When asked for the worst, Long avoided giving a specific name, citing a professional vendetta: “Some of the people that were bad, I ain’t gonna call no names, like I am gonna call him, but I won’t call him tonight”. Long noted that he maintained his position for nearly a decade by remaining professional: “If I stayed and ran Vince McMahon’s company for nine years, I was doing my job. So Ain’t nobody gonna get you. Can’t tell me nothing”.
Favorite Eras and Long’s Career Start
Davis also asked Long to name his favorite era of his career, asking him to select a five-year period he would relive based on his enjoyment of the work. Long chose the beginning of his run in the territory system. “I’d love to go back to the NWA,” Long stated.
Long explained his deep gratitude for just entering the industry: “when I got the job putting up the ring, taking the ring down, I thought that was the greatest thing of my life. Because, I mean, I didn’t even think I was going to make it to that far… when I got to putting up that ring, man, God, I thought I was in heaven”. Long’s run in the NWA was primarily as a referee, where he learned the fundamentals of wrestling psychology and ring work from experienced crews like the Four Horsemen and the Midnight Express. Long noted his memorable experience of counting the pinfall in the famous Ricky Steamboat vs. Ric Flair match, which he cited as a major highlight of his career.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Road Trip After Hours with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription. You can listen to the show on YouTube.
