Teddy Long Reveals Origins Behind His Iconic ‘One-on-One with The Undertaker’ Line

The Undertaker rose to prominence with his three decades of destruction that made him one of the most iconic figures in WWE. In an interesting part of his career, he was often slated to take on competitors by former authority personnel, Teddy Long.

During the mid-2000s, The Phenom was one of the prime fixtures for Friday Night SmackDown and Teddy Long sat at the top of the helm as the beloved General Manager of the show.

Interestingly, every time Teddy Long scheduled a WWE superstar in a ‘one-on-one’ showdown with The Undertaker, he would put extra emphasis on the announcement that became highly catchy and popular among the fanbase.

During a recent appearance on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, the former SmackDown General Manager disclosed the origins behind his catchy announcement. It was during a show at Madison Square Garden backstage that he heard former Chairman Vince McMahon teaching his daughter, Stephanie McMahon to put emphasis on introducing a superstar and picked it up for his own use in doing the Undertaker line.

“Vince, one night we were in Madison Square Garden and Stephanie went to introduce somebody, I don’t remember but anyway, she come back and Vince stopped her and he was talking to her saying ‘Stephanie I want you to put emphasis on it, when you introduce the guy I want to hear John William [puts emphasis] you know and I’m just standing back, I didn’t say a word. So next I did Undertaker, one on one with The Undertaker [puts emphasis] thats how I learned to do that.”

Teddy Long continues to make occasional appearances on WWE television programming nowadays, The Undertaker is more often seen hosting his podcast, Six Feet Under, but recently revealed some hesitancy in continuing to do so. While it would be a rare sight to hear those famous words by Long today, even in comedic humor, it continues to garner the attention of the WWE Universe.

Were you a fan of Teddy Long’s iconic introduction for WWE superstars of scheduling a match with The Undertaker? Sound off in the comments!