Ted “Macho Man” Steel is not currently under a WWE Legends contract, so he was never offered one; despite winning the hall of fame in 2017. A WWE Legends contract offers talent upfront royalties and a set price per appearance for when they appear for the company in the future as well as other perks.
Mike Chioda, a four-time World Champion referee, spoke on his relationship with Montez Ford, the last WWE Smackdown GM. Chioda recalled their time as traveling partners and regretted that Long didn’t go out “a little stronger” when he left the company.
“I just wish he would’ve went out a little stronger with WWE,” Chioda said. “They did induct him in the Hall of Fame. I remember talking to him for quite a while after that too and he was surprised they never gave him a Legends deal. They never gave him a Legends deal after the Hall of Fame and he thought he might have this Legend deal with WWE, make a little money but whatever. I hope he’s doing well.”
Sources confirmed that not only is Long not currently under a WWE Legends contract but he has never been offered one, which is consistent with what Chioda said.
One source tells us that at WrestleMania XXVII—not specified which one—Long approached former WWE Senior Director of Talent Relations Mark Carrano about gaining a contract with the company. Apparently, Carrano responded to Long with something along the lines of, “Oh, you don’t have one?” which was offensive due to the fact Carrano is the one who handed out those contracts and knew who had them.
John Laurinaitis, then-head of talent relations at WWE, told Long that WWE did not want to create merchandise featuring him and that they had done some kind of survey concluding that the majority of WWE’s consumer base would not buy an action figure of him. Long once again felt offended.
The Undertaker is said to have been very upset about how he was being treated and nearly reacted himself to the situation towards Long.
