In April 2007, Long became the on-screen boyfriend of Kristal, after weeks flirting with each other backstage. Long then began to look for an assistant so he could spend more time with Kristal, eventually revealing Vickie Guerrero as his new assistant on May 25, 2007, an appointment made partly at Kristal's request. On the June 22, 2007 episode of "SmackDown!", Long asked Kristal to marry him. Kristal ran out of the ring, crying, but later agreed to (kayfabe) marry him. On the July 27, 2007 edition of "Smackdown!", Ron Simmons was named the best man for "Theodore Rufus Long" and Kristal's wedding on the September 21, 2007 edition of "SmackDown!" emanating from Long's hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. However, the wedding was not completed due to constant disruptions and Long having a (kayfabe) heart attack just as he started to say "I do". He then fell in to a (kayfabe) coma. Long returned on the November 30, 2007 edition of "SmackDown!" as the Assistant General Manager and made a match at Armageddon for the World Heavyweight Championship In September 2007, Long was demoted from General Manager of SmackDown!, to Assistant General Manager, while Vickie Guerrero moved into the General Manager position by Mr. McMahon stating "The Show must go on". On May 16, 2008, Long quit his role of Assistant General Manager after months of abuse by GM Guerrero who treated Teddy "as a personal servant rather than the Assistant General Manager of SmackDown!" in Teddy's words. On the June 3, 2008 edition of "ECW", it was announced that Long had become the new General Manager of the ECW brand by order of the WWE Board of Directors.