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Former WWE manager Dutch Mantell recently addressed Triple H's comments dubbing AEW a secondary promotion.
The much-awaited documentary, The American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes, premiered on Peacock last week. In one segment Triple H spoke about Rhodes' journey stating that he returned because he did not want to be in a secondary promotion.
This comment sparked outrage from AEW fans who feel the promotion is not inferior to the Stamford-based wrestling company in any way.
On a recent episode of Smack Talk, Dutch Mantell mentioned that WWE is a global phenomenon in sports entertainment, and AEW is still a long way behind them. However, he acknowledged that Tony Khan and his promotion have carved out a niche for themselves and have even managed to get Vince & Co. to acknowledge them, a feat TNA could never achieve.
"Hard to say. But AEW got out of WWE what TNA could never. They never, never mentioned TNA. When he says AEW is a secondary promotion, it is a secondary promotion. When you look at WWE and when you look at how they operate, the countries they go to, their TV shows, AEW, they're nowhere close to that. Not saying they can't get there," said Mantell. [From 11:30 - 12:16]
You can watch the full video here:
Dutch Mantell also wanted to know why Cody Rhodes chose WWE over AEW
During the same conversation, Mantell also questioned why Cody Rhodes made the tough decision to leave AEW, given that he was very close to All Elite President Tony Khan.
"I would like to know how Cody got to WWE myself. I don't know what personal reason that he could have, to my knowledge, of why he wanted to turn his back on Tony Khan and AEW. I don't know. I'm gonna have to put my investigative team out on this. I'm gonna have to dig deep down in the archives of peoples' brains and figure out." [From 12:18 - 12:52]
Mantell suggested that Cody possibly had the allure of finishing his story in the biggest wrestling promotion, which would also shoot up his value.
Did you watch the latest The Amercian Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes documentary? What did you think of it? Let us know in the comments section below.
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