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Wrestling legend Dutch Mantell is really into a certain superstar and storyline in WWE. As you may have guessed, it happens to be that of Cody Rhodes - who just fell short of becoming the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion at WrestleMania 39. Dutch Mantell praised WWE for its patience in pushing Cody - who is a 14-time champion across WWE, ROH, and AEW (plus one NWA World title reign).
On the latest episode of Smack Talk, Dutch Mantell spoke to Sid Pullar III about the Cody Rhodes-Roman Reigns storyline. SP3 argued that WWE made the right decision to have Roman Reigns win because Cody Rhodes' comeback was far too perfect and lacked any adversity. Mantell agreed with his sentiment.
Dutch added that Cody's storyline is a great one and that WWE has done a good job in patiently letting the story build up:
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"In Cody's defense, now he has to climb that mountain again. Because he's not just climbing the mountain for himself, he's climbing it for Dusty [Rhodes] too. So now you're getting new fans and older fans involved in the story because Dusty never made it up that mountain. Cody wants to do it and let's see what he does with it. It's a great story. And I've preached this before, they've had patience - patience to let it sit in. Now when somebody is talking about Cody Rhodes, you associate him with struggle." (7:12-7:55)
You can watch the full video below:
Dutch Mantell says nepotism isn't what has kept Cody Rhodes around for so long
Dutch Mantell said that despite the nepotism that undeniably exists for Cody and Dustin Rhodes, their talent is ultimately what kept them in the business for so long. He continued to praise The American Nightmare:
"He didn't just have it handed to him. I've brought this up before - the nepotism involved with Cody and Dustin [Rhodes] because their daddy was in it, and now they have talent - and that's what's kept them around. I think Cody has a long time. I really like his progress, I like the way he works, I like his interviews because there's no bullcrap to him, he speaks right from the heart, and I think people understand that about it. And he did get a hell of a reaction when he came to the ring at WrestleMania." (8:00-8:43)
Cody Rhodes has a big challenge ahead of him as he is now in a feud against Brock Lesnar.
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