"He will be back before nine months" - WWE veteran gives honest take on Cody Rhodes' injury (Exclusive)

As announced by WWE, Cody Rhodes will be sidelined for nine months after he tore his pectoral muscle while training for his Hell in a Cell match. The entire wrestling community has come out supporting the former AEW star, and Dutch Mantell provided his honest opinion on Rhodes' status on this week's Smack Talk.

The former WWE manager was surprised that WWE allowed Cody to wrestle with a severe injury. Mantell noted that he had predicted Rhodes to be "filtered out" as he got deeper into his latest WWE run.

Unfortunately, The American Nightmare's momentum has been halted due to an untimely injury. Dutch Mantell sent his best wishes to Cody, as you can view below:

"Good luck to him, and I am pleasantly surprised," admitted Dutch Mantell. "Remember, I made a prediction a while back that I feared that WWE would take him and use him for a couple of months and filter him out. It looks like that's going to happen, but they are doing a good job with him." [13:28 - 13:51]

Cody recently underwent surgery and has already begun working towards a complete recovery. Dutch believed Rhodes could return before the prescribed nine-month period:

"But anyway, good luck to him, and I hope he does well. I think he will be back before nine months." [15:40 - 15:50]

"He didn't want to dishonor his dad" - Dutch Mantell on Cody Rhodes' decision to compete with an injury

Cody Rhodes has earned fans' respect following his gutsy performance against Seth Rollins. Dutch Mantell said that the 36-year-old star has proved that he belongs in the upper echelon of the card and felt that Vince McMahon would have loved to see Cody's resilience and determination.

Mantell added that Cody Rhodes probably didn't wish to dishonor the late great Dusty Rhodes and fought through the pain to deliver an all-time Hell in a Cell classic.

"He went out there, and he proved to everybody I worked hurt. So, I think Vince likes that.," Mantell continued. "But I think he also went out there because his last name is Rhodes, and he didn't want to dishonor his dad because I've noticed every time you mention Dusty's name in the ring, he tears up. It's almost automatic." [15:13 - 15:40]

Cody Rhodes could realistically be back in time for the next Royal Rumble event, and we're confident that he will receive one of the loudest pops of the modern era.

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