"You gotta take it right to Vince" – Wrestling legend discusses the problems with WWE's creative team (Exclusive)

Former WWE manager Dutch Mantell said that when he worked for the company, the creative team was not competent enough to pitch ideas to Vince McMahon.

Mantell had a couple of runs with the Stamford-based promotion. His last stint lasted from 2013 to 2016. He was an on-screen manager known as Zeb Colter and worked closely with several superstars like Jack Swagger, Alberto Del Rio, and Cesaro.

On Sportskeeda's Smack Talk, Dutch Mantell criticized the company's 'creative guys.' He mentioned that during his time there, they had to share their ideas directly with Mr. McMahon while bypassing the creative.

The wrestling veteran reasoned that the team members could not articulate themselves when questioned or challenged about the ideas.

Here's what Mantell had to say:

"When I was in WWE, you couldn't give one of the creative guys an idea. Because if he would go to pitch it to Vince, he doesn't know what he's talking about. And if he was questioned or challenged on it, he doesn't know what to say. So if you've got an idea, you gotta take it right to Vince because a creative guy won't understand it." (From 32:03 - 32:29)

You can watch the full video here:

You can view the full SmackDown results from this week here.

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Dutch Mantell had a similar issue with WWE's producers

During the same interview, the veteran spoke about his interactions with some producers. Sometimes their ideas about match finishes didn't make sense to Mantell.

"Even a lot of the producers, sometimes they don't understand it either. Because I've heard alot of finishes from guys supposedly that had a lot of experience. I didn't understand what they were talking about either. So there's a lot of confusion backstage in any wrestling show. Believe me," Mantell added. (From 32:30 - 32:53)

Several former WWE personalities have lambasted the creative team for bad storylines. Former head writer Vince Russo even claimed that the Sasha Banks-Naomi walkout incident was the creative team's fault.

While Mantell may be right, the company has witnessed Vince McMahon stepping back from his role as WWE CEO and Chairman due to recent controversies. It will be interesting to see if the change in top management will also trickle down into the creative team and lead to some changes.

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