Former WWE manager expected to see Roman Reigns with 10-time champion on SmackDown this week (Exclusive)

Former WWE manager Dutch Mantell wanted to see Roman Reigns with a ten-time champion on SmackDown this week. That would be The Rock. The Original Tribal Chief was not present on the show.

Reigns made his blockbuster return to WWE at SummerSlam 2024. Since then, he has targeted Solo Sikoa and the new-look Bloodline to regain his position as The Head of the Table. However, Roman met the formidable Jacob Fatu last week who decimated him in the ring. The Bloodline then hit him with a Triple Powerbomb through the announce table to close the show.

While speaking in an exclusive interview on Sportskeeda Wrestling's Smack Talk podcast, Mantell claimed that he was hoping to see Roman or The Rock on the show. He felt WWE had built the storyline very well, to the point where fans were waiting for the major stars to appear. The 74-year-old veteran pointed out that the creative team had the option to bring back The Original Tribal Chief or The Great One anytime before the end of this year to make the angle even more compelling.

"I thought Roman Reigns would be there or maybe The Rock, I don't know why I even thought that. Now it does make you think that's what they're looking for. Whenever Roman does show up, business is picking up. I don't know if it can pick up anymore. And then, when The Rock joins in, there's another jump. So, they got two steps before the end of the year that they know they can go to," Dutch Mantell said. [3:22 - 3:45]

You can watch the video below:

This week on SmackDown, Solo Sikoa came down to the ring accompanied by the new-look Bloodline. He gloated over how they laid out Roman last week. The heel faction even defeated the Street Profits in a WWE Tag Team Championship defense.

It will be interesting to see when Roman Reigns shows up again on SmackDown after the beating he received last week.

If you use the quotes from this article, please embed the YouTube video and credit Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.

About the author

Prityush is a WWE news writer for Sportskeeda Wrestling who started watching wrestling in the later part of The Attitude Era. Although he holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Prityush was a creative writer for his college, and his flair for creativity and love of pro wrestling eventually led him to the journalism field. After an initial stint in 2016-2017, he has been writing regularly for Sportskeeda since 2021.

As someone who loves and respects the business, he prides himself on factual, clean, and ethical reporting, free of plagiarism and AI usage. One of the ways he ensures this is by transcribing videos that he reports on.

Prityush had the privilege of interviewing superstar Matt Hardy in his career so far. Although, his favorite wrestler is CM Punk, as he relates to his Straight Edge philosophy.

When he is not reporting news, he loves reading and collecting WWE action figures. He currently owns over 500 wrestling figures and merchandise.

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Edited by Pratyush Rai