Former WWE manager praises production team for great idea with LA Knight's segment on SmackDown (Exclusive)

Former WWE manager Dutch Mantell was impressed with LA Knight's presentation this week on SmackDown. The Megastar had a match against Santos Escobar on the show.

Before the match, the cameras followed Knight backstage as he made his way to the ring. During the whole time, Knight cut a promo about how he would school his opponent in the ring before making his way through the curtains.

During this week's episode of Sportskeeda Wrestling's Smack Talk, Mantell praised the production team for the new backstage angles. He felt it was a great transition from LA Knight's backstage interview into the show. The veteran detailed it was a great idea to add something new to the viewership experience.

"Hey, that was great. Right to the ring. That's very new for WWE to do that. When he started talking, you think it's just an interview. He goes right through the Gorilla position, and right out on the floor and you're into the show. That was a great way to get into it. I don't know whose idea that was. But it's a great idea." [25:45 onwards]

Logan Paul showed up to cost LA Knight the match. However, Knight drilled his opponent with the BFT for the win.

In the aftermath of the encounter, Escobar and Paul unleashed a vicious two-on-one beatdown on the number one contender just days before SummerSlam.

If you use the quotes from this article, please embed the YouTube video and add an H/T to Sportskeeda for the transcript.

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 Rahul Madurawe