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WWE offered a very emotional episode of SmackDown this week as they paid tribute to Terry Funk and Bray Wyatt, whose passing has shocked wrestling fans. While reviewing the show, Dutch Mantell spoke about the apparent change in the company's creative direction.
While the company was always going to pay homage to Terry Funk on SmackDown, the news of Bray Wyatt's death was the last thing they would have wanted to hear heading into the episode.
As reported, WWE's reported plans for this week's blue brand were scrapped, and Dutch Mantell could feel the impact of the script alterations. During the latest episode of Sportskeeda Wrestling Smack Talk, the veteran said that Cody Rhodes, who cut another great promo, would have originally intended to speak about Terry Funk.
Mantell revealed his honest reactions to the promo and gave his overall thoughts on SmackDown, as you can view below:
"They just put that together today. Yeah, they had to rewrite that whole show today. I mean, not the whole show, but they rewrote most of it because of what happened. I know they had to rewrite Cody's because Cody had originally intended to go in there and give a tribute to Terry Funk, but now, since Bray Wyatt passed, now you can't do Terry without doing Bray. I wasn't a really big fan of that; it was okay." [From 22:00 - 23:00]
It never got rolling: Dutch Mantell on the second hour of SmackDown
As expected, the most recent installment of SmackDown opened with WWE stars gathering on the ramp to remember the lives and careers of Terry Funk and Bray Wyatt. The ten-bell salute was followed by a video package revolving around Wyatt before Rey Mysterio and Grayson Waller had the first match of the evening.
Dutch Mantell felt that the latest SmackDown offering never really got going and believed it might have been because of the general mood going into the episode.
"I mean, if I look at show one and two night, the first hour was okay, the second show was, I don't know if it was the mood or whatever, it just never clicked, it never got rolling. I mean, people stayed with it and watched it; I stayed with it and watched it as long as I could," said the veteran. [23:01 - 24:00]
Mantell also commented on his "older brother," Terry Funk, and you can check out more here.
Please credit Sportskeeda Wrestling and embed the YouTube video if you use quotes from this article.
