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Alberto Del Rio returned to WWE at Hell In A Cell 2015, successfully answering John Cena's open challenge for the WWE United States Championship. Del Rio was surprisingly aligned with Zeb Coulter, aka Dutch Mantell, for that run, despite the two being former enemies on-screen.
Speaking on Smack Talk, Dutch Mantell said that he felt the partnership was doomed to fail. He also revealed that his partnership with Alberto Del Rio was WWE CEO Vince McMahon's idea:
"The idea was Mr. Vinny's. It was Vince's idea. They put us together and remember, we hated each other. Then I had to leave because I had a leg problem, I broke my leg. So, then when I come back they had this great idea that I was going to walk out and be his manager. I knew it wouldn't work. Remember, I told you guys privately, sometimes you can know too much. I couldn't go up to them and say that this idea sucks. But you can't, because it's his idea, it's Vince's idea so now you got to find a way to make it work." said Mantell
You can watch the entire episode of Smack Talk here:
Dutch Mantell on the storyline he proposed to WWE
Dutch Mantell also said that he proposed a storyline to WWE following his aligning with Del Rio so that the whole thing would make sense. Mantell felt that his partnership with Del Rio wouldn't work, so the only way out of it was for the entire thing to be a set up:
"I was trying to get to him and tell him that there's a way out of this to actually put me back with Swagger where we both team up on Del Rio. Now it looks like a set up the whole time. The story was, I was laid up and nobody cared about me and Jack didn't call, the only person who did was Del Rio. He called to check on me out of the goodness of his heart. So the idea was I would go and help Del Rio, and like me and Jack have split up. The idea I had was we get out of the ring one night and Del Rio's in the ring and Jack comes out there and jumps all over me just from the top of the ramp." added Mantell
Dutch added the idea was for Del Rio to then challenge Jack Swagger to a match, and after the latter agreed, to take his crutch and smash Del Rio with it from behind. He and Swagger would then unload on Del Rio to complete the turn. The former WWE manager felt that this story might have saved the angle.
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