WWE veteran criticises John Cena and major stars for missing SmackDown: "They had no stars" (Exclusive)

Former WWE manager Dutch Mantell recently shared his thoughts about top stars like John Cena missing the show this week. SmackDown emanated from the First Horizon Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Cena successfully retained the Undisputed WWE Championship at Backlash. The chaotic matchup involved several nearfalls and thrilling exchanges. However, the 17-time champ retained the gold with a low blow followed by a shot to Randy Orton's head with the title.

During a recent episode of BroDown with host Mac Davis, Mantell noted that none of the major stars were on the show. He felt WWE desperately needed a major star like John Cena, Cody Rhodes, or The Rock on this episode. The veteran manager felt Solo Sikoa was the best the company had, and even he took up a lot of TV time with his promo.

"First of all, they had no stars. You didn't have a Cena, you didn't have a Rock, you didn't have Cody. He (Solo Sikoa) ate the TV up. He just went on and on. I got news for them. That three hours guys. When are they getting off three hours?" [2:10 onwards]

This week, WWE announced John Cena's next title defense. The star will defend the Undisputed WWE Championship against R-Truth at Saturday Night's Main Event on May 24.

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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 Prityush Haldar