What’s the story?
One of the worst kept secrets in wrestling is finally out of the bag. Dutch Mantell, better known to WWE fans as Zeb Colter, sent out a tweet announcing that he has officially re-signed with Impact Wrestling and will be working with the company in a creative/advisory capacity.
This represents the latest of many changes to TNA in 2017 and will hopefully lead to a more consistent and enjoyable product.
Mantell worked for TNA between 2003 and 2009 in a similar backstage role.
In case you didn’t know...
Dutch Mantell, whose real name is Wayne Keown, was released by WWE in May 2016 after a relatively successful three years with the company. Known as Zeb Colter, Mantell had returned to WWE in 2013 to act as the manager for Jack Swagger and to help get his Tea Party caricature gimmick get over. As it happens with many manager/wrestler duos in the modern age, Colter ended up getting over instead of Swagger, although Swagger’s legal misdemeanours didn’t help.
Colter’s role on WWE TV eventually wound down, although it was Colter who was responsible on screen for bringing Alberto Del Rio back to WWE in October 2015. Del Rio and Colter soon parted ways however and their split was Colter’s final appearance on WWE TV.
The heart of the matter
Dutch Mantell worked for TNA between 2003 and 2009 as a full-time member of the booking team and also as a producer and agent for the fledgeling promotion. Mantell is credited with being the creative mind behind a number of TNA successes including the Knockouts division, which played a big part in reinvigorating interest in women’s wrestling in mainstream professional wrestling.
Mantell and TNA parted ways in 2009 over creative differences, after which he returned to work with IWA in Puerto Rico, where he held a record for the most amount of hours produced for a wrestling television show by a single writer.
What’s next?
2017 may be less than two months old but the changes at TNA have come thick and fast. 2016 was another year where many people predicted the downfall of the company but once against, TNA managed to survive. With some of the virus-like elements gone from the company, some are predicting that 2017 could be the year TNA becomes must-see TV again.
Dutch Mantell may well be a very important piece of that puzzle.
Sportskeeda’s Take
Mantell is an experienced and talented wrestling storyteller who will bring some calm to TNA’s ship. Many are already beginning to worry that he will attempt to curb the creative juices of Broken Matt Hardy, but all such talk is purely conjecture for the time being. We look forward to seeing what Dutch comes up with in the near future.
