Dutch Mantell explains why AEW wrestlers make more "botches" than WWE Superstars (Exclusive)
Wrestling legend Dutch Mantell has weighed in with his thoughts on why he thinks there are more botches in AEW than there are in WWE.
Botches will happen to even the best of performers from time to time, with various elements contributing to wrestlers slipping up, including fatigue, injury, and sweaty ropes.
While some botches have flown under the radar in 2022 for AEW, in the case of someone like CM Punk, botching in the main event of a pay-per-view for a world title isn't going to be forgotten very quickly.
2022 has proven to be the most botch filled year in #AEW's short existence...couple of weeks still remain though! I wonder what's in store 🤔🤔🤔 https://t.co/ue0zpgXr2G
Speaking to Sid Pullar III on Sportskeeda Wrestling's SmackTalk, Dutch Mantell suggested that the possible reasons why AEW wrestlers seem to botch more than WWE wrestlers are due to good editing and listening to producers.
"I have heard this, that the talent won’t even listen to their match producers. They go out there and they do what they want to do and that’s why I think we see so many botches. You know a lot people say ‘oh well WWE has botches too,’ yeah everybody has botches, and I keep telling people why you see more from AEW than you see from WWE is they have this thing called an editor and some editing equipment, and they take all that out before it airs," said the veteran. [From 4:39 - 5:17]
Mantell also stated that he is baffled that a show like AEW Rampage, which is often pre-taped in advance, still manages to have botches in matches even though the bouts can be edited:
"Talking about [AEW] Rampage, now some of these botches they even air. It goes through the night of the taping and the final producer, by the talent, by all kinds of eyeballs, but yet it gets all the way through and makes it to tape. So there’s no excuse for that." [From 5:18 - 5:37]
You can watch the full clip of SmackTalk right here:
Dutch Mantell had a lot of praise for a recent match on AEW Dark
It's very easy to think that all veterans of the business criticize AEW more than they praise it. But that isn't always the case for Dutch Mantell, who recently defended a match that took place on Dark that garnered a bit of controversy.
The match in question was between the current ROH Women's Champion Athena and Jody Threat from the October 17 edition of AEW Dark: Elevation, where many people thought that the former WWE Superstar took matters into her own hands during the bout.
Athena vs Jody Threat on Elevation was something that turned from a usual squash into a great piece of business and some people decided to have "opinions" on Athena's offence by cherry picking spots.
Ignore those bad faith actors. Watch the match if you have 5 minutes to spare.
Despite the match causing a lot of discussions online, Dutch Mantell credited the match for its sense of realism and said that if anyone ever tells someone that "wrestling is fake," they should watch Athena vs. Jody Threat to see how real wrestling can be.
Do you agree with what Dutch Mantell had to say? Let us know in the comments section down below!
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