"In today's market, you never hear that" - Wrestling legend on what AEW got right with CM Punk on Rampage (Exclusive)
Wrestling veteran Dutch Mantell recently shared his thoughts on CM Punk's match against Daniel Garcia on this week's AEW Rampage. He praised AEW for showing faith in their inexperienced performers by booking them to compete longer than usual.
CM Punk defeated Daniel Garcia on Rampage. The victory continued his winning streak at AEW with 3-0. It was also the first time Punk won via submission when he made Garcia tap out via Anaconda Vice.
Speaking on the latest edition of Sportskeeda SmackTalk, Dutch Mantell praised Punk's third consecutive singles victory in AEW. Furthermore, he pointed out that AEW does not book squash matches very often. This, Mantell explained, allows AEW to put over the performers even if they fall short of winning against top stars.
WWE SmackDown & AEW Rampage Review | Smack Talk w/Dutch Mantell: CM Punk in action! twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1โฆ
The veteran wrestling manager added that this is how things used to happen in the old days and that AEW is also successfully treading on a similar path.
"I saw the finish, it was good. Punk knows what he's doing, though. He came up the hard way. They don't go three minutes, they do ten minutes. That's the way old-time wrestling used to be, that you could beat guys. They were there, and if you wanted to do something with them, people were already used to them. You can actually do something with them and make them halfway believable. If you just brought a guy that nobody knows and try to do something with him, people would say "get the hell out of here." But since they do this with guys, they are getting a lot of guys over even though they lose, which is almost in today's market, you never hear that," said Dutch Mantell
Apart from Daniel Garcia, AEW is also grooming stars like Darius and Dante Martin, Lee Johnson, Will Hobbs, and more. These performers could become top stars if AEW continues to follow a similar booking approach.
You can check out this week's review of AEW Rampage and WWE SmackDown in the video below:
Is Ricky Starks next in line to face CM Punk in AEW?
With another win behind him, AEW will be eyeing to present a worthy adversary for CM Punk at next month's Full Gear 2021. FTW Champion Ricky Starks seems like one of the strongest candidates to face Punk at the pay-per-view.
CM Punk vs Ricky Starks at Arthur Ashe ?? ๐ค
Or do they save this for a ppv?
#AEWDynamite #AEWonTNT https://t.co/xNhsBUq6Tw
Last month when CM Punk kickstarted a feud with Team Taz, he vowed to defeat every member of the stable. However, he has defeated Will Hobbs of the faction so far. Now that Starks has concluded his rivalry with Brian Cage, AEW might book him to feud with CM Punk.
Do you agree with Dutch Mantell's assessment of AEW's booking pattern? Sound off in the comments section below.
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