"I wanted to call up Tony Khan" - Dutch Mantell explains why he doesn't enjoy watching AEW anymore (Exclusive)
AEW has seemingly lost a veteran fan, as Dutch Mantell recently opened up about his views on the Jacksonville-based Promotion.
While AEW has certainly grown to become a legitimate competitor to WWE's monopoly in the pro wrestling business, the brand still has its own share of problems. The issues seem endless, with CM Punk's future with the company still in jeopardy, as well as frequent backstage conflicts involving Sammy Guevara, Eddie Kingston, and others.
All these issues have led to several last-minute changes in AEW bookings. With Tony Khan handling all booking decisions himself, former WWE manager Dutch Mantell believes that this might have led to a decline in the quality of the shows.
On the latest edition of Sportskeeda's SmackTalk, the veteran said that he used to like the show earlier but now thinks that it has got too much. Mantell also questioned Khan's way of bookings.
"I wanted to call up Tony Khan and say, 'Tony, you're killing me brother. You could give me something so I can say something positive about your show.' But apparently, he hasn't so far. And I used to like AEW, I liked the way they started off. But lately I think he has got too much. To book two hours of a live show, that's a lot of work. We booked two hours when I was in TNA and it took us like two days, at least. To figure out the ins and outs and the commercial breaks and the placement, I don't know how he finds time... He booked 5 hours, 4 hours by himself." (8:25 - 9:09)
It remains to be seen if the All Elite President will relegate duties to others in terms of booking or not.
Tony Khan is also adamant about managing ROH by himself alongside AEW
While many believe that Tony Khan's plate is already full of his booking responsibilities in the Jacksonville-based Promotion, he is seemingly not interested in hiring anyone to manage ROH's booking either.
With Maria Kanellis joining the All Elite brand recently, many have speculated that she may take over the booking for the ROH Women's division. However, a recent report from Fightful Select claims that no such thing is in the works despite Maria expressing interest in taking over said responsibilities.
Fightful Select (@FightfulSelect) reports Maria Kanellis and Tony Khan have been in talks about booking the women's division in Ring of Honor.
Dope.
He could use some help running two wrestling brands.
I wouldn't mind if she helped with the AEW division too.
Thoughts? https://t.co/blDqO7pllJ
Only time will tell how Tony Khan plans on moving forward in the coming weeks.
Do you think Tony Khan needs a creative team to help with the booking? Sound off in the comments below!
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