"No discipline whatsoever" - Dutch Mantell lashes out at Tony Khan for AEW backstage chaos lately (Exclusive)
Tony Khan's way of managing AEW backstage conflict is apparently not effective by any means, according to former WWE manager Dutch Mantell.
AEW has been marred with several backstage issues as of late, kicking off with the biggest one being the infamous CM Punk rant at the All Out media scrum. Following that, Kenny Omega, the Young Bucks, Punk, and Ace Steel were suspended after a massive backstage brawl was reported, with Steel also being allegedly fired from the company.
Furthermore, Sammy Guevara has also been a part of two conflicts, one with Eddie Kingston and another with Andrade El Idolo. Speaking about the multitude of backstage issues on Sportskeeda's SmackTalk, Dutch Mantell said that AEW has trouble backstage and they are indisciplined.
"They have been saying for a long time that AEW has trouble backstage, and even some of them come out and say 'no no no', I can see them trying to cover it up. But they do have trouble backstage. Now, what does that tell you about their discipline? They don't have any at all. No discipline whatsoever." (3:43 - 4:05)
He further took the example of the altercation between Sammy Guevara and Eddie Kingston.
"Now they got rid of Eddie. They suspended him, but at least he got some punishment out of it. But did they suspend him without pay or with pay? Surely they suspended him without pay, because, I mean if you slap somebody and they're gonna send you home and pay you too? That's a good gig. Slap somebody every week," said Mantell. (4:06 - 4:35)
With issues of conflict within the roster seemingly increasing every day, only time will tell how Tony Khan plans to manage the problems in the future.
Tony Khan was also accused of potentially bad booking AEW star MJF
While Dutch Mantell does not seem happy with Tony Khan's management, Jim Cornette has the AEW President under his crosshairs for a different matter.
With MJF returning to the promotion despite his rumored issues with the company, he is seemingly on the way to the top, as a feud with Jon Moxley is apparently in the works. However, Cornette is worried about Tony Khan potentially making a mistake with his booking.
"But I’m just trepidatious, because if it’s just MJF doing things, I’m fine. But if Tony or any of his stooges start meddling in this, I’m afraid for what might happen." (07:07 onward).
It remains to be seen if the All Elite President will handle the sensitive booking with perfection in the coming weeks.
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