Dutch Mantell believes SmackDown star could "produce great results" for WWE if they get behind him (Exclusive)
Wrestling veteran and former WWE manager Dutch Mantell recently spoke about LA Knight's match against Xavier Woods on SmackDown.
There has been some heat between Knight and Woods since WrestleMania. LA Knight was irate after being left out of the WrestleMania card and even destroyed Xavier's PlayStation 5 controller. The two men squared off on SmackDown, but The New Day member got the best of his opponent after a roll-up for the win.
On the Smack Talk podcast this week, Mantell mentioned that while the loss wouldn't impact Knight too greatly, he needed the win more than Woods. The veteran mentioned that Knight is still new to the main roster and needs to get some wins under his belt to break through as a top star.
"I think tonight, LA Knight losing to Xavier didn't hurt him at all. It helped Xavier but going back to your point, LA Knight is the one who needs the help right now. Xavier has been around for 10 years at least? How long has he been there? So they know what he can do. But LA Knight, I think he's over, but I don't think they've gotten behind him yet. But they do believe that once they do, he's gonna produce great results for them. That's what I see." [From 44:47 to 45:27]
You can watch the full video here:
You can catch the full results of SmackDown here.
LA Knight's match on WWE SmackDown ended in controversy
During the singles match this week, Knight almost had the win over Woods, but referee Jessika Carr refused to make the count since the star grabbed his opponent by the tights.
LA Knight got into an argument with the ref, allowing Xavier Woods to roll him for the three-count. However, the WWE official missed seeing that The New Day member had also employed the same technique to get the win.
Right decision or wrong decision? 🤔
#SmackDown #WWE https://t.co/ChKdwPLpRi
Over the last few months, despite being a heel, LA Knight has managed to win over the WWE Universe to the point where the 40-year-old star gets some of the biggest pops whenever he's on TV.
What do you think is the best way forward for the self-proclaimed Megastar? Sound off in the comments section below.
If you use the quotes from this article, please embed the YouTube video and add a H/T to Sportskeeda for the transcript.