"Almost looks skinny" – Dutch Mantell shares his honest opinion of current champion in WWE (Exclusive)

Dutch Mantell worked in WWE as on-screen manager Zeb Colter

Former WWE manager Dutch Mantell recently heaped praise on Intercontinental Champion Gunther for his work inside and outside the ring.

The Ring General has been a formidable threat to the SmackDown locker room since coming to the main roster along with his partner-in-crime Ludwig Kaiser. He is undefeated on the blue brand and recently decimated Ricochet to win the prestigious Intercontinental Championship.

Speaking on the latest episode of Sportskeeda Wrestling's Smack Talk podcast, Mantell said that WWE was doing an excellent job with Gunther. He highlighted that the Austrian star had put in the work to get in shape before coming to the main roster.

Here's what Mantell had to say:

"Another thing I'm glad to see is that they haven't ruined Gunther yet," Mantell said. He's lost how much weight? 60 pounds? He almost looks skinny. And I love his work because it's unorthodox." (From 35:10 - 36:02)

You can watch the full video here:

The wrestling veteran detailed that his work was different from everyone else on the roster, and that made him a unique competitor.

You can view the full SmackDown results from this week here.

Gunther had a message after title defense on WWE SmackDown

The former NXT UK Champion squared off against Ricochet in a rematch of their Intercontinental Championship bout this week on SmackDown. He planted The One and Only with a brutal Powerbomb to bring the contest to a close.

After the match, he took to Twitter to share a post regarding his successful title defense. He captioned the image: "Beste sportliche Leistung!" Loosely translated, the phrase means "Best athletic performance."

Beste sportliche Leistung! https://t.co/7cR26uyXPI

It is worth noting that Gunther once held the NXT UK Championship for a record 870 days. With his current dominance of the blue brand, he could well be on his way to replicating the same historic reign on the main roster. With Kaiser on his side, the 34-year-old could prove to be an unstoppable force in WWE.

While using the quote from this article, please give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling and embed the YouTube video.