"Nobody's ever given a reason" – Wrestling veteran opens up on Vince McMahon banning certain words in WWE (Exclusive)
Former WWE manager Dutch Mantell recently spoke about Vince McMahon banning words from TV tapings like "wrestler".
Mantell worked with WWE for several years. His last stint with the company lasted from 2013-16 when he appeared as on-screen manager, Zeb Colter. He worked with Jack Swagger, Cesaro, and Alberto Del Rio during this run.
Speaking on the latest episode of Sportskeeda Wrestling's Smack Talk, Mantell mentioned that no one ever spoke in detail about Mr. McMahon's pet peeves and his contempt for words like "wrestler" and "hospital". He suggested that Vince felt that some words did not sound good on TV and so avoided them.
"Why did Vince insist on not using the word wrestler or hospital? Nobody's ever given a reason why he would do that. Wasn't it because he didn't want it on TV correct? He didn't want those words," Mantell said. (From 31:58 - 32:29)
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Dutch Mantell spoke about working with Vince McMahon in WWE
During the interview, Mantell recalled not even getting a single meeting with the boss. He revealed that despite his vast experience, he was never a part of the creative meetings for the company.
"Basically, when I was there, I couldn't even get a meeting with him. So I never stood in on a creative session, and after a while, I didn't want to sit in on a creative session with him. All you had was a bunch of writers from The Ithica, New York Times, Daily Journal, Gazette Sports Pages who had only seen wrestling off USA Network and maybe WrestleMania. They had no idea even how wrestling works, never even had an idea how the stories worked. But that's what he wanted." (From 33:04 - 33:38)
I miss Zeb Colter #WWE #WWENetwork https://t.co/BysPuIPgzP
Dutch detailed that most of the writers on the creative team did not fully understand the business. According to him, they had only watched wrestling on the USA Network or at WrestleMania.
What do you think of WWE banning certain words under the Vince McMahon regime? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
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