Former WWE personality says he pitched an all-women's show in wrestling, got heat for it (Exclusive)

Women's wrestling has evolved tremendously over the past decade, with WWE making significant changes in how they have presented female talents. During the recent Smack Talk episode, Dutch Mantell recalled pushing for an all-women's show when he was in TNA.

While WWE fans might remember him as Zeb Colter, Dutch Mantell has been in wrestling since the 1970s and has taken up every possible role, including a creative one in TNA.

Dutch Mantell was instrumental in Gail Kim and Awesome Kong's getting the chance to main event a TNA show, which garnered massive numbers for the company.

Mantell stated that he proposed having an all-women's show in TNA years ago and urged the promotion's offices to consider the idea seriously. The proposal, however, was met with resistance, as TNA wasn't convinced about how successful the show could be.

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"You talk about an all-women's wrestling show? I proposed that when I was with TNA. They said, 'You think the market's there?' I said, 'Why don't you try it and see?' Yeah, (what's the worst that can happen?). Hell, we're not married to it (the idea), but we can get it started. Gail Kim and Amazing Kong set records for TNA, and it surprised everybody." [49:00 - 49:40]

Dutch Mantell has always been a proponent of legitimizing women's pro wrestling. Since the early 2000s, Dutch was confident there was a large market for highly skilled female talents:

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"I said, if you take women's wrestling and make it a little bit legit, you'll get an audience, and they did. There is a place in the wrestling for an all-female show!" [49:30 - 50:10]

With rumors of WWE potentially introducing two new women's titles, it's a great time to be a fan of female pro wrestling as Triple H and the new management expand the TV product.

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