"I saw her arm drags, pathetic!" - Tegan Nox's in-ring work on SmackDown gets massive criticism from WWE legend (Exclusive)
Tegan Nox wrestled in her first WWE match in over a year on SmackDown as she teamed up with Liv Morgan to face Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler. While reviewing the show on this week's Smack Talk, Dutch Mantell voiced his concerns over Nox's in-ring work and claimed she wasn't ready for the main roster.
Nox became the latest name to have been brought back under the Triple H era as she showed up on the December 2nd episode of SmackDown. She helped Liv Morgan fend off an attack from Damage CTRL upon her arrival.
Despite getting drafted to RAW in October 2021, the former NXT star never made an appearance on the brand and was ultimately released the following month.
Nox might have spent a long time away from the squared circle, but Dutch Mantell wasn't too impressed by her skills:
"She is not ready. I don't know long she has been in developmental; I don't know what she was doing down there." [48:32 - 48:44]
Tegan Nox signed with WWE in 2019 after putting on an impressive performance in the Mae Young Classic, during which she, unfortunately, suffered a serious knee injury. The 28-year-old star's NXT run was also sadly riddled with injuries as she tore her ACL again in September 2020, resulting in another 10-month hiatus from TV.
Nox did not wrestle for a year after her WWE release, and she may have been shedding off some ring rust on SmackDown, as pointed out by Smack Talk co-hosts Rick Ucchino and SP3.
Dutch Mantell, however, responded by highlighting the basic mistakes Tegan Nox made during her return match:
"She is unsure of herself. Now, that could be, I guess, ring rust, but she wasn't moving smoothly. Kind of like she was hesitating on some of the stuff she did. I saw her arm drags, pathetic! Not very good!" [50:05 - 50:25]
"I would fire everybody right now in the girls' division except Ronda and Baszler," says WWE veteran Dutch Mantell
Liv Morgan & Tegan Nox won for us #SmackDown #FireRondaRousey https://t.co/xEd11mELhe
The former WWE manager didn't sound like he was a big fan of SmackDown's women's division. Mantell raised questions regarding the quality of WWE's developmental system and was surprised that talent couldn't even execute a 'graceful arm drag.
He alluded that the company needed to address the problem by sending main roster wrestlers who were green back down to NXT.
The 73-year-old veteran continued:
"That's what they're sending them to Orlando for. If you can't learn to give a graceful arm drag, something's wrong with the other person working with you. So, it does look forced. I would fire everybody right now in the girls' division except Ronda and Baszler. I'd fire everybody, then five minutes later, I'd hired them all back just to show them I could do it." [50:26 - 51:00]
Do you agree with Dutch Mantell's opinion on Tegan Nox? Sound off in the comments section below.
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