Wrestling veteran feels Gunther gained experience facing WWE legend on SmackDown (Exclusive)

Former WWE employee Dutch Mantell was impressed with Gunther's Intercontinental title defense against Rey Mysterio this week on SmackDown.

Mysterio finally had his Intercontinental Title shot against the reigning champion on the blue brand. The Master of 619 put on a great fight but the size advantage finally got to him. Gunther destroyed the masked luchador with a big boot and followed it up with a vicious clothesline to end the match with a win.

On this week's episode of Smack Talk, Mantell detailed that The Ring General learned a lot by being in the ring with a veteran like Mysterio. He also pointed out that the size difference between the two men made it an even more compelling matchup.

"They had a very, very good match, which shows you experience - Gunther doesn't have that much experience but I think he learned something tonight with Mysterio. Did you see him standing there and how much bigger Gunther is than little Mysterio? And they announced him at 175 pounds. And I was thinking, he's gotta be more than that. I think he's got to be at least 190. And he's jacked up a little bit too. You could see tonight that he's had a little bulk to him. A very good match, good finish." [From 6:42 - 7:23]

You can watch the full interview here:

Don't forget to catch the full results of SmackDown here.

Dutch Mantell enjoyed the action on WWE SmackDown

During the conversation, the wrestling veteran mentioned that despite the roster missing some of its biggest stars who are in Saudi Arabia for Crown Jewel, WWE managed to put on a great show.

"I liked SmackDown the way they put it together tonight. None of it was boring. Of course, in maintenance shows, your matches are shorter, which I think SmackDown did benefit from that. I prefer quality over quantity and that's what they had tonight. I think they had a very, very good show, a very good SmackDown tonight." [7:26 - 7:50]

One night before #WWECrownJewel, @Gunther_AUT overcomes @reymysterio in Intercontinental Championship fight

Full #SmackDown results 👉 ms.spr.ly/6015dY4vv https://t.co/hzs6iQtJWs

It will be interesting to see how WWE Crown Jewel impacts the SmackDown programming next week and if there are any major title changes in Riyadh this weekend.

What did you think of this week's show? Sound off in the comments section below.

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