Wrestling legend discusses The Rock's impact in WWE; how he's different from Vince McMahon
A wrestling veteran recently spoke about The Rock helping WWE make its product better. The legend in question is Dutch Mantell.
The Final Boss has been a prominent part of WWE programming over the last couple of months. He recently signed a lucrative deal to become a member of the TKO Board of Directors. Since then, he has also regularly appeared on RAW & SmackDown and will be teaming up with Roman Reigns for a match at WrestleMania against Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins.
On a recent episode of Story Time with Dutch Mantell, the veteran pointed out that nobody expected WWE's programming to improve so soon after Rock became a member of the TKO Board. Mantell felt that the Hollywood star approached wrestling with a sense of realism, in contrast to Vince McMahon, who exposed the business in order to save taxes.
"I don't think anybody expected WWE to be this good this early. They probably never thought it would be this good ever again. But with The Rock there, he brings the right mindset to the wrestling game. With Vince, it was one story. He was the one that first smartened people up with the State Athletic Commissions and he didn't want to pay taxes. I don't blame him there but he said, no it's all pre-planned, it's all set up, it's an exhibition and we're paying them taxes on something that we're not. That saved him a lot of money. But now people have it set in their heads that it's a pre-planned production." [From 02:54 to 03:49]
Check out the video below:
The Rock is advertised for the upcoming episode of RAW
Last Monday on RAW, The Rock unleashed pure chaos during his surprise appearance on the show. He brutally attacked Cody Rhodes to end the episode.
He bashed The American Nightmare in the parking lot and left him in a pool of his own blood. The Final Boss is scheduled to show up once again on the flagship show this coming Monday night. This time, he will be accompanied by his tag team partner and the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns.
It will be interesting to see what The Rock has to say on the go-home episode of RAW before WrestleMania.
If you use the quotes from this article, please credit Story Time with Dutch Mantell and add an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcript.