Dutch Mantell admits he may have been wrong about WWE not pushing 40-year-old veteran this year (Exclusive)

Dutch Mantell has been an outspoken advocate for 40-year-old veteran and rising star LA Knight for a while now. On the latest episode of Smack Talk, he admits to possibly being wrong about the way WWE has booked him.

Dutch Mantell has stated on several occasions that WWE was dropping the ball with LA Knight. This was, of course, a few months ago when Knight was constantly falling short of major achievements, like winning the Money in the Bank briefcase and then a chance to face Austin Theory at SummerSlam for the United States Championship.

On Smack Talk this week, Dutch Mantell stated that he understands WWE's booking strategy for LA Knight and thinks that they have been playing the long game to get him to the spot he's in right now:

"When I was watching him [LA Knight] get beat every week I was like 'They're missing the boat on this guy'. But maybe again, they took their time, they listened to the people and more importantly, they also watched the t-shirt sales and said 'Damn, he's our top seller. We need to do something with him.' And they did and now he's a top guy. He came from zero to hundred - he could have done it six months ago probably, but again, judging by my own opinion, they took their time and now he's in a great spot'." [From 09:17 to 10:01]

You can watch the full video below:

What was Dutch Mantell's take on LA Knight's push a couple of months ago?

Things gradually began to change for LA Knight on the booking front, and SummerSlam 2023 was a prime example of that. The Megastar won the Slim Jim Battle Royal that night.

A couple of months ago, Dutch Mantell gave his insight into the early stages of LA Knight's push:

"They gotta know when they've hit a nerve. You can see now that LA Knight. They've hit a nerve with him. Now they're giving him a push. That's the way I look at it. See, the way you kinda diagram it, I'm not saying it's wrong, it's right. When you go back a year ago, I'm thinking what the hell is he talking about? I was here, I know what you're talking about, and I still don't remember."

As mentioned earlier, Dutch Mantell has been advocating for LA Knight ever since day one.

As of this writing, he has teamed up with one of the greatest of all time, John Cena, and successfully defeated the duo of Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa. Not a bad spot to be in.

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