"They don't want independent wrestlers anymore" - Wrestling veteran questions new creative direction for WWE under Vince McMahon (Exclusive)

Dutch Mantell recently discussed why Vince McMahon may have released more superstars this past week.

The former WWE manager was in conversation with Rick Ucchino and Sid Pullar III on Sportskeeda Wrestling's Smack Talk this week. Speaking on the recent releases, the wrestling veteran tried to reason why WWE was cutting talent.

Mantell mentioned reading that Vince was looking for younger talent that they could mold into their version of larger-than-life superstars:

"I read a while back that Vince and Company, they don't want independent wrestlers anymore. They want actors. Is that right or not?" Mantell questioned.

Check out the episode of Smack Talk in the video below:

Mantell was of the opinion that Vince McMahon and his creative team were looking for actors or pure athletes that could learn the WWE style of working.

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Dutch Mantell spoke about Vince McMahon and the backstage politics in WWE

During the show, Mantell also spoke about how backstage politics may have led to the release of some WWE superstars. He alluded to the fact that some superstars may have been frustrated with creative and expressed themselves backstage:

"Okay, they have a whole staff and we encountered this on SmackDown, sometimes they would use 14 guys or 16 out of 60. So you're not going anywhere if they are not doing something with you on TV. And the guys that expressed that, I don't know who they expressed it to, but the little creative people would run right to Vince and say that he's kind of hard to work with. See, it doesn't take a lot to get you written off in wrestling," Mantell said.

Mantell mentioned that some members of creative may have been talking to Vince about the bad attitude of the superstars that led to Vince McMahon cutting talent from the roster.

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