Dutch Mantell is glad WWE star quietly left the company recently

Dutch Mantell was known as Zeb Colter in WWE
Dutch Mantell was known as Zeb Colter in WWE

Veteran wrestling booker and manager Dutch Mantell recently gave his thoughts on Eric Young's sudden WWE departure.

Young returned to the company in late 2022, but he did not appear on television. The former SAnitY member was reportedly supposed to join a new faction with Alexa Bliss, Bray Wyatt, and Uncle Howdy before the idea was nixed.

Mantell said on his Story Time with Dutch Mantell podcast that Young did the right thing by leaving WWE again:

"You usually can look around and if they've done nothing with you, they've not even intimated they're going to do anything with you, okay, they're telling you, 'We're not going to do anything with you,' so go and do something else, and he did, and I'm glad he did." [3:55 – 4:12]
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Young recently returned to IMPACT after nine months away from the company. On July 15, the 43-year-old teamed up with Scott D'Amore to defeat Bully Ray and Deaner at Slammiversary.


Why did Eric Young leave WWE again?

The former NXT star spoke to Mike Johnson of PW Insider about his decision to walk away without reappearing on television.

He strongly hinted that Vince McMahon's return as WWE's Executive Chairman played a part in his latest exit:

"I signed up for one thing and it turned into something completely different," Young said. "Personally, professionally, and more importantly for me, morally, I just couldn't work there anymore. If you're a wrestling fan and you know what's going on, it was not a super difficult choice for me, to be honest. It was a dream come true, going back, the contract was fantastic and all this other stuff, and what I was poised to do on the TV show was excellent, but in the end, I would have had to answer to somebody that I'm just not willing to do." (H/T Fightful)

Young has not competed in a WWE match since losing to Ricochet on the March 12, 2020, episode of Main Event.

Would you like to have seen Eric Young join forces with Bray Wyatt? Let us know in the comments section below.


Please credit Story Time with Dutch Mantell and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use the first set of quotes from this article.

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Edited by Danny Hart
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