"It did surprise me" - Dutch Mantell reacts to Cesaro leaving WWE and reveals a major reason (Exclusive)

Dutch Mantell shared his reaction to Cesaro's WWE release on this week's episode of Smack Talk. The legendary manager admitted that the news caught him off guard.

Mantell managed Cesaro and Jack Swagger (The Real Americans) in the WWE, and he was pretty familiar with the Swiss Superstar's work.

The former WWE manager came up through the wrestling territories in the 1970s, and he noted how talents in the past didn't hesitate to do business with different promoters to secure more money.

Cesaro is a highly-respected name and will have no shortage of offers now that he is a free agent. Zeb Colter, however, was unsure whether AEW would make a play for the 41-year-old superstar.

"Well, that's the way the business used to work. If you can't get your money from one promoter, you'd try another one. Well he has two more, he has Japan. And he has AEW, but AEW can only sign so many people. Well, they keep signing them, and I keep hearing that they are paying this super money I don't think Tony Khan's going to sign somebody up for millions of dollars, and you see him ten times a the year, and it hadn't helped his ratings that much. But it did surprise me that Cesaro picked his ball up and left. " revealed Dutch Mantell. [5:36 - 6:30]

Dutch Mantell feels Cesaro decided to leave WWE due to burnout

Being a WWE Superstar is a challenging task as the performers are on the road for almost the entirety of the year.

Mantell speculated that Cesaro could take a break from wrestling due to burnout, which could be the primary reason behind him choosing not to re-sign with WWE.

The veteran personality clarified that he hadn't spoken to Cesaro in a long time but was still quite shocked by the former US Champion's WWE exit.

"I think I would say if the company had been running full shows all this time during the pandemic, but they haven't, I would like to say that he just burnt out on the road, but he couldn't have been burnt out on the road, he hadn't been going out there much. When did they start running shows? Two-three months ago? I would like to say he is burnt out, and he may just be taking some time off. I haven't talked to him in a long time. It did surprise me," added the WWE Legend. [6:31 - 7:19]

What do you think was the biggest reason that influenced Claudio Castagnoli to depart the WWE? Sound off in the comments section below.

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