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John Cena was wrong to publicly support Vince McMahon in a recent interview, according to legendary wrestling booker and manager Dutch Mantell.
On January 25, former WWE employee Janel Grant accused McMahon of sexual assault and trafficking. Addressing the situation on The Howard Stern Show, Cena said he "loves" his former boss and wants to help him.
Mantell, formerly known as Zeb Colter in WWE, appeared on the latest episode of Sportskeeda Wrestling's Smack Talk with Rick Ucchino and Sid Pullar III. Reacting to Cena's comments, he suggested an alternate answer that the former 16-time world champion could have given:
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"I think he [John Cena] would have been better off by just trying to distance himself from the situation," Mantell said. "Maybe not distance himself from Vince, but here he's saying, I don't know what he's saying, to tell you the truth, you can put any kind of damn explanation to it you want. What he's trying to say is, 'I wish this hadn't have happened. This is not the Vince I love. Vince made me 30 million or 40 or 50 million dollars, so I appreciate him there.'" [1:50 – 2:24]
Watch the video above to hear Mantell's first-hand experience of what he witnessed backstage between McMahon and female wrestlers.
Dutch Mantell thinks "there's a lot wrong" with John Cena's comments
Many wrestlers have been asked about Vince McMahon in recent media interviews. Seth Rollins, for example, said the claims against the former WWE Chairman are "awful" and "disgusting." Randy Orton also commented, admitting his heart "hurt" after reading details of Janel Grant's lawsuit.
Given the nature of the allegations, Dutch Mantell believes John Cena should not have shown McMahon so much support:
"In John's case, I think he'd have been better off keeping his mouth shut about Vince because now people are saying he's saying there's nothing wrong with it. I think there's a lot wrong with it. What's bad with it is that the news got out." [3:56 – 4:20]
Shortly after Grant's lawsuit was filed, McMahon denied the allegations before resigning as a board member of WWE's parent company TKO "out of respect".
What do you make of Dutch Mantell's remarks? Discuss below!
Please credit Sportskeeda Wrestling's Smack Talk and embed the video if you use quotes from this article.
