Rey Fenix needs stronger booking to succeed in WWE, says veteran wrestling manager (Exclusive)

Modified Apr 12, 2025 14:00 GMT

Rey Fenix in action on SmackDown this week [Image: WWE.com]

Veteran wrestling manager Dutch Mantell recently spoke about Rey Fenix. The former AEW star is one of the latest acquisitions by WWE.

In his second match on the blue brand's show, Fenix faced a tough challenge against Berto. However, the sensational luchador prevailed, as he nailed his opponent with the Mexican Muscle Buster.

This week on BroDown with host Mac Davis, Mantell detailed that Rey Fenix was talented in the ring, but his move set was nothing extraordinary. The wrestling veteran felt the star had a decent outing on SmackDown this week. However, he wasn't convinced that WWE was booking him like a major superstar.

"He does some good stuff. We've all seen it before. If he turns into a bigger star than he is now, they're gonna have to do something pretty strong with him. He's not overly big, and he does the same moves we see 10 times every TV show. He doesn't speak English, does he? And he had a good match tonight. But it wasn't anything you'd write home about. You expect that out of SmackDown, in these types of good matches," he said. [From 16:57 onwards]

With this match, Rey Fenix has notched up two big wins in his WWE career. It will be interesting to see how the Triple H-led creative team books him in the coming months.

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About the author

Prityush is a WWE news writer for Sportskeeda Wrestling who started watching wrestling in the later part of The Attitude Era. Although he holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Prityush was a creative writer for his college, and his flair for creativity and love of pro wrestling eventually led him to the journalism field. After an initial stint in 2016-2017, he has been writing regularly for Sportskeeda since 2021.

As someone who loves and respects the business, he prides himself on factual, clean, and ethical reporting, free of plagiarism and AI usage. One of the ways he ensures this is by transcribing videos that he reports on.

Prityush had the privilege of interviewing superstar Matt Hardy in his career so far. Although, his favorite wrestler is CM Punk, as he relates to his Straight Edge philosophy.

When he is not reporting news, he loves reading and collecting WWE action figures. He currently owns over 500 wrestling figures and merchandise.

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Edited by Prityush Haldar