"They're not gonna sell a ticket" - Former WWE manager destroys SmackDown team; compares them to Maximum Male Models (Exclusive)

Former WWE manager Dutch Mantell was not impressed by Karrion Kross and the rest of his entourage that showed up on SmackDown: New Year's Revolution this week.

Kross had been teasing a huge change over the last few weeks, and this was visible on SmackDown: New Year's Revolution this Friday as WWE legend Paul Ellering, along with the Authors of Pain, returned. Akam and Rezar blindsided the Street Profits, allowing Kross to take down Bobby Lashley.

During this week's episode of Sportskeeda Wrestling's SmackTalk podcast, Mantell lashed out at the new faction, putting them in the same league as the Maximum Male Models. He claimed that they were not exciting and would not sell tickets.

"I didn't like it. They are trying to take Karrion Kross, do something with him, put him with this other team. I'm gonna have to say that they have the same effect on me as who did I say dead on arrival? The Maximum Male Models. Well, the whole thing, it's still dead on arrival. Nothing's gonna happen, they're not gonna move nothing. I don't think they are gonna sell a ticket. They may unsell some tickets. They're not exciting, and them beating up the Street Profits, I don't care," Dutch Mantell said. [49:48 - 50:32]

You can watch the full video below:

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Dutch Mantell also spoke about another WWE SmackDown debut

During the same conversation, Dutch Mantell stated that he was rather impressed by the debut of Tyler Bate on WWE SmackDown: New Year's Revolution.

Mantell claimed that Bate looked like a typical babyface from the territory days and even worked that way.

"I think they reached down in the video content of Mid South Wrestling with Bill Watts in 1986 and pulled Tyler Bate out of the slew of babyfaces they had then. He does look like the old Mid-southern typical babyface underneath wrestler, and he works like that too." Mantell continued, "I don't think he found a lot. But he's not bad in the ring. He's okay." [1:08:16 - 1:09:20]

Dutch Mantell mentioned that Tyler needed some more time in the ring to get over with the WWE Universe.

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What did you think of this week's episode of WWE SmackDown? Sound off in the comments section below!

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You can catch the full results of SmackDown: New Year's Revolution here.

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If you use the quotes from this article, please credit SmackTalk, embed the exclusive YouTube video, and add a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.