Dutch Mantell Believes Beating Up Top WWE Star Could Get Anyone Over
Many times throughout the history of professional wrestling, stars have received a reaction and benefited from beatdowns, whether that be the wrestler being who's being beaten up or the one giving the beating.
Braun Strowman recently made his return to WWE, a man that makes the average opponent of his look small compared to him, and he has been in a feud with Alpha Academy since returning, frequently beating them up. Former WWE manager Dutch Mantell revealed which member of The Bloodline he believes Strowman should beat up to get the crowd going crazy.
"If [Braun Strowman] beat up Sami Zayn, they'd go nuts," Mantell said while talking to "Sportskeeda Wrestling." "Anybody touches Sami Zayn, beats him up now, leaves him laying, they're over because now they'll want to see Sami come back, and they'll know he's going to do something. They know he's a thinker ... It's not the wrestling ability, it's the connectivity to the audience."
Zayn has played a heel character since he initially turned at Hell in a Cell in 2017. In 2020, Zayn began playing the character of a conspiracy theorist who believed that someone in WWE was out to get him. Zayn eventually started angling to become a member of The Bloodline and on a recent episode of "SmackDown," Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns handed Zayn a shirt that has Zayn's initials that says "Honorary Uce," officially welcoming him to The Bloodline. In the past few months, and especially the last number of weeks, Zayn has been receiving mostly cheers from different crowds, despite being aligned with WWE's top heel faction.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Sportskeeda Wrestling" and provide an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.