Dutch Mantell – known as Zeb Colter in WWE – has lambasted Bobby Lashley’s inability to connect with the audience, citing this as why he’s not the complete package.
Since his 2018 return to WWE, Bobby Lashley has risen to become a main event attraction, complete with two reigns as WWE Champion. ‘The Almighty’ has found great success in the role, harking back to the incredible run he enjoyed in IMPACT Wrestling prior to rejoining WWE.
During this time, Lashley was paired with MVP, who aided Lashley in coming across as a compelling monster of a wrestler. Despite this, Dutch Mantell, an iconic wrestling manager, has commented on the former Intercontinental Champion’s inability to form a crowd connection.
Talking with Wrestling Shoot Interviews, Mantell compared Lashley’s lack of connection with some of wrestling’s most charismatic performers (h/t Sportskeeda Wrestling):
“I never felt the connection to the people, to the fans. The fans make stars. Let’s take Dusty Rhodes, he didn’t know a wristwatch from a wrist lock but the fans loved him to death…People were happy with that, they connected to Dusty Rhodes, and they connected to Hulk Hogan or Roddy Piper or Steve Austin or The Rock. That chemistry there with Lashley, nothing with his body or his work, his connectability to the fans is lacking.”
Bobby Lashley defeated Brock Lesnar to lift his second WWE Championship during the Royal Rumble, though he dropped the title back to ‘The Beast Incarnate’ just a few weeks later. The former Hurt Business man has since turned babyface, cementing this with a defeat of Omos at WrestleMania 38.
He’s since dropped MVP as a manager as Montel Vontavious Porter instead took on Omos as his client. MVP had previously accompanied Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin, Bobby Lashley’s allies in The Hurt Business.
Dutch Mantell was a manager himself in WWE, using the moniker of Zeb Colter. He managed Alberto Del Rio and The Real Americans, although he had also accompanied Justin Bradshaw and The Blu Brothers during earlier WWE stints as Zebekiah.