Dutch Mantell was a recent guest on this week’s episode of Total Engagement with Matt Koon. Mantell discussed his relationship with “Macho Man” Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth, saying he got to know Savage quite a bit coming up through the wrestling ranks with him:
“I was really close to Randy and Liz because I started with Randy. I came across him several years later in Nashville, and then we worked in Memphis. I was really close to Randy, and no one really got to know him. He was a mystery to himself I think. A great worker, a good guy, and he knew one super-high speed. If you went to the ring with Randy and you left your aggression in the dressing room, he’d kick the shit out of you. I’ve sometimes said that I’ve had an easier time in street fights than working with Savage. We more or less taught each other how to work, and he had a ton of success. People pass away, and you miss them. When I heard Randy had passed away, it really touched me more than most.”
Mantell was featured on this week’s Dark Side Of The Ring on VICELAND about Bruiser Brody, and was asked what other stories should be told by the documentary series. Mantell said Chris Benoit’s story deserves to be told, saying he doesn’t think all of the details are out there, and also cited the Graham family, Big Bad John and Dino Bravo as controversial subjects that people don’t know the whole truth about:
“The first one I’d pitch is the Benoit story. I don’t think we’ve heard all of that one. The Graham family is another one, many wrestling fans don’t know what that’s about. Everybody thinks about Wrestling, they watch RAW, music is playing, everybody is happy, it’s just not that way. Or at least that’s not how it used to be. I’m glad that the wrestling profession seems to be beyond those days.
There was a guy, Big Bad John, named after the song. He got caught up in crime and drug dealers in LA, got killed, and no one knows that story. Another one is the Dino Bravo story. There are some stories that I don’t know how you could tell them without really pissing people off inside the business.”
