Dutch Mantell recently spoke on his podcast, “Story Time with Dutch Mantell,” about a variety of professional wrestling topics including Ricardo Rodriguez, Alberto Del Rio’s ring announcer, who legitimately believed that he was racist.
Mantell returned to the WWE, working as an anti-immigrant heel alongside Jack Swagger under the ring name Zeb Colter.
“You know, he told somebody, he said, ‘He’s really racist,’” Mantell said. “I went, ‘What?’ ‘Cause we sold him that we hated Mexicans. So, that’s doing your job if you can convince the people you work with that you’re really racist, ’cause I’m not racist. I hate racist people, I hate ’em. I only hate two types of people: racists and Mexicans. That’s a joke, people.”
Mantell also talked about how Vince McMahon felt about the character and one line in particular that he loved.
“A lot of our whole push was based on immigrants ‘sneaking across the border,’ Vince loved that,” Mantell recalled. “They would tell me sometimes, ‘In this interview, do the little sneaking across’ and he said, ‘Always roll those R’s when you say Alberto Del Rio.'”
You can listen to the complete podcast below:
(H/T to Wrestling Inc for the transcription)
