AEW star needles Michin ahead of WWE SmackDown

Michin has finally found a place on WWE SmackDown since parting ways with AJ Styles last year. Although she fell to Chelsea Green at Saturday Night's Main Event in December, her pursuit for the Women's United States Championship continues on the blue brand. Meanwhile, Shelton Benjamin has taken a dig at her.

Benjamin is a veteran of the industry and is currently signed with AEW. The two share a close friendship off-screen, dating back to their days on the independent circuit.

Taking to Instagram, Shelton Benjamin shared a fan-made post of WWE 2K25 with Michin as the cover star. He called it the "worst cover" and claimed it is "banned in most countries."

"The worst cover in the history of video games. Banned in most countries," wrote Benjamin.

Shelton Benjamin needles his friend on social media [Image via Instagram]

They have gone back and forth on social media since the veteran instigated it. She noted that her "idiot" friend does not realize it is a fan-made post, to which he responded by questioning her assumption that she has fans.

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Shelton Benjamin talks about his close friendship with Michin off-screen

During an episode of WWE's The Bump last year, Shelton Benjamin opened up about his love-hate relationship with 'Michin' Mia Yim. Benjamin recalled how they met.

He revealed it was during an indy show where Yim was wrestling Mickie James. The AEW star was impressed by her but then added that once he got to know her, he realized that the passion he thought she had was a lie. The Gold Standard concluded by finally admitting that he loves Michin:

"I'll say this for the people who don't get it. Mia, I love her to death. All right? I love her to death. She's an awesome person. She has so much talent, so much passion, and like I said, we developed a brother-sister relationship. But it's an annoying brother and annoying sister relationship." [H/T: Wrestling Inc.]

Michin and Chelsea Green have been feuding with one another for quite some time now. She scored a major victory in a Dumpster Match late last year over Green but failed to beat the latter to become the inaugural Women's United States Champion.

It remains to be seen if the 35-year-old ends up with the gold. The two women wrestled two weeks ago on SmackDown for the belt, but Chelsea got disqualified, and as a result, she remains the titleholder.