Lacey Evans fires back at 74-year-old WWE Hall of Famer after being accused of stealing his gimmick

Lacey Evans and a 74-year-old WWE Hall of Famer have gotten into a war of words on social media after her appearance on this past Friday's edition of SmackDown.

Zelina Vega defeated Lacey in a Money in the Bank qualifying match. Evans had not appeared on WWE television and returned with little fanfare. The former Marine wore a new outfit that reminded people of the legendary Sgt. Slaughter, including his daughter. The Hall of Famer's daughter took to Twitter recently and blasted Evans for possibly stealing her father's gimmick.

Sgt. Slaughter followed it up with his own message to Evans and warned that his daughter is tough. The 33-year-old responded by poking fun at the veteran's hips and suggested that nobody in his family could keep up with her.

"Between your hips and her 🤼🏼‍♀️ ability, the chances of anyone in your bloodline to put me in a bag is 0. When you birth someone who can carry your legacy or take me out, call me. Until then, salute me. Like the real Marine I am. Rah. 🇺🇸," tweeted Lacey Evans.

Dutch Mantell urges WWE to do something with Lacey Evans on SmackDown

Former WWE manager Dutch Mantell recently urged the company to do something noteworthy with Lacey Evans on SmackDown.

Her return this past Friday night on SmackDown was forgettable, and she didn't put up much of a fight against Zelina Vega. Lacey has had an interesting run thus far on the main roster. The company seemingly has never been able to decide whether or not her character is a heel or a babyface, which has resulted in a very underwhelming career so far.

Speaking on Sportskeeda Wrestling's Smack Talk show, Dutch stated that Lacey Evans could get heat from the crowd and wants to see WWE doing something meaningful with her.

"She's not boring. To me, she'd be easy to book because she's doing half the work before she gets there. I thought she did the greatest thing when she told, 'I did all this for you people. Then you come out here and you boo me?' So she's putting the heat on the people. Not on her opponent, not on another wrestler. She's putting the heat on the people, and that's the easiest type of heat to get and she did it well. But like I've said a thousand times, this is just a week of this year, they've got 51 weeks this year. Do something with that girl." [From 44:02 - 44:46]

You can check out the full video below:

Lacey Evans was known as the "Sassy Southern Belle" before really leaning into her time in the Marines as a character. It will be interesting to see if WWE will ever figure out how to capitalize on her talent or if it is too late at this point.

Do you think Lacey Evans has been underutilized in WWE? Sound off in the comments section below.