"What the hell!" - WWE veteran surprised after 35-year-old star defeats Tiffany Stratton in high-stakes matchup (Exclusive)

Former WWE manager Dutch Mantell recently spoke about Michin winning her semifinal bout on SmackDown this week. The star is now one step closer to becoming the inaugural Women's United States Champion.

Michin faced Tiffany Stratton in the semifinals of the Women's United States Championship tournament this week. She showed great resilience to weather Stratton's offense. She finally hit the Eat Defeat on Tiffy Time to advance to the finals.

This week on Sportskeeda Wrestling's Smack Talk, Mantell congratulated Michin on her win. He felt she was the underdog going into the encounter but did well to hold her own against Stratton. The veteran manager also expressed surprise that WWE was pushing the 35-year-old star and hoped they would continue with this booking.

"Well, I was surprised too. When you look at the screen, she goes to the ring, you automatically assume, okay Michin's getting beat again. They had a good match. For what it was, they had no heat between them really, that much. They had a good match and Michin comes out on top. I'm sitting there like what? What the hell! But they surprised me in a good way. I think they may get behind Michin a little bit and see what they can do with her." [11:08 onwards]

Michin will now face Chelsea Green in the Women's United States Championship tournament finals to crown the inaugural champion.

The match will occur on December 14 at WWE Saturday Night's Main Event.

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