Lacey Evans' real-life heat with WWE legend's daughter should have been handled differently, Teddy Long says (Exclusive)

WWE Hall of Famer Teddy Long believes Lacey Evans should have broken character when she responded to Sgt. Slaughter's daughter on Twitter.

Evans served in the United States Marine Corps for five years before joining the wrestling business. The 33-year-old recently returned to WWE television wearing a military outfit, drawing comparisons to Sgt. Slaughter. The former WWE Champion's daughter questioned "who the f**k" Evans is, sparking a back-and-forth war of words.

Long appeared on the latest edition of Sportskeeda's The Wrestling Time Machine with Bill Apter and Mac Davis. The former WWE General Manager said Evans could have instantly settled the dispute by reminding everyone that she simply does as she is told:

"First of all, Lacey didn't even have to go that far with this," Long stated. "All Lacey had to do is tell her this, 'You need to talk to the WWE writers, okay? I come to work every day, and what I come to work to do is what I am told to do. So, when I got here one day, they had this outfit for me and they told me to put this on and this is who I was going to be. So, this is my job, so that's all I have to say about that, and I'm not trying to gimmick anybody.'" [2:37 – 3:05]

Watch the video above to hear more from Teddy Long about Lacey Evans' possible WWE storyline direction if her latest character transformation fails.

Is Lacey Evans' character too similar to Sgt. Slaughter?

Many people also took issue with Lacey Evans using the Cobra Clutch submission, a move made famous by Sgt. Slaughter.

You’ve got my respect for serving our country. 💯 I’m talking about the gimmick. Cobra clutch & now the hat. You look ridiculous. #stolengimmick twitter.com/LaceyEvansWWE/…

In Teddy Long's opinion, WWE's decision-makers have done nothing wrong by including Evans' military background as part of her on-screen persona:

"They're not trying to gimmick Slaughter, and they're not trying to do anything to hurt his name or anything. They're just coming up with something brand new, you know what I mean? It happens to be a woman in a military outfit, and plus she did serve this country. I don't understand [the problem]." [3:45 – 4:00]

Evans has not competed in a match since losing to Zelina Vega in a Money in the Bank qualifier on the June 2 episode of SmackDown.

What do you make of Lacey Evans replicating Sgt. Slaughter's gimmick? Let us know in the comments section below.

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