"They were just abusing the sh*t out of that girl" - 32-year-old female WWE star deserves a big push, says Dutch Mantell (Exclusive)

Former WWE manager Dutch Mantell feels the company was not booking Zelina Vega correctly during the initial half of her run.

Vega picked up an important victory this week on the blue brand. She was in a Money in the Bank qualifying match against Lacey Evans. After a hard-fought battle, the LWO member finally downed her adversary with her signature Code Red maneuver.

Mantell was on Smack Talk this week and mentioned that WWE was misusing Vega at the start of her career. He detailed that the crowd reception for the star in Puerto Rico possibly changed the mind of higher-ups backstage.

"I really think she deserves a chance. Me and Sid were fans of her from a long time ago, way way back. They were just abusing the sh*t out of that girl. All the other girls were bigger than her and that's what you feels for a babyface. They're smaller and they're fighting. She loses, and she loses, and she loses. Then I think, when she went to Puerto Rico and they saw that reaction from that Hispanic crowd, they said wait a minute, we might need to be using this lady a bit differently." [From 37:07 - 37:47]

You can watch the full video here:

You can catch the full results of SmackDown here.

---

Mantell believes that Zelina Vega will not win at WWE Money in the Bank

This week, Zelina Vega became the first woman to qualify for this year's women's Money in the Bank ladder match.

During the same conversation, Mantell stated that it was a good result for Vega. However, the veteran was not sure if the 32-year-old would go all the way.

"I kinda hate that she beat Lacey because I'm a big Lacey fan too. But Zelina beat her, which was a good win and I agree with it. We'll see where it leads to. I don't think she'll win Money in the Bank or anything like that. I think they judge these babyfaces by the merchandise they sell." [From 37:49 - 38:20]

With a series of qualifying matches set up for the coming weeks, it will be interesting to see which other members of the WWE Women's division join Zelina Vega in the highly anticipated match.

Who do you think will win Money in the Bank? Let us know in the comments section below.

---

If you use the quotes from this article, please embed the YouTube video and add a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcript.