WWE News & Rumors: James Ellsworth May Be Officially Signed

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James Ellsworth attempts to take on Braun Strowman during Monday Night Raw. WWE.com)

Everyone’s favorite local jobber, James Ellsworth, may be joining the WWE full time.

On his Facebook page today, Ellsworth told fans that he will no longer be taking any independent wrestling bookings. Although he did not say anything more than that, this certainly sounds like he has signed a WWE contract and therefore will not be able to perform anywhere else for the foreseeable future.

Here is the message Ellsworth posted on Facebook:

Hey everyone, I’ve been getting a lot of messages requesting to be booked, I wanted to say thank you, but at this time I am no longer taking anymore independent wrestling bookings, I will be appearing tomorrow for big time wrestling in Altoona Pa, and that’ll be it for now, thank you for all the love and support

This comes just a few weeks after it was reported that Ellsworth may receive a WWE contract, with Pro Wrestling Insider reporting that there was a lot of talk within the company of bringing Ellsworth on full time. This push supposedly came after the massive online sales for Ellsworth’s new t-shirt, which outsold shirts related to major superstars like John Cena, A.J. Styles, and Roman Reigns.

James Ellsworth first appeared on a July episode of Monday Night Raw, and he was just another local jobber who went up against Braun Strowman only to be immediately crushed. But Ellsworth instantly became a meme in the online wrestling community, and he got so popular that the WWE brought him back on SmackDown Live a few weeks later. What seemed like a one time appearance grew bigger and bigger to the point that Ellsworth actually beat AJ Styles two weeks in a row, although both times it was due to outside interference.

If Ellsworth is brought on full time, he will most likely be utilized as a comedic character rather than someone we’re meant to see as a legitimate threat to any of the other superstars. Right now, for example, Ellsworth is serving as the “mascot” of Team SmackDown at Survivor Series, getting laughs on Tuesday’s show when The Undertaker sounded like he was going to praise AJ Styles, only to offer praise for Ellsworth instead, revealing himself to be a big fan.

Ellsworth, who is 31-years-old, is from Glen Burnie, Maryland, and he has been competing on the independent wrestling circuit for years. As he describes it, it was the dream of a lifetime just to be on Monday Night Raw for a few minutes back in July, as he is a lifelong WWE fan and figured this would be his only major contributions. A few months later, he would be standing in a ring with AJ Styles, Dean Ambrose, Shane McMahon, Bray Wyatt, Randy Orton and The Undertaker. Needless to say, Ellsworth has had quite the year.