James Ellsworth may be joining the WWE roster. (WWE.com)
James Ellsworth, the jobber who became an instant phenomenon and recently defeated the World Championship in a title match, may be joining the WWE full time.
Pro Wrestling Insider is reporting today that there has been talk within the company of officially signing Ellsworth. This push was driven in part by the tremendous online sales of Ellsworth’s new shirt. On the WWE’s online store, Ellsworth’s shirt is currently the third best-selling, coming in ahead of products related to superstars like John Cena, A.J. Styles, and Roman Reigns.
After the end of last week’s massive SmackDown main event, it would be surprising if we don’t see more of James Ellsworth and potentially hear about his future on tomorrow night’s broadcast.
James Ellsworth is a wrestler who, in a July episode of Monday Night Raw, served as a local jobber and went up against Braun Strowman in a squash match. He became an internet sensation, and his segment with Strowman sparked hundreds of online memes.
Realizing that a sense of somewhat ironic excitement for Ellsworth was building in the online wrestling community, the WWE decided not to let him go and to bring back everyone’s favorite jobber one more time. Last month, he popped up on an episode of SmackDown, being booked for the main event of the show. That didn’t end up happening, though, with Ellsworth being replaced by The Miz at the last minute. It was fun to see Ellsworth back on the show, but the idea of him being in the main event was pretty absurd.
Or was it? Just a few weeks later, James Ellsworth legitimately did main event SmackDown Live. Not only that, but he defeated the World Champion, A.J. Styles, twice in a row, although the first time was just because Dean Ambrose intervened and was an all around terrible guest referee, and the second was because Styles was disqualified.
The question that must now be asked is how long will Ellsworth-mania last? Will Ellsworth grow stale after a few more weeks, as online memes often do? Or is he a legitimately solid entertainer who deserves a full-time contract?
We’ll likely find out more about the future of James Ellsworth during October 25th’s episode of SmackDown Live.