On tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live, Carmella finally had enough of James Ellsworth thinking that he had some say in her Money in the Bank contract, and after lashing out at him, kicked him to the curb.
Later on in the evening, he would beg and plead for her to take him back and surprisingly, she would—with a kiss and a slap in the face.
So this got me thinking of not just where the storyline will go from here, but what is going to happen once they actually split for real, whenever that may be.
The James Ellsworth story so far has been quite peculiar. He started off as a random jobber being destroyed by Braun Strowman, but his look was strange enough that WWE decided to bring him back as a novelty act for a few more episodes.
That turned into a few more, then a few more, and before we knew it, Ellsworth was the third most used person on the SmackDown roster behind AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose, which led to him earning a legitimate contract and becoming a true WWE superstar.
Slowly but surely, the act wore thin and he turned heel, aligning with Carmella along the way and turning into the Kevin Federline parody we’re familiar with now.
Down the line, when he ditches Carmella or when she ditches him for good, these are the scenarios I can see WWE taking with Ellsworth.
Nothing Changes
Of course, the simplest thing to do is absolutely nothing. James Ellsworth can continue to be the same exact character he currently is, just without being alongside Carmella.
This would assuredly keep him as a jobber on SmackDown where he’d come out and get his ass whooped by anybody who needed an easy win, whether it be Tye Dillinger, Sami Zayn, Chad Gable or anybody else in the midcard (although that doesn’t prevent him from being wrecked by the main event talent, either)
Considering how his entire career has existed in this capacity, that’s not too bad of a role to still be portraying. There’s always a need for comedic jobbers and if that earns you enough of a paycheck doing something that nobody else can match you with, you always serve a purpose with the company and can continue being employed.
Sometimes, this even leads to a push once in a while when a member of the creative team finds it funny to give a few wins to a loser, so Ellsworth can cross his fingers that that might happen in the future while he’s staring up at the lights.
He Finds a New Tag Team Partner
When someone loses an ally, they tend to go solo, but that isn’t always the case.
While he and Carmella aren’t exactly a tag team, that could be the direction WWE takes Ellsworth after they split, as a means to not only keep him out of the way of the more important storylines as well as help out someone who needs a bit more of a boost in personality.
What I would find particularly interesting is if there was a story where he was searching for someone to fill the void that Carmella left, but he’s unable to impress anybody enough to really stick with them, so he keeps bouncing around between different partners.
For instance, he can come out one time with The Ascension, dressed up in their ring gear and face paint, but they’d consider him not physically threatening enough.
Likewise, he can come out with The Hype Bros and try to be as energetic as they are, but they’ll toss him aside because he’s killing the vibe.
Maybe he interns with The Fashion Police as a junior deputy. Maybe he tries to take singing lessons from Aiden English. There’s a wide variety of fun that can be had with Ellsworth’s search for a new purpose and this is definitely the booking that I’d go with.
205 Live
After his tag team with Big Cass dissolved, Enzo Amore was on the fast track to being a total jobber on the Raw roster before WWE opted to put him in the cruiserweight division.
This was a very smart move for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which being how he could spice up the lack of personalities there while being a big fish in a small pond.
The same thing could be applicable to James Ellsworth, who is definitely within the weight limit (currently being billed at 176).
This could even have some crossover with the jobber idea, as he could be one of the resident losers of the 205 Live crew to help put over the more serious talent who are in the legitimate mix for Cruiserweight Championship.
Of course, we’ve seen Hornswoggle hold the belt before, Santino Marella win numerous championships and other crazy things, so for Ellsworth to eventually be in title contention is not out of the realm of possibility, and it’s much more likely in 205 Live than on Raw or SmackDown’s midcard or main event divisions, that’s for sure.
End of the Road
Lastly, maybe this experiment has just run its course. It’s been a year at this point and for all intents and purposes, that could be enough.
Ellsworth’s stint in WWE has already lasted far beyond what most people (including himself, likely) would ever have imagined, so maybe it’s time to call it quits.
There’s a chance he signed a one-year contract with WWE and when it’s up, he may be released from the company as they could consider him not valuable enough to sign to another deal.
We’d get a message on Twitter about how he’s greatly appreciated the time he’s spent and that he had a good run and so on and so forth, and then he can charge a lot more for his indie appearances now that he’s a former WWE superstar.
What do you think you’d like to see happen with Ellsworth in the future when he and Carmella can’t resolve their differences? Do you hope to see them just stick together forever instead?
Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
