James Ellsworth Talks WWE Run, Rumors On Idea Vince McMahon Had, If He Wants To Be Known As A Jobber
Former WWE Superstar James Ellsworth recently spoke with Rolling Stone and revealed that he's busier than ever after being released from WWE back in mid-November. Ellsworth has been running the indie promotion he founded back in 2009, Adrenaline Championship Wrestling. He's also taking indie bookings and capitalizing on the Ellsworth name recognition with merchandise.
The full interview is at this link and below are highlights:
Was your contract status with WWE always tenuous?
I feel like I understand the business, and when I signed, I said I'm going to enjoy every moment. I was hoping and praying it was going to be five or 10 years, but I was like, "This is probably going to have a short shelf life, so I'm going to do the best I can to stay here as long as I can." But I felt I was looked at as short shelf life from the beginning, which I'm not bitter about.
And hey, in your last WWE match against Becky Lynch you finally got to show you know how to fundamentally wrestle.
The funny thing about that is I hadn't wrestled a real match in a while. Even the A.J. stuff, I didn't get to show what I had. But with Becky, yeah, I had the nice takedown on her. I mean, I've been wrestling a while. I just never got the opportunity there to show it, because that wasn't my job there. But hopefully, in the future, if I do get back there, I can show that I can go in the ring a little bit.
One rumor that swirled upon your exit was that Vince mulled having you compete in the women's division as a transgender wrestler. Any truth to that?
All I can say is Vince never talked to me about it. If that was an idea, I surely didn't know, and Vince and I never had a conversation about it, so I have no idea. [Laughs] Being in WWE, I can tell you a lot of the dirt sheets is just people guessing. I'm not saying that was, but it's people guessing and hoping they're right, and it gives their dirt sheet a reason to pay attention to it I guess.
For the record, despite your beginnings with WWE, would you rather not be ultimately categorized as a jobber?
The thing with that is when I wrestled Braun Strowman, I was 100 percent a jobber. First impressions are everything. That doesn't bother me. Now do I want to prove I can wrestle a little more? Yeah. But I don't mind being remembered as a character either. I want to be remembered as somebody who entertained them, no matter what I was doing.
Source: Rolling Stone