James Ellsworth Recalls Carmella Pitching Vince McMahon Their Pairing

James Ellsworth has parlayed a one-time appearance into WWE career, to the surprise of many viewers.

After appearing on Raw to lose to Braun Strowman in July 2016, Ellsworth would return to defeat AJ Styles, gain a WWE Championship match, and now a pairing with Carmella. On Jerry Lawler's podcast Dinner With The King, Ellsworth remembers Carmella bringing the idea to him and others.

"I think it was last year at the European tour in November, she came to me and said, 'Hey, I have this idea about putting you with me whenever you're done with the Dean Ambrose and AJ stuff comes to an end, I have this idea to pitch to them. They put you with me, you fall in love with me, and I use that to my advantage to win matches and get me to the women's title.

I said yeah, that would be a great idea. I didn't know her much back then. She went to Vince, and she pitched right to Vince, and Vince loved it. It's ten, going on eleven months that we've been on TV together. We are good friends. We text all the time.She's a very, very smart girl, and she's easy to talk to. We get along great."

You can hear the full podcast featuring Ellsworth at this link.