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WWE News: James Ellsworth Signing Full-Time WWE Contract

By Shawn Lealos
Published on: 04:47 PST, Nov 11, 2016

James Ellsworth broke onto the scene in the WWE in the strangest way possible. Like many other wrestlers, James Ellsworth was scheduled to face Braun Strowman and was just there to get beaten soundly, never to be seen again. However, something happened, and the fans latched onto the jobber.

Now, Comicbook.com reports that the WWE is planning to sign James Ellsworth to a full-time contract with the company. While that seems strange, there are a lot of reasons that the WWE might want to lock up the jobber to a long-term deal, and they have to do with money.

James Ellsworth was trending on Twitter after the match with Braun Strowman. A lot of it had to do with Ellsworth saying that anyone with two hands has a chance, and people took to the strange looking little man without a chin.

Fans wanted to see him back, and no other jobber that Braun Strowman destroyed after that garnered as much popularity as James Ellsworth. At about the same time, the WWE released new t-shirts for James Ellsworth and Bill Goldberg. In a shocking turn of events, Forbes reported that the James Ellsworth shirt outsold the Bill Goldberg shirt the week they went on sale.

“Ellsworth represents a paradigm shift in WWE… Ellsworth is different. He looks different. He looks like he doesn’t belong. He stands out. As a result, his t-shirts are shipping out.”

The idea of a name-brand jobber is not new in the WWE, although it is something that has not existed since before the Attitude Era. Back in the 80s and early 90s, there were jobbers in the WWE that everyone knew. The Brooklyn Brawler, Barry Horowitz, and Barry O were name brands in the WWE, while the Mulkey Brothers and The Italian Stallion were well known in the NWA.

However, the Attitude Era demanded that all wrestling matches on TV featured actual star wrestlers. With those demands, it became hard for some wrestlers to get over because they ended up losing more often than not, while never actually being jobbers.

Over the past two years, names like Fandango, Tyler Breeze, Bo Dallas, Curtis Axel, and more came up to the WWE with ideas of being, at worst, mid-level contenders. They ended up as jobbers to the stars, but the WWE kept them in the mix as pseudo-contenders who got chances on race occasions to show their talent.

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James Ellsworth is a different kind of jobber. While guys like Bo Dallas have proven in the past that they could be a champion, James Ellsworth is nothing more than the loveable loser. If he gets a win, it is by fluke, but fans still love cheering for him. That is why the WWE is keeping him around. They just named him the “mascot” for Team SmackDown at the Survivor Series.

However, not everyone is happy to see James Ellsworth in this position. WWE Hall of Fame legend Booker T has made it clear on a recent podcast that Ellsworth does not belong in the WWE when there are talented wrestlers waiting to get in the door.

“I’ve seen this guy at a convention, I was appalled, but this guy is going to live this run for quite some time… There are people in my Reality of Wrestling just scratching at the door, so when I see Ellsworth, there’s just gotta be a way, but you have to wait your turn, but it’s definitely getting a little old.”

Regardless, the WWE has every right to offer James Ellsworth a contract, especially if he is earning his keep in merchandise sales. It just might grow old with fans eventually if the WWE keeps pushing him too hard, and the long-term contract might end up being a little too much James Ellsworth by the end.

[Featured Image by WWE]

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