We've all seen the rumors by now. The ones that talk about WWE thinking long and hard about signing "The Chinless One", James Ellsworth, to a full-time contract. They say people within the company have heard the crowd reactions Ellsworth has received, as well as the sales of his t-shirt at live events and on the WWE Shop website, and they want to capitalize on his popularity.
On the surface, that makes perfect sense. They stumbled upon something that the WWE Universe was interested in, and now they want to make sure they give the fans more of that particular thing. Great idea.
Or is it?
Everywhere you look on social media, people seem to be all for the idea of Ellsworth being signed to a deal. Not only are these people shortsighted, but they might also be crazy.
Am I the only one who sees how bad an idea that would be? I can't be. Someone out there reading these words has to understand how short a shelf life the Ellsworth character has. Obviously, he's what you would call a "jobber". How many times can we watch him lose on television before people get sick of him? There isn't a lot of development that can really be done. He went from being destroyed by Braun Strowman on Raw three months ago to being heavily involved in the main event feud between AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose on Smackdown, where he has two victories over Styles, albeit "iffy" ones. He's playing the "golly gee" character very well, I will admit, but what happens next? Does Ambrose eventually turn heel on him? You'd have to assume that Ambrose would steamroll him, but what about after that? Would we just get Ellsworth floating from feud to feud, getting his behind handed to him, occasionally picking up wins by count out, disqualification, or outside shenanigans? How long until even his biggest supporters grow tired of the act?
I think the recent success of Heath Slater has blinded people a bit. Slater got himself over after not being selected during the WWE Draft, and his team with Rhyno became a cult favorite, leading to a WWE Smackdown Tag Team Title reign which has been going on for two months now. However, you could view Slater's success as almost a "Lifetime Achievement Award" of sorts. He has been given some truly unfortunate things to work with, whether it's a gimmick that should fail instantly or tag team partners who aren't very good, but he has made almost all of them work out due to his hard work and underrated comedic timing. Feuding with WWE Legends leading up to "Raw 1000"? 3MB, with one partner that nobody ever cared about (Jinder Mahal) and one partner that people stopped caring about (Drew McIntyre)? Slater Gator? Social Outcasts? All of that should have been cringe-worthy, and they were at times, but Slater shined whenever he was given the chance to. He's been doing this as a member of the WWE roster for years now. He's also five inches taller than Ellsworth, weighs more than him, and is a better in-ring worker.
By all accounts, Ellsworth is a tremendous guy and a great family man. Him being signed to a full-time deal could mean more money in his pockets, although you could argue that his profile for the indy scene has been raised and demand for him is very high, so maybe the money thing isn't necessarily true. I'm just concerned that "EllsworthMania" doesn't quite have the legs many of you think it does, and it's only a matter of time before fans turn on him.
Who am I kidding? Ellsworth 4 WWE World Champ.
