James Ellsworth is the hottest thing on the internet now. He secured a huge win against AJ Styles at SmackDown this week and now, he will be facing Styles for the WWE championship on the upcoming episode. While the chances of Ellsworth walking away with the gold are low, it doesn’t mean that WWE should end his journey there.
Ellsworth has become a fan favourite in no time and it would be a good idea to have him on the roster for the longer run. There are some interesting storylines that WWE could give him and we are going to list them down in this slideshow.
#5 A place in the Cruiserweight division
Seeing James Ellsworth as a comedic character is one thing and seeing him as an experienced wrestler is another thing. While the latter idea might not work immediately, it is bound to work slowly. This is why he has a place in WWE’s Cruiserweight division. The problem with WWE’s currently division is the lack of characters.
Apart from TJ Perkins and Brian Kendrick, the fans barely recognise the other wrestlers. A wrestler with characters coming into the Cruiserweight division is a good thing for everyone and Ellsworth fits in perfectly for the role. He need not go on to win the championship, but he could be a solid mid card player in the division.
#4 The hottest free agent
The Hotter free agent gimmick was a success story the last time WWE tried it. Heath Slater excelled in the role and went on to keep the fans on the edge of their seats. Slater is now one part of the reigning tag team champions on SmackDown.
He managed to carry forward the momentum that he had during the free agent gimmick and WWE could do something similar with Ellsworth.
Both Monday Night Raw and SmackDown would want to have him on their roster and just like how WWE booked Slater, Ellsworth could turn into an entertaining act. The gap that Santino Marella left is still wide open and Ellsworth probably has enough potential to fill in.
#3 Teaming up
Letting James Ellsworth be part of a tag team is another possibility that WWE has in their hands.
There are two ways in which WWE could pull this off. Firstly, they could team up Ellsworth with another comedic act and form a jobber tag team which the fans would love. Similar to what ECW did with Mikey Whipwreck, WWE could let the team go on a losing streak so that their win would be a big deal.
The alternative is a strong tag team partner for Ellsworth. A serious and proven partner would give WWE a team like Team Hell No, but the problem with this would be that WWE already has a similar team in the form of Heath Slater and Rhyno.
#2 The protégé storyline
As James Ellsworth is still comparatively new to the WWE roster, either Mick Foley or Daniel Bryan could arrange a mentor to him. Now, this mentor could either be a wrestler or a manager but the chemistry between Ellsworth and his mentor, along with the struggles of trying to get better should be highlighted in the storyline.
Zeb Colter is a good choice to step in if the manager role is to be filled, as he is someone who deserves to be on television. If it’s a wrestler, then WWE have choices such as Big Show, Mark Henry and a string of other superstars that would be looking for a permanent role in the programming.
#1 Sending him down to NXT
Sending Ellsworth down to NXT might not sound like a good idea, but what it does is: it builds a bridge between the NXT and Main roster programming.
Daniel Bryan could be impressed with Ellsworth’s performance against Styles and then send him down to NXT for improvements. Every week, WWE could give an update about how Ellsworth is fairing down in NXT and show clips of the same on SmackDown.
The fans remain connected with Ellsworth in one way and the ones who are not aware of NXT get to know what’s happening there. When everything gets done, the main roster return of Ellsworth would be something that the fans would celebrate.
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