WWE News: Carmella opens up on James Ellsworth's role in the historic Women's Money In The Bank ladder match

What’s the story?

In an interview with Inside The Ropes, WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Carmella opened up on a myriad of topics.

Carmella notably weighed in with her thoughts on James Ellsworth retrieving the Money In The Bank briefcase and handing it down to her last year. Addressing the matchup, Carmella expounded upon why she feels the finish to the match was indeed the right decision.

In case you didn’t know…

The 2017 Money In The Bank PPV witnessed history being made as the inaugural Women’s Money In The Bank ladder match transpired at the event.

The matchup saw Carmella’s manager James Ellsworth climb the ladder, retrieve the briefcase and throw it down to Carmella—thereby making ‘Mella the winner.

Nevertheless, in light of considerable fan-backlash noting that a man retrieved the briefcase in the inaugural Women’s Money In The Bank ladder matchup, the WWE organized a rematch on an episode of SmackDown Live, with Carmella retrieving the briefcase with her own hands this time around.

The heart of the matter

Carmella had words of high praise for the WWE Universe, noting the fans’ passion—pointing out how they were quite vocal about the SmackDown Women’s Championship 6-Pack Challenge number-1 contender matchup being placed on the WrestleMania 34 Kick-Off Show.

Regardless, Carmella asserted that she didn’t care what part of the card she was booked on; noting that it’s all the same and that the very fact she was on the WrestleMania 34 card was a great experience in and of itself.

Carmella added that she was nervous about competing in the inaugural Women’s Money In The Bank ladder match last year, given that it’s a dangerous and high-risk matchup. She continued—

"Aside from that, when I knew that was going to happen (*laughs*) the fans reacted exactly how I expected them to. They were upset, and honestly, I thought it was great. People were talking about it. You had this first Money in the Bank Ladder Match for the women and it could be a regular (match), someone climbs to the top, grabs the contract, and that's how it goes, but I thought this way was so much more exciting and so much more controversial.”

“Everything I like to do is over the top and have people talking about it. Ever since I won that match that's exactly what's happened with my career. Everyone has been talking about me, whether they love me, whether they hate me, whether they love to hate me, I don't really care, they're talking about me."

Furthermore, Carmella noted that while her Money In The Bank 2018 opponent Asuka is indeed a force to be reckoned with, the latter lost to Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 34, whereas Carmella has beaten Flair not once but twice, adding that she ought to be the favorite to defeat Asuka tonight.