There was a time when Carmella was the Princess of Staten Island on the “land of opportunities” run by Shane McMahon and Paige. That was the state of the WWE Smackdown brand following the brand extension draft that was brought back in 2016. Eventually, the recruit from the NXT brand found her foothold on the blue brand via a Money in the Bank ladder match win.
But Carmella didn’t pull off that win all on her own but rather got the entertaining James Ellsworth by his side. If you can remember that timespan in late 2016, James did take the WWE Universe by storm by signing with the WWE for a stint that lasted for almost a year. He was also the one to pin AJ Styles on two separate occasions which remains the best accomplishment in his career.
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However, the most memorable stint of Ellsworth came with Carmella as the two worked as a unit to find success. The inaugural women’s Money in the Bank ladder match in 2017 saw the pairing securing the briefcase for good and it was James Ellsworth, who ended up retrieving the briefcase on his partner’s behalf. It appears that he was the one to have received the news rather than the former champion.
Carmella’s dual MITB wins in 2017 were planned beforehand
In an interview with Ari Barkan of PWMania.com, Ellsworth talked about the first-ever and historic Money in the Bank ladder match where he had to rehearse of grabbing the case. When this happened for real in the match, controversies surrounded, and the ladder matches actually took place, again on an episode of WWE SmackDown two weeks later.
Per the comments of Ellsworth, those plans were mapped out in advance by the WWE creative so that Carmella can get enough attention via the match,
“When we did the rehearsal, they had every girl climb the ladder and grab the briefcase, right? And then before we left, they’re like ‘Hey, James, climb up the ladder, grab the briefcase real quick in case we have you, like, teasin’, you know, climbing the ladder at the show.’”
“I was like, ‘I’m gonna help you win the match.’ And she goes, ‘James, it’s the first-ever women’s Money in the Bank … they’re not going to have a guy grabbing the briefcase. And I said, ‘That’s probably why they’re going to do [it] … they like that controversy.’”
Carmella eventually held that Money in the Bank contract for more than nine months before finally cashing it in on Charlotte Flair, the night after Wrestlemania 34 and becoming the Smackdown Women’s Championship.
