James Ellsworth Exceeded All Expectations with Cinderella WWE Run

On paper, James Ellsworth shouldn't have had a drop of success in WWE.

Before becoming one of SmackDown's most intriguing characters, he was a career small-time wrestler who wasn't the least bit special in any given athletic category. He's a 5'9", 176-pound guy with the same build as your local exterminator.  

He had heard all the criticisms before. 

"Nobody gave me a chance of being on WWE ever," he told Bleacher Report in 2016.

But Ellsworth made his mark regardless. He went from terrified jobber to longshot babyface to condescending sidekick. He fought for the WWE Championship. He appeared at the Royal Rumble, Money in the Bank and Survivor Series.

Credit: WWE.com

And at each stage, he was compelling. 

The clock's struck midnight on his Cinderella story, though. WWE announced on Wednesday that the company released Ellsworth.

His story isn't a sad one, however, but one of unexpected triumph. Bigger men and better athletes have had less success in WWE than him. The man who became Carmella's loyal bootlicker was a bigger WWE star than a good number of Tough Enough winners, from Andy Leavine to Josh Bredl. 

It all began when he was one of the men WWE fed to the monstrous Braun Strowman.

Something about his fearful expression and his fighting spirit caught on. He became a meme, a viral sensation. That led to appearances on SmackDown and eventually to Ellsworth signing a full-time deal.

He soon found himself involved in the feud between AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose.

He was a comic relief character thrown into that fray. He was Ambrose's means to antagonize Styles. And the scrawny newcomer unexpectedly became a central figure on SmackDown, generating pathos along the way.

Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful talked up Ellsworth's entertainment value:

He pulled off upsets against Styles, leaving SmackDown buzzing as anything seemed possible at that point. When Ellsworth superkicked The Phenomenal One in their WWE title match and came within milliseconds of becoming world champ, the crowd couldn't have been more hooked.

Ellsworth went on to become a mascot for Team SmackDown at Survivor Series. He later turned on his fans and his allies and morphed into an indignant jerk with a sneer you just wanted to slap off his face.

Carmella later took him on as valet and Ellsworth dove into that role headfirst.

He was the lovesick hanger-on who wore dog collars and ate out of a dog bowl to please his master. Ellsworth had again found a way to stay relevant, to continue to be a strange and unique member of the WWE world.  

And after battling Becky Lynch in the first WWE intergender match in years, his time with the company came to a close.

Ellsworth signing a WWE deal was a shocker. The fact that he maintained his spot on the roster for over a year afterward is remarkable. Some Superstars struggle to get any airtime at all. Some get cut before even sniffing Raw or SmackDown.

But here was a former jobber finding a niche and thriving in it for longer than anyone could have predicted.

Former WWE wrestler Zach Gowen was among those congratulated Ellsworth after he parted ways with the company:

Ellsworth should mark this occasion with a celebratory drink and a pat on the back. His release signifies the end of a stretch in the spotlight many would be jealous of. 

If anyone had told Ellsworth two years ago, when he was still Jimmy Dream, when he was competing for a smattering of people in at the Delaware Auto Exchange that he would have been a WWE title contender, Ms. Money in the Bank's manager and a memorable part of the WWE circus, he probably would have just laughed them off.