James Ellsworth On His First WWE Match With Braun Strowman, Vince McMahon’s Reaction After the Match

Speaking with Chris Van Vliet, James Ellsworth recalled his initial match with WWE that turned him into a regular with the company. Ellsworth worked as a Rosebud on a couple of occasions, but it was his first singles match in July of 2016 against Braun Strowman that earned him a job with WWE. Ellsworth cut a promo beforehand that helped secure his spot with the company and he stayed there for about two years, feuding with AJ Styles and pairing up with Carmella. Ellsworth discussed how that first match came about and what Vince McMahon’s reaction to the match was; you can check out highlights and the full audio below:

On getting his first WWE spot with Braun Strowman: “Well, you call ’em, you get booked. And so we get there — this is how stuff works every week. We get there, nobody knows what’s going on, right? And they’re saying, ‘Braun Strowman’s debuting tonight, one of you is going to wrestle him on Raw.’ And I’m looking around and it’s six guys there and two girls. And one of the girls was getting to wrestle Nia Jax. So I’m like, ‘Okay, they’re gonna pick one guy and one girl.’ I’m like, ‘Man, I hope I get the spot. This is like my only shot.’ So Arn Anderson comes up to us all, he’s like, ‘Hey, whoever throws the best punch gets the spot. Lemme see you throw a punch.’ He pointed at me first and, ‘Lemme see you throw a punch.’ And I threw one at one of the other extras, and Arn Anderson looks at me and goes, ‘Yeah, I don’t need to see the rest of you guys. You got the spot.’ I’m like, ‘What?’

“So we get to the ring and he goes, ‘All right, let me see you throw one at Braun here.’ I’d never met Braun, I’m looking at him like, ‘All right.’ I throw a punch, boom. And Arn goes, ‘Good, you still threw the same punch. So that wasn’t a fluke back there.’ He’s like, ‘ Yeah, okay, you guys will have a match.'”

On his promo: “But this is the idea, and it’s a pretty cool idea. Every week they were going to have — and they did for a while, they had extra talent say their last words before Braun kills them. ‘Those are your last words before you go to the execution chamber.’ So that was their idea. ‘Every week, we would get local talent and say their last words before Braun executes them.’ So they told me, I was like, ‘Well, this cool, but at the same time, he’s executing me, so I’ll never be seen on here again. So I better make this good because it will be my one match in WWE.’ And I got to talk, I got to be on Raw, that I could show my kids when I’m older, ‘Hey, your daddy was on WWE once.’ And yeah, everything started slowly progressing that day from there.”

On the reaction backstage after the match: “We get through the match and you know, the referee’s checking on me after the match because I just got murdered. Everything he did, I felt. And the referee’s like, ‘You okay?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah.’ So again, gotta to go the side of the ramp, not through Gorilla. I get backstage and Arn’s like, ‘Hey, kid, you did a great job.’ He goes, ‘Vince wants to see you.’ And I’m going, ‘Oh crap,Vince McMahon himself is gonna yell at me for walking down the ramp and not through the crowd!’ So I’m scared, I’m taking the slowest walk to Gorilla I could take. And I get there and I see Vince coming down the steps in Gorilla. He’s like, ‘Hey, hey, come here James!’ I’m scared, and I almost apologized to him for walking down the ramp before I could say a word. I said, ‘Hey, sir,’ and he goes, ‘Hey, great job! Great job, pal!’ He goes, ‘I’ll be in touch with you,’ and shakes my hand. And Triple H goes, ‘He’s serious. He’ll be in touch with you.’

“So then I just go to catering. And I sit down and everybody’s coming up, telling me how good of a job I did. I’m just being cool about it, saying, ‘Oh, thank you.’ I’m eating and Braun comes up, gives me a bear hug, saying, ‘You did great, man. Thank you so much!’ I said, ‘No, thank you!’ And you know, I’m keeping my cool. And this is all happening so fast. And I’m like, ‘What is going on?’ I couldn’t grasp it myself.’ I’m sitting there like, ‘What is happening?’ And I mean, Vince kept his word. He kept in touch with me and it winded up turning everything it did.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Chris Van Vliet with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.