James Ellsworth was the guest this week on Jerry Lawler’s podcast, Dinner With the King. Ellsworth told the story of how he and Carmella were paired with each other, saying that Carmella came up with the idea and pitched it to Vince McMahon.
“I think it was last year at the European tour in November, she came to me and said, ‘Hey, I have this idea about putting you with me whenever you’re done with the Dean Ambrose and AJ stuff comes to an end, I have this idea to pitch to them. They put you with me, you fall in love with me, and I use that to my advantage to win matches and get me to the women’s title.’
I said yeah, that would be a great idea. I didn’t know her much back then. She went to Vince, and she pitched right to Vince, and Vince loved it. It’s ten, going on eleven months that we’ve been on TV together.
We are good friends. We text all the time. She’s a very, very smart girl, and she’s easy to talk to. We get along great.”
Here’s an un-aired backstage segment from SmackDown where Carmella makes Ellsworth drink from a dog bowl.
AEW Dynamite Notes: Hangman Adam Page & Andrade El Idolo Advances to AEW World Title Contenders Series Finals, Brody King vs. MJF for AEW World Title and More Set for Grand Slam Australia 2026, 2/14 Collision Show Card, 2/11 Dynamite Show Card
WWE: Triple H on “AJ Styles Made It Very Clear To Me That He Was Just Done With The In-Ring”, Backstage Update on Powerhouse Hobbs’ New Royce Keys Ring Name in WWE, WWE 2K26 Debut Gameplay Trailer Released
AEW: Bobby Lashley on “Think Of How Big Of A Star You Can Make Will Ospreay, He Checks All The Boxes”, Queen Aminata Neck Injury Update, “Speedball” Mike Bailey on If Pro Wrestlers Count As Being Heroes




