James Ellsworth's rise in WWE came off of an amazing squash match with Braun Strowman on Monday Night RAW.

For whatever reason, he really connected with WWE fans and that pop eventually landed him a contract with the WWE. He was moved to SmackDown Live and even received a WWE Championship opportunity against AJ Styles.

Ellsworth had feuds with Styles and Dean Ambrose before eventually being paired up with Carmella. His role morphed into that of Santino Marella, where he was used primarily to help put the WWE's women over.

He had a match with Becky Lynch and even assisted Carmella in winning the first-ever Women's Money In The Bank Ladder Match. Towards the end of his run he was primarily used as Carmella's sidekick.

Eventually news broke that WWE decided to release him from his contract, and Carmella has been on her own ever since. In a recent interview on Chris Jericho's podcast, Talk Is Jericho, Ellsworth dove deep into his run with WWE.

One of the topics he discussed was Carmella's reaction to his release. The story really detailed how good of friends he and Carmella were behind-the-scenes. 

Ellsworth said Carmella was the first to call him after he got off the phone with WWE, receiving the news of his release. He found it strange Carmella found out only moments after he did.

She stayed on the phone with him until he was ready to get off (quotes via Wrestling Inc.):

"She called me right away, literally. Maybe a minute-and-a-half after I got off the phone with [Mark] Carrano, I'm sitting in the basement of my house, I haven't even told [anybody anything]." Ellsworth continued.

"I'm sitting there and I'm, like, balling, and I'm like, 'what the hell?' The phone rings and it's her. I'm like, 'she must know.

"Crap.' And she was like, 'James, oh my God, I can't believe this. I'm so sorry. I hope you're okay?', like, just being the sweet girl that she is and I was like, 'I'll be alright.'

"I was like, 'I was okay before WWE. I'll be okay after it.' I said, 'it hurts. It stings. But it's life. Life's not fair sometimes and I get that.'

"And she stayed on the phone with me until I was ready to get off [the phone call]. That's how very cool of a person she is. And we text almost every day."

What are your thoughts on Carmella's reaction to James Ellsworth being released from his WWE contract? And how did you initially feel about WWE making the decision to let him go when they did? Do you think that we'll ever see Ellsworth back on WWE TV? Have YOUR say in the comments section below, and the fourth episode of GiveMeSport’s WWE podcast is here!

Check it out via this link: https://soundcloud.com/user-818579649/gms-wwe-podcast-money-in-the-bank-fallout

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