James Ellsworth On What WWE Match He Wants, TNA, Nerves Before AJ Styles Title Match, What's Next
James Ellsworth was interviewed on the Hit The Ropes podcast today and discussed growing up a wrestling fan, his championship match with AJ Styles, wrestling organizations trying to sign him, his relationship with Gillberg, his next move in the WWE and more. You can download the full podcast on iTunes, Google Play or Stitcher, they sent us these highlights:
Can you take us through the emotions of last night, knowing you're going to step into the ring with the best wrestler in the world ? for a world title?
"All day I was nervous. For me, in my humble opinion, he is the best wrestler in the world. Being in a match, where the WWE championship on the line, is a dream come true. I just remember standing in the ring, in the corner, and the people are chanting Ellsworth. And then the referee just raises the WWE world championship title. And I'm looking up at it and I'm remember being a little kid, watching Bret Hart/Shawn Michaels, the Iron Man match. And Hebner raises the title. Those things do go through your head. I'm like, wow, I'm actually here. I've made it this far. I'm in a WWE world championship match and the referee's raising the title right in front of me. Dreams do come true."
What's going on with you, happened years ago with Gillberg, as far as fan recognition goes. Have you ever met Gillberg?
"Funny story, Gillberg is from Baltimore too. I've known Gillberg since I was 5 years old. He was best friends with my uncle. I've known him, pretty much my whole life. We're good friend. I've been talking to him pretty much every day for the last week. He's a nice guy. He doesn't wrestle much anymore, but I've talked him into doing stuff right now because this is happening. I know a lot of people would be entertained. So we've done some tag teaming on the independents."
What's your next venture in the WWE?
"A lot of the fans wanna see a rematch between [Braun] Stroman and I. I just wanna give the fans what they want. And the majority of fans on Twitter want me to get an entry to the Royal Rumble, which would be totally fine with me. It would be so cool. So I'm big into giving fans what they want. So I hope I enter into the Rumble."
Did I hear you say a rematch with Stroman?
"That's one of the things fans have tweeted about, but I personally would like to work with the Miz. He did drop me on the ramp about a month ago, and I haven't really seen that since. If I'm going to be on Smackdown Live, I'd like to seek revenge, I guess."
Yes, take that one over Stroman. Stroman's a nasty beast. Miz ? I think you can take.
"Like I always say: It doesn't matter whether it's Miz, or if it's Stroman, or it's the WWE world champ AJ Styles — when I get in there, I have a chance. Because any man with two hands has a fighting chance."
Have you reached out to TNA, before your time in WWE?
"No, because I thought if I did that, the WWE stuff would end. The WWE is the place to be, it's always been my dream, to be a part of the WWE. So, I've never reached out to TNA, no. There have been, I won't say TNA or Ring of Honor, but there have been bigger companies reaching out to me. But I haven't responded. I don't want to upset the WWE. They've put me in a world title match, given me a t-shirt now, they've invited me back again. I don't know how far this going, but I'm going to stick around to see. I don't wanna mess this up."