James Ellsworth: Vince McMahon Wanted Fan Backlash From First-Ever WWE Women's Money In The Bank Match
Ellsworth won the briefcase on Carmella's behalf
Sep 1, 2021
James Ellsworth has revealed Vince McMahon always planned to do a second Women's Money In The Bank Ladder Match so soon after the first, and was counting on the ending to the first-ever one getting a lot of backlash.
The first-ever Women's Money In the Bank Ladder Match ended in controversy as Ellsworth climbed up on behalf of Carmella and claimed the briefcase before giving it to her. Fans went crazy at the booking decision, prompting WWE to run the match again two weeks later.
Ellsworth says however that having the match a second time was always the plan, and Vince McMahon was trying to get heat on him and Carmella.
Speaking on the It’s My House Podcast, Ellsworth said: "It worked. And what I mean by work is people, maybe yourself included, think that they did that second Money in the Bank ladder match two weeks later on SmackDown because they got so much backlash – which is not true at all. They knew they were going to do the second one before we ever did the first.
"It was Vince’s idea. Vince goes, ‘We got to get some heat on Carmella and Ellsworth’, because, at the house shows we were getting cheered, me and Carmella. We were coming out at the house shows and people just remember me being goofy with AJ. Carmella is a beautiful woman and she’s entertaining, so we’re getting cheered. So he’s like, ‘We need to get some heat on them. I want Carmella to start getting a push.’
"So the way we get the heat was Ellsworth climbs the ladder, he gives her the briefcase, and then we’ll get a lot of backlash for it, but then we’ll pop a rating on SmackDown because we’ll have another one where she kind of grabs that herself, but this will be like her big moment. And he was right. He was right about it all.
"That was the most talked about moment from that pay-per-view. And then the Smackdown that we did a week or two later, that second one 600,000 more people watched that Smackdown than the week before. He’s a genius whenever he feels like being a genius."
H/T Wrestling Inc.
