Former superstar informed Carmella that WWE liked controversy ahead of major career-boosting match
A 38-year-old former WWE Superstar has disclosed how the decision was made for Carmella to win the inaugural Women's Money in the Bank ladder match.
Carmella won the first-ever Women's Money in the Bank ladder match in 2017, but the bout ended in controversy. Former superstar James Ellsworth climbed up to the top of the ladder, grabbed the briefcase, and tossed it down to Carmella to hand her the victory.
Fans were outraged at the finish and WWE held another Money in the Bank on SmackDown, with Carmella picking up the victory once again. James Ellsworth was recently interviewed by PWMania and shared that he informed Carmella that WWE liked controversy ahead of the match.
"I remember telling her, I said, “you’re gonna win the match, I’m gonna help you win the match.” In rehearsals, like there’s a reason why they just had me do that. I was like, I’m gonna help you win the match. And she goes, “James, it’s the first-ever women’s Money in the Bank… they’re not going to have a guy grabbing the briefcase. And I said, “that’s probably why they’re going to do…they like that controversy," said James Ellsworth. [H/T: PWMania]
You can check out the full video below:
James Ellsworth claims the plan was always to have Carmella win another MITB ladder match on SmackDown
James Ellsworth claimed that the company wanted to "pop a rating" on WWE SmackDown, and that is why there was always a plan in place to hold another Women's Money in the Bank ladder match on the blue brand.
During his conversation with Ari Barkan of PWMania, Ellsworth noted that WWE didn't have to "redo" the match due to fan outrage, but it was their plan all along.
"And then I remember the day of the Money in the Bank, when they had the meeting, they said, “Hey, this is what we’re doing. The reason why we’re doing it is later on an episode of SmackDown, we’re going to do another one, you know, and like, it’s going to help us pop a rating for SmackDown, the controversy will be good.” They explain it to everyone why we’re doing this. And so we always knew we were going to do the second Money in the Bank on SmackDown two weeks later, we always knew that. See the internet's a funny place man," he said. [H/T: PWMania]
.A year ago to the day at #SDLive Carmella cashed her Money In The Bank briefcase and become SmackDown women's champion 😍❤️.
#MellaIsMoney
#Fabulous
@CarmellaWWE https://t.co/qoFOpteQEk
Carmella is currently on hiatus from WWE after it was revealed that she is expecting a child with RAW announcer Corey Graves. Only time will tell when the 35-year-old star will return to WWE television.
What did you think of the finish to the first-ever Women's Money in the Bank ladder match? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.