10 Live Observations From Glasgow's WWE TV Tapings
4. Ellsworth! Ellsworth! Ellsworth!
It was a great touch on AJ Styles' part to note in his show-opening promo how James Ellsworth had not been flown over, apparently because there was no way the company would waste money on such frivolity. Because the Glasgow crowd were absolutely molten for the man with no chin, two hands and a fighting chance. The mere mention of his name brought the crowd to a fever pitch, and at the point Dean Ambrose unveiled him, the Hydro was rocking way up in the cheap seats.
A lightening-in-a-bottle underdog, the booking of Ellsworth has been a terrific bit of throwback storytelling from the WWE, and these tapings coming in the eye of the storm were a perfect opportunity to allow Ellsworth even more exposure in his improbable dream run by appearing on a UK Tour and one more episode of Smackdown Live to live forever in the vaults of the WWE Network and see to it that his indie career afterwards should comfortably pay the bills for the foreseeable future. His role in the 6-man main event was expertly booked, and the instant dismissal by Bray Wyatt was a fitting conclusion to the show-long story of Ambrose and Kane having to tolerate this useless-but-beloved oddity in their corner.
It feels as though they could end the tale of Ellsworth with either a turn on his friend Ambrose, or a final fluke decking of AJ Styles as his biggest rival or Braun Strowman as the monster who ushered him into this spot in the first place. At this point, any conclusion to this cute fairytale would surely make a happy ending for the real man behind No Chin Music, and leave WWE fans with memories of actual nice things that occasionally happened in 2016.