10 Terrible WWE Gimmicks That Were One Tweak Away From Perfection
8. James Ellsworth
Wrestling's so often as much to do with timing as ability or aptitude, and though James Ellsworth earned longer in the spotlight than most comedy acts because of his remarkable gift for taking a beating, he was another victim of WWE's propensity for over-egging the pudding.
Initially a "chinless insect" with his fabulously frightened catchphrase, Ellsworth was every bit the man "with two hands and a fighting chance", but his 2016 interjections in the AJ Styles/Dean Ambrose WWE Championship programme trivialised the men and their matches. In finding a new spot form him alongside Carmella, the company effectively acknowledged just how irritating they'd made this genuinely charming little oddball become, with their over-reliance his undoing.
As with the good timing at the start of his run, he overstayed his welcome on the backend of a middling WWE run. There's a time to stay, and a time to f*ck off, but WWE didn't really get this right. As was, Ellsworth could have been an all-time great punchline character. Instead, that joke wasn't funny anymore, nor was it interesting, or annoying, or really any kind of engaging, valuable emotion.