10 Things You Didn't Know About James Ellsworth

3. His First Match Was Against Mickie James

The legend of Ellsworth began at a children’s birthday party.

Independent promoters need to make money any way they can. There are only so many towns one can hit up, so there needs to be alternative methods to drum up some cash. One of those tactics is to run wrestling shows at birthday parties. While Ellsworth had been training with Axel Rotten for awhile, he had not yet competed in a match, it was one of those parties that became the perfect time for him debut.

He recalled that for his first match, there were less than 20 people in the audience. He didn't really have a character at the time, so he competed wearing a mask. What makes things even more interesting is that his opponent for the night was none other than Alexis Laree, better known as Mickie James! It's pretty fascinating that she'll be returning to WWE son, at least for one night, at NXT Takeover. The two likely thought their careers would never cross paths again after that children's birthday.

We can assume that Ellsworth did the job that night against James, as he speculates that he didn't win a single match in his first couple hundred tries.

As for his payment for that first night? Ellsworth revealed he was paid in cake and ice cream.