Is The Heat Over James Ellsworth "Winning" The Women's Money In The Bank Match Legit?

Since the dawn of the women's revolution in WWE, the company has spent the majority of that time focused on "making moments" and "redefining history" which often comes at the expense of simply producing good television. While no argument could possibly be made against women's wrestling - at least the in-ring portion - being at its all-time apex, the storylines still leave a lot to be desired.

WWE was once again inspired to "make history" when they booked the first-ever women's Money in the Bank ladder match. We've already seen them go through Hell in a Cell, so this was the next logical progression, and the promotion certainly has the talent the capable of pulling it off.

The clash of Charlotte Flair, Natalya, Tamina, Becky Lynch and Carmella, with her valet (for lack of a better term) James Ellsworth was quite the affair, with all the ladies working hard to put on a memorable performance. It was obvious to those watching that each worker involved realized the weight of the occasion and strove to rise to it, and from a wrestling perspective it's hard to find much fault.

Apart from the ending, that is.

The climax saw Charlotte take out Natalya and Tamina with a moonsault, leaving only Carmella and Lynch in the ring. After Becky dispatched of Carmella and began to ascend the ladder, Ellsworth interfered on his love's behalf, toppling Lynch and sending her to the mat. He attempted to stir the object of his affection but was unsuccessful, so he seized the moment and climbed the ladder himself, removing the briefcase and bringing it down to hand to Carmella.

The fans were predictably irate, but it's hard to tell how much was "wrestling heat" and which was legitimate anger. Similarly blurring the line was the reaction of the other women on the WWE roster. One-by-one, the female stars in the company took to social media to voice their displeasure at a man winning the "historic" women's Money in the Bank match. Here's a sampling of some of their responses:

Some of these statements could easily be read as sincere distaste, especially the ones from the women who had no involvement in the match itself. Nia Jax in particular has been unusually outspoken in her criticism lately. Is this all just part of the angle, and we're getting worked like the marks we're meant to be, or does the frustration exist outside of kayfabe?

Regardless of where the truth may lie - and we'll probably never know - SmackDown can now capitalize on this and work it into the story. To Ellsworth's credit, he's already fired back at each one of the above detractors on Twitter with some witty banter of his own.

What do you think? Is this all part of the angle or are these women genuinely upset to have their moment stolen by a man? Drop your thoughts in the comment section.