Carmella Defeats Asuka With Help From James Ellsworth

James Ellsworth saved the day once again for Carmella.

On Sunday the SmackDown Women’s Champion took on Asuka in a title match. “The Empress of Tomorrow” appeared to have the title in the bag when she knocked Carmella out with a kick, but was suddenly distracted when a figure wearing an Asuka mask on coat appeared on the ring apron. The fake Asuka removed its masked to reveal it was Ellsworth, which gave Carmella an opening to knock Asuka out with a kick and win the match.

Carmella first won the championship the night after WrestleMania 34, cashing in her Money in the Bank briefcase on Charlotte Flair on an episode of SmackDown Live after she was attacked by the IIconics. She successfully upset Flair in their rematch at Backlash, then attempted to claim she wasn’t defending the championship at Money in the Bank.

SmackDown Live general manager Paige had other plans, announcing the champ would have to take on Asuka.

Sunday night marked “The Empress of Tomorrow’s” return to pay-per-view since losing at WrestleMania 34 against Flair. Asuka entered that night with an undefeated streak of 914 days, the Women’s Royal Rumble victory and a record-setting NXT Women’s Championship reign of 510 days to her name, but tapped out in just over 13 minutes to the Figure Eight leglock.

But her plans were thwarted by the master of the No-Chin music. The former WWE jobber first competed in the company back in 2016, becoming one of the many victims of Braun Strowman in a squash match. He was surprisingly interjected into a feud between WWE Champion AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose on SmackDown Live later that year and even got a number of championship opportunities, but was more or less a comedic character.

In January 2017 Ellsworth turned heel and started accompanying Carmella to the ring for her matches. The alliance turned out to be beneficial for the “Princess of Staten Island” at Money in the Bank 2017, as Ellsworth infamously interfered in the match to climb the ladder, unhook the briefcase and drop it down to her. While some fans saw it was a typical heel move, there was a large wave of backlash on social media, as a man had technically just won the first-ever Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match. The WWE decided to fix the issue by having a second ladder match on an episode of SmackDown, this time having Carmella pull down the contract herself.

The duo eventually broke up as Carmella grew tired of Ellsworth costing her matches, and he was released in November.