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WWE News: James Ellsworth Explains His Decision To Prevent Dean Ambrose From Winning WWE World Heavyweight Championship At WWE TLC

By Jason Fletcher
Published on: 14:01 PST, Dec 6, 2016

On Sunday night at WWE’s Tables, Ladders, & Chairs pay-per-view, WWE World Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles defended his title against “The Lunatic Fringe” Dean Ambrose. Everyone expected Ambrose’s “friend” James Ellsworth to come out and interfere in the match, but when Ellsworth made his appearance, he didn’t exactly help Dean win, according to Forbes.

Instead, Ellsworth helped Styles defeat Ambrose to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and everyone in the world wanted to know why. James explained his decision on WWE’s Talking Smack following the pay-per-view and Ellsworth didn’t provide the most sound explanation for his decision to stab his friend in the back.

Ellsworth told hosts Renee Young and Daniel Bryan that he helped Styles defeat Ambrose because he wanted to guarantee that he got a shot at the WWE title. On the November 22 edition of SmackDown Live, Ellsworth defeated Styles, thanks to help from Ambrose, in a ladder match that concluded with James grabbing his WWE contract from a rope hanging above the ring. In addition to getting his WWE contract, Ellsworth also earned a shot at the WWE title.

Ellsworth explained to Bryan and Young that he felt he had AJ Styles’ number and, therefore, would rather face him for the title than Dean Ambrose. The only thing James failed to see in this equation is that every time he’s beaten Styles, it’s been due to the help of Ambrose.

The first time came on the October 22 edition of SmackDown Live when Styles chose Ellsworth as his opponent. SmackDown Live‘s general manager then decided to add a stipulation to the match by naming Ambrose as the special guest referee and he warned AJ that if he laid his hands on Dean, then he would be disqualified and suspended.

As expected, Ambrose assisted Ellsworth in defeating Styles which earned James a title shot the following Tuesday. This time, Ambrose was named as the timekeeper and ring announcer for the match. Ellsworth would emerge victorious once again, but the win was via disqualification which allowed Styles to retain his title.

On the October 25 edition of SmackDown Live, James Ellsworth accidentally cost Ambrose his match against Styles after he hit “No Chin Music” on Styles which disqualified Ambrose.

The following week, Ambrose kicked Ellsworth out of the building and told him to stay away, but James got involved anyway and actually ended up helping Dean earn a title shot with a victory over Styles.

That brings us back to WWE TLC, and Ellsworth’s decision to push Ambrose off a ladder through two tables to allow Styles to retain his title. SmackDown Live commissioner Shane McMahon did assure Ellsworth he would get his title shot on the December 6 edition of SmackDown Live, but that didn’t exactly happen.

AJ Styles opened the show by announcing that he injured his ankle in Sunday night’s match and wasn’t medically cleared to defend his title on Tuesday. When Ellsworth came out to confront Styles about not getting his title shot, Ambrose’s music hit and he made a beeline for the ring.

James assumed that Ambrose was coming out after Styles, but Dean instead hit Ellsworth with “Dirty Deeds” and left his body in the middle of the ring. Dean Ambrose made it clear to James Ellsworth that he wasn’t happy with his decision to cost him the title and that he’s no longer going to defend him.

[Featured Image by WWE]

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