04:18

James Ellsworth must overcome "The Champ that Runs the Camp" for an opportunity to become part of the SmackDown roster.

OTTAWA, Ontario — SmackDown LIVE Commissioner Shane McMahon met in the ring with Dean Ambrose and a very worse for wear James Ellsworth (after Braun Strowman threw him off the stage and through a table at Survivor Series) to seemingly award Ellsworth a SmackDown LIVE contract. However, things escalated quickly when, after Shane told Ambrose that because of recent actions he would be given the night off and had to leave the building, WWE World Champion AJ Styles arrived to make a mockery of the entire gathering.

“The Champ that Runs the Camp,” aghast at the idea of sharing the same locker room with Ellsworth, proposed that he and Ellsworth face off in a Ladder Match tonight with his SmackDown LIVE contract suspended above the ring. If Ellsworth wins, he would become a full-fledged member of Team Blue. If he loses, Styles claimed that he would rip up Ellsworth’s contract in front of his face.

Shane-O-Mac was totally opposed to the idea, but it was Ellsworth who bravely accepted and even upped the ante, saying that if he could beat Styles tonight he wants a future WWE World Championship opportunity.