5 Superstars you might not remember challenged for the WWE Championship

#4 James Ellsworth (WWE SmackDown 18/10/2016)

No Chin Music!

Back at the start of WWE's second brand split in 2016, SmackDown carved out its new identity as the 'Land of Opportunity'.

The literal personification of this phrase came in the form of an actual jobber. James Ellsworth had impressed a great deal in his performance as an enhancement talent opposite Braun Strowman on the first RAW of the brand split era.

And as a result, he was called back to play a part in the WWE Championship storyline between AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose. Ellsworth got multiple victories over the Phenomenal One, thanks to significant assists from the current AEW World Champion. His first victory led to a WWE Championship match the following week on SmackDown.

And in that match, Styles was almost punished for being too cocky as Ellsworth hit his version of the Superkick, No Chin Music, to get a crowd-popping two count. Ellsworth won the match via disqualification, but luckily did not pick up the WWE Title. This nearly became a joke that went too far.

James Ellsworth got one more title match against AJ Styles in December, after beating him again. However, he was brutally squashed by Styles since he had bafflingly cost Dean Ambrose the WWE Title at TLC.