AJ Styles vs. James Ellsworth: Winner and Reaction from WWE Championship Match

James Ellsworth's Cinderella story won't have a happy ending after he lost a WWE world title match to AJ Styles on SmackDown Live Tuesday night. 

WWE shared an image of how the quick match finished: 

Once the match was over, Styles continued his assault on Ellsworth, via WWE:

Eventually, Ellsworth had to be taken off on a stretcher: 

Ellsworth first earned a championship opportunity after he beat Styles—with a helping hand from Dean Ambrose—on the Nov. 22 edition of SmackDown:

Ellsworth's ego may have grown too large as a result of securing his WWE contract as well as a shot against Styles.

He interfered in Ambrose and Styles' ladder match at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on Dec. 4. Rather than helping Ambrose, though, he pushed The Lunatic Fringe off the ladder and on to a pair of tables outside the ring. That allowed Styles to climb the ladder and retrieve is world title.

After the pay-per-view, Ellsworth explained he had already beaten Styles before and was confident he could do it again:

Circumstances had conspired to prevent Ellsworth from cashing in on his title shot.

Ambrose gained a measure of revenge on Dec. 6 by delivering Dirty Deeds:

The next week, Ellsworth showed up with a nasty cold, forcing WWE general manager Daniel Bryan to postpone his match with Styles:

Tuesday seemed like it'd be the end of the saga. Ellsworth was healthy again, and Ambrose is distracted enough with The Miz to put aside whatever's going on with his former friend for the time being.

Along the same lines, Styles was ready to take Ellsworth out for good:

WWE was smart to have Styles finally get the victory.

Nobody expected Ellsworth to actually win the title. It's one thing for Ambrose to help him beat Styles in non-title matches; it's another for him to hold the biggest championship on SmackDown.

WWE could only wring so much comedy from Ellsworth continuing to avoid Styles. At a certain point, it was bound to become counterproductive for everyone involved.

In addition, the focus of the WWE world championship picture needs to start involving Dolph Ziggler sometime soon. Ziggler won a Fatal 4-Way last week to become the No. 1 contender for the title.

The Showoff made his persistent inability to win big matches a part of his feud with The Miz, which ultimately ended with The Miz being the intercontinental champion. The WWE creative staff will have a tall task on its hands trying to turn Ziggler into a credible threat against Styles.

That's why it's important his eventual title match—likely to come at Royal Rumble—is afforded enough time to tell a compelling story.

Ellsworth has been an entertaining distraction for Styles, but the two are better off going their separate ways.