The ever-changing nature of wrestling has led to a litany of loose ends and questions that will never be answered and conclusions that will never happen. Who was behind GTV? Was Hornswaggle really the Anonymous Raw General Manager all along?Other stories arent forgotten entirely, destined instead to be put on the back burner for an extended and indeterminate stretch. This was the case when it came to John Cenas?pursuit of Ric Flairs record of 16 world championship reigns, with barely a mention made on TV over the last year until Cena made his dramatic return to SmackDown Live Tuesday night.A.J. Styles opened the show, as youd expect from the new WWE world champion, and he executed all of the things that make those who love him, love him -- and those who hate him, hate him -- to near-perfection. The smug grin on Styles face and almost everything he did on his walk to the ring was exactly what one would expect, and from the moment he got on the microphone, he made salient points. He listed off a number of occurrences he had correctly predicted en route to becoming champion, culminating in an increasingly ridiculous If I told you scenarios that peaked with Styles claiming that if he said the sky was green, it wasnt even worth looking because he was truly infallible.As with some of his other extended solo segments on the microphone, the tail end of his statements started to lose some steam. It actually got a bit ugly toward the very end for Styles as he turned his (and Cenas) catchphrase from the Face who runs the place to the Champ that runs the camp -- a rather cringe-worthy turn, in fact. Styles then repeated it several times, and whether it was his given mission to make the new phrase stick in the minds of fans or a merely as a tool to get the crowd to turn against him, it fell incredibly flat.Thankfully for Styles, Cena made his entrance at that moment and hit his stride in record time. He wasted no time and pulled no punches in stating his intentions for the WWE world championship, despite Styles efforts to deflect by returning Cenas headband when faced with Cenas demand that, You have something that belongs to me.It might be hard to believe, especially considering several particularly dominant stretches during his decade in the WWE, but Cena hasnt held a WWE world title in more than two years. His last reign with the WWE world championship came to an end in August 2014 in a match where he was utterly destroyed by Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam. Cena has only sniffed the championship a few times since that point. There was a big push at the 2015 SummerSlam, as Cena embraced his proximity to Flairs record with a wave of 15x shirts and gear. But with Jon Stewarts interference, Cena lost, and he hasnt received a televised world championship match since.It would be unfair to dismiss that time frame completely, though. In that stretch, Cena made the United States championship and himself more relevant by challenging nearly every promising young guy and stepping up his in-ring game immensely. There was also a six-month stretch where Cena was out with an injury, but upon his return, he immediately got involved with Styles in a rivalry thats produced several career-defining matches for each of them.The fire on display from Cena as he went after Styles clearly showed just how important a milestone that Flairs record is for Cena, no matter how long its been since hes held the title. I have one goal left -- one goal in the WWE -- and its to proudly announce that the 16-time champ ... is ... here.On cue, Dean Ambrose came storming out to claim what was rightfully his, immediately blowing by Cena and getting in Styles face too. Ambrose has subtly grown out his beard over the last few weeks, and it served as a nice touch in portraying just how unhinged hes become after losing his championship like he did. Both the announcers and Ambrose put over how good the match was before Styles took the easy way out, and its a strong-running storyline that could continue to build for a time to come. Styles has the ability to win a straight up fight, like he did against Cena at SummerSlam, but when he sees an opening to take a shortcut, he wont hesitate to do so.You made the biggest mistake of your life on Sunday, boy... Im not just going to take my title back -- Im going to take it back with interest, Ambrose said.Cena brought things back into focus and, because its 2016, warranted a reaction from the crowd for calling out Ambrose, agreeing with slights from Stone Cold Steve Austin that he dished out on Austins podcast. Cena even pointed out that Styles merely returned the favor for an injury Ambrose himself inflicted on Styles, and then turned up the heat with some seemingly childish humor that got him one of the loudest, most unilaterally positive reactions hes received in years as he laid into the Lunatic fringe.Im actually surprised that low blow even hurt you... all youve been s