Renee Young began the show by wishing Shane McMahon, who'd been covering for an absent Daniel Bryan, a belated happy birthday and brought a cupcake for him. The duo spoke about how Shane spent his birthday before inviting their first guest, Jerry " The King" Lawler.
Jerry “The King” Lawler
Renee asked Jerry how he'd been doing after getting kicked in the chest by Dolph Ziggler. Jerry replied that he was doing just as well as someone who gets kicked in the chest does. Jerry spoke about the time he received elbow drops from Ziggler during a match on Raw, which some believed may have served as the catalyst for Jerry's infamous on-air cardiac arrest.
Lawler, while speaking on that incident, informed that he was cared for by the medical staff almost immediately, and also said that he's never had any heart ailments since then. Lawler said he didn't hold Ziggler responsible for the cardiac arrest, however, he believes that Ziggler needs to re-assess himself because his current change in attitude won't help him win any matches.
Shane, as SmackDown's Commissioner, apologised to Lawler for Ziggler's actions. Then, Renee announced that both she and Lawler would participate in the pre-show panel for Royal Rumble along with Booker T. Renee also revealed that Lawler would be joining the commentary team for Royal Rumble along with Corey Graves and Michael Cole.
Before leaving, Lawler invited Renee and Shane to his restaurant in Memphis.
After Lawler's departure, Renee and Shane discussed the announcement of Kurt Angle joining the Hall of Fame class of 2017. Renee tried prodding Shane to reveal the names of other Hall of Fame members, but he refused to spill the beans.
Baron Corbin
The next guest on the show was Baron Corbin. Corbin discussed his loss against John Cena and said that he was merely testing the waters. He informed that he didn't even use his signature moves like Deep Six and The End of Days. He announced that although he lost last week, he would still headline WrestleMania.
Renee and Shane discussed the Royal Rumble match with Corbin. Corbin implied that his strategy would be to stay away from behemoths such as Brock Lesnar, Goldberg, and The Undertaker.
Corbin, who thought pretty highly of himself, proclaimed that he does not care about the fans or media and that he just cares about the money the fans spend on the product.
Later, Renee and Shane discussed La Luchadora's unmasking. La Luchadora along with Alexa Bliss had been hounding Becky Lynch for weeks. But, on tonight's episode of SmackDown, it was revealed that La Luchadora is no one else, but Mickie James.
Mickie James was last seen on WWE programming at NXT TakeOver: Toronto, where she faced Asuka for the NXT Women's Championship. Shane and Renee are excited to see what James might bring to the SmackDown Women's Division.
Bray Wyatt
The third and final guest of the show was revealed to be the head of the Wyatt Family, Bray Wyatt. Bray said that after Orton and Harper's match against each other next week, their differences would be sorted out. Bray announced that he was going to win the Royal Rumble.
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