2 Ups And 4 Downs From Last Night's WWE Talking Smack (Jan 17)

Spare Ribs, Cupcakes and the Eater of Worlds!

Shane McMahon Bray Wyatt
WWE

After an historic edition of Smackdown Live headlines by the show's first ever Women's Steel Cage Match between Alexa Bliss and Becky Lynch, Talking Smack was back to follow up on all the drama from an explosive week on the Blue Brand.

Following his huge announcement that the WWE Title would be defended inside the Elimination Chamber at Feburary's Smackdown Live Pay-Per-View offering, Shane McMahon again stood in for Daniel Bryan to join Renee Young in digesting the all of this week's action.

With two Pay-Per-Views to build to and one of the biggest matches of the year less than two weeks away, let's take a look at the Ups and Downs from this week's edition of Talking Smack.

6. Down - The Burger King

Shane McMahon Bray Wyatt
WWE

Following their hard-hitting angle on Smackdown Live, it looked as though Jerry Lawler would make the ideal guest to further sell the cruel verbal and physical attack he'd suffered at the hands (and foot) of Dolph Ziggler.

However, whilst the old Lawler may have turned up to a segment like this looking beaten, bedraggled and ready for war, 2017's 'King' instead presented the genteel veneer normally reserved for his meek displays on a Pay-Per-View pre-show.

In a attempt to sell the gravitas of the 'Kings Court' attack earlier in the night, Lawler rambled on about the difference between a heart attack and his 2012 cardiac arrest, but failed to effectively retort Ziggler's vicious threat to 'finish what he started'.

Atoning for his comments that Dolph was a 'loser' instead of simply justifying them, he flatly refused to blame 'The Show Off' for the original incident, further negating the progress of Ziggler's edgier new persona.

Concluding a wasteful portion of the broadcast, the segment then turned into a cheap advertisement for 'King Jerry Lawler's Hall of Fame Bar & Grille', based down the road in Memphis where the show had been filmed.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett