The WWE Universe was in for a surprise from the very outset of the night, as the former Raw ring announcer, Lillian Garcia made her return as a full-time ring announcer on SmackDown, amidst a thunderous applause from the crowd. After expressing her gratitude to the WWE for letting her come back, Lillian introduced the ring-side commentators. Michael Cole and Josh Matthews came in fine, but Booker T was ambushed during his entrance by Cody Rhodes, who took Booker's place at the announce table.

It was announced that the show would feature Wade Barrett and Randy Orton in separate singles matches, with the one who wins in the shortest amount of time gets to choose the stipulation for the Barrett vs Orton match at TLC. Barrett was up first, against his former Corre teammate Ezekiel Jackson. Barrett played the technical card, grappling with headlocks and arm-bars on the more powerful Ezekiel, who tried to nail Barrett with some high-octane strikes. Barrett wasted almost a minute trying to recuperate outside the ring, and finally got the upper hand after he dodged Jackson's shoulder blocks and hit one of his own to his opponent's knee, taking him off his vertical base. Barrett caught Jackson for a near-fall after a solid kick to the gut and a pump-handle slam. Jackson got back up and clotheslined his opponent multiple times in the corner. Jackson got a near-fall off a sidewalk slam, and set up the Torture Rack. Barrett scrambled out of the move and tried to hit the wasteland, which was countered by the Guyanese Goliath. But Barrett improvised, hitting a variation of the Boss Man Slam for the pin-fall at 7:53 minutes, setting the target for Orton.

This week's Raw started off with a crestfallen John Cena trying to address the WWE Universe, which still seemed to be against him. Cena thanked "Rowdy' Roddy Piper for inviting him to Piper's Pit the past week, and making Cena realize exactly what the crowd felt about him, and it looked as if Cena was actually acknowledging the sudden change in the crowd's sentiments. But that was not the actual thing which Cena was after. He soon turned his attention towards CM Punk, challenging the WWE Champion for a title match at TLC.

Cena's challenge failed to impress the champion, but it did bring out Alberto Del Rio, The Miz and Dolph Ziggler (accompanied by the ever-annoying Vickie Guerrero). Each of these superstars had their own reasons for being most eligible for the shot to face CM Punk at the TLC Pay-Per-View. John Lauranitis brought some order to the scene, announcing that while Miz, Ziggler and Del Rio would each face a SmackDown superstar, Cena would be participating in a 'social experiment'. Only those who were successful in their endeavours would get the right to face Punk for the title at TLC. Later on it was revealed that Cena's 'experiment' would be a one-on-one match against Zack Ryder, and if Ryder won he would get a shot a Dolph Ziggler's United States Championship.

The holiday season was welcomed by this week's edition of SmackDown and it looked really promising, especially due to the fact that Theodore Long made it a Super Show, inviting superstars from Raw to be a part of the big night, and his authority for the night was given to special guest host Mick Foley.

Mick Foley was in the ring to start off the celebrations all dressed up as Santa Claus. Foley announced a mistletoe match, a miracle on 34th Street Fight and a Steel Cage match for the night. He took it upon himself to welcome the SmackDown announce team, which comprised of Michael Cole dressed up like Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, Josh Matthews dressed like an elf, and Booker-T dressed as Santa. On Foley's request, Booker performed his trademark spin-a-roony in the ring, and that brought Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes into the ring, who was clearly disappointed at a retired wrestler like Booker getting so much of the spotlight. The two exchanged words, and then agreed to face each other in a singles match later in the night.

This week's SmackDown started off with the aftermath of Survivor Series, as Mark Henry entered the ring using a crutch, gloating about how he was still the World Heavyweight Champion and had prevailed in his last title defence against Big Show. The World's Largest Athlete was not amused, and he came down to the ring and reminded Henry that he had got himself disqualified on purpose, knowing perfectly well that the title could not change hands by disqualification. And when Henry crossed the line by calling Big Show the World's Largest Loser, he got hit by the WMD.

Just as Henry got knocked out, Daniel Bryan shocked everyone present by running into the ring and cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase. Bryan won the title after pinning a weak and defenseless Henry, but his celebration of a lifetime got interrupted by GM Theodore Long, who clarified that Mark Henry was not cleared to compete by the doctors this week, and hence the impromptu 'match' could not be considered official. Long gave back the Money in the Bank briefcase to Bryan and the World Heavyweight Title to Henry, but not before putting Bryan in the main event in a fatal 4-way match, where the winner would face Mark Henry on SmackDown next week.