WWE SmackDown: Potential Spoilers, Rumors, News and Preview for Jan. 3

Championship gold will be at the center of the first WWE SmackDown of 2017.

AJ Styles and John Cena will sign the contract for their WWE Championship match. A battle for the Intercontinental Championship is set. And Superstars will be busy fighting for a top contender's spot for the blue brand's other belts. 

Jacksonville, Florida, will host all the action.

SmackDown soundly beat Raw from an entertainment standpoint last year. It will look to continue the beatdown as 2017 gets underway with a strong lineup for Tuesday's show.

The blue brand will start to build toward the Royal Rumble pay-per-view on Jan. 29. Who will be around for that journey? What stories will get the spotlight?

Social media updates, backstage news and the SmackDown preview on WWE.com help answer those questions. Read on for a full preview of the show before it airs on Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on the USA Network.

On Tap

The Styles-Cena WWE Championship match at the Royal Rumble is set to become official. Tuesday's SmackDown will feature a contract signing for the title bout.

But wrestling fans are well aware that it won't just include putting pens to paper. History says there will be some trash-talking and violence during the proceedings.

In addition, The Miz will defend his Intercontinental Championship against Dean Ambrose.

The Miz enraged Ambrose by insulting his girlfriend, Renee Young. The Lunatic Fringe ambushed him last week as payback. He will now look to follow that up by dethroning The Miz.

Regardless of how this match unfolds, WWE should go all-in with this feud. The early stages of the Ambrose-Miz rivalry point to it being an electric one.

News, Potential Spoilers

Heath Slater looked hurt at the end of the Four Corners Elimination match last week. He winced as he clutched his knee, and officials tended to him after the bout.

Slater, though, is apparently fine. The One-Man Band tweeted a positive update:

Plus, Slater competed at a live event on Dec. 30, as seen on the Internet Wrestling Database.

SmackDown may welcome Mickie James at some point in 2017. The former women's champ has re-signed with the company, as Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet noted in December.

She has yet to appear on the main roster, but that could soon change. Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com reported, "Currently, the plan is for James to appear on the SmackDown brand, likely debuting in January 2017."

The current La Luchadora angle, where a mystery masked woman attacked Becky Lynch, is an easy way to script James' arrival.

SmackDown Streaks

Luke Harper ended 2016 with a number of defeats. Last Tuesday, he and Randy Orton lost the SmackDown tag titles to American Alpha. 

According to CageMatch.net, that marked Harper's fourth SmackDown loss in a row.

Harper has too often been booked as The Wyatt Family's weak link. He's been used as midcard fodder rather than as a serious contender. It's hard to see that changing in 2017, but it really should.

Jack Swagger, on the other hand, would kill to be in Harper's spot.

He hasn't even been around of late. Swagger last wrestled on SmackDown on Oct. 18, per CageMatch.net, and has since gone 10 consecutive episodes without a match on the blue brand. 

Swagger isn't the top-tier star WWE once thought him to be but has more to offer than being a benchwarmer.

Contenders From All Corners

The two men who fell to Styles last week, coming up just short in a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship, will collide with each other.

Dolph Ziggler will take on Baron Corbin, as WWE announced on Twitter:

Ziggler and Corbin first feuded when The Lone Wolf moved to the main roster after WrestleMania 32. The stakes are higher this time around, as both men look to position for another crack at the WWE title. 

The company would be smart to begin Corbin's ascension on Tuesday night with an impressive win over The Showoff. 

In the women's division, a mystery hangs over the title scene. Alexa Bliss held on to the SmackDown Women's Championship against Lynch last week thanks to help from La Luchadora.

The strange thing, however, was that La Luchadora was originally Lynch's alter ego. Who was under the mask last time, then?

WWE.com's SmackDown preview teased that the answer may be on its way: "Find out if the identity of the new masked disruptor will be revealed this Tuesday."

Tuesday's show will also feature tag teams fighting to get in the front of the line to face American Alpha.

Chad Gable and Jason Jordan became tag team champs last week by outlasting Slater and Rhyno, The Usos and previous champs The Wyatt Family. Bray Wyatt's crew is sure to charge toward the new titleholders.

As the SmackDown preview on WWE.com noted, "The Wyatt Family will be out to wreak havoc on the new champions and position themselves to take back the titles."

The Usos, who have a history of animosity with American Alpha, is likely to be in the hunt, too. WWE would be wise to add the underutilized Breezango to the list. A varied, deep title picture would be great for the division and for SmackDown as a whole.