Live News & Notes From Last Night's SD! Tapings

Credit: Ben Nisbet and Pwinsider.com

It seems as though an awful lot of people received tickets to this show for Christmas, because the house was very good. Probably as good or better than the last couple of tapings here.

Having said that, it was a very dead crowd clear up until Smackdown started. NXT did not come across very well live, and Superstars was only slightly better.

The first good reaction of the night went to Chris Masters, as he received a good babyface pop and several chants during the match.

The Smackdown taping was excellent from a live perspective. There was very little dead time, with constant action and 4 good matches. Kane and Edge brawled all around the arena in a nice opener.

The real fun began when Vickie took over the middle part of the show. No matter how loud the kids cheered Mysterio, there was nothing as loud as the heat on Vickie. She made two important announcements during the show, and they were both nearly inaudible. Dolph gets the gold star as he worked two matches and did a hell of a job in the process.

Wade Barrett made an appearance to a lukewarm reaction, but his elbow drop looked good.

Before the main event, Alberto Del Rio cut a tremendous heel promo. Everything this guy did tonight was great, and during the match, there were quite a few "Del Rio" chants, countered of course by well timed "sucks!" chants.

All in all a really fun night, once Smackdown got rolling. I look forward to seeing it on TV.