Isenberg Reacts: WWE Smackdown Live “Wasted Time on The Road To WrestleMania”

March 8, 2017

The Miz Saves a Horrible Segment

WWE Smackdown Live’s first 25 minutes were absolutely meaningless. They announced a match that has been hyped for the past week, brought out Carmella and James Ellsworth and then John Cena and Nikki Bella. After the second break, we finally get a match. Well, kind of. It was bad. John and Nikki hit three moves together and that is pretty much all she wrote. The Miz and Maryse attacked the two after the match and talk about how fake the relationship between John Cena and Nikki Bella really is. He talks about he has real life and that the two are not in love and only are trying to get more publicity for their brands. Miz drops the mic and walks away. Maryse gives her a b**ch comment back.

Man, 30 minutes of this show was really bad. No development and wasted time. They showed the Randy Orton arson twice in a ten minute period and then followed with a match that had no real offense. The Miz and Maryse was the best part, but even their real “shoot” promo on the couple could not completely save this part of WWE Smackdown Live. They spoke truth and spit fire to a couple that has been widely known and criticized by the wrestling and non-wrestling community for years. Isn’t it crazy that The Miz saved John Cena tonight and not the other way around? Miz – 1 Cena – 1.

WZ 5

Dean Ambrose Hunts for The Lone Wolf

After a quick clothesline and Dirty Deeds on Curt Hawkins, Dean Ambrose goes backstage to try and find Baron Corbin. Corbin attacks him from behind and then traps him on the ground by lowering a fork lift. Ambrose gets help and Corbin stands tall as he gets the advantage over the champion once again.

There has to be more than a regular match at WrestleMania between the two men. I would love to see them in a Street Fight, letting them really work the live crowd in Orlando and go backstage if need be. With no real gimmick match, this could fill a void if WWE decided not to put a Ladder Match on the card. I continue to enjoy Baron Corbin and Dean Ambrose’s odd feud, but there needs to be more. It came off slightly dead to the live crowd. Maybe they were hoping for an actual wrestling match in the first hour of the show. They really did not get that tonight.

Going forward, Dean and Baron Corbin are going to have to carry a mid card feud on a show that will heavily feature Bray/Randy, John/Miz and Shane/Styles. With these four segments, along with a women’s segment, you can pretty much map out each show heading into WrestleMania. I just want them to make us truly care about the Intercontinental Championship.

WZ 5.5

Josh controls most of the creative writing and ideas for the show on a weekly basis, as well as an on-air talent.

Aside from working with WrestleZone, Isenberg began his career in Broadcast Journalism interning at ESPN and worked with CBS Radio for three years. He has also had the opportunity to interview some of the best athletes and performers alive, including Andrew McCutchen, Ben Roethlisberger, Chris Jericho, Billy Gunn, Karl Anderson, Matt Hardy, Steven Strasburg and others.

Currently, Josh Isenberg works for Major League Baseball in their Advanced Media Productions. He grew up in Pittsburgh and went to Point Park University, which is where Chair Shot Reality is filmed each week.

His life outside of his obsession with wrestling include being a savant for Seinfeld, NFL, NBA, MLB and many television shows. He also has an undying love for musicals, which includes many shows he was a part of in high school. Some of his favorite wrestling moments can be linked to such superstars as Edge, The Rock, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and The Great Khali.