Rebooted!

Season 9 of the Movie Trivia Schmoedown has kicked off and it feels bigger and better than ever! The show that mixes movie trivia with the sports entertainment of wrestling has entered its ninth season, appropriately subtitled “The Reboot” and it really feels like the show is back with a bang.

Of course, it’s not the show’s fault that it has struggled of late. A global pandemic can take the blame for that, as it forced the show to move to digital matches, which (despite the best efforts of everyone involved) were never going to be able to live up to the energy and quality of studio matches or the atmosphere of live matches, while the opportunity to further stories in cutscenes all-but disappeared as the phrases “Hands up!” and “You’re on mute” became ingrained in our minds. As restrictions began to lift in the tail end of last year, a series of matches in front of a live audience at the Scum and Villainy Cantina in Los Angeles were a timely reminder of how the show was about more than 2 competitors answering movie trivia questions, and the season ended on the high of Spectacular VIin front of a live audience.

mts season 9 interview wildberries josh macuga eliot dewberry jenn sterger

mts season 9 chandru dhandapani kevin smets

mts season 9 announcers desk andrew ghai mark ellis

Now, the show is back in a new studio that looks a real step up in professionalism, with swanky new graphics, and it is now all in 1 weekly show “Friday Night Titans”, which will contain a coupe of matches (not always know ahead of time) and multiple story beats, with cutscenes and challenges to further the narrative and set up matches, while we have already seen 1 match have a competitor go up against a mystery opponent. While we aren’t going to be getting as many matches as in the last couple of years, the quantity is certainly being replaced with quality, while a smaller roster this year following the decision to cut back on factions to bring the focus back more towards sports entertainment than sports,and it really feels like an improved version of the product we were getting back in seasons 5 and 6, but now with plenty of amazing new characters who have been discovered over the last couple of years. If you dropped off the show, season 9 is a great point to jump back on, while this new season is also a brilliant place for new viewers to start watching to see what the show is really like.

So for those who did drop off, or those who are new, how does this all work?

Schmoedown Pros compete in 4 Divisions within the league: Singles, Teams (pairs), Innergeekdom and Star Wars. The standard format of a match has now been made the same across all divisions and is as follows:

Round 1: All competitors are asked the same 10 questions and individually answer both verbally and on a whiteboard. 1 point per correct answer. Anyone who successfully answers all 10 will get a bonus question for 1 more point
Round 2: Competitors/teams spin a wheel to pick their category (if they are not happy with their first category, they can risk a second spin but must then stick with what they land on) and get 5 questions in that category. A correct answer is worth 2 points, while they can check down to 4 multiple choice answers, where a correct answer is worth 1 point. If they get the answer wrong, their opponent can steal with a correct answer at the same level (ie they can not choose multiple choice, while if the original competitor checked down, they can now only earn 1 point). This year sees a change to the wheel, which has 12 slices. From this season, 9 will be standard categories, while the other 3 will be “Wildcard” slices. Behind these slices (and only revealed if the competitor chooses to stick on the slice) will be either “Spinner’s Choice”, “Opponent’s Choice” or a fun one-off category—for example the one time it has been used so far, the category was “Die Hard in a ______”, encompassing any film that is described as similar to Die Hard but in a different locale.
Round 3: Competitors pick 3 numbers, which correspond to unknown categories and answer the questions they have picked. The first is for 2 points, the second for 3 points and the final one for 5 points. In Teams, the 2- and 3-pointers are answered individually, with one teammate answering the 2-pointer and the other the 3-pointer.
If a tie after these rounds, a “Sudden Death” round of the same format as Round 1 will play until a winner is decided.

Championship matches and Tournament finals will follow a 5-round format. Rounds 1 & 2 remain the same, and Round 3 becomes round 5, while the following rounds are added:

Round 3: The Competitor/Team leading (or the favourite if scores are tied) gets up to 2 spins of the wheel to decide the category. Once the category is known, each competitor/team must secretly bet 0-3 points. The question is then given to both, who answer verbally and on a whiteboard. A correct answer awards the number of points that person/team bet, while said amount of points are taken away if incorrect.
Round 4: All competitors are asked the same questions but only the first person to buzz in can answer. A correct answer awards a point. A wrong answer (or failure to answer within 2 seconds of their buzz in being recognised) will lose a point.