Tag: Kayfabe

6 Takeaways from Schmoedown Spectacular IV

6 Takeaways from Schmoedown Spectacular IV

eason 6 of the Movie Trivia Schmoedown reached its climax at the weekend with Schmoedown Spectacular IV. With the final of the Ultimate Schmoedown Singles Tournament and Championship Matches in all 4 divisions, we were given an event that was truly… well, spectacular!

With Season 7 bringing the biggest shake-up to the league since Anarchy, and the awards less than a month away, it is time to start looking at what impact Spectacular could have on the upcoming season. So in this article, I will be giving the 6 biggest takeaways* from Schmoedown Spectacular IV.

*By which I mean my 6 biggest feelings and thoughts, not more thievery from Ben “Bagel Boy” Goddard

 

Advantage: Finstock

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Spectacular really couldn’t have gone much better for Bobby Gucci and the Five Horsemen. 3/3 wins on the night leaves the Horsemen with the Singles and Teams Titles and puts the longest-standing manager in the league n a great position to win Manager of the Year at the Awards.

But as we head into Season 7, these results at Spectacular will take on even more importance. Founding Fathers’ successful defence of the Teams Title means that Finstock is able to keep them in The Finstock Exchange at the cost of his first 2 draft picks, while Ben Bateman’s Singles Title (and Who’s The Boss’ place in the rankings) means that he is also able to keep hold of them. While this does mean that he won’t technically get a pick until the 5th round on draft day, there is no way that he would have been able to draft Murrell, Rocha, Bateman and Reilly without them becoming champions. Having all the Horsemen in the faction is a great start to dominating the season as all 4 have won the Singles Title (including 3 over the last 2 seasons) and they also contribute 2 of the top teams in the league. Add in Dan Murrell’s announcement that he will be entering the Innergeekdom Division in 2020 and they are in such a strong place.

Oh, and as if that wasn’t good enough, Dagnino’s win in Orlando also means that he has a chance to steal a pick in the later rounds, so he can also find himself moving up the board from Round 5 onwards if there is someone left that he desperately wants.

KOrruption without a KO?

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Kevin Smets’ win over Mike Kalinowski has left us in a very interesting situation. Not only did it lead to Mike and Chance waving goodbye to Grace and Ken and bringing in Shannon Barney as their new manager, but it’s also left Mike and Chance in a position where they are protected as a team, but without the guarantee of being able to stick with Shannon.

She’s announced that she is taking over the leadership of KOrruption, which Mike introduced before the team even formed, but unless she has a very early pick, there’s a risk that the face of KOrruption will be playing elsewhere. With Chance intending to continue competing in the Innergeekdom Division, he and Mike are 2 of the strongest triple threats in the league, so I’ll be shocked if they make it beyond the 1st round. Shannon needs to hope that she has one of the very first picks to make sure that she can hang onto her boys. If she can’t, a trade would be the only way to get them back, but she will probably have to put in a huge offer.

Get your mock drafts ready!

The geeks are taking over!

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The Innergeekdom Division is probably my favourite in the league at the moment, and I don’t see that changing very soon. Mike Kalinowski is a quality player who will be out for revenge after losing the title to Kevin Smets – who himself is going to be very hard to beat! Throw in another former champion in Mara Knopic, contenders like Brandon Hanna, Chandru Dhandapani, Chance Ellison, Emily Jacobson, Adam Hlavac and now Dan Murrell… that is suddenly looking a very deep division! Don’t be surprised to see some more rookies entering the division this season and some of this season’s rookies looking to improve now they know what it is like to compete in the league.

Innergeekdom is arguably easier to study due to the limited number of movies that will be covered, but the questions are far deeper as a result. Any of these competitors show just how good their knowledge is when they compete and will likely just get better the more they compete. It already feels like the Schmoedown Pros at the top of the rankings are already capable of beating anyone on any given Schmoeday… I get the feeling that the “elite” group is just going to get larger and larger in 2020. Bring it on!

The best rookies yet?

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It genuinely feels like each year’s rookie crop gets crowned the best yet as we get more and more rookies who know the game already so know what they need to do in order to compete, but I would argue that the 2019 crop is the strongest yet!

While Mara Knopic and Ethan Erwin both won titles in their rookie seasons last year, Paul Oyama and Kevin Smets matched the feat this year, with Oyama taking things further by managing a successful defence. But look at Spectacular and the argument that this is the strongest class gets even more credence. Brendan “The Kid” Meyer may have lost on his debut, but he was one of the stars of the Free 4 All and had a strong season off the back of that, resulting in an appearance in the Teams Championship match at Spectacular. Laura Kelly also made her debut at Star Wars Celebration and though she lost, her performance earned her a #1 Contender match against Andrew Dimalanta (himself a rookie), who she defeated to become the 4th rookie competing at this year’s Spectacular. Add in rookie manager Kaiser and all the others who had strong seasons and I feel confident anointing this the greatest rookie class so far.

It maybe that next year’s rookies take things to an even higher level, but they will have a tough challenge on their hands.

Going heel

MTS Spectacular IV Fyffe Club Heels
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One of the big shocks of the night was as Emma Fyffe revealed her faction for 2020. The return of the Fyffe Club, the greatest babyface faction in the history of the Schmoedown. But this time, things were different, as Fyffe introduced her new advisor: deposed KOrruption manager Grace Hancock.

“The Lioness” is very much a heel and it was clear from the way that Emma spoke that her time as a face is coming to an end. Personally, I love this move! Dagnino has turned face this year and Jay Washington is far too likeable to be a heel too. That leaves just Burnett, Roxy, Shannon and Kaiser as established heels – and we barely even know Shannon at this point! Having a well-known manager turning heel gives so many possibilities, especially as it already looks like we are setting up for some feuds with Shannon. Let’s just remember as well that Emma has some history when it comes to feuding with the other managers: she’s never seen eye-to-eye with Dagnino or Jay Washington, so that is unlikely to change anytime soon, while she also developed a rivalry with new manager Samm Levine over the last year due to his style of “commissioning”, which led to him losing his role as Commissioner of the Singles Division. Straight away, we have plenty of feuds set up, so the heel turn feels like it will work.

What this turn will also do is allow some of the newer managers to focus on becoming good managers rather than having to also cause trouble. Keeping Levine as a face will allow his and Emma’s feud to continue with her as the aggressor, while at this point it is hard to imagine either Coy Jandreau or Winston Marshall as heels given their personality. Having Shannon as the only heel “new” manager but turning Fyffe to the dark side leaves a good balance between heels and faces, while also giving both sides of the morality scale a good blend of new and experienced managers.

Any given Schmoeday

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Sports fans will already know the idea of anyone being able to beat anyone “on any given Sunday”. While it was arguable that we already know it existed in the Schmoedown, Spectacular IV’s big results proved it.

Already, we have seen Stacy Howard manage huge victories over Mark Ellis and Mark Reilly in Ultimate Schmoedown Singles Tournaments, only to fall hard at the next hurdle. Add to that Andrew Ghai defeating Dan Murrell then Mark Reilly – both by TKO – in his first 2 Singles matches. And now, we have 4/5 matches in the biggest event of the year ending by KO/TKO. 4 Championship matches and the final of the Ultimate Schmoedown Singles Tournament… only the best of the best will be competing in these matches, so you would have thought that these matches would be so much closer – I even suggested that Kalinowski v Smets would probably go to Sudden Death!

Instead, we saw Mike Kalinowski, arguably one of the best Innergeekdom Schmoedown Pros ever, not even taking Smets to the final round. We saw William Bibbiani getting TKO’d twice in one night! Finally, we saw Paul Oyama’s 6-0 run in the Singles Division ended by KO in a match that he finished with just 3 points.

If you ever wanted proof that the Movie Trivia Schmoedown is a sport, this is it. You can be the best in the league, you can do all the preparation you can, but on any given Schmoeday, you can still end up struggling to put any points on the board and finding yourself on the wrong end of a huge loss. And that is why we tune in: because we can never consider any match a foregone conclusion.

THE HITMAN HAS TWO FACES: What is Brandon Hanna’s Secret Scheme?

THE HITMAN HAS TWO FACES: What is Brandon Hanna’s Secret Scheme?

Back in 2018, I made a decision to expand my focus to include the Movie Trivia Schmoedown – a combination of movie trivia and WWE entertainment. As the brand grew, my writing on here came to an end in November 2018 as I was given the chance to write for their new website, TriviaSD.com along with a number of other Schmoedown bloggers. Recently it was announced that as the crew’s focus is needed elsewhere, it was announced that the site will be coming to an end. This means that the Schmoedown will be making a return to this site!

First of all, I want to give a big thank yous:

  • To Schmoedown creator and Chairman of the league Kristian Harloff and TriviaSD.com Managing Editor William Bibbiani for giving me the chance to write for the site
  • To the cast and crew, who continue to create an amazing product that is just going from strength to strength
  • To the fans, who have helped to create such an amazing community

Over the space of a couple of weeks, I am posting my articles from the site onto here. As some of these are almost a year old, some of them are somewhat outdated and may have proved to be completely off the mark.

Posted to TriviaSD.com 23/8/2019

Ever since Ben Bateman and Tom Dagnino joined the Five Horsemen in Houston, there have been questions as to whether Dagnino – as a manager, not a competitor – counted as one of the “five.”

That question was answered very recently when Brandon Hanna was invited by John Rocha to become the 5th Horseman. As the fan base went crazy and the Action Army did everything they could to call out the latest “traitor,” the story took an unexpected turn as Hanna was then seen signing a contract to join… The Family.

Let’s take a moment to try too igure out what the heck is going on here, and what the repercussions could be within the league.

Why Him?

First of all, we need to look at why “The Hitman” is in such high demand. One of the 2019 rookie crop, Hannah currently sits at 2-0 (1KO) in the Innergeekdom Division following a win on his debut in a Fatal Fiveway against Keetin Marchi, Chance Ellison and fellow debutant Chandru Dhandapani and a 20-18 victory over Emily “The Rose” Jacobson. His next match looks to be a 1v1 rematch against Chandru, where victory would see him well on the way to a potential title shot. Someone who knows the game well, he has clearly studied hard within the division and could soon find himself being classed within the IG Division’s top tier of competitors.

Currently, both the Horsemen and The Family are lacking a competitor in the Innergeekdom and bringing in someone of Hanna’s calibre would makes them not just a part of the Division, but a force within it. Bringing Hanna into either faction elevates them immediately.

Who Controls the Hitman?

Trying to be a part of tw factions at the same time is just greedy, and with all the history between the Horsemen and the Family, there is no way either of them would accept their new guy also being associated with their nemeses.

So now we need to figure out who Hanna is actually going to be representing. Going with the idea that “the early bird catches the worm,” it would seem John Rocha has found his 5th Horseman. However, Thadd Williams proved in the past the importance of a contract and Burnett having Hanna actually sign paperwork would likely have more weight than a verbal agreement; Rocha and Hanna were so busy throwing up the symbol of the Horsemen, they didn’t even shake hands!

When talking to Hannah, Rocha mentions that Bateman speaks highly of him. Hannah was originally the intern to “The Boss” and from all his previous appearances, it would appear that his allegiances in the Action Civil War would lie with his former employer. However, it must also be noted that Burnett says Andrew Ghai also spoke highly of him. Had this been purely Burnett’s doing, I would have been worried that “The Captain” had just risked his reputation within The Family by bringing in someone who had already committed to the Horsemen; however it would appear that Ghai is fully on board with the acquisition, which makes me feel that this is not going to result in Hanna betraying The Family and joining the Horsemen.

What is worth noting as well is that Hanna left his role as Bateman’s intern to go out on his own following Bateman and Ghai’s split. Perhaps even he felt that his employer was the guilty party in Team Action splitting up.

Looking at the evidence, it looks like the Horsemen are going to be left disappointed.

What Does This Mean for the Horsemen?

Hanna duping the Horsemen and joining The Family probably won’t go down well and will certainly add more friction within the Horsemen stable. Ben Bateman appears to have been instrumental to Hanna joining the group and seeing Hanna betray them for The Family could affect his reputation within the stable, which could then turn ugly given his fractious history with Rocha.

Should their relationship deteriorate, it could also put strain on Rocha and Reilly’s relationship as it was Reilly who took a risk by backing Bateman and Dagnino as potential Horsemen.

Have Hanna’s actions just set in motion a series of events that will see Who’s The Boss walk away from the Horsemen?

Conversely, this could also bring the Horsemen closer together and galvanise them for another attempt to take down The Family. Could this motivate Ben Bateman to enter the Innergeekdom purely to remind his former intern who the real boss is? Or could they instead turn to an unattached Innergeekdom star like Mara Knopic or Chandru and put out a hit on the Hitman, with the prize being a place in the Horsemen stable?

The repercussions could even go beyond The Horsemen and The Family. Kaiser was the first to offer Hanna a spot in his faction but was immediately turned down. After seeing Hanna join a faction led by a man who can’t tell the difference between “Lou” and “Kaiser”, could he set his own Innergeekdom star Kevin Smets against him? With Smets having destroyed Hlavac in San Diego and Hanna 3-0 if he beats Chandru, that would be a mouth-watering #1 Contender match.

One thing is for certain: There’s some drama ahead!

OPPOSITION? HEEL THYSELF! – Five Schmoedown Players Who Wisely Went Wicked

OPPOSITION? HEEL THYSELF! – Five Schmoedown Players Who Wisely Went Wicked

Back in 2018, I made a decision to expand my focus to include the Movie Trivia Schmoedown – a combination of movie trivia and WWE entertainment. As the brand grew, my writing on here came to an end in November 2018 as I was given the chance to write for their new website, TriviaSD.com along with a number of other Schmoedown bloggers. Recently it was announced that as the crew’s focus is needed elsewhere, it was announced that the site will be coming to an end. This means that the Schmoedown will be making a return to this site!

First of all, I want to give a big thank yous:

  • To Schmoedown creator and Chairman of the league Kristian Harloff and TriviaSD.com Managing Editor William Bibbiani for giving me the chance to write for the site
  • To the cast and crew, who continue to create an amazing product that is just going from strength to strength
  • To the fans, who have helped to create such an amazing community

Over the space of a couple of weeks, I am posting my articles from the site onto here. As some of these are almost a year old, some of them are somewhat outdated and may have proved to be completely off the mark.

Posted to TriviaSD.com 8/8/2019

As someone who was not a regular watcher of the WWE, one of the things that took me a while to understand was the intricacies of kayfabe and the roles of heels and faces. After over two years of watching the Schmoedown however, I have come to appreciate the role this has in the success of the league and really look forward to seeing how new entrants will act and what dastardly deeds the heels will get up to next.

While many of the heels have been that way from the start, like “Dastardly” Andrew Ghai, there are others like Ken Napzok and Mike Kalinowski who were once seen as heroes of the league, fighting the good fight, until they snapped and turned to the dark side. In addition to shocking the fans with their turn to evil, many of these heel turns have played a big role in improving not just their own personal Schmoedown careers, but also the league as a whole.

Today we’ll be looking at those former faces who found success by going dark!

Six Degrees

Two of the original ladies of the Schmoedown, “Miss Movies” Brianne Chandler and “Sassy” Stacy Howard arrived in the league with a victory over the Wangers in October 2016. However, their success was limited over the following months, until they brought in Jay Washington as their manager. Washington helped turn the pair into the first big female heels of the league, while the Viper Squad became one of the more established factions of Season 4.

While Rachel Cushing and Clarke Wolfe were showing their success as faces, Six Degrees made it clear that the role of a heel would work just as well with a woman or a man, creating the opportunity for any new arrivals to play any character that they wanted.

Mike Kalinowski

He was Captain America. He was Batman. Then, he became “The Killer” and the leader of KOrruption. Mike Kalinowski’s heel turn on leaving The League revolutionized the Schmoedown last season as he – under instruction from Paulie G (and unbeknownst to Kalinowski, Kristian Harloff) – began blackmailing Commissioner Thadd Williams into running the league however he wanted.

Under Mike’s supervision, we saw the Innergeekdom Division get its first Ultimate Schmoedown-style tournament, which saw Mara Knopic make her debut and run all the way to the Innergeekdom Championship, whilst also highlighting the strength of the division and setting up himself, Rachel Cushing and Adam Hlavac as some of the biggest stars within the division. We also saw the Anarchy Tournament completely shake up the Teams Division, as most teams were broken up and new alliances were created, giving us super-teams like Who’s The Boss, The Odd Couple and the Founding Fathers.

The Anarchy Tournament also created a number of new teams who either stuck together after the tournament or found themselves reforming on a more permanent basis over the next year, effectively “rebooting” the Teams Division at a time where the Patriots, the Shirewolves and Above the Line had been dominating the league.

On a more individual note, this turn also represented the moment where Mike’s fortunes began to improve. His studying seemed to go to a new level as he strove to win his own tournament, eventually leading him to becoming the first Schmoedown Pro to win the Innergeekdom Title twice. Meanwhile, his new partnership with Chance Ellison and creation of the KOrruption faction has seen him earn an upcoming title match in the Teams Division, as well as finding himself just three matches away from the Singles Title.

Ken Napzok

Staying within KOrruption for a moment, we also need to take a look at Ken Napzok. As part of the Nerd’s Watch, Napzok was a force for good in the league but he did not have the ability to stand up to the Lion’s Den. Eventually he decided that “If you can’t beat them, join them” was an acceptable alternative and he betrayed Rachel Cushing to join Tom Dagnino.

While it may not have had a net positive impact on his playing career, turning heel gave him the chance to go all-in on the mic and he has since proven himself to be one of the best in the league when cutting a promo either on camera or live on stage. More than that, his turn also freed up Rachel Cushing to join Clarke Wolfe and take the next steps in her development into one of the best to ever compete in the league. Not to say that he was holding her back, but the Shirewolves and the Fyffe Club played such a key role in Rachel’s success, and that would not have been possible if Ken had not abandoned her.

Drew McWeeny

Who would have thought that Drew McWeeny could turn heel?! “The Godfather” had always been a player focused on pure knowledge instead of storylines, but this season he has dived in headfirst by siding with The Family. Usually quiet and reserved, he has not really had to change his ways much, but his strong, silent personality makes him so menacing whenever he does speak – just look at Burnett’s reaction in the recent promo when McWeeny reminds him that he was promised a belt!

Beyond that, turning heel and joining The Family has brought him real success. With Burnett and Ghai there to take care of things on the mic, McWeeny can focus on his performance in the match, and having Ghai at his side on the table adds a great element of strategy to go along with his immense knowledge.

Could this alliance ever see him win a belt again? I’d never rule it out!

Who will be the next Schmoedown Pro to turn from hero to villain? What impact will that have on the league? Only time will tell…

AMAZED AND CONFUSED: What Does the Return of Mara Knopic Mean for the League?!

AMAZED AND CONFUSED: What Does the Return of Mara Knopic Mean for the League?!

Back in 2018, I made a decision to expand my focus to include the Movie Trivia Schmoedown – a combination of movie trivia and WWE entertainment. As the brand grew, my writing on here came to an end in November 2018 as I was given the chance to write for their new website, TriviaSD.com along with a number of other Schmoedown bloggers. Recently it was announced that as the crew’s focus is needed elsewhere, it was announced that the site will be coming to an end. This means that the Schmoedown will be making a return to this site!

First of all, I want to give a big thank yous:

  • To Schmoedown creator and Chairman of the league Kristian Harloff and TriviaSD.com Managing Editor William Bibbiani for giving me the chance to write for the site
  • To the cast and crew, who continue to create an amazing product that is just going from strength to strength
  • To the fans, who have helped to create such an amazing community

Over the space of a couple of weeks, I am posting my articles from the site onto here. As some of these are almost a year old, some of them are somewhat outdated and may have proved to be completely off the mark.

Posted to TriviaSD.com 29/7/2019

We’ve all become accustomed to Schmoedown live events having a shock moment towards the end, but San Diego’s live event may have given us the most amazing (pun fully intended) shock to date.

Having won the Innergeekdom Title back from Rachel Cushing, Mike Kalinowski took his chance to call out Jason Inman for a match. The crowd went wild as a former Innergeekdom emerged onto the stage… but instead of Inman, it was Mara Knopic, appearing for the first time since Spectacular III!

When Kalinowski took advantage of his power over Thadd Williams to earn a title shot without having to go through any qualifying matches, it was announced that Mara would be awarded a rematch if she lost the title in that match. Kalinowski won the title in Sudden Death, but the rematch never materialised as Mara stepped away from the league.

Now the Brown Dwarf Star is back and looking to settle a score with “The Killer”.

Will she get the chance, though? Kalinowski refused to commit to the match onstage, and current Overlord Robert Meyer Burnett recently changed the rules surrounding former champions getting an automatic rematch. So it may be that he will refuse to recognise Mara’s right to a rematch and instead make her earn the title shot. Kevin Smets has just taken down Adam Hlavac in the San Diego undercard and despite the pair being arguably 2 of the top 4 active in the Division (along with Kalinowski and Rachel), the match was not a #1 Contender, so Mara could be forced to take on Smets for a shot at the title – or perhaps even face Rachel in a rematch of their 2018 tournament thriller!

Regardless of whether she gets her immediate rematch or is forced to work her way to Mike, the question will be “can she win the title back?” While she may not have the statistical dominance that we see from many of the other recent champions, she has consistently done exactly everything she needed to (including playing through physical discomfort) in order to get the win, to the tune of 5 wins (2 by TKO). More than that, she has the distinction of being the only Schmoedown Pro to have defeated Jason Inman, Mike Kalinowski and Rachel Cushing in Innergeekdom. Her only loss has come to Mike, in a rematch, and even that went into Sudden Death!

This is someone that you rule out at your peril.

Beyond the immediate future, competing in the Innergeekdom again, it is also worth looking at the wider impact Mara Knopic’s return could have on the league and the factions. It’s hard to believe that KOrruption or The Dungeon would try to bring her in as each faction already has two Innergeekdom competitors (Mike and Chance for KOrruption, Smets and Zipper for The Dungeon).

Meanwhile, Roxy has set herself up against both these factions, with her beef against Kalinowski going back to him leaving The League and her new rivalry with Kaiser as they compete for Manager of the Year. At the moment she is only managing just Marc Andreyko and Jeff Sneider, so bringing in a former Innergeekdom Champion would give her a chance to be competitive in another division.

The obvious faction to look at here would be the Horsemen (Horsepeople? Horsepersons?), as they have established themselves as a stable of champions (it’s just a matter of time, Ben) and have been missing a representative in the Innergeekdom Division ever since Inman stepped away. So bringing in the person who took his title from him would be a statement of intent from a stable that has just lost the Singles Title.

Both The Family and Time Machine are also without an Innergeekdom representative and can never be ruled out – especially if Burnett says Mara can only have her title rematch if she joins The Family – but of the two, I think that Time Machine would be more likely given Jay’s recent change in attitude, while Mara probably wouldn’t want to join Andrew Ghai in a faction given the bad blood surrounding Ghai’s win over Dan Murrell.

Or, we could see Mara stay away from the factions and remain on her own. It didn’t appear to hinder her on her 5-0 run to the Innergeekdom Title last year, while she has already shown that she is able to hold her own against the heels and cut a promo with her own special brand of entertainment.

Regardless how things go, it’s great to see the Innergeekdom Division getting deeper again with the arrival of Pros like Chance and Brandon Hanna and the return of a former champion in Mara. We’re in for an amazing ride!

SPLIT AND RUN: The Five Most Emotional Breakups in Schmoedown History!

SPLIT AND RUN: The Five Most Emotional Breakups in Schmoedown History!

Back in 2018, I made a decision to expand my focus to include the Movie Trivia Schmoedown – a combination of movie trivia and WWE entertainment. As the brand grew, my writing on here came to an end in November 2018 as I was given the chance to write for their new website, TriviaSD.com along with a number of other Schmoedown bloggers. Recently it was announced that as the crew’s focus is needed elsewhere, it was announced that the site will be coming to an end. This means that the Schmoedown will be making a return to this site!

First of all, I want to give a big thank yous:

  • To Schmoedown creator and Chairman of the league Kristian Harloff and TriviaSD.com Managing Editor William Bibbiani for giving me the chance to write for the site
  • To the cast and crew, who continue to create an amazing product that is just going from strength to strength
  • To the fans, who have helped to create such an amazing community

Over the space of a couple of weeks, I am posting my articles from the site onto here. As some of these are almost a year old, some of them are somewhat outdated and may have proved to be completely off the mark.

Posted to TriviaSD.com 23/7/2019

The tale as old as time took a shock turn recently, with the news that “The Beauty” Witney Seibold had left William “The Beast” Bibbiani and brought an end to Critically Acclaimed as a team. Seibold – who lost his Singles debut to David Del Rio – had not taken well to Bibbiani putting his efforts into helping “The Kid” Brendan Meyer so chose to leave Critically Acclaimed and go back to his Anarchy partner Marc Edward Heuck, while Bibbiani has now promoted Meyer from apprentice to partner.

Critically acclaimed were a well-loved team, and as such their split has broken the hearts of many fans. But it is not the first time that we have had to go through the agony of an emotional breakup. Today I will be looking back over the top five emotional breakups that we have had to face. Tissues at the ready? Let’s go!

Before getting into my Top 5, I wanted to give honourable mentions to two teams whose breakups may not have been emotional moments but still provoked a large reaction from the fan base. Having gone on a crazy run of nine consecutive wins (including a title victory and six successful defences), and as some of the biggest heels in the league at the time, the Patriots had a sizeable group of fans. Following their title loss to Above The Line and their loss in their Iron Man rematch at Collision, Jeff Sneider walked away from The Lion’s Den after finding out Tom Dagnino was planning to trade him, but JTE stuck with his manager, bringing an end to a team that is surely destined for the Schmoedown Hall of Fame.

Above The Line’s breakup didn’t even happen on camera, however, as Samm Levine announced in a post-Collision special that he was retiring from competition and vacating both the Singles and Teams Titles in the process. Above The Line were a well-loved team despite not even being active in the league for a full year, while Drew McWeeny and Samm Levine clearly improved each other during their partnership, so many fans mourned the potential this team had to break all the records.

5. Six Degrees

As two of the original leading ladies within the league and with fun theatrical entrances always guaranteed, Brianne Chandler and Stacy Howard quickly became fan favourites. Even with their turn to the dark side under Jay Washington, they were still a team that you couldn’t help root for. After DC Movie News knocked them out of the 2017 Ultimate Schmoedown Teams Tournament and Mike Kalinowski defeated Brianne in the Singles tournament, “Miss Movies” announced that she would be taking a break from competing.

Brianne failed to turn up to support Jay Washington in the Manager Bowl, but appeared to him and Stacy after he lost to announce that she had made a decision and that Jay was dismissed. She asked Stacy to come with her, but Stacy chose to remain loyal to Jay, bringing an end to Six Degrees and transitioning the Missfits into the Viper Sqaud, while Brianne walked away to jump in a car with none other than her former rival Mike Kalinowski.

4. Top 10

One of the original teams from Season 2, “The Outlaw” John Rocha and “Mighty” Matt Knost became the second ever Team Champions but lost to the Patriots on their first defence. For over a year they continued to face whoever they had to in order to win back their titles, only for bad luck and questionable calls to see them lose to the Patriots two more times and leave each of them questioning if they wanted to continue.

With the formation of the Horsemen, it looked like the team would have new life, until Anarchy broke them up, putting Knost with William Bibbiani and Rocha with new Horseman “Dangerous” Dan Murrell. Despite neither of their Anarchy teams making it beyond the quarterfinals, Knost clearly felt that Murrell was the perfect person to replace him as Rocha’s partner, so at Spectacular he made the announcement that Top 10 would not be reforming as he would be stepping away from the league.

The continuation of the Founding Fathers meant that this was not as emotional a break-up as it could have been, but as Knost exited with one last dance, we were still left feeling that this was the end of an era.

3. Nerd’s Watch

The team that brought Rachel “The Crusher” Cushing into the league, her and “The Pitboss” Ken Napzok were a force for good in the league at a time when the Lion’s Den were running amok. A loss to Above The Line in the opening round of the 2017 Ultimate Schmoedown left the future of the team in the balance as Ken deliberated whether he wanted to continue competing in the division, while The Missfits were doing everything they could to entice Rachel into their faction.

Rachel chose to turn down the Missfits and wait for Ken, and she was as shocked as anyone to see him revealed as the newest member of the Lion’s Den as the season built towards Spectacular. Appealing to Ken’s good side, she convinced him to come back and take on the Den’s 2nd team Blofeld’s Cat, but he failed to turn up for the match and Rachel was forced to take them on in a 2v1 handicap match. Though she fought hard, she eventually fell to a TKO loss, only for Ken to arrive as the winners were announced… or as he put it as he walked over to the gloating Lion’s Den members: “to congratulate these guys.”

We sat there in shock watching on as Rachel had to deal with losing not just the match, but also her partner and suddenly the world looked a little bit darker.

2. Team Action

Another team whose end began with Anarchy, Ben “The Boss” Bateman and “Dastardly” Andrew Ghai were the bad boys of the league, with Andrew already getting served a ban for tackling John Rocha at Spectacular. Anarchy saw the pair broke up, with Ben being paired with Mark “Yodi” Reilly, but Drew sat out the tournament after refusing to work under Jay Washington.

As part of Who’s The Boss, Ben won the Anarchy Tournament but he and Reilly fell just short against the Shirewolves at Spectacular. Following the match, Ben and Drew discussed the idea of Who’s The Boss staying together, something that Drew agreed to, suggesting the pair stat their own faction with Reilly. Members of the Action Army began to get excited at the thought of their boys leading their own faction, then found themselves watching on in horror as Drew tackled Ben through a coffee table.

Ghai went on to tell Bateman that he was nothing without him, before spitting on him and walking off to begin finding support for the upcoming Action Civil War. The shock of Ghai’s actions and seeing the best of friends become fierce enemies in a matter of seconds, not to mention the impact it has had on this season gets this one high on the list.

1. DC Movie News

Action’s breakup wasn’t the only one to impact the way the last year went, as by that point the league had already been shaken by my number 1 pick: Mike Kalinowski walking away from DC Movie News and The League to create KOrruption and take control of the league. Kalinowski did not feel that he was getting the support he needed from his faction in early 2018 and things reached a head when DC Movie News took on Team Action. Following an agonising loss, he was clearly simmering throughout the post-match interview and eventually broke, going on a tirade against Roxy Striar, Jonny Loquasto and teammate Adam Gertler before announcing that he was done with the faction and walking out of the interview. The silence was deafening as nobody could believe what they were seeing, and I couldn’t help feeling sorry for Gertler as his response to what happened was a confused “I feel like I just broke Mike Kalinowski” before having to be led away in tears. It was so emotional, even Team Action were in tears watching… though admittedly theirs were from laughing so hard at their opponents’ misfortune.

Did I miss any? Let me know what you think the most emotional breakup has been.

SCHMOEDOWN COLLISION III: The Biggest Winners and Losers!

SCHMOEDOWN COLLISION III: The Biggest Winners and Losers!

Back in 2018, I made a decision to expand my focus to include the Movie Trivia Schmoedown – a combination of movie trivia and WWE entertainment. As the brand grew, my writing on here came to an end in November 2018 as I was given the chance to write for their new website, TriviaSD.com along with a number of other Schmoedown bloggers. Recently it was announced that as the crew’s focus is needed elsewhere, it was announced that the site will be coming to an end. This means that the Schmoedown will be making a return to this site!

First of all, I want to give a big thank yous:

  • To Schmoedown creator and Chairman of the league Kristian Harloff and TriviaSD.com Managing Editor William Bibbiani for giving me the chance to write for the site
  • To the cast and crew, who continue to create an amazing product that is just going from strength to strength
  • To the fans, who have helped to create such an amazing community

Over the space of a couple of weeks, I am posting my articles from the site onto here. As some of these are almost a year old, some of them are somewhat outdated and may have proved to be completely off the mark.

Posted to TriviaSD.com 2/7/2019

The biggest Schmoedown event of the summer is now in the rear-view mirror. Four huge matches with plenty at stake: two competitors earned Title shots, the Shirewolves won their Teams Title back and The Family now find themselves in charge of the Commissioners for the next month.

As with any big event, there are those who greatly benefit from the results and those who have far less to celebrate, so in this article we are going to look at five parties who can be considered the big winners coming out of Collision and three who suffered the biggest losses of the evening.

THE COLLISION WINNERS

Fan Leagues

History was made last year as the first competitor made their way from the fan leagues to the Schmoedown in the form of Chance Ellison, but Season 6 has seen even more competitors making the jump from the fan leagues up to the pros. Two of them were competing in #1 Contender Matches at Collision: Kevin Smets and Paul Oyama.

Oyama earned a shot at Dan Murrell’s title with a win over the highly touted Liz Shannon Miller, while Smets fell only just short against Mike Kalinowski in arguably the most suspenseful match of the event. In addition to Oyama and Smets, Jeannine “The Machine” continues to improve her already great reputation in the league with a strong performance in the Manager Bowl that saw her lose to Drew McWeeny, but still beat John Rocha, Stacy Howard and Eric Zipper.

All three of these competitors showed amazing levels of knowledge and have quickly become ones to watch in the league, which gives such great validation to the fans and the associated leagues.

The Family

After Andrew Ghai’s loss in Houston, The Family needed some success to get their season back on track. Their recent win over Inky and the Brain was a great start, but Drew McWeeny winning the Manager Bowl was huge. On a personal level, for “The Godfather,” his Singles record has never really matched up with the level of knowledge he clearly has, so to win in a stacked group that includes one of the all-time greats in John Rocha will do wonders for him.

But on a wider scale, Robert Meyer Burnett now has control of the league for an entire month and can use this opportunity to benefit the faction. Will he look to reward McWeeny or Andrew Ghai with title shots (either in Teams or Singles)? Will he give them matches against seemingly weaker opposition in order to improve their records? Time will tell.

Production Crew

The guys that don’t get enough credit from all of us, but without whom the Schmoedown would grind to a halt. From promos and preparing the wheel to camera work and editing, the production crew do an amazing job every week. Putting on a live stream adds extra pressure, and this was one of the longest live streams yet, but it went off with barely a hitch. Congratulations and thank you to all of you!

The Shirewolves

Obviously the Shirewolves are the winners on paper, but it goes far beyond that. They made history once again by becoming the first team to regain their titles, and with a 7-1 record they are moving steadily closer to beating the Patriots’ 9-2 record. Being double-belted once again helps the argument that Rachel Cushing is the GOAT, while Clarke Wolfe’s legacy is also greatly improved by becoming a two-time Champion. No matter what happens from here, the Shirewolves will live on in Schmoedown history.

Mike Kalinowski

Aside from the obvious, that he now gets to challenge for the Innergeekdom Title again, Kalinowski’s emotional victory over Kevin Smets will elevate him even higher in the history books. Smets looked unstoppable in his run for the title, yet Kalinowski – despite being considered the underdog by many fans and competitors – came out on top. His presence and confidence in front of the camera makes him one of the premier competitors in a live environment and he has the knowledge to back it up. While Rachel may be considered the greatest Innergeekdom competitor, “The Killer” is not far behind and if he can defeat Rachel Cushing at San Diego, he may take that honour along with the new belt.

THE COLLISION LOSERS

Samm Levine, Emma Fyffe & Jenn Sterger

Jenn and the Commissioners end up in this list not because of anything that they did badly, but instead as a result of Drew McWeeny winning the Manager Bowl. This put The Family in the driving seat for the league, which means Robert Meyer Burnett is now in charge of Samm and Emma. Besides likely needing hearing tests by the end of the month, Samm and Emma now have to start hoping they aren’t going to see Burnett ruin everything they hold dear to the league, while Jenn may find herself out of a job since Burnett mentioned changing interviewers, though she may be able to get around it, if he specifically bans “Jessica Sterger.”

Stacy Howard

Things haven’t really gone to plan for Stacy so far this year. After leaving the Viper Squad for KOrruption, she then found herself finishing behind her former stablemate Jeannine in both a 1v1 match and the Manager Bowl. While this loss may not hurt her record, it won’t help her standing in the Singles Division, especially given the strength of her faction. It may be that she takes a break from Singles for a while and focuses on her new partnership with Tim Franco as part of Crimson Fury.

The Horsemen

While they weren’t overly involved in Collision, the Manager Bowl could have left the Horsemen in a dangerous situation. Rocha lost the Manager Bowl, but he put in a strong performance to be proud of. However, Drew McWeeny’s victory means that the Family are in charge of the league for the next month. Burnett is on bad terms with both Rocha and Dagnino after their previous associations, and Andrew Ghai’s war against Ben Bateman leaves a lot of hostility between the two factions. The Horsemen could find themselves marginalised or even suspended for the near future, depending on how Burnett exerts his control.

THE SUM OF ALL FEUDS: All The Season 6 Schmoedown Rivalries!!

THE SUM OF ALL FEUDS: All The Season 6 Schmoedown Rivalries!!

Back in 2018, I made a decision to expand my focus to include the Movie Trivia Schmoedown – a combination of movie trivia and WWE entertainment. As the brand grew, my writing on here came to an end in November 2018 as I was given the chance to write for their new website, TriviaSD.com along with a number of other Schmoedown bloggers. Recently it was announced that as the crew’s focus is needed elsewhere, it was announced that the site will be coming to an end. This means that the Schmoedown will be making a return to this site!

First of all, I want to give a big thank yous:

  • To Schmoedown creator and Chairman of the league Kristian Harloff and TriviaSD.com Managing Editor William Bibbiani for giving me the chance to write for the site
  • To the cast and crew, who continue to create an amazing product that is just going from strength to strength
  • To the fans, who have helped to create such an amazing community

Over the space of a couple of weeks, I am posting my articles from the site onto here. As some of these are almost a year old, some of them are somewhat outdated and may have proved to be completely off the mark.

Posted to TriviaSD.com 21/1/2019

We’re all well aware that the Schmoedown is equal parts movie trivia and entertainment, and as such we often see a number of rivalries and grudges developing in the league. As we approach a big event like Spectacular or Collision, we usually see a number of storylines come to the fore. Right now there are plenty of grudges between competitors and factions, so let’s have a reminder of who hates who in the build-up to Collision!

Who’s The Boss vs. The Family

Let’s get one of the most obvious ones out of the way first. The Civil War between Ben Bateman and Andrew Ghai has been ongoing since Ghai tackled his former teammate through a table at Spectacular. Ghai now has a faction of his own to go up against Who’s The Boss in the form of The Family: Drew McWeeny and manager Robert Meyer Burnett. While the enmity between Ghai and Bateman is obviously the driving force of this war, let’s not forget that Burnett has his own score to settle with Tom Dagnino, who threw him out of the Lion’s Den at Spectacular II after deeming him surplus to requirements.

I get the feeling that Bateman and Ghai going toe-to-toe in Houston is only going to take this war to a new level.

Who’s The Boss vs. The Odd Couple

While I include all of The Odd Couple in this section, Sneider and Andreyko don’t appear to have too much enmity with Who’s The Boss here – despite Sneider’s history with Dagnino – but they are willing to back up Roxy Striar. Roxy and Bateman have a history and the live match in Chicago showed that this was too much for her to ignore as she struck her former flame in what has become known as “The Slap Heard ‘Round the World”. Whether you think it was fair or not, Roxy has completed her penance (thanks to Sneider beating Reilly), but she has still refused to apologise for her act and on a recent edition of Inside Schmoedown, she made it clear that she would do nothing different if given the chance to turn back time. On both Inside Schmoedown and Collider Live, she has made it clear that she was very much against Bateman, calling herself a “Ghai Girl” but also fired shots at the rest of his team: Tom Dagnino and even Mark Reilly, going as far as to call the former Singles Champion a sheep.

Don’t expect Who’s The Boss to take these insults lying down. As for Andreyko, who found himself reinvigorated in the league after leaving the Lion’s Den and turning face with the Fyffe Squad, how will he react if his new manager continues to walk down a darker path?

The Odd Couple vs. KOrruption

It’s safe to say that the members of KOrruption probably aren’t on Roxy’s friends list either, as let’s not forget she used to be Mike Kalinowski’s manager before he walked away from The League and brought KOrruption into the Schmoedown, something that remains a bone of contention between them. More recently, Roxy has also accused KOrruption manager Grace Hancock of some underhand tactics which led to Roxy missing her team’s matches, although fans of Collider Live may be inclined to believe that Grace is innocent and that Roxy just ignored her sat nav again.

With Sneider and Andreyko also being former members of The Lion’s Den, they have history with Grace and know just how sly “The Lioness” can be and will also be quick to back Roxy up if this feud continues.

KOrruption vs. Founding Fathers

This is an interesting one, as it’s not clear quite how far this rivalry currently stretches. John Rocha and Mike Kalinowski clearly have great respect for each other – it was Mike who got rid of the 3-match stipulation that set The Outlaw on his way to winning the title off Bibbiani – but it’s not yet clear how this has been affected by the agonising Sudden Death loss that knocked the Founding Fathers out of the Anarchy tournament. Kalinowski’s teammate Chance Ellison, however, does not have the respect of “The Outlaw” and it has become clear that the Founding Fathers want a rematch with KOrruption to knock Chance down a peg or two and help them push for a title shot.

While this rivalry could be limited to just the two teams, don’t be surprised if more of the faction get involved, especially Grace Hancock, who as a former manager of the Lion’s Den has plenty of history against Rocha.

KOrruption vs. Trivia Dungeon

KOrruption really haven’t been looking to make friends recently. Mike Kalinowski is without a doubt one of the elite Innergeekdom competitors, but with the rise of Kaiser and his new competitor Kevin Smets, it has been clear for a while that the 2 titans of Innergeekdom trivia have been on a collision course for the chance to take on Rachel Cushing in San Diego.

While this may be relatively tame, Kaiser has recently taken on 2 more competitors in the form of unlikely teammates Paul Oyama and Eric Zipper. Zipper has had a bone to pick with Kalinowski ever since “The Killer” arranged for him to face Rachel Cushing in the second round of last year’s Innergeekdom tournament (which saw Cushing win by TKO) and has not enjoyed Kalinowski’s nickname for him of “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah”. More recently, Zipper’s frustrations spread to the whole faction as a quiet word in his ear from Grace made him think that abandoning his World’s Finest teammate Winston Marshall would lead to him replacing Mike as leader of the faction, only to find himself friendless and embarrassed when he found it that it was all a lie. Meanwhile, Paul Oyama has his eyes set on a match with Chance Ellison in an effort to prove that “The Cobra” is nothing special despite having been the first competitor promoted from the fan leagues.

With so many big personalities in these factions, expect fireworks at some point!

Time Machine vs. KOrruption

How many times is Kalinowski going to steal people away from Jay Washington? Spectacular II saw The Missfits come to an end as Brianne Chandler drove off into the sun with “The Killer” and now this season he’s stolen away Stacy Howard from the Viper Squad too become a part of KOrruption! Add in his verbal sparring online with Jeannine and there are plenty of reasons why Time Machine will want to take him down.

Stacy’s defection clearly hit a nerve for Jay and Jeannine. They understandably felt betrayed, whereas Stacy didn’t feel that she was getting the support she deserved, so Jeannine’s TKO victory over her last month will make her keen to get one over on her former stablemates.

Emma Fyffe vs. Samm Levine

The final ongoing feud in the league does not involve any factions but could end up having one of the biggest impacts.

Emma Fyffe has thrown herself into her role as Commissioner of the Innergeekdom and Teams Divisions and has clearly been annoyed with the former Double Champion’s much laxer attitude to running the Singles Division. After being given a kick up the ass by Fyffe, Levine found himself taking a more active role and whether it was down to taking an easy option or wanting some form of revenge, he scheduled his fellow Commissioner into a match with Chance Ellison, leading to her being TKO’d. Fyffe’s response to this has now been to suddenly throw Ellison into the Innergeekdom Division.

What will Samm’s next act of “Commissionin’” be and how will Fyffe react to that? Will she be looking for a way to force Samm to compete in Innergeekdom considering he is officially retired from Singles and Teams? Most importantly, how many competitors will get caught in the crossfire during the battle of the Commissioners? Only time will tell.

Have your say: Which is your favourite feud currently going in the league? And who do you think will be involved in the next one?

BAD INFLUENCE: Is Mark Reilly Turning to the Dark Side?

BAD INFLUENCE: Is Mark Reilly Turning to the Dark Side?

Back in 2018, I made a decision to expand my focus to include the Movie Trivia Schmoedown – a combination of movie trivia and WWE entertainment. As the brand grew, my writing on here came to an end in November 2018 as I was given the chance to write for their new website, TriviaSD.com along with a number of other Schmoedown bloggers. Recently it was announced that as the crew’s focus is needed elsewhere, it was announced that the site will be coming to an end. This means that the Schmoedown will be making a return to this site!

First of all, I want to give a big thank yous:

  • To Schmoedown creator and Chairman of the league Kristian Harloff and TriviaSD.com Managing Editor William Bibbiani for giving me the chance to write for the site
  • To the cast and crew, who continue to create an amazing product that is just going from strength to strength
  • To the fans, who have helped to create such an amazing community

Over the coming weeks, I will be posting my articles from the site onto here. As some of these are almost a year old, some of them are somewhat outdated and may have proved to be completely off the mark.

Posted to TriviaSD.com 12/11/2018

“But these heels… Don’t make me come out of retirement, ’cause I eat heels for breakfast.”

These were the words of Mark Reilly at the end of last year, at the Schmoedown Awards. The first Singles Champion, Reilly was Superman, the hero of the Schmoedown. He was driven to win the belt and, once he had it, to defend it, but he was always respectful of his opponents and always kept his cool – except on one occasion when Rocha crashed his interview and pushed things a little too far by disrespecting both Reilly and interviewer Emma Fyffe.

After losing the belt to Dan Murrell at the 2017 Collider Collision, Reilly took a step back from competing, coming back only to aid Clarke Wolfe in her quest to win the Ultimate Schmoedown Team Tournament – a run ended by eventual winners Above The Line. The Schmoedown was left without its hero, even though the heels wouldn’t stay away.

Fresh from his suspension following the infamous Tackle, “Dastardly” Andrew Ghai stole Dan Murrell’s spot at the Free 4 All and announced to the world that he was “the Ghai that beat the GOAT.” Weeks went by of Ghai parading around as if he owned the place… and it became too much for Reilly to sit by and take.

Reilly returned to the League in dramatic fashion at the 2nd live event, revealing himself as a member of the new-look 5 Horsemen alongside his fellow former champions Rocha and Murrell. The Horsemen looked to be the strongest faction assembled and they were here to teach the heels a lesson.

But almost straight away, things started to go wrong for Reilly and the Horsemen. Kal was stolen – supposedly by Ben Bateman – leaving Reilly unable to support Murrell at Collision when he lost to Andrew Ghai, then Reilly also lost to Ghai in a rusty first performance back, leaving him out of the race for the Singles title for the rest of the year. Reilly’s chance for a belt turned to the Team Division, where under the Anarchy format at the Ultimate Schmoedown he was paired with Ben Bateman to form Who’s The Boss?, under the management of Finstock.

The hero of the Schmoedown was stuck alongside 2 of the biggest heels in the league.

For their first match against the Crazy Eighty-Greats, it was clear that Reilly was not impressed with his team, voicing his displeasure with Bateman’s lack of respect and his role in Kal’s theft. Throughout the match he was apologising for Bateman’s insults and being every bit the hero stuck in a bad situation. And at the victory, his celebration was with his stablemate Rocha rather than his team, though he did note in the post-match interview that he was impressed with Bateman’s ability.

That respect for Bateman appeared to continue growing in their second match against Cinemaniacs. Reilly was less apologetic as Bateman targeted William Bibbiani with his barbs, but still had the decency to correct his teammate post-match when he called Jenn Sterger “Jessica”. He again celebrated with Rocha but not at the expense of his new team and worked as peacemaker between Bateman and Rocha. A hero still, but adapting to his new team.

And then, the bombshell. Finstock managed to get video footage proving Bateman’s innocence in Kal’s theft, and that it was in fact Mike Kalinowski – their next opponent – who was responsible. Reilly’s drive to win the belt appeared to be joined by another desire: revenge. In their pre-match promo against KOrruption, Reilly seemed more a part of his new team than ever before. Any thought of holding Bateman back was gone and he even called Kalinowski a “little ninny bitch” – a classic Team Action insult.

Had Kalinowski’s crime put the hero over the edge? Perhaps not, as he did still stand up for Rocha and Emma Fyffe when Finstock called them dopes, though not a single Horseman was in sight to celebrate with him.

With the Gauntlet to enter the Singles Tournament scheduled before Who’s The Boss? takes on The Harris Brothers in the final, Reilly had a chance to spend some time away from his team. But when Bateman stepped out, Reilly was there beside his “partner” and Dagnino. Reilly seemed to have no problem with Bateman’s comments about how his mission was to crush Rocha and also failed to defend his stablemate when Finstock insulted him. More than that, he actively laughed along when Finstock made fun of Jay Washington and claimed to own him.

Perhaps Reilly has decided that the only way he can claim a belt and stop the heels is to sink to their level. It’s fair to say that Wolves of Steel never reached the heights they were expected to, but Who’s The Boss? are currently looking like one of the strongest and most well-rounded teams in the division, and no manager has had greater success in the league than Finstock/Tom Dagnino. Will he decide that his new team can do more for him than Rocha and the other Horsemen can?

The Dark Knight included the line “You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain.” If Who’s The Boss? continues to win, which Mark Reilly will we see at Spectacular: Yodi… or Darth Reillus?

Do you think that Reilly’s moving towards a heel turn? Let me know in the comments what you see Reilly doing moving forward!