Schmoedown Season 9 – Reboot

WARNING: The following will contain spoilers for season 9 of the Movie Trivia Schmoedown up to and including Friday Night Titans #17

It’s not been the best of starts to the year for Korruption. While they may have managed to bring Laura Kelly back to the faction, they lost Adam Collins to S.W.A.G. In terms of matches, Kelly is yet to play in the Star Wars Division this season and was left out of the two #1 Contender Matches that were scheduled following Thomas Harper retiring and leaving the Star Wars belt vacant. Marisol McKee lost her Singles title to the returning Samm Levine, while Mike Kalinowski also lost his Innergeekdom title to Kevin Smets. And just to add to everything, Mike and Chance Ellison were forced to break up following their Team Championship loss to Shazam.

mts friday night titans #3 marisol mckee shannon barney

mts Friday Night Titans #9 KOrruption shannon barney mike kalinsowski chance ellison frank janisch

It’s not the best spot to be in as we reach the middle of the year. But it’s nothing new for Shannon Barney and company, as the faction came back from poor starts to win the Faction Championship in both seasons 7 and 8. Not only that, but losing Collins has helped push Shannon and the faction in a new, nicer route that will see them winning the support of the crowd, especially as the Stars and the Den set themselves up as the villains of the league. Oh and there is the little matter of Marisol McKee winning the Free 4 All, leaving her with a title shot of her choice. Already, the signs are there for another KOrruption comeback, and it took it’s next big step at the end of the latest episode of Titans, as Shannon Barney revealed to the faction their new teams.

Now I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who thought that Chance and Mike’s break-up would give us a team of Chance and Marisol, the 2 elite Singles competitors on the team. And it looked like they were all thinking the same judging by the shock on their faces as Shannon paired Marisol with Mike to form Team Impact. It certainly seemed odd to leave Chance out, but the reason for this was soon revealed… alongside his new teammate and the new member of KOrruption: Travis Fishburn. While it may still seem odd to some to not pair the 2 top Singles competitors together, I’ve thought about this over the weekend and I love these new teams.

KO is a fantastic player and one of the true greats of the league due to his ability to be so competitive over the main 3 divisions, but he is arguably the weakest of the 4 in the Singles Division. However he has shown that with a strong partner, he can be strong enough to not just compete for but win the Teams title against quality teams like the Founding Fathers and Shazam. Now paired with Marisol, an argument could be made that as she is a former SIngles Champion, he now has an even stronger partner than before. But what really stands out to me is that Marisol has shown that she can excel in a number of categories where an IG-specialist like Mike perhaps falls short, such as a number of classic actors and Movie Release Dates.

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Meanwhile, your other team sees a top competitor whose 7-6 Singles record does not come close to matching his quality, and the FCL Champion, who will be looking to prove that his 5-0 FCL run can translate into the big league. But more than just great Singles players, they are also both very well-rounded individuals, with both comfortable in Innergeekdom categories that could be used as weapons in Round 2. Not only that, but with just 5 FCL matches and a Free4All V appearance—6 rounds played, 26 correct answers out of 30 asked, 87% PPE (only beaten by McKee’s 89%)—Fishburn comes in with very little gametape for opponents to study.

But while trivia knowledge is definitely something to look at, it’s also worth looking at the personalities of the team, as by pairing the competitors as they have, both teams have that outward personality and clear mouth of the team (Fishburn & Kalinowski) that will allow Ellison and McKee to pick their moments and otherwise focus on the trivia.

It certainly feels like rather than make 1 superteam and then a second team, KOrruption have gone for a balanced approach that could create 2 very even teams, which will put them in a very strong position at a time where there are very few established teams, as it means that hey have 2 teams that can both pile on the early wins.

Hopefully it won’t be long until we get to see these new teams in action.

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.