Title Week – May 2018

Championship week is always going to be a great spectacle in the Schmoedown and this was no exception. The Patriots were looking to remain unbeaten and become the first team to reach 10 wind, but were undone by the trivia juggernaut that is Above the Line, with history being created by “The Inglorious One” Samm Levine becoming the first competitor to hold 2 belts at the same time. Then on Friday, Samm was up to defend his Singles title against “Classy” Clarke Wolfe, who so nearly had victory but lost on the 4^th question of Sudden Death. The win makes Samm the first competitor to amass 10 Singles victories (also the first with 7 wins in a row) and also ties Dan Murrell’s record of 2 successful title defences in his first singles title reign.

Before going into the matches, I just want to take a moment to congratulate Samm on his tremendous accomplishments. He may not be the first to have held both belts – John Rocha did this first and then more recently Kristian Harloff – but he is the first to hold them at the same time. Combined with his exploits since 2017’s Free4All, the debate as to who is the GOAT out of him and Murrell gets harder and harder, in fact I may have to go for Levine until Murrell comes back and continues his exploits in the league.

The Patriots 31 – 35 Above the Line

Having lost to the Patriots at Schmoedown Spectacular II, Above the Line were feeling confident in their chances having now watched Remember the Titans. Things were all even on the scoreboard at the end of Round 1, but there was plenty of controversy in Round 1, centering on the 3^rd Question.

Asked “Name two of the three films John Carpenter and Kurt Russell made together in the 80s?” the answers given were as follows:

Jeff Sneider: The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China

Drew McWeeny: Big Trouble in little China, Thing

JTE: The Thing, Big trouble in China

Samm Levine: The Thing, Escape from NY

theden — The Lion’s Den have always held at least 1 title, having formed at Schmoedown Spectacular just before the Patriot’s defeat of Top 10

JTE was initially awarded the point before Levine challenged and argued that JTE was incorrect as the title is “Big trouble in Little China”, a challenge which was upheld and could not be argued with. Sneider followed this up with a challenge of his own that Drew should not get the point as he had only put “Thing” rather than “The Thing”, a challenge that was eventually overruled. While I can see where Jeff was coming from that the title is “The Thing” and it is generally known as that, I do agree with Above the Line’s argument that the precedent is in place that the article at the start of a movie title does not need to be included. Eventually the judges ruled that as there is no film called Thing, they would allow the point, which appeared to throw Jeff off for a couple of questions. It wouldn’t surprise me moving forward if the rules are changed to say that the full title must be given, as there have been a number of times this season shortened versions of an answer have been challenged in Round 1. If so, Samm would have likely been in trouble as well for putting NY instead of New York. Granted at the end, the 2 points did not make the crucial difference, but the loss of a challenge certainly did.

Round 2 went the way of the defending champions, with the Patriots answering all their questions right for 10/12 points, while Above The Line’s decision to shoot for 2 points on every question caused them issues as they missed 2 (1 being stolen) and correctly answered 4, including a controversial last question that I’m sure the Patriots would have challenged had they been able to. The question “DiCaprio received his first Oscar nomination co-starring with what actor whose character name was in the film’s title?” is clearly asking for the actor when you read it, but the contestants don’t have that luxury and Samm jumped in with the film “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” before realising his mistake and answering “Johnny Depp”. Kristian Harloff asked Samm for his final answer and he correctly gave the actor’s name rather than film title to make it 22-18 to the Patriots at the end of the round. Now personally while I have some sympathy for Levine due to the wording of the question, there was a very clear pause between his initial answer and realising his mistake, though there was no reaction from the judges, so I would personally have not awarded the points had I been at the desk. Had the Patriots been able to challenge, I think it’s very likely Above the Line would have lost the 2 points here.

doublechamp — How does it feel to be a double Champion, Samm?

Round 3 was honours even as both teams bet 3 points and correctly guessed the right answer and then we were on to the Speed Round. JTE usually excels in this round, but he was beaten to the buzzer on all 5 questions, with Samm nailing the first 3 and Drew the 4^th, before “The Insneider” kept the Patriots ahead with the final answer of the round. And then it all came down to Round 5. Above the Line went 3/3 on questions from Dance Movies, Crime and Famous Actors & Actresses. Sneider and JTE both answered their questions on Brad Pitt and Dramas respectively, leaving it all coming down to their answer on the 5-point question in a mirror-image of Above the Line’s loss in December. Neither competitor could identify Donald Sutherland and having played the part of Charlize Theron’s father in The Italian Job and the belts passed over to The Inglorious One and The Godfather for history to be made.

I predicted a while back that The Patriots would be hard to beat but that Above the Line were one of the few teams who potentially could, now they need to hold on to the titles. As 6-time defending champions, The Patriots have been granted an automatic rematch at Collider Collision and they will be looking to get their belts back. What we didn’t know was that as the new champions, Above the Line can set the stipulations, so now we are getting the Schmoedown’s second ever Iron Man match. The first, between Napzok and Witwer for the Star Wars belt at Schmoedown Spectacular II was voted the Match of the Year at the 2017 Awards, so to have 2 of the greatest teams in Schmoedown history competing in one is going to be a wonderful spectacle and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it honoured at this year’s awards. Should Above the Line defend their title (and I think they will), I can see them managing a couple of successful defences, but I struggle to imagine anyone matching the achievements. Meanwhile, while I expect The Patriots to hold the title again providing they stay together, but I would love to see them involved in a couple of regular matches as they will be able to go up against different teams. I’m still holding out for The Patriots v Team Action, though I have no idea who I would cheer for in that match!

“The Inglorious One” Samm Levine 19 – 18 “Classy” Clarke Wolfe

It may not have been one of the highest scoring matches, but this was a wonderfully tight affair. In Round 1, Clarke Wolfe fell at the final hurdle to miss out on a perfect round, but still led 7-6 as Samm missed on the 4^th and 5^th questions. The 4^th was an odd one as he appeared to mishear Mark Ellis saying “actor slash comedian” as “actress”, resulting in completely the wrong answer. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one to rewind and listen back and Ellis is certainly in the clear here with what he said, but as Samm said in his interview with the Schmoedown Rundown, a number of people in the audience heard “actress” too in the Schmoedown equivalent of the Yanny/Laurel debate (it’s definitely Laurel by the way). Kristian offered to check the tape if Samm challenged but the champion chose not to and this decision proved crucial come the end.

Clarke Wolfe spun Sci-Fi/Fantasy in Round 2 and started well with 4 points from her first 2 questions, however she then missed on 2 point attempts on her next 2, picking “rats” and “Argentina” instead of “mice” and “Brazil”, both of which Samm correctly guessed for the steal. Samm has said that as soon as Clarke said “rats” he knew the right answer and I don’t think he would lie about this, but personally as soon as I saw the judges’ reaction as they tried to figure out if her answer was acceptable, I knew it must be “mice” despite having never seen the film. But more on that in a bit. Sam stepped up and spun War movies on his second spin. Sam had 2 points stolen on his first question after his 3^rd wrong (Clarke successfully stole for 2 points) before checking down to multiple choice and answering correctly to go level at 13-13.

The controversy continued in Round 3 as Samm spun War movies again and lost 2 points with a wrong answer. Clarke played safe and went for 1 point, and initially got the point with the answer of “they left their post” until Samm challenged and won the challenge as the specific charge was “cowardice”, something that Rocha explained was different. Coming back to the rats/mice debate and these were 2 questions where Samm could have been (he has stated on the Schmoedown Rundown that Clarke’s answers jogged his memory) influenced by the hesitation of the judges as they decide whether a given answer is acceptable. The easy way to sort this would be to have a selection of similar acceptable answers, but that would be resulting in an awful lot more work for Chris Skalicky and his fellow writers).

clarkespeed — Though Round 4 is Samm’s speciality, he lost this round 3-0 against Clarke Wolfe

Regardless of your thoughts, Samm went into his favoured Speed Round with a 3 point lead and I’m sure many people were ready for him to run away with things. Clarke, however is not a title match rookie, having faced Dan Murrell in Season 3 and The Patriots in Season 4 and she had been taking advantage of her Fyffe Club teammates in the build-up by practicing as a faction with the buzzers. The practice worked as she beat Samm to the buzzer on 3 of 5 questions, while Samm’s mind blank on Question 3 cost him the point he had earned 2 questions earlier. The defending Champion’s favourite round had turned against him and his 3 point lead was gone in seconds. Suddenly Clarke Wolfe becoming the first female Schmoedown Champion seemed a possibility. Onto Round 5 and the less that is said about that the better as both competitors selected 3 of the worst categories they could have asked for and failed to answer a question correctly, taking things to Sudden Death with the score at 15-15. Sometimes Sudden Death ends up being an anti-climax as it gets settled on the first question, but this one kept us all glued to the screen as both competitors correctly answered the first 3 questions. And then came the category of Animated films. This category has been a Bane of Samm’s Schmoedown career, but he is such a student of the game he actually went away and watched about 40 animated films, including this answer: The Croods. Clarke could not pull the answer in time and “The Inglorious One” successfully defended his singles title for a second time.

What next for the competitors? Clarke’s next chance of a title will likely be with The Shirewolves, who take on Team Action at the Live Schmoedown in mere days, and I think a Shirewolves v Above The Line title match would be incredible! As for Samm, he will only be defending his Team title at Collision, but we I doubt we will have to wait far beyond that to see him try for 3 successful defences in a row. If he gets that, I think we can firmly name him the GOAT.

What did you think of the latest title matches? Will The Patriots win their rematch? Is Samm now the GOAT? Sound off in the comments.

Experience Counts

In the 2008 film Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Captain Rex says to Ahsoka Tano “In my book, experience outranks everything”. That doesn’t apply to just fighting a war in a galaxy far far away, but also to title matches in the Movie Trivia Schmoedown. The most recent title matches in the Singles League and Innergeekdom League both saw competitors taking part in their first ever title match (Rachel Cushing and Mark Donica respectively) only to lose to the defending champions. In both cases, the matches were effectively decided by the dominant performances of Samm Levine and Jason Inman in Round 4.

For those less familiar with the Schmoedown, the title matches have the following rounds:

General Knowledge Round – as in regular matches

Wheel Round – as in regular matches

Betting Round – the leader/higher ranked competitor spins the wheel once to select a category. Both competitors choose to bet 1-3 points on their answer and are then given the same question. Competitors gain or lose the number of points they bet depending on whether they get the answer right

Speed Round – Both competitors are asked the same questions and have to buzz in, whoever buzzes in first has 2 seconds to give the correct answer. A correct answer gets them a point, an incorrect answer/taking to long loses a point

Final Round – as in regular matches

The specific format of some rounds may have changed slightly but the general title format has remained the same through the Collider era

While the betting round can cause a 6-point swing, it is the speed round that often seems to be the turning point for title match rookies and get controversy. Watching Cushing v Levine and Inman v Donica, I couldn’t help but feel that the experience of the champions in title matches proved the deciding factor in these matches and it made me wonder if this had been the case over recent seasons. So, let’s have a look back through the history of the title matches.

Singles League

At the time that The Schmoedown came onto Collider, Mark “Yodi” Reilly was the defending champion having defeated Josh Macuga in October 2014, however this title format was different to what was mentioned above. Reilly’s first match under the new format was against JTE, where successfully defended his title, only to lose it to Dan Murrell who was making his title debut.

Murrell defended the belt twice against Clarke Wolfe and Mark Ellis, but it was third time unlucky as he lost to John Rocha. The Outlaw may have been making his Singles title match debut, but by this point he had played in 2 Team title matches as a part of Top 10. The next couple of matches all featured former champions as Yodi won the title back from Rocha, before losing it to Murrell in a Triple Threat match also containing rota.

Murrell then cemented his GOAT status by defeating “The Inglorious One” Samm Levine immediately after winning the Triple Threat. Murrell’s run soon came to an end though as he lost in his next outing to the true Commissioner Kristian Harloff. Much like Rocha before him, this may have been Harloff’s first time in a Singles title match, but he had played for Team Schmoes in 2 Team title matches. Harloff was unable to defend his belt at Schmoedown Spectacular II however, losing to The Inglorious One, who by this point had added to his earlier experience of this format by featuring in 2 5-round matches with Above The Line (2017 Ultimate Schmoedown Final & Schmoedown Spectacular II Team title match). And that brings us up to Levine’s first successful defence against Rachel Cushing.

TeamorIG — Though The Patriots had never appeared in a Team title match, JTE’s previous title experience meant they had more title experience than Rocha & Knost’s sole match against Team Schmoes * This title match was for Team B.O.B (JTE & Finstock). Sneider had no previous title match experience

Teams League

The first Team Title match was played early in the Collider era between Team Schmoes and Team B.O.B. Team Schmoes won to become the first ever Team Champions, but they lost their first title defence to Top 10 (Rocha & Matt Knost), who were making their debuts in any title format. Top 10 were also unable to defend their title as they lost to The Patriots at Schmoedown Spectacular. Though this may have been their first title match as a team, JTE came into this match as the competitor with the most title match experience, having lost in Singles to Reilly and also been part of Team B.O.B. in the inaugural Team title match.

Since then, The Patriots have defeated all comers, regardless of their prior experience. Wolves of Steel, Team Trek, Modok and Above The Line have all failed to wrest the title from The Patriots’ hands, while Top 10 have now been blocked from challenging the current champions again following 2 unsuccessful attempts to win the title back. Often in these matches we have seen JTE coming to the fore in the speed round, while Matt Atchity was too busy trying to keep his Russian spy persona intact to pay attention to the Round 4 rules and cost Modok the match.

Innergeekdom League

Having debuted at Schmoedown Spectacular, the Innergeekdom League is still in its relative infancy. The first title match was the Fatal Fiveway at Schmoedown Spectacular, where the first 2 rounds both followed the Round 1 format and the lowest-scoring competitor being eliminated after each round (the scores were reset at the end of each round). Round 3 was the Wheel Round then Round 4 was the Speed Round, with the first competitor to 5 points being awarded the title. Robert Meyer Burnett emerged the winner, but then lost the title to Hector Navarro in the first regular-format title match. “The Nightmare” successfully defended his belt against Jeremy Jahns at Collider Collision but then lost at Schmoedown Spectacular II to Jason “Justice” Inman. Inman had never featured in a Singles or Innergeekdom title match before, having been denied the chance to make the Burnett v Navarro match a Triple Threat match. However, like Harloff and Rocha in the Singles League, Inman had experience of the title match format from Team Trek’s loss to the Patriots. So that brings up to date with the Innergeekdom League and Inman’s TKO of Mark Donica.

We have had different champions over the Singles and Innergeekdom Leagues and so far, Dan Murrell’s defeat of Mark Reilly is the only time a Number 1 Contender with no previous experience of the title match format has defeated a champion that has experience of the format. In the Teams League, The Patriots’ dominance has made it harder to know if the same pattern exists. To make this decision, the matches must be looked at a little deeper. JTE is arguably one of the best in the Schmoedown at the Speed Round, while as mentioned above, Modok would have beat The Patriots were it not for Atchity’s mistakes in Round 4. I would argue that having a teammate to cover an individual’s knowledge gaps somewhat negates the importance of experience, but having at least one member of the team is an advantage.

The buzzer round increased Inman’s lead from 2 to 5 points

“I definitely think that having touched those buzzers before you do get a sense of them, but I… The biggest lesson I learned the last time I was in Speed Round is ‘Try to figure out what the question is before they finish it and beat your opponent'”

Jason “Justice” Inman speaking after defending his title against Mark “The Enforcer” Donica

So now the question becomes “should Number 1 Contender matches follow the title match format?” In my opinion, the answer is no. The champions have worked hard and earned their belts, their role deserves some advantages and other than being able to decide if the Wheel includes Spinners Choice and Opponents Choice, the experience in the extra rounds is the clear benefit for a champion. Contenders can practice the Speed Round outside of competition if they want to improve their chances in a title match, and this is where a faction will often come in handy. Having a faction will not just give you other competitors to practice with, but it may also give a title match rookie the chance to get tips from a former champion/number 1 contender.

Edit: Apologies to Samm Levine for doing him a disservice when looking at his experience in the 4-Round format. Thank you to Michael Campbell on the Movie Trivia Schmoedown Facebook group for reminding me that Samm competed in both the Singles and Teams finals of the 2017 Ultimate Schmoedown, so he had actually competed in the 5-Round format 4 times in total before facing Harloff.

Do you think that title match experience helps? Does it apply to 1v1 matches only rather than Team matches? Do you think that Number 1 Contender matches should follow the 5 round format? Sound off in the comments.

The King of the Geeks & the Classy Contender

With 2 matches a week (on average) in the Schmoedown, some weeks are there to further storylines, some to introduce new faces and some are all about the road to the belts. This last week was all about the belts! Tuesday saw the Lion’s Den’s newest cub Mark “The Enforcer” Donica try to wrest the Innergeekdom belt from Jason “Justice” Inman, only to be TKO’d by the champ. On Friday, the Fyffe Club’s decision to pick Mike “K.O.” Kalinowski as “Classy” Clarke Wolfe’s opponent for her Number 1 Contender match as he took her to Sudden Death, only for Clarke to emerge victorious and set up a title shot against Samm Levine.

Jason “Justice” Inman 19 – 16 Mark “The Enforcer” Donica

Jason Inman is going to be hard to beat! The Champ proved his title credentials with a strong display against Mark Donica, who performed well but could just not keep up. Inman only missed one question in Round 1 to take an early 9-7 lead and despite being part of Team Trek, he still managed to get 8 out of a possible 10 points in Round 2 after spinning Star Wars, matching the score Donica had amassed on MCU. Things stayed even through Round 3 as both failed to identify what animal the battering ram Grond was styled on, but both had bet 2 points on the question. While Inman may have already been ahead following Round 1, it was Round 4 where Inman all-but confirmed his victory by dominating the speed round, taking the first 4 questions often before Donica could even seem to react. Donica got the final point of Round 4 and also had success with his 2-point question in Round 5, but he could not pull the right answers for his 3 and 5-point questions to hand Inman a TKO victory and his first title defence.

Donica performed admirably in this match but I think a lack of experience in the longer format cost him a chance of victory here, very similar to when Samm Levine was able to beat Rachel Cushing in the last Singles title match and I plan to write more on this in the near future. That said, Jason performed so well and seems to have very few weaknesses, being especially strong in categories like Star Trek where many competitors appear to struggle. With his title match experience and his wide range of knowledge, I think it’s going to take something special for a competitor to dethrone him any time soon. Donica will certainly come back stronger and this title shot will have given him an idea of what he needs to work on to take the next step. He clearly has good subject knowledge and understands the game and the rules as shown by his usage of the JTE Rule and the Challenge Rule – though I fully agree with the judge’s decision to stick with the original ruling of an incorrect answer. Kristian Harloff has already announced that there will be 5 Innergeekdom 1v1 matches in the near future, with the winners of these matches facing off in a Fatal Fiveway to determine the next Number 1 Contender. If Donica can come through both these matches and earn another title shot then I would say he has as good a chance as anyone of beating Inman.

The buzzer round increased Inman’s lead from 2 to 5 points

But looking ahead to the future, who will Donica be facing first? Well if his post-match comments are anything to go by, we will be seeing him face off against the leader of the Viper Squad, Jay Washington! I always enjoy a match between 2 rival heels as you never know what they’re going to do next. Jay is hilarious on the mic and any change we can take to see him and Dagnino squaring off should be taken. I would expect Donica to win this game but Jay Washington can never be counted out and will want to make up for his loss in the Manager Bowl.

As for Inman, he still appears to be getting no offers to join a faction, which in my mind is absolutely crazy. The Fyffe Club seemed more interested in Donica despite the way he had already been looking comfortable with the Lion’s Den and I would not be surprised to see at least 2 of Cushing, Fyffe and Andreyko appear in the 5 Innergeekdom matches, while I still expect the Horsemen to make an advance sometime soon. I’m starting to wonder though if Inman will choose to create his own faction. Trek teammate Scott Mantz would surely jump at the chance to join the faction and Yodi’s appearance walking out with Inman makes me wonder if he would join as a manger given his experience in both Singles and Teams to help this become another faction to help cut the heels down to size.

“Classy” Clarke Wolfe 21 – 20 Mike “K.O.” Kalinowski

A match awarded to Clarke following Emma Fyffe’s victory at the Manager Bowl, Kalinowski or Stacy Howard appeared the obvious choices for her opponent given the strength of the top 10. Kalinowski has been on a poor run of form since the end of the 2017 Ultimate Schmoedown tournaments, but Friday’s match saw him return to the form that earned him a place in the Number 1 Contender Triple Threat match against Rachel Cushing and JTE.

Things were looking good for K.O. as he came out of Round 1 with a 6-5 lead and followed things up by scoring 6 out of a possible 8 points having spun Spielberg in Round 2. Clarke may have an up-and-down history with the wheel, but it was certainly on her side this time as she spun arguably her biggest strength, Horror, and took maximum points for the first time in her singles career to go 13-12 up. Round 3 was another incredibly close affair with Clarke hitting her 2 and 5-pointers and K.O. his 3 and 5-pointers to take the match to Sudden Death, where Clarke won on the first question to seal her place in the next title match against Samm Levine.

It was great to see Kalinowski competitive in the Schmoedown again and but for a moment in Round 1 he would have had the victory. Having initially written an answer for the sixth question, Kalinowski changed his mind at the last moment and used his second JTE rule to give him the time to change his answer. Unfortunately for K.O. his initial answer was the right one. Had he stuck with his gut or been a second later calling for the JTE rule, the extra point would have seen him take the victory inside 3 rounds.

Looking ahead, it will be interesting to see how the title match goes and while I would lean towards Samm Levine due to his extra experience of title matches – though Clarke has featured in title matches previously against Dan Murrell and The Patriots – Clarke actually has a 1-0 singles record against Samm after beating him in 2016 to set up her title match against Murrell. Samm has clearly improved since then but if the questions go her way, Clarke certainly has the ability to pull off the win and become the first female to hold a belt.

fyffesangels — The contrast between the Fyffe Club and the League’s support in this match can be clearly seen in 1 picture

As for Kalinowski, his future is perhaps even more interesting right now. As I have already mentioned this month, K.O. is yet to be seen in the company of The League, and in his post-match interview he mentioned how when he looked out into the audience he didn’t see any of his faction there to support him. His next comment though was very interesting:

“I saw one person out in that audience – and I’m not gonna say who it is right now – but they were there and they had my back, someone that I would never have thought and someone that’s not… we’re never in the same thing… but made me think during the match”

I’ve been suggesting for a while now that Kalinowski joining Rocha’s stable as a member of the new 4 Horsemen makes sense and sure enough, if you go back to Round 1 and the question where Kalinowski second-guesses himself, you can see a moment of frustration from K.O. then hear Rocha shout out from the audience “Trust yourself”, words that appear to snap K.O. back into the moment and he repeats these words to himself a couple of times to focus himself for the next question. I honestly think it’s just a matter of time now until he becomes the newest Horseman. Perhaps during Rocha’s match against Jeff Sneider…?

What were your thoughts on the matches? Do you think Clarke will beat Samm? What factions do you see Inman and Kalinowski representing? Who do you want to see in the 5 Innergeekdom matches? Let me know in the comments, lets get the discussion going.

Free 4 All II and Beyond…

The Schmoedown had its first PPV-style event of the 2018 season recently and the world went nuts. Fans arranged gatherings from Arizona to London and everyone came together for the joy of watching 48 competitors battle it to win Free 4 All II and earn a title shot. Last year, “The Inglorious One” Samm Levine came out late in the event and after clearing the table won a 1v1 against Tom Dagnino to earn a title shot that he cashed in at Collider Collision against Dan Murrell. This year, as well as the main prize, there was also a prize announced for the competitor who lasted the most rounds: a Number 1 Contender match.

There was so much to take in from the 2 videos I would be here forever if I tried to discuss everything, so I have decided to stick to the points that have stuck with me most. Obviously it goes without saying, there will be spoilers for the Free 4 All and also references to scenes in Scream Queens v Gardenhosers and Marc Andreyko v Ben Bateman as some storylines have been continued in these matches.

And your winner…!

Congratulations to “Miss Movies” Brianne Chandler on her victory. Coming out at number 44 is always going to give you a good shot but with William Bibbiani and Ethan Erwin at the table it will still take something special to win. In the 4 rounds she competed in, she averaged 4.75/5, the highest average of any competitor at the event. We have always known Brianne was a strong competitor and she proved it in this event.

Having taken a step back from competing following her loss to Mike Kalinowski in the 2017 Ultimate Schmoedown, it was great to see Brianne back at the table (and coming in with another great entrance), even if it was just for an exhibition match and not regular competition. She has been doing a great job looking after the Schmoedown’s Patreon and doing the interviews for the Patreon matches, so I am hoping this will lead to more time back in front of the camera. Even if she isn’t ready to compete regularly get her on the desk!

Now thoughts turn to what Brianne will do with the title shot. I would love to see her go for it if she feels comfortable, as I think she really could challenge for the Singles title. Or, following her split from the Missfits, she could create a new team (Kalinowski, anyone?) and go for the Teams title, though I don’t know if they would be able to take down The Patriots. Another option open to her would be to give the title shot to someone else. Ahead of Scream Queens v Gardenhosers, we saw Kalinowski suggesting using it for him to get a shot at the Innergeekdom belt. We’ve since seen Ken Napzok trying to convince Brianne to give him the title shot as insurance if he fails to win his live match against Joseph Scrimshaw and Alex Damon and regain the title he (wrongly) feels he was cheated out of. Perhaps these are the start of a series of competitors pushing their cases and trying to join up with Brianne to start a new faction or get her to join theirs. Who else will we see trying to get Brianne to pick them over the next couple of weeks? Top 10? Team Action? Drew McWeeny? I’ll be interested to see what happens with this title shot.

Beasting it

William “The Beast” Bibbiani has had an up-and-down ride in the Schmoedown. He is clearly a knowledgeable competitor but has had some awful luck in Rounds 2 & 3, leaving him with a 3-4 singles record. Since leaving the 4 Horsemen to create the Growling Commandos, he has joined up with Witney “The Beauty” Seibold to compete in the team league as Critically Acclaimed, however their results have also been mixed as they beat Only Stupid Answers on their debut but lost in the first round of the 2017 Ultimate Schmoedown to Late to the Party (2017’s Upset of the Year) to leave them with a 1-1 record. If anyone needed a good showing in the Free 4 All it was Bibbs, and boy did he have a good showing!

Coming in at number 20 was always going to make it hard for the Beast to win the event, but he put in an MVP performance that will be difficult to beat in future events. His 21 rounds competed in smashed Dan Murrell’s record from 2017 and he wasn’t just scraping through these rounds. His average score per round of 4.14 was bettered by only Marc Andreyko (4.40 from 5 rounds) and the winner Brianne Chandler (4.75 from 4 rounds), while his tally of 9 perfect rounds smashed Andreyko and Murrell’s joint record of 3 in 2017. Speaking on the Schmoedown Rundown, Bibbs discussed how for his Baby Driver-themed entrance he picked up a pair of non-prescription sunglasses which made it difficult to see the audience or the score, so he was just focusing on the questions. That, compared with a format more reminiscent of Round 1 (where Bibbs generally has more fortune) definitely seemed to benefit The Beast and I think he should have a word with Commissioner Thadd Williams about making his future matches into Iron Man matches.

And now to the future: by lasting the most rounds of any competitor, Bibbiani has earned a Number 1 Contender match. I’m not quite sure of the full conditions (whether he gets to choose his opponent) but he can decide which league he uses it in. So will he go singles or teams? Witney had a good showing in the Free 4 All but is still relatively inexperienced in the Schmoedown, so a Number 1 Contender’s match may be too early for Critically Acclaimed. A 3-4 record leaves The Beast a long way from a naturally earning a chance to compete for the singles title so I can see him cashing in for a chance to make it to a singles title match. Would he win? If he finally gets some luck in Rounds 2&3, he could certainly find himself with a belt around his waist.

While on the subject of Bibbiani, I just want to state how much I am enjoying him this season. Though he is clearly competitive, it was his lightheartedness that initially stood out to me when watching the match (until I realised just how long he was lasting). I have also really enjoyed his interviews with the Schmoedown Rundown and his appearances on the announcer desk, while his Patreon newsletter talking about how he plans his entrances was a great read – almost as good as his actual entrances! Coming into the Schmoedown midway through the 2017 season I was not a real fan of him, but his appearances this year have left me wanting more.

“Poof!”

Looks like things are about to get interesting in the Schmoedown. After last year coming out as the final competitor in the 2017 Free 4 All, Tom Dagnino was not so lucky this year. The manager of the Lion’s Den was the second competitor out and, though he lasted longer than expected, he was still out relatively quickly in the event. That wasn’t it for Tricky Tom though as competitor number 39 was revealed to be his alter-ego Finstock, ironically coming out right after his former Mega Powers teammate Josh Macuga. Again, he didn’t last long at the table, but the possibilities of what Dagnino and his multiple personalities will get up to moving forward – Finstock stated that he is not part of the Lion’s Den – is frightening!

But that wasn’t all for the Dagnino news at the Free 4 All as Brianne was seen to trick Thadd into signing a contract with a clause stating that at 2100 patrons, Dagnino will be named Commissioner for a week. With it only being a week I can’t imagine that he will be able to get up to much trouble in that time, but it will certainly be an interesting shakeup to the league. One of the benefits of the delay to posting this is that I have seen Kristian tweet a screenshot of a text from Dagnino:

“You better hope these numbskulls don’t make me commissioner for that week cos I’m looking to start a civil war. At 2500 patrons, you’re playing ya buddy Ellis. Deal with it.”

I can hear the masses signing up already…

Though I am very much aligned against the Lion’s Den, I can’t help but agree that Dagnino makes things interesting. I look forward to seeing what happens with Dagnino and Finstock over the coming months.

Prison does strange things to you

“And their next opponent…” I wonder who’s next, there’s so many veterans we haven’t seen yet. *Jaws music begins* No way! “Representing… Screen Junkies…” YES! “Ladies and gentlemen… “Dangerous” Dan Murrell!” OH MY GOD!! *Andrew Ghai walks out* Oh for **** sake!

I’m sure my mind wasn’t the only one with similar thoughts as we witnessed the biggest shock of the 2018 Free 4 All. I do enjoy watching Team Action on the Schmoedown even though I would consider myself more of a Top 10 fan, but this entrance from Andrew Ghai on his return to the league following his ban for The Tackle was immense. In his absence, we have heard his teammate Ben “The Boss” Bateman saying that he’s been in prison, something Ghai confirmed in the post-match interviews when discussing his early exit:

“There’s no movies in jail, OK, so I couldn’t study. I just drank and shanked people”

Whether it was his time in jail or losing to his ‘dad’ John Rocha before that, something in Ghai’s mind has snapped. Coming out at the Free 4 All, Ghai claimed that he had killed Dan Murrell and hidden the body 6 feet under. Since then, we have seen him have a number of shirts released, including “I’m the Ghai that beat the GOAT” – a claim Ghai has been making loudly since the Free All – and a mockery of the new Murrell order nMo design. We’ve also seen him drinking heavily and being even louder and more foul-mouthed than usual, as well as using Bateman’s post-match interview as a chance to invite Clarke Wolfe out for something that sounded nothing like a match.

Right now, Ghai is the biggest heel in the league by a mile and it will be very interesting to see where things go from here. Will his antics get too much for “The Boss” as he starts pushing for a singles belt, forming a rift within the team? Will his claims of beating Murrell bring the GOAT out of his retirement, even for just a one-off match to put him back in place? Or will he just get himself banned and thrown back in jail again?

As an aside: going back to Ghai’s entrance and it is interesting that Thadd appeared to go behind Kristian’s back and pull a fast one on him by putting Murrell’s name in the order rather than Ghai’s. Team Action have certainly had some help from the Commissioner and I wonder if he is trying to get them onside for a possible power battle with Kristian Harloff.

What’s up with K.O.?

Mike Kalinowski currently seems to be at a crossroads as to his future in the Schmoedown. He has not been seen with The League this season following a disappointing loss for DC Movie News against Top That at the end of last season. We haven’t seen much of K.O. this season – his only match so far was the Triple Threat Number 1 Contender match where he was thoroughly outplayed by JTE and Rachel Cushing – but when we have, it has generally been on his own. It looked like his time with The League was over and his future was down one of 3 paths:

thornbush — If The League does disband, it looks like Roxy has her next faction

Join John Rocha’s stable as one of the new Horsemen
Stick with Brianne either as free agents or part of their own faction
Join the Fyffe Club as thanks for selecting him to face Clarke Wolfe in her Number 1 Contender match

I was shocked then to see Kalinowski introduced as representing The League at the Free 4 All. Is he sticking with the guys who supported him during his rise up the rankings last season? I get the feeling we’ll get some answers following his match with Wolfe.

If he does walk away from The League, what is next for his old faction? Other than Kalinowski, they have not been that active in the competition. Jonny Loquasto is a great mouthpiece, but his competitive debut at the Free 4 All resulted in 3 points over 2 rounds, though it must be remembered that he came to the table during a period where we were seeing some of the strongest tables of the entire event. The only other member of The League to compete has been K.O.’s DC Movie News teammate Adam Gertler, who has so far stuck to the teams league. Losing Kalinowski could see the end of The League as a faction.

New faces and welcome returns

It is a real measure of the growth of the Schmoedown that the Free 4 All was able to expand from 35 competitors in 2017 to 48 in 2018. Not only were we treated to the regular contenders, but we also had a couple of players making their debut (such as Wendy Lee Szany), plenty of competitors who have debuted this season and so far made just a couple of appearances (ranging from Dale the Dude and Taylor Robinson to Ethan Erwin). Looking at the more established names, we had a number of competitors making only their first or second appearance of the season, but were also treated to a number of players who were making grand returns to the Schmoedown table after extended absences, like Brianne and Mark “Yodi” Reilly, which made Ghai’s Murrell tease even more believable. It was great seeing them competing again, even if it was just for an exhibition match.

Yodi back — Yodi’s return to the table was one of the best surprises in the match

What really shows the strength of the Schmoedown in the list of players who did not feature at this year’s event. Current Champions Jeff Sneider, Jason Inman and Sam Witwer, former Champions Matt Knost and Hector Navarro and other veterans like Clarke Wolfe and Scott Mantz were all absent from the competition, while former Commissioner Kristian Harloff was at the desk and current Commissioner Thadd Williams appeared only in the scenes before and after the event.

With so many competitors, it allows such a great variety of matches. With the live shows and the Patreon, we are already seeing more matches that will have no bearing on the title picture this year and it is making the league even more enjoyable.

And while we’re on the subject of new faces, how good was it to finally see Jenn Sterger announcing a match?! Fans have been begging for it for so long and she proved us right by doing a great job. The Schmoedown is doing a great job of rotating the announcers this season, hopefully this will mean we are not left waiting too long before we see Jenn at the desk again.

What were your thoughts on Free 4 All II? Who impressed you the most? Who was your favourite competitor? What are you looking forward to moving forward? Did you attend one of the viewing parties? Let me know in the comments.

Championship Week – March 2018

Viewers of the Schmoedown were given an absolute treat last week as we reached the first Championship week of the season. In the singles, Rachel Cushing got her first shot at the Singles Championship belt against Samm Levine, while in the Teams League, Top 10 attempted to make it third time lucky against the unbeaten Patriots. After a lot of right answers (these guys are all title matches for a reason) and perhaps even more controversy, both the Patriots and “The Inglorious One” managed to hold onto their titles.

Samm “The Inglorious One” Levine 22 – 21 Rachel “The Crusher” Cushing

What a match this was between the 2017 Player of the Year and 2017 Rookie of the Year. After plenty of compliments and nice talk, they could not be separated in Round 1, going into Round 2 at 6-6. Cushing had the wheel on her side in Round 2, spinning Fantasy/Sci-Fi and getting a perfect Round 2 (watch out Innergeekdom competitors), while Levine matched her with his own perfect round after spinning Scorsese (twice!). Round 3 finally saw Levine open up a 1 point lead as both correctly guessed the right answer, but Cushing only bet 2 points compared to Levine’s 3. 17-6 Levine going into the Round 4, and then everything went crazy. The Crusher clearly knew most – if not all – of the answers in the speed round, but was never given a look-in as Levine beat her to the buzzer on all 5 questions and got all of them right to open up a 22-16 lead. Going into the final round 6 points down is always going to be difficult to overcome and unfortunately The Crusher missed on her 5 point question to hand Samm Levine a TKO victory and his first title defence.

I saw enough in this match to believe that the Crusher will hold the Singles Belt at some point in 2018, unfortunately Levine’s experience in title matches was probably the difference in this game, as he has title matches in Singles (a loss to Dan Murrell and a victory over Kristian Harloff) and in Teams (a loss to the Patriots), whereas this was Rachel’s first title match. I know that many people were not happy with the Speed Round following this match but as Harloff said, this is first and foremost a game, so the person with the best knowledge will not always win. The extra rounds in titles matches probably give a disadvantage to a competitor with no experience of a title match, but I think it helps prove who is the best all-round. Rachel’s knowledge is solid and she just needs to work on her speed round, she will learn from this experience and come back stronger than ever.

Let’s not forget, as a member of the Fyffe Club, there is the possibility of Emma using her Number 1 Contender shot on the Crusher to get her an immediate rematch, or maybe she will take some time to build her experience and aim for a match against the Patriots with her new teammate Clarke Wolfe. I feel confident in predicting that we will not have to wait too long to see the Crusher in another title match.

The Patriots 28 – 15 Top 10

The third meeting of these teams is a match that will not be forgotten in a hurry due to the controversy. I will give my thoughts on the Round 3 controversy shortly, but first let’s take a moment to look at what happened before this.

After the (inevitable) trash talk from both teams The Patriots took an early lead in this game, coming out of Round 1 with an 11-9 lead. In Round 2, The Patriots took maximum points fromMovie Quotes, whereas Top 10 had to check down to multiple choice on 2 questions, leaving them 23-19 down. And then we came to Round 3 and all hell broke loose. Westerns was spun on the wheel and The Patriots bet 1 point while Top 10 went for the maximum 3 points courtesy of this being one of “The Outlaw” John Rocha’s specialties. Sneider & JTE could not get the right answer, losing 1 point, whereas Rocha was correct, but his answer on the whiteboard was horribly illegible. Rocha initially argued that as he was the first person to say the correct answer he could still get the points, a decision that Harloff agreed with, deciding to award the 3 points, only for Sneider to challenge immediately. After a lengthy challenge, the decision was made to restart Round 3 with a new category spun – Will Smith. Both teams bet the maximum points but only The Patriots were able to answer correctly, leaving them 26-16 ahead. Everyone was getting involved in the speed round but The Patriots even managed to increase their lead in this round (scoring to points to Top 10’s -1) and they won by KO 28-15.

So, to my thoughts on the Round 3 controversy. Watching the video, Rocha clearly writes an answer in the middle of the board, but as time is expiring he changes his answer and writes the correct one – Jane Fonda – in the bottom corner. The safe thing to do would be to use Top 10’s last JTE rule, but I can understand that he wanted to keep hold of that with Rounds 4&5 remaining. I can understand Rocha’s argument that other players have had their answers accepted in the past with illegible writing provided that they were the first to give the correct answer, however I also agree that when a whiteboard is involved the answer should be clear on there – even if the spelling is not right *ahem ‘Japeto’*. Kristian Harloff said in an interview with Take 3 Productions that in hindsight he would have disallowed the points and played on (which he has said will be the rule moving forward). I think that this would have been the right answer, or if not, that another question from the same category would have been a better solution than a re-spin.

I am glad though that Kristian and the crew showed more of the challenge process than we usually see and have come out and spoken about it immediately, I can’t even imagine how much controversy there could have been had the creator stayed silent.

It is a shame though that the commissioner Thadd Williams in all his wisdom has decreed that Top 10 cannot challenge for the title again while The Patriots are champions. These 2 teams give you great trivia knowledge and great entertainment, much like Manchester United v Liverpool there is a mutual dislike there that draws you into the event even more. I can’t help but wonder if this could lead to Top 10 helping push for the return of Kristian Harloff as commissioner. Could this be the next stage of the Schmoedown Civil War?

Eyes on the Ball

Thoughts from the world of sport and the Schmoedown

Tag: Title Match