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 As some of these are almost a year old, some of them are somewhat outdated and may have proved to be completely off the mark.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.
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 11/4/2019
Even if you’re new to the Schmoedown, you’ll probably recognize John Rocha. With his trademark Guy Fawkes mask and cowboy hat, “The Outlaw” has been a regular competitor in the Schmoedown since Season 2, trying to make his goal of “All the belts, all the records” a reality.
Rocha’s career in the Schmoedown has been a story of highs and lows, so as he approaches a Triple Threat match that could earn him another shot at the Singles Title, let’s look back through The Outlaw’s journey through the Schmoedown!
Top 10
Rocha arrived as part of the 2015 Ultimate Schmoedown. Unlike its debut year, the 2015 season was a team tournament, so Rocha’s debut came alongside Matt Knost as one half of the team Top 10. Taking on Screen Junkies (Hal Rudnick and Nick Mundy), Rocha went 2/3 to help the team to an early 5-3 lead. Rocha stepped up in Round 2 in the category of Mob Movies, going 4/4 for 6 points, while Mundy’s struggles in 80s Movies allowed Rocha and Knost to steal 3 answers for 4 points, ending the match after just 2 rounds with a 15-5 scoreline – the first time that season a match didn’t go to Round 3!
Next up for Top 10 was a quarterfinal against Team Champs (Movie Fights Champion Dan Murrell and Schmoedown Singles Champion Mark Reilly). Team Champs took an early 6-4 lead but 3 points from 2 steals and 5 points in the category of DiCaprio put Rocha and Knost ahead. In Round 3, Team Champs bet all of their 9 points and got the answer right, some quick mental maths from Matt Knost worked out that betting 7 points was enough to secure the win if both teams had the same answer and the pair were also correct, securing a 19-18 victory – the closest winning margin of the season.
This set up a semifinal against B.O.B. with a final against either the Schmoes or Rotten Tomatoes on the line. The first 2 rounds saw Top 10 take an 18-15 lead, which left Knost doing some more clever maths to give them a chance of winning in the Jeopardy round. B.O.B had turned up to the match dressed as priests and perhaps there was some divine influence at play as they hit the correct answer, while Top 10 missed to give B.O.B a 2-30 victory.
Enter the Singles Division
During Top 10’s run in 2015, “The Mantzman” Scott Mantz had called out Rocha for a 1v1 match after they developed a rivalry on Movie Fights. The Schmoedown’s move to a league format for Season 3 saw Mantz vs. Rocha scheduled for the second match of the season.
After plenty of very vocal trash talk, Mantz took a 2-3 lead in Round 1 but a perfect Round 2 and a 1-point steal in Round 2 gave Rocha an 11-9 lead heading into the final round. Mantz hit his 3- and 5-pointers and Rocha his 1- and 3-pointers, leaving him needing to hit his 5-pointer to win. With the category of his final question being Star Wars, it looked like victory for Rocha – who hosted a Star Wars podcast – would win.
Asked to name the 3 planet settings in The Empire Strikes Back, Rocha managed to name “Hoth” and “Dagobah” but was unable to remember “Bespin” and as a result fell to a 15-17 loss. That moment of infamy is still remembered years later as you hear other competitors talk about their “Bespin moment” when they blank and miss an answer in their wheelhouse that they should have known.
Rocha was soon back to avenge his loss, taking on Josh Macuga, who he defeated 17-16. This led to a rematch against Mantz and from the moment he entered, it was clear that this was a more focused, serious Rocha who was going to do anything to win. The pair could not be separated over the opening 2 rounds, entering Round 3 with a 9-9 score, but Rocha was able to pull away in the final round and win 13-10, earning himself a place in the 2016 Ultimate Schmoedown Singles Tournament.
The Rise of the Four Horsemen
In his post-match interview following his victory over Mantz, Rocha teased that there was something coming, showing a 4-fingered symbol but saying nothing further.
Rocha took on Kristian Harloff in the first round of the tournament and – using a blindfold to cut out the Commissioner’s distracting antics – he defeated the creator of the league 21-19, the highest scoring Singles match in the history of the Schmoedown at the time.
Next up for Rocha was a return to the Teams Division with a #1 Contender Match against Rotten Tomatoes. In a close match, Top 10 came away with the 23-21 victory to set up a title shot against The Schmoes.
Before taking on The Schmoes, Rocha had the rest of the Singles Tournament to focus on. Taking on Mark “Yodi” Reilly in the semifinal, Rocha took the lead in Round 1 and steadily extended his advantage in Rounds 2 and 3 to emerge victorious 18-14. This set up a final against Mark Ellis that would also work as a #1 Contender Match to face Dan Murrell at Spectacular. In Rocha’s first match in the 5-round format, there was little between them over the first 2 rounds. The betting round saw Ellis open up a lead as Rocha lost 2 points and Ellis gained 2, while he extended this lead to 9-13 by the end of Round 4. Rocha fought hard in the final round but could not overcome the deficit and “Baby Carrots” came away with a 13-18 victory.
Rocha only had to wait a couple of days before he could try to get revenge on Ellis. Taking on The Schmoes in his first Championship Match, Rocha and Knost took an early 14-9 lead over the first 2 rounds. A correct answer for Top 10 and a wrong answer for The Schmoes saw the lead stretch to 17-6 and the buzzer round saw each competitor answer a question right for Top 10 to take an unassailable 19-8 lead and earn a KO victory. The Outlaw had won his first title and was in a strong position to compete for the Singles Title too.
Following an impressive debut against Marc Andreyko, William “The Beast” Bibbiani had his post-match interview interrupted by Rocha, who announced that he was forming a faction, the Four Horsemen. He and Knost were the first 2 Horsemen and The Beast was brought on as the 3rd member. Schmoedown Spectacular kicked off with Robert Meyer Burnett winning the inaugural Innergeekdom Title match and following his victory, “The Captain” was invited to become the 4th member. As a counter to the Horsemen, Top 10’s opponents The Patriots combined with Tom Dagnino and Marc Andreyko to form their own faction, The Lion’s Den.
The third match of Spectacular saw Top 10 look to defend their title against The Patriots. The challengers opened a 2-point lead over the first 3 rounds and the buzzer round extended this to 11-13. 6 points for Top 10 in the final round and misses for Sneider and JTE left The Patriots having to hit their 5-pointer for victory, which they managed to do, leading to them taking the titles and beginning the longest title run in Schmoedown history (so far).
Rocha did not have much time to focus on this loss as he was involved in the very next match, a Singles #1 Contender Match against Mark Reilly. “Yodi” led through the first 2 rounds but Rocha got the maximum 9 points in Round 3 and Reilly was unable to hit his 5-pointer, earning Rocha his first shot at the Singles Title.
This Championship match came early in Season 4. Dan Murrell came into this match with a 5-0 record in Singles and 2 title defences under his belt, but he had a challenge on his hands in the form of the Outlaw. The pair could not be separated in Round 1 and while Murrell managed to open a 1-point lead during the wheel round, Rocha had brought things back level going into the final round. Rocha missed his 1-pointer and Murrell hit his, Rocha missed his 3-pointer but hit his 5-pointer to reach 21 points.
Murrell hit his 3-pointer but missed his final question and with a scream of delight, The Outlaw celebrated winning the Singles Title and becoming the first competitor to have held belts in multiple divisions.
The Fall of the Horsemen
By the time Rocha won the Singles Title, Burnett had lost his Innergeekdom title to Hector Navarro and Bibbiani had lost to JTE – his first Singles victory since 2014. It was up to the Outlaw and Top 10 at this point to lead the Horsemen. Top 10 took on the Schmoes for a second time and came out with a 26-24 victory, which marked the last time to date that the Schmoes competed together outside of exhibition matches.
The first Free 4 All saw Rocha emerge as the 16th competitor out of 35 and last 8 rounds (the 3rd highest of everyone involved) and score 28 points (joint-2nd with John Humphrey) before being eliminated as part of the famous XX5XX moment.
Rocha’s next match was his first title defence and 3rd Singles match against Mark Reilly, who had defeated teammate Clarke Wolfe to earn a shot at winning back his title. After an opening round that saw the pair matched at 7-7, Reilly spun Opponent’s Choice and was surprisingly given Scores & Soundtracks, in which he earned 5 points and gave away a 1-point steal. Rocha spun Spinner’s Choice and picked Westerns, earning 7 points to take a 15-12 lead. Both lost 2 points in the betting round and the scores were still the same following a buzzer round that saw Reilly have what he would probably consider one of the biggest misses of his career (blanking on “Scream” and instead saying “The Sandlot”). Rocha could only hit his 3-point question in Round 5 and Reilly hit his 3- and 5-pointers to take his title back with a 16-18 victory and become the first 2-time Champion.
Top 10’s victory over The Schmoes saw them take on The Patriots for the second time, but a perfect Round 1 from Jeff Sneider (who missed the bonus question) saw The Patriots take an early 9-14 lead, which Top 10 were unable to overcome, eventually losing via TKO 20-27.
Dan Murrell was set to face Mark Reilly for the Singles Title at Collision, but Rocha got himself involved and managed to make the match a Triple Threat. In the main event, things were close after Round1, but Reilly fell 5 points behind during the wheel round (Murrell and Rocha remained level on points). Murrell took the lead in the buzzer round and Reilly was eliminated after missing his 2- and 3-pointers. Rocha missed his 2- and 3-pointers too (including the infamous “Fruit of the Loom” incident that appeared to rattle him) but hit his 5-pointer to throw it back to Murrell, who scored 7 points to win back the title.
Following this match, the discontent amongst the Four Horsemen reached a head and William Bibbiani betrayed Rocha, leaving the Horsemen to form the Growling Commandos with Ricky Hayberg and Witney Seibold. Burnett quickly followed suit, joining the Lion’s Den. The Horsemen were over, and it was back to just Rocha and Knost, who refused to leave his partner.
New Rivals
It was time for Top 10 to reset and the 2017 Ultimate Schmoedown was the perfect chance to do this. Up until now, Rocha had been one of the biggest heels in the league, but he mellowed somewhat, giving his competitors the respect they were due but not being afraid to go toe-to-toe with anyone who got in his way.
Top 10’s opening match in the tournament was against the Reel Rejects and a strong performance by Rocha (7/8 in Round 1, 8 points working with Knost in Biopics during Round 2, and successfully answering his Round 3 3-pointer) helped push them towards a 26-25 victory, which set up a quarterfinal against the Lion’s Den’s second team, Blofeld’s Cat (Burnett and Andreyko).
Against Blofeld’s Cat, Rocha earned a perfect round in Round 1 but missed the bonus, which helped set Top 10 up for a 34-29 victory – a new points record in the Division. Following this match, Rocha took a quick break to compete in a Celebrity Match, where he and Brett Davern defeated Jeff Sneider and Beau Mirchoff 27-25.
After that it was back to the tournament and their next opponents were the new heels on the block, Team Action, who had been making a name of themselves with their impressive performances and complete lack of respect. Ben Bateman and Andrew Ghai took a 10-12 Round 1 lead and things got even worse for Top 10 in Round 2 as the dreaded Spinner’s Choice & Opponent’s Choice combo went against them, leaving them 13-20 down. Rocha and Knost earned the full 10 points in Round 3, but Ghai hit the 2-pointer and Bateman the 3-pointer to take the victory 23-25 and end Top 10’s run in the tournament.
Rocha was also competing in the Singles Tournament and after taking out 16th seed Jason Inman via TKO 11-10, it was time to take on Samm Levine. At this point, Levine was 4-4 in Singles, but his new partnership with Drew McWeeny was making waves in the Teams Tournament and set to face Action in the final. Levine had made some comments against Rocha in a post-match interview and Rocha kept a recording of this on his phone for motivation.
Rocha was in a strong position in this match, down by just 3 points halfway through Round 2, but a controversial call against John Rocha (saying “Lena Headley” rather than “Lena Headey”) resulted in a 2-point steal for Levine to level the scores going into Round 3, where “The Inglorious One” came out with a 17-19 victory.
With Action losing to Above The Line, Top 10 challenged the young upstarts to a rematch, which they initially refused. New Commissioner Thadd Williams put some stipulations in place that made it impossible for them to resist: A Top 10 victory would win them a #1 Contender Match; an Action victory would win them a Title Match and Top 10 would split for a year. The match took place at Spectacular 2 and a poor Round 2 for Action gave Top 10 a 10-point lead. Ghai missed his 2-point question and Top 10 had the TKO victory 12-22.
Then Things Got Crazy
As Rocha began to celebrate that victory, an enraged Andrew Ghai snapped and tackled the Outlaw to the floor, being pulled away by Bateman and Thadd and earning himself a 3-month ban. Rocha luckily sustained minimal injuries and with the season ending, he had time to recuperate before having to play again.
Ten vs. Den
With The Patriots still holding the Teams Title one year on, Top 10 hoped that they would be the ones to finally end their run of success. Their #1 Contender match was arranged against Top That (Eric Goldman and Jim Vejvoda), who at 3-1 were going to be a dangerous opponent. Round 1 could not have gone any better for Top 10 as both Rocha and Knost hit perfect rounds and the bonus questions to take an 18-13 lead. Top 10 spun Opponent’s Choice but were let off by Top That’s lack of knowledge about the game as they gave Rocha and Knost Biopics, a category that Rocha had never missed a question in. Top 10 earned 10 points on this spin, but Top That scored 10 points after spinning Comic Book Movies, a strength, for 10 points. Both teams scored 7 points in the final round and Top 10 came away with the 35-30 victory and the chance of a third match against The Patriots.
The opening two rounds saw Sneider and JTE take a 19-23 lead before the controversy of Round 3. After spinning Westerns, The Patriots lost 1 point and Top 10 scored 3, to level the scores at 22-22, with Rocha having got the answer in the last second and scribbled the answer – Jane Fonda – on the corner of the board rather than use a JTE rule. Sneider challenged the ruling and it was decided that as the answer was not legibly written on the board the points could not be allowed. Shockingly though, Sneider’s suggestion of a re-spin was also accepted and in the category of Will Smith, The Patriots scored 3 points and Top 10 lost 3. The decision clearly got in the heads of Rocha and Knost and Round 4 ended with Top 10 being KO’d 15-28.
At this point, JTE was able to boast that John Rocha had never beat him, but The Outlaw had the chance to do so mere days later at the first live event at the El Portal Theatre. With the crowd going wild, Things were level going into Round 2, where JTE spun once of his strengths in Sly & Arnie. Things did not go Little Evil’s way though as a couple of bad errors – including one of the more forgotten JTE-isms “Elisha Dooku” – Rocha stole more points (4) than JTE earned (2). Rocha spun Westerns and earned 7 more points, while JTE missed his 2-pointer in Westerns to hand Rocha a 17-10 TKO victory. After this match, Rocha announced that he was coming for the Lion’s Den and hinted that he may be looking for some new support to join him and Knost.
Next up for Rocha was the second Free 4 All, where he was the 33rd competitor out of 48. He lasted 4 rounds, spending time at the table with rivals Bibbiani, Burnett and Bateman, eventually getting eliminated by Bateman after scoring 11 points.
With the chance of a direct title shot gone for another season, it was back to taking on the Lion’s Den and with JTE down, it was time to battle his Patriots teammate Jeff Sneider. Sneider took a lead in Round 1 and while the score remained close throughout, Rocha was unable to pull a 5-pointer in the category Horror/Thriller and he fell to the Insneider 17-20.
The Horsemen Return
While The Outlaw had been focusing on the Lion’s Den, it did not mean his rivalry with Team Action was over. Andrew Ghai returned from his suspension worse than ever, stealing Dan Murrell’s spot in the Free 4 All and going on to brag to everyone that he had beat the GOAT. Following Action’s loss to the Shirewolves at the second EL Portal live event, Ghai pulled a stunt of calling Murrell out only for “Murrell” (Bateman dressed as Murrell) to appear as a target for ridicule. Suddenly music started to cut them off, the lights went out and when they came back up, four hooded figures stood on stage showing the symbol of the Four Horsemen.
One by one the figures revealed themselves: Knost… Rocha… Jason Inman… and Mark Reilly, coming out of retirement! As the crowd went wild, the symbol of the 4 changed to a 5 and the lights went out again, coming back up to reveal a 5th figure. Rocha pulled off the hood of the new figure to reveal a fifth Horseman: “Dangerous” Dan Murrell!
The three great rivals from the early days of the league had joined forces along with former Teams Champion Matt Knost and then-Innergeekdom Champion Jason Inman to create what was on paper arguably one of the strongest factions in Schmoedown history. Murrell decided to shut Ghai up by challenging him to a Singles match at Collision.
Unfortunately for the Horsemen, that didn’t go to plan as Murrell was TKO’d on his return to competition. Reilly challenged Ghai next, while Rocha – who by this point had beaten Alex Wolff in a 1v1 Celebrity Match, 19-18 – took on Bateman, with the winners of these matches set to face each other in a #1 Contender match for a chance to take on new Champion William Bibbiani. Reilly fell to Ghai but in a tight match, Bateman missed a tough 5-pointer to hand Rocha the victory 18-16.
Before Rocha could take on Ghai, it was time to enter the Ultimate Schmoedown Teams Tournament. Mike Kalinowski’s influence on the league had put a twist in this season’s tournament: Anarchy. Every existing team other than the Champions (The Shirewolves) were split up and new teams were formed for the tournament. Knost was paired with Bibbiani but Rocha and new stablemate Dan Murrell were paired to form the Founding Fathers. Their team debut came at the third El Portal live event, where they took on Wait, I Know This (Stacy Howard and Winston Marshall). Despite a strong performance from Stacy Howard, The Founding Fathers were just too strong and came out with the 20-17 TKO victory. It wasn’t all good news for the Horsemen at the event though, as Jason Inman lost his title to Mara Knopic in the other match.
Rocha took on Ghai for a shot at Bibbiani and Ghai was unable to make it 3 from 3 as Rocha took a 2-point lead in Round 1 and took advantage of spinning Westerns in Round 2 to win via TKO, 13-12. Before taking on Bibbiani, it was a return to Anarchy, where the Founding Fathers were taking on KOrruption (Kalinowski and rookie Chance Ellison). In an incredibly tight match, the scores went 12-12 in Round 1, 23-23 in Round 2 and a last second pull from John Rocha after using the last JTE rule to get the 5-pointer saw the scores level after 3 rounds, 30-30.
The tie went to Sudden Death and on the first question, Dan Murrell fell afoul of what could be considered the “Jane Fonda Rule,” Ellison got the point despite writing “David O’Russell” rather than “David O. Russell,” and Rocha and Kalinowski both got it right, giving KOrruption the 31-32 win. Rocha challenged the call against Dan and in favour of Chance, but this was overruled and the result stood, leading to a highly emotional post-match interview that included Rocha wondering if he would compete in his upcoming Championship Match.
Thankfully, he got himself back on track and took on his old nemesis William Bibbiani for the Singles Title. Bibbiani’s run of success had started with the decision to stand at Free 4 All 2 and he had not sat down for a match ever since. In this match, Rocha decided to take a leaf out of The Beast’s book and stand. In another great contest Bibbiani took a 12-14 lead after 2 rounds, only for the betting round to flip that score. A strong performance on the buzzer put Bibbiani a point ahead, but he could only hit his 2-point question in the final round and Rocha scored his 3- and 5-pointers to win and become the third 2-time Singles Champion.
Changing Times
This title victory meant that Rocha would become the only competitor to have played a match in all the first 3 Spectaculars, as he took on 2018 Ultimate Schmoedown Singles Tournament winner Ethan Erwin. Both were level after Round 1, but Erwin took the lead in Round 2, finishing Round 4 with a 15-20 lead, though either competitor could have had an extra point in the buzzer round if they had been brave enough to guess that it was Samm Levine who played PFC Hirschberg in Inglorious Basterds. Rocha hit his 2-pointer but missed his last 2 questions and the Singles title moved to Ethan Erwin, the first rookie to win the title (if you don’t count Reilly in the inaugural year).
With the season coming to an end, Top 10 also came to an end as a team as Matt Knost announced that he would be retiring from the league. Inman also stepped away indefinitely and Reilly’s success as part of Anarchy team Who’s The Boss led to him sticking with Ben Bateman in the Teams Division, which meant that The Founding Fathers would remain as a team going forward.
With Dan Murrell winning his third Singles Title in New York, the next set of competitors to make a run for the title were decided: Rocha would take on Marc Andreyko and William Bibbiani would play Lon Harris. The winners would feature against each other and Ethan Erwin in a Triple Threat #1 Contender Match. Against “The Android”, Rocha hit a perfect Round 1 but missed the bonus, taking a 1-point lead. The lead was extended to 2 points by the end of Round 2. Both hit their 2-and 3-point questions in the final round, but Andreyko challenged and for once, Rocha was on the right end of a decision and the points stood. This left Rocha with a 19-17 lead and Andreyko missed his final question to give Rocha the place in the Triple Threat Match.
Rocha’s last competitive appearance to date was this year’s Free 4 All, where he emerged as competitor number 24/40. He scored 12 points in 4 rounds before being eliminated following (you guessed it!) an unsuccessful challenge on the merits of jewels rather than diamonds.
What Next for The Outlaw?
This is an interesting moment for John Rocha. While Bibbiani and Erwin are going to be tough competition, a focused John Rocha has the ability to win this and set up a title shot against his teammate. The Founding Fathers also have 2 matches scheduled, taking on the Wildberries on April 25th and Double Toasted at the Houston live event. 2 wins here would put them close to a #1 Contender Match but with Dan Murrell having won the Free 4 All and now having a title shot to use when he wants, they could easily set up a Championship Match in the Teams Division. There have also been discussions about Rocha moving into the Star Wars Division later in the season, making him the first competitor to have won a belt and then move into this division.
Along with the talk about Rocha’s personal future, the Horsemen’s future must also be considered. Mark Reilly and Dan Murrell have been suggesting Ben Bateman as a potential recruit, but neither he nor Rocha seem sold on the suggestion so far. There are plenty of quality competitors out there that could join the faction, or Rocha could decide to stick to just the 3 original Singles Champions. Only time will tell.
Hall of Fame…?
With his longevity in the league and his success over both Teams and Singles (and potentially also Star Wars in the future), his name may not come up in conversation as often as some competitors, but I think that he is in the mix when discussing who the GOAT is and another title would really help that.
Regardless, Rocha has been one of the key parts of the Schmoedown’s early success. From being the first real heel of the show, it could be argued that he set the foundation that has allowed more recent heels like Team Action to take things to the level they have. His success and drive to keep coming back for more has kept him as a big name in the league even when other big names like Reilly, Murrell, Harloff, Ellis and Levine have stepped away from competing for periods of time. While he has been on the wrong end of several controversial moments, these have also helped improve the league by helping clarify the rules, which will only help the league go.
If the Schmoedown creates a Hall of Fame, my vote is firmly on John Rocha.
So people who know me well or who have been regular readers here last year will know that I am a big fan of a YouTube show called the Movie Trivia Schmoedown.
At the time I found the show, it was being broadcast on Collider Video’s channel. This may sound very odd from someone who loves a show about movie trivia, but I did not used to be a big fan of movies. Instead I was a big fan of a certain set of movies: Star Wars. This love of Star Wars, both the movies and the wider canon, had led to me finding Collider’s Jedi Council, a show that I have now been watching for years. To make sure that I never missed an episode, I subscribed to the Collider Video channel, but I found myself largely sticking to just the one show. I eventually found myself watching TV Talk though as they were covering a couple of shows that I was watching at the time, and I found that – like with Jedi Council – I really enjoyed the personalities on the show, so I soon found myself watching every episode of TV Talk, Jedi Council and Behind the Scenes & Bloopers.
Being subscribed to the channel also led to me seeing the Schmoedown matches on the list of videos. However not really being a cinephile, the only matches that drew my attention were a special match between Sam Witwer and Freddie Prinze Jr. and the original 2 Star Wars matches: Force Bros v The Council and the Fatal Fiveway at Star Wars Celebration. I found myself really enjoying these matches and not long later I found myself watching an episode of Behind the Scenes that focused on the Schmoedown – specifically the Reilly v Rocha Championship Match – and found my interest piqued.
A few weeks later I saw a couple of Schmoedown matches go up on the channel: The Nerd’s Watch v Team Action, Josh Macuga v Tom Dagnino and Wolves of Steel v The Patriots. 3 matches all containing Collider personalities that I had got to know and love. I really enjoyed these matches and was soon hooked, just in time for Collider Collision. By the end of this event and the follow-up special that saw Bibbiani and Burnett both leave the Horsemen, I soon found myself rooting for John Rocha and Matt Knost – who I hadn’t seen much of but had already shown himself to be have a clever sense of humour.
The months went on and by the end of Season 4, I was well and truly hooked, leading to me starting to write about the show on here and also expanding to watching more Collider or Schmoedown-themed content like the Schmoedown Rundown. I found myself starting to watch more movies when I had a bit of free time in the hope that I could answer more questions when playing along at home. It’s safe to say that the Schmoedown has changed my life. Getting into movies more, I finally found myself starting to listen to a couple of movie podcasts from people I knew from the shows. Obviously being a fan of the team, The Top 10 Show was top of my list to check out.
In those early days of listening, I would stick to the episodes that had a subject I thought would interest me, but I soon found that the back and forth between Rocha and Knost and their tangents throughout the discussion (of which there are many) were too good to miss and for about half a year now I have been listening to every episode. When the guys announced that they were doing a show in London on Saturday 23rd February, I was so excited! With all these guys I watch and love being based in the USA, I thought it unlikely I would ever see any of them in the flesh, but here was a chance to see 2 of the Horsemen in my own country! There had also been a few Schmoedown viewing parties that I had unfortunately not been able to attend due to other commitments, so it was a chance for me to finally meet other people in the Top 10/Schmoedown/Collider etc community. As soon as the tickets were on sale, I made sure that I didn’t miss out even though I still had to arrange the time off work. I got everything planned and then it was just a waiting game, until finally the week arrived.
I’m not one for going to the big cities very often – especially not alone! – so this was a new experience for me and I decided to go down to London on the Friday to make sure I was not rushing around like a headless chicken on the Saturday. I’d deliberately booked a place to stay close to the venue so that I couldn’t get lost (me and directions are not a good mix) and luckily this meant that I was just a short walk from both the venue, Kings Cross station and also a pub where a table had been booked for Top 10 fans during the England v Wales Six Nations match.
The travel down was pretty easy and I didn’t get too lost on the Tube either (result!) and after getting to my room, I set about devoting an evening to Collider Live, which I was behind on due to a busy week. Saturday saw me finish catching up on the Collider Live fun and then it was time for the rugby. Six Nations weekend, there was no way I wasn’t going to watch the rugby if I was able to, so I watched the match between Scotland and France, before slipping into my 5 Horsemen shirt and making my way to a nearby pub called The Fellow to meet my fellow fans and watch the England game. It’s a good job I got there early as the turnout was incredible and I was lucky to get a seat. I was all set to watch the game, but I found that the conversation with my fellow fans was so great I was barely even checking the screen as I was having such great conversations with these people I’d never met before but had a shared love of these shows. It was amazing having conversations about the recent Top 10 shows, the Schmoedown, Collider Live… all of it! I even found myself discussing with a couple of fans about how I’d ended up as a writer for the Schmoedown website. Before I knew it, it was time to make our way to Kings Place, the venue for the show.
The venue was great – we were in room 2, which allowed a 200-strong audience. There was just time to grab a drink from the bar and a Top 10 Live shirt (I definitely did this in the wrong order and needed an extra set of hands), before going into the room and finding a seat. By the time I was in, most of the seats were already full so I ended up towards the back, but even so the view was great!
The show began and I won’t go into much detail, but I really recommend giving it a listen. Suffice to say John and Matt were brilliant, making it a full-on show rather than just going into the usual show. Not just in the opening but throughout the show their comedy was great and I will never be able to look at a “Way Out” sign or a cello the same again! The fan interaction throughout the show was really good and they did a great job of making references to other shows like Collider Live and the even got some of the history behind creating “The Outlaw” for the Schmoedown. And possibly the best bit: they already plan to return next year!
The show itself was about 2 hours, after which the majority of us hung around in the foyer to meet the guys. It was great to get to speak to these guys and get a picture with each of them and I honestly found myself nervous meeting them after watching them on the Schmoedown for so long! We also had an extra surprise while queuing as we realised that another Schmoedown competitor Jeannine “The Machine” was here as well, and having wrote some articles both for here and the Schmoedown site about her faction The Viper Squad, it was great to get to chat to her and get a picture with her too.
From there it was off to a nearby bar called Camino for some drinks with a number of other fans and the guys themselves. It was great to get to chat even more with them and a group of us must have been chatting with Matt about anything and everything (literally everything, including the NBA, comedy, going grey how we found the venue, the potential of a live Schmoedown in the UK and the Great British Bake Off) for an hour or two until the place closed. And that was the night over and it was back to my room and a much-needed bed!
I got myself up relatively early the next morning as I didn’t want to leave it too late to leave London and get back to Gloucester, but before leaving I wanted to make sure I got to watch the inaugural Schmoedown Throwdown that had aired the night before, as the on-demand stream was only available for 24 hours! The event was absolutely amazing: The Odd Couple v Scream Queens was a great undercard and the main event, the Innergeekdom Title Match between Mike Kalinowski and Rachel Cushing, was arguably one of the greatest matches in the history of the league!
Once I was over the excitement of the event, it was time to catch a train back to Gloucester and luck was on my side as I was able to get home just in time to catch Italy v Ireland and bring an end to a perfect weekend.
So thank you, John and Matt, for taking a chance on coming halfway round the globe. I hope you enjoyed your time here as much as we enjoyed having you. See you next year!
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?
Ahh the Patriots, possibly the greatest team in the history of the league. Every fan has an opinion on them, they are either loved by their fans and considered the greatest of all time or hated and called arrogant, with controversy following them like a bad smell. But regardless of your opinion on them, they are dominating the league and deserved champions.
Obviously I am talking about the Patriots from the Schmoedown, not the New England variety that lost in Super Bowl LII, though as can be seen above, there are certainly some similarities! Despite Jeff “The Insneider” Sneider being “Little Evil” JTE’s fall-back option after being turned down by “Classy” Clarke Wolfe at The Decision, the Patriots have gone on to be the most successful team in the league. Their 8-0 record includes a 17-18 victory over Top 10 to claim the Teams belt and 5 successful title defences against Team Trek, Wolves of Steel (Wolfe & Mark “Yodi” Reilly – who she picked over JTE), Top 10, Modok and Above the Line have seen them hold the belt for over a year now. Though they have not had quite the same success in the singles division, JTE was runner-up in the 2017 Ultimate Schmoedown to current champion Samm Levine and opened the 2018 season with a 2nd place in a #1 Contender Triple Threat match against Mike Kalinowski and Rachel Cushing. Sneider had his own shot in the singles with a #1 Contender match against the commissioner Kristian Harloff at Collider Collision 2017 and it was a loss to teammate JTE that halted Sneider’s progress in the Ultimate Schmoedown, so who knows how far he could have gone.
But it is as a team that they have been so dangerous. They cover for each other so well in matches, whilst JTE is probably one of the most dangerous competitors in a buzzer round – a staple of Title matches. They have come through JTE’s horror 2016 where he was unable to win a singles match and have also continued to dominate despite issues in both competitors personal lives during 2017 – just look at Sneider’s reaction to beating Above the Line and you can see what it meant to him!
So why do so many people root against them? Well to put it bluntly, they are jerks! As part of Tom Dagnino’s Lions Den they play their heel role to perfection, and their unbeaten record and obvious quality in the Schmoedown give them an arrogance that makes them a clear target for any babyface looking to right the wrongs in the league and triumph over evil.
JTE may not be winning any spelling tournaments, but is one of the best competitors in the Singles and Teams Leagues
Aside from their desire to beat such heels, the Patriot’s belts are clearly a target for any team trying to prove their worth and I’m sure many would love to be the team that hands the Patriots their first ever loss. But who is most likely to dethrone the Patriots?
Top 10 – “The Outlaw” John Rocha & “Mighty” Matt Knost
The obvious team to discuss first as their victory over Top That has earned them a shot at a 3rd match against the Patriots. Top 10 are previous Team Champions having defeated Team Schmoes in October 2016, but they lost the belts to the Patriots at Schmoedown Spectacular and when they competed against them again on July 4th 2017 they were blown out the water. The only remaining members of the Four Horsemen have worked their way back since them and after working their way back and slowly turning face, they made it to the semi-finals of the 2017 Ultimate Schmoedown where they lost to Team Action, only to earn a #1 Contenders match by demolishing Team Action 12-22 in their Stipulation match at Schmoedown Spectacular II.
Rocha is a former Singles Champion having defeated Dan Murrell in 2016 so clearly knows his movie trivia, but as 2017 went on he did appear to lose his focus a little bit as he struggled to figure out if he was a heel or a face. The loss to Team Action appears to have given him a new lease of life to prove himself again and against Top That he was probably the most focused I had ever seen him, going so far as to keep the mask on throughout the match. When I first started watching in 2017, Knost appeared the weak link in the team, but as Rocha began to struggle his performances improved and since the Top 10! Show returned he has been even better, to the point that he and Rocha combined against Top That to have the first ever Perfect Round 1 (including the bonus question) for both team members.
“The second time didn’t happen! The first time was a fluke!” – Matt Knost after defeating Top That
With their focus at an all-time high and the prospect of another meeting against their old enemies, they are out for revenge and I think that it could be third time lucky for Top 10!
Above the Line – “The Godfather” Drew McWeeny & “The Inglorious One” Samm Levine
The first super-team to enter the Schmoedown, the Rookie Team of the Year did not form until after Collider Collision, but ran the gauntlet in the 2017 Ultimate Schmoedown, defeating Nerd’s Watch, DC Movie News, Wolves of Steel and Team Action on their way to setting up a title bout at Schmoedown Spectacular II, where they lost on the final question in Round 3.
Levine is the current Singles Champion and won both Singles & Overall Player of the Year in 2017 and while McWeeny has maybe not gone on to the heights expected in singles competition so far, his partnership with the Inglorious One has been a match made in heaven by Kristian Harloff. Their victory over Wolves of Steel in the semis of the 2017 Ultimate Schmoedown – just their third ever match as a team – saw them set a new record points haul for a Team match with 35 points – a feat recently matched by Top 10 against Top That. If only they’d Remembered the Titans, they would have the singles belts already.
Where they do lack at the moment in experience in the title matches, as they are not used to the buzzer and betting rounds, however with 1 unsuccessful title match under their belt as a team and (at time of writing) 2 singles title matches to Levine’s name, they will be getting more used to the longer format and the extra rounds. Between the 2 of them, they have already shown that the categories many would wish to avoid – 70s, 80s, Movie Release Dates etc. – are arguably strengths and have also already shown that they are not afraid to go away and work on their weaknesses, with Levine’s decision to watch animated movies highlighting the lengths they will go to.
When they get another title shot – and I’m sure they will soon – I think that they have every chance of taking the belts off the Patriots if they still hold them at this point.
Modok – “The Kahuna” Matt Atchity & Grae “Lights Out” Drake
Before Above the Line can get another shot at the title, they first have to come through a #1 Contender match against the next team on the list: Team Modok. Formerly Team Rotten Tomatoes, Atchity and Drake earned their title shot following a victory over Nerd’s Watch at Collider Collision and actually took the Patriots to Sudden Death Overtime, only for JTE to get the winning answer.
However the game wouldn’t have even gone to Overtime if Atchity had paid more attention to the rules of the buzzer round and less to keeping his Russian spy persona intact! There is clearly a deep movie knowledge there and they are fun to watch, but right now I think there are stronger teams out there and I would be surprised to see them take down Above the Line.
Top That – Eric Goldman & Jim Vejvoda
Their 3-2 record following defeat to Top 10 may not stand out, but the team formerly known as Team IGN have been very impressive in the Schmoedown. The have a KO and 2 TKOs to their name and if not for a controversial call in their match against Rotten Tomatoes, it could have very easily been these guys fighting Nerd’s Watch at Collider Collision.
Could one of these teams be the Patriots’ eventual downfall?
Jim Vejvoda is a competitor the fans can’t wait to see in the Singles League as he doesn’t appear to have many weaknesses, while Eric Goldman also clearly knows his stuff having worked for IGN but really comes into his own with categories like Comic Book Movies. Their losing score of 30 points against Top 10 would be enough to win them most matches by at least TKO!
However as well as they have done, their recent #1 Contender match against Top 10 probably showed a dangerous weakness: they are not regular viewers of the show. They have a general idea of what most competitors will struggle with but not the idea of what an individual’s strengths and weaknesses are, which came back to bite them on the ass big time when Top 10 spun Opponents Choice but were handed Biopics – a Rocha specialty – and answered every question correctly. They also don’t appear to use their challenges and the JTE rule (3 question repeats) as well as other teams, maybe by not watching they don’t fully understand them? If they were to have a better understanding of the game and their competitors I would feel much more comfortable predicting them as a possible team to take down the Patriots, but I currently feel this, combined with their lack of experience in Title matches – I get the feeling they would struggle in the buzzer round – stops them being the heroes that can take down the Patriots.
The Shirewolves – “Classy” Clarke Wolfe & Rachel “The Crusher” Cushing
The team everyone has been hoping for ever since Yodi stepped away from competing and Ken Napzok lost his smile has finally formed! 2 of the most successful females in the league and the last 2 Rookies of the Year, the Shirewolves have plenty of beef with the Lions Den and will be looking to take them down, starting with Ken and Dagnino and hopefully ending with the Patriots.
Wolfe faced the Patriots as part of the Wolves of Steel in their second title defence, and while she hasn’t yet played a title match, Cushing will have likely faced Samm Levine for the Singles title and may even hold the belt by the time the Shirewolves earn a title shot. Having not seem them in a match together yet it is hard to judge, but I have the feeling they will be a formidable opponent.
It will take at least a few months before they have enough wins to take on the Patriots so it is very possible the Team title will have changed hands by then, but if not I think this would be a great match to watch from both a story and competition perspective.
The Wildberries – Eliot “The Mountain” Dewberry & Josh “The Wildman” Macuga
“0-10 is our goal!” – Josh Macuga at the 2017 Awards
Enough said! If the Patriots ever face the Wildberries then it’s because they have already lost the belt.
Looking to the future?
“But these heels… Don’t make me come out of retirement. Cos I eat heels for breakfast. You saw that.” – Mark Reilly on accepting the Yodi Award at the 2017 Awards
So picture this: Top 10 come up short against the Patriots for the third time in a row. Above the Line dispose of Modok but once again fail in their title match. The Shirewolves demolish Napzok & Dagnino and go on an unbeaten run to a title match, only to fail like everyone before them. On the sidelines, Mark “Yodi” Reilly watches his former teammate Clarke Wolfe miss out on the belt once again and is forced to watch the Lions Den gloat again.
While Dagnino and the Patriots crow at their latest victory in the post-match interview, Yodi crashes the interview and warns them that their time at the top is coming to an end, because he’s coming back with the sole purpose of taking them down. A team match is arranged for Yodi’s return, but nobody seems to know who his teammate will be. The match arrives and Reilly walks out alone, takes the mic and introduces his new teammate – former Singles Champion Dan Murrell. Team Champs are back! These 2 guys were teammates for the 2015 Ultimate Schmoedown and Murrell is a former member of the Lions Den and I’m sure he would relish an opportunity to cut his old faction down to size.
Like the Shirewolves before them, they beat all comers, taking down a few heels on the way to the Patriots. Would they be able to beat the Patriots? I can’t guarantee that but I’m sure it will be a match for the ages!
Do you think any of these teams will beat the Patriots? Do you think there’s another existing team that could beat them? Kristian Harloff has already teased that we will see more super-teams in 2018, so perhaps the team that ends the Patriots’ reign hasn’t even formed yet.
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.
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.
“But these heels… Don’t make me come out of retirement. Cos I eat heels for breakfast. You saw that.” – Mark Reilly on accepting the Yodi Award at the 2017 Awards
Eyes on the Ball 