Hello Schmoedown fans, Tim here with Part 4 of this 6-part special preview to the Schmoedown Spectacular. This next match is the championship match many might call the true main event of this year’s “Grand Showcase,” with two powerhouse teams and multiple storylines at play! Fans been anticipating this matchup since the end of the Ultimate Schmoedown Anarchy Team Tournament several months ago, and in this event, we will find out which team is the best in the division.
It’s the Team Championship match with The Shirewolves defending their titles against Who’s The Boss!
The origins of this epic matchup go all the way back to the beginning of this season in January. Soon after Rachel Cushing defeated JTE and Mike Kalinowski in the #1 Contender Triple Threat match, it was announced that she has forming a superteam called The Shirewolves with Clarke Wolfe as her partner. They would later team up with manager Emma Fyffe and her prospects Marc Andreyko and Sam Witwer as The Fyffe Club. A lot of fans in the Schmoedown community were really excited with this superteam and hailed them as the next team champions.
They made their debut with a victory over their enemies The Lion’s Den (with Tom Dagnino and the betrayer Ken Napzok), then won their next match against Team Action at the live event, and became the #1 Contenders with a TKO win over The World’s Finest. But before they could compete against Above The Line, Samm Levine announced that he was retiring and giving up both the singles and teams belts (with Drew McWeeny’s approval), saying that he has done everything he could possibly do.
It was a decision that Rachel, Clarke, and manager Emma felt disappointed about but they understood why he made that decision. Instead, they competed against the Free 4 All winner Brianne Chandler and her partner Bryan Bishop in the open championship match. That match was a no doubter as Shirewolves won the titles via 4th Round KO, setting themselves up to defend the titles against the winners of the Anarchy Tournament.
As much as fans adore this superteam, there are those who question their path to the titles. But you cannot argue the stats on paper. From every stat that Frank Janisch has compiled, The Shirewolves appeared as the most consistent superteam with an accuracy of nearly 89% and had a longer road to the belts than The Patriots, with four matches before their title match. The same number of matches Above The Line had before their first title match. The Shirewolves are truly worth their weight as the current team champions, and Rachel and Clarke are each a crown jewel to Emma Fyffe’s successful faction.
Now, they will be given their greatest test against the winners of the Anarchy Tournament.
When the corruptor Mike Kalinowski and top lawyer Paulie G. decided to violently shake up the Schmoedown Teams Division with Anarchy, many were shocked by the new teams could come from the drawing. One of those new teams was a completely random one with Ben Bateman of Team Action partnering up with Mark Reilly of The Five Horsemen, with Tom Dagnino/Finstock as their manager. They were truly an Anarchy team, with clashing personalities, clashing allegiances, and a scheming manager to tie it all up with a bow.
Both have the combined movie knowledges, but how would their team chemistry work between a face and a heel? Apparently, it would work pretty good, with their victory over The Crazy Eighty-Greats, and it would improve with every subsequent victory in the tournament, with their wins over Cinemaniacs and KOrruption. Then in the Finals against The Harris Brothers, their team chemistry reached perfection with a brutal 3rd Round KO to face The Shirewolves for the titles at Spectacular.
Ben Batemen and Mark Reilly have become an instant powerhouse in just one month. It’s outstanding just how well these two have worked together. Their team chemistry now rivals the very best, like The Patriots and Above The Line. Both of their knowledges have synced together with each covering each other’s weakness well. Despite their differing personalities, they have set them aside for something greater: the Movie Trivia Schmoedown Team Championship.
For Ben, it will be his first ever chance to taste championship gold. For Mark, it could be his return to championship status after holding the singles title more than a year and a half ago. A resounding win will mark what will be known as the “Autumn of Domination” for Who’s The Boss. Not just for the two competitors, but for Tom Dagnino or Finstock (or whoever he wants to go by). He has been craving another opportunity to bring a team into the elites since The Patriots. Thanks to the Anarchy drawing, he has another team in championship realm and another great success for his resume. He cannot wait for his team to defeat Emma Fyffe’s superteam since losing to her in the Manager Bowl last year. If it goes well, then he could be back in the running for Manager of the Year against Emma Fyffe.
Stat-wise, Who’s The Boss has what it takes to challenge The Shirewolves with an accuracy of 82%, earning 80% of their possible points. When I first wrote about this team, I called them “Frankenstein’s Creature.” Now they are known altogether as “Frankenstein’s Godzilla.”
There is no doubt that the champions Rachel Cushing and Clarke Wolfe will face their greatest test together as a team. A successful title defense against Who’s The Boss will silence every critic. For them to successfully defend their titles, they must trust each other and rely on each other’s knowledges to outlast Ben and Mark. Basically, their team chemistry must be equal or greater than the mighty team chemistry of Who’s The Boss.
Although Clarke said that she feels a bit betrayed by Mark Reilly returning to competitive play after being invited back by John Rocha, she cannot let her feelings about her former teammate get in the way of the game. Also, because she’s in two matches in this year’s Spectacular, so Clarke needs to be careful with her mental stamina to win both this title defense and the #1 Singles Contender Match against Dan Murrell. They want to prove to the world that they are champions, and they have this match to show it.
As for Who’s The Boss, they are going into this championship match with a lot of momentum on their side. They have shown throughout the tournament that they can hang with the top team-ups in their first three matches, and they had ability to annihilate in the Anarchy finals. For them to pull off this victory, Ben and Mark must rely on their successful team chemistry and trust each other’s answer to every question given. Not only that, their manager Dagnino must be decisive with the decision to either challenge or pick a certain movie category. If those keys to victory are attained, then we could have new team champions.
But if that happens, then what happens to both Team Action and The Five Horsemen? It’s unknown what Ben and Mark will do, but what they could do after this match will change the landscape of factions in the Schmoedown.
This Team Championship match will go down to the thinnest wire based on what these two teams will bring. Both have the impressive movie knowledge, and both have five-round experiences. What it will come down to is what Reilly said in this Monday’s Collider Live: the 5-point question. The Shirewolves won’t back down in their title defense, but Who’s The Boss will come in with a multi-game winning streak and the confidence from winning the tournament.
That being said, Shirewolves will be the slightest favorites to retain their belts. Either way, we should be in for a match to remember in Schmoedown history. We will see if Who’s The Boss can dethrone the champs, or if The Shirewolves can shed away the moniker of being called “paper champions” by several critics. In what could be the fight of the night, it’s the battle of legendary teams for the coveted Movie Trivia Schmoedown Team Championship!