Schmoedown Journeys is a new feature where we talk to people in the community and find out their journey with the Schmoedown, from when they first found it to where their fandom is now.
Today, I share my journey.
TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF AND MOVIES
For someone who loves a movie trivia league, I don’t really watch a lot of movies.
It might come as a surprise to people who are reading this or it might not. (I suppose it depends on how much you hang around VIDEODREW’s stuff.) But I have just never been that into watching movies. Not that movies aren’t incredible pieces of art that a lot of people put their heart and soul and sometimes life’s work into. It’s more that I never really watched them as a kid. (Even though I’m a child of the 80s, I didn’t see E.T. until I was almost twenty-three, for example. And I’ve still never seen any Indiana Jones movie, The Goonies or The Karate Kid, among others.) I haven’t gotten into the habit of watching movies as an adult either. I’m more likely to think of reading a book or listening to music than I am to think of watching a movie.
There are a lot of movies that I just cannot watch too. I have some incredibly severe anxiety issues so I can’t watch certain types of films as a result. Horror, for one, and most thrillers too. Anything that has any sort of realistic violence – meaning something that could conceivably happen to me – is a no too. So when I do watch movies, I have found my interest lies in the fantastical – Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Star Trek, Harry Potter, the MCU, etc. Perhaps that’s why Innergeekdom is my favorite division.
HOW DID YOU FIND THE SCHMOEDOWN?
I went to see Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice when it came out in March 2016, and I was thoroughly underwhelmed. I thought it was awful, quite frankly, but my friend disagreed. So I went in search of someone who had the same opinion as I did to prove to her that I wasn’t alone. I ended up searching for reviews on YouTube, something that I never did, and I found the spoiler review from Collider Video.
I liked the people that were on the review, so I decided to check out some of their other content. I started with Movie Talk, and then quickly added in Heroes and Jedi Council. But one thing I noticed about the shows I watched was that whenever Kristian Harloff was on, he kept plugging this thing called the Schmoedown. I didn’t watch at first simply because I knew I wouldn’t be able to answer any of the questions. But almost every day on Movie Talk, Harloff or someone else was plugging the Schmoedown, so I eventually gave in and decided to check it out.
THE FIRST MATCH I WATCHED WAS…
Dan Murrell vs John Campea.
I’d kind of heard of Campea through watching what little of Collider I had. I had never heard of Murrell. I didn’t really watch channels about television and movies back then, so Screen Junkies was unknown to me. So I was basically watching a match between two people I didn’t know about a subject that I didn’t know too much about in movies.
It really should have been boring to me.
But to say I was enthralled is a bit of an understatement. I mean, who remembers that kind of detail about a movie? (I realized after watching a few of these matches that I do with Lord of the Rings, so I kinda do understand.) But there these two guys were, knowing that much about movies that I’d definitely never seen, and I was in awe. I was slightly confused about the format at first – I mean, why were they each getting different questions in round one? – but by the time I was three matches into the playlist, I had the format pretty much down.
I guess I can say that I’ve been here since the start of the GOAT’s singles career. That’s kinda cool, in retrospect.
I watched six matches that day. And by the end of them, I was a fan of the Schmoedown.
FAVORITE STORYLINE(S)
When John Rocha started showing up as the Outlaw, I began to understand the character aspect of the Schmoedown. Beyond having to watch for an assignment in class during my senior year of high school, I have never really watched wrestling, certainly not of my own volition or on any sort of consistent basis. But the thing that I liked the most about having to watch wrestling for a school year was the crazy characters and storylines. Therefore, it didn’t come as a complete surprise to me that the storylines aspect sucked me in.
There have been some storylines that I haven’t liked – the recent Schmoeminati one is an example of this – but there have been others that I have been all-in on. The breakup of the Nerd’s Watch, Ken Napzok’s heel turn, and the formation of the Shirewolves is one that comes to mind. I quite enjoyed the Team Action Civil War and the introduction of Ben Bateman into the Horsemen as well. But those are just two examples among many.
FAVORITE PLAYER(S)
I am a massive Rachel Cushing fan – she’s on my Schmoedown Mount Rushmore – so anything involving her is likely going to end up at the top of any sort of favorites list I come up with. The Shirewolves are my favorite team of all time, and I miss both the Crusher and her classy teammate Clarke Wolfe more than I can say. But there are incredible women still competing in the league. Mara Knopic, Marisol McKee, Laura Kelly, Jeannine the Machine, just to name a few. Each woman has her own personality, her own character, and her own knowledge and ability that can match any of the men on any day.
But my favorite player of all time is VIDEODREW. I know that she hasn’t been in the league as long as others, and I know that some people might say that she’s not necessarily in the top, top tier of players, but I don’t care about their opinions. VIDEODREW is a player that I have connected to since her first match, and the development of her character has been a joy to watch. Yeah, she’s crazy and kooky, but I relate to that craziness and kookiness more than I do to any other player that I have ever seen compete. She is who I call my Schmoedown soulmate because of that.
YOURSELF AND THE SCHMOEDOWN COMMUNITY
Prior to February 2020, I hadn’t ever really interacted with people about the Schmoedown. I had kept my fandom to myself, occasionally posting about it on Twitter but never really tweeting at anyone or involving myself in any Schmoedown-related discussions. I was a member of the Facebook group but I never said a thing. I had even stopped reading it because I felt it was too toxic an environment, especially for female fans (a thought that has not changed). But for reasons that I do not recall, I put out a tweet asking people if they had any Schmoedown podcast recommendations, and I hashtagged the word Schmoedown. I honestly wasn’t expecting a response.
I got a huge response.
People from the Schmoedown community started offering up suggestions and then following me. My love for VIDEODREW’s character led me into her Twitch stream one night, had me join her Patreon a couple of days later, and now, nearly a year and a half later, I am one of her moderators and lucky enough to call her a friend. The Schmoedown allowed me to connect with someone like her who has helped me grow in ways that I cannot even begin to express.
Around the time I went into VIDEODREW’s Twitch channel, I found myself in Ben Goddard’s Discord, where I met three guys that changed my life by starting the podcast that this network is named after. I offered to send a few tweets for Suge, Justin, and Fares, and it’s turned into more than I ever anticipated. I wouldn’t have all of my friends – also including Daney, Amber, Alex, and others that I now consider family – if it wasn’t for the Schmoedown. I nearly failed my Communications class but am somehow the social media manager and producer of an entire podcast network, having many duties (such as running this website), and I never thought I’d say this, but I wouldn’t want it any other way.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Schmoedown has brought me so much. Entertainment, escapism, friends, family. And as strange as it might sound to some people, it’s given me purpose. I was not in a good place when I started to interact with people about the Schmoedown. But through those interactions, I began to connect with people and the Schmoedown in a way that I hadn’t before, and now everyone and everything means the world to me. Now I’m in a place that I want to be.
For those to whom the Schmoedown is nothing more than casual entertainment, I celebrate you. For those who are as dedicated as I am, I celebrate you too. Whether you’re just getting into it or you’ve been there since Season 1, I celebrate all of you.
I will be forever grateful to a movie trivia league for giving me all that it has, and I plan on continuing to love, celebrate, and support the league and all who have something to do with it for a long time to come.
If you are interested in being featured on Schmoedown Journeys, please comment below.