SPOILERS FOR WEEK 8

The new week of the Movie Trivia Schmoedown’s flagship program, Friday Night Titans, arrived on YouTube tonight with a very intriguing show. I made a comment last week about the main event this week being a “squash match,” borrowing the pro wrestling term, with the new team The Appointment of Mr. Erwin and Slick Nick taking on Eric Zipper and Adam Gertler. I just did not find that to be main event worthy.

I commented that they needed a strong opening match to help this episode out and the MTS absolutely pulled that off. Two debuting teams, including the Barbarian and… Gold Leader (???) against Jeanine the Machine and a mystery partner.

I’m going to start off with the reveal of the mystery partner, which I thought fell totally flat. They tried to build it up, but someone we have never seen with no noticeable character came out. I think they needed some kind of vignette to introduce and highlight the Database, which was a cool name, but meant nothing.

However, having said that, this kid named Database was unbelievable. His trivia knowledge was amazing and his game play was like a veteran, not a rookie in his first match. It was an impressive performance to make Jeanine look like the secondary team member, and she is absolutely an epic player.

They have a real chance to build a huge teams match up. Jeanine and Database, who have been dubbed the System, and The Appointment is clearly a feud that could develop into a huge match. The elevation of the Stars as the top heel faction of the Schmoedown has been very solid this season and with Jeanine at the heart of the one team, this is a match to build for.

Unfortunately, Gold Leader really pulled down the Barbarian and, had they not gotten spinner’s choice and got to pick Star Wars, this game would not have been anywhere near as close as it turned out. The Barbarian could use a better partner. I would say Eric Zipper is in the same boat. He needs a partner better than what he got in the main event. Sure Gertler was entertaining and eccentric with his wrestling mask, but he is a comedy act, not a real threat. Zipper and Barbarian would make a powerhouse team.

Perhaps Gold Leader and Gertler will make me eat my words and they will become great partners for their respective teammate, but there is a lot of work to be done.

There was good character work in the main event, but the Appointment definitely dominated the match. I enjoyed Zipper’s confusion over what was going on with Mr. Erwin and Nick Harley’s constant bodyguard type schtick. And Roxy is absolutely GOLD in her heel manager character right now.

The Free-4-All has begun to be promoted. It is next Saturday and includes 40 competitors. Should be a huge day. They also continued to build toward Shazam vs. Korruption title match as Korruption accepted the match with the champs.