The June 17th edition of FNT saw Brandon Hanna and Brother Lomis square off on the Innergeekdom division and the hotly contested Teams battle for the #1 contender spot between King Arthur (Griffy Newms & King Kan) and Danger Zone (Ben Bateman & Dan Murrell)
Brandon Hanna (5-5) vs Brother Lomis (1-0, 1KO)
In a match that saw a veteran of the division (Hanna) taking on a 1st year entrant (Lomis), the score at the end of the 1st round, 9-6 in favor of Hanna, seemed like it would be a precursor for the rest of the match…
As we entered play in the 2nd round Hanna elected to go first and pile onto his 3 point lead and tack on an additional 7 points in his category of “Jurassic Park” answering 4 of 5 questions correctly. Hanna was rewarded with his risk taking as he earned a Spinners Choice after electing to take the Wild Card slice on his first spin. However, he did give up a 1 point steal to Lomis. As for Lomis, he tried to maintain that momentum from the steal in his category of “The Worlds of Marvel”. Lomis answered 4 of 5 questions for 6 points but suffered a big blow in his comeback efforts when he surrendered a massive 2 point steal to Hanna on his 4th question of the round. That gave Brandon Hanna an 18-13 advantage heading into the 3rd round.
Just when you thought we were in for a run of the mill 3rd round to close out the match this is where things get dicey. Facing a 5 point deficit, Brother Lomis was forced all the way to his 5 point question after hitting his 2 point question but failing to hit on his 3 point question. To stay alive, Lomis needed his 5 point question:
“In Rise of the Planet of the Apes, what is the name of the space shuttle seen entering Mars’ atmosphere?”
Without hesitation Lomis confidently answered “Icarus”.
Only needing to overcome a 2 point deficit, Hanna would need to win it on either his 3 or 5 point question. After hitting on his 2 point question to even things up at 20-20, Hanna would squander his opportunity to close out the match in regulation, missing on his 3 and 5 point questions.
We were off to Sudden Death for the first time this season in any division. However, it wouldn’t last very long as the match was decided on the 3rd question:
“What year saw the release of An Unexpected Journey?”
Lomis answered 2011, Hanna answered 2012. With a final score of 23-22, Brandon Hanna survived for the Sudden Death win to advance his career record to 6-5.
Match Numbers
Brandon Hanna (6-5)
Accuracy Rate: 82% (18/22)
PPE Rate: 66% (23/35)
Brother Lomis (1-1)
Accuracy Rate: 68% (15/22)
PPE Rate: 65% (22/34)
King Arthur (3-1, 1KO) vs Danger Zone (5-3, 1KO)
In this #1 contender match in which the winner goes on to face Team Champions Shazam (14-2, 4KOs), Danger Zone is looking to make it to it’s first title shot and King Arthur is trying to earn a rematch with the champs after they were last defeated by Shazam at the 2021 year end event Schmoedown Spectacular.
The 1st round for both teams was a blazing start as things ended up in a 20-20 tie. In the round, King Kan and Ben Bateman both earned 9 points while their teammates Griffy Newms and Dan Murrell both went perfect plus the bonus question for the maximum 11 points.
In the 2nd round is where the pressure ramped up even more. King Arthur, elected to go first in the round and initially elected to spin away from the Wild Card slice only to end up on it again on their second spin. Revealing they had landed on Opponent’s Choice, Danger Zone opted to give them ”The Hepburns”. After giving up a crucial 1 point to steal to Danger Zone, King Arthur rebounded nicely for the rest of their round. They went 4 of 5 for 8 points. Danger Zone now with the advantage spun “Hitchcock” on their first spin and stuck with it. After hitting correctly on their first question, a major turning point happened in the match when on the second question, Danger Zone seemed to rush their answer and missed. King Arthur was able to capitalize and earn a massive 2 point steal. Despite that blow, Danger Zone ultimately went 4 of 5 for 8 points. At the end of two rounds it was King Arthur with the narrow 30-29 lead going into the 3rd round.
In the final round it was a back and forth affair as each team hit their 2 and 3 point questions. As for Danger Zone, they needed to hit their 5 pointer to put pressure on King Arthur. After exhausting all their repeats, Dan Murrel and Ben Bateman were unable to get the correct answer and King Arthur advances to their second Teams title match with a final score of 35-34.
THE FINAL QUESTION:
“Benny Hill co-stars with Michael Caine in what 1960s heist comedy film?”
ANSWER:
The Italian Job (1969)
Match Numbers
King Arthur (4-1)
Accuracy Rate: 93% (27/29)
PPE Rate: 92% (35/38)
Danger Zone (5-4)
Accuracy Rate: 90% (27/30)
PPE Rate: 81% (34/42)
Outside The Matches
King Arthur and Bobby Gucci – What’s Goin on Here? As we saw at the start of the episode, King Kan and Griffy Newms were discussing what to do about their continually absent manager. And in their post match interview after defeating Danger Zone, they made it quite clear that they were done with the Finstock Exchange and becoming a “sovereign nation” unto themselves. Although, King Kan did relent to helping out Barbarian one last time to be his stand-in manager for his upcoming Innergeekdom match.
Robert Parker Betrays The Dungeon Breaking Kaiser’s Heart In a stunning turn of events that was initiated in Danger Zone’s post match interview, manager of The Den Kate Mulligan reveals she has signed Robert Parker to be her Innergeekdom player. Backstage after the interviews, Mulligan and Parker are confronted by Kaiser and Smets. Lines have been drawn, blood has been spilled. Friends who became brothers are now sworn enemies as Parker will do whatever it takes to crawl out from the shadow of the Innergeekdom Champion Kevin Smets and make his own way as his own player no matter the cost. Even if the cost is burning friendships and making unholy alliances. Are Parker and Smets on a collision course?
Looking Ahead
Main Event
Teams Division Title Match: Shazam (14-2, 4KOs) vs King Arthur (4-1, 1KO)
Last Meeting at Schmoedown Spectacular VI (2021)
Shazam
Accuracy Rate: 83% (25/30)
PPE Rate: 87% (39/45)
King Arthur
Accuracy Rate: 82% (23/28)
PPE Rate: 81% (34/42)
Undercard
Innergeekdom Division: TBD vs TBD
You can watch this week’s episode below:
Written by: Frank Janisch
