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Dan Murrell (born January 4, 1983) is the former 5 time singles champion and former team champion.

Murrell is engaged to Mara Knopic.

History[]

Rising Star[]

Dan Murrell’s entry to the Schmoedown came in Season 2 as part of the first ever team tournament. Already the Screen Junkies Movie Fights Champion, Murrell paired up with Ultimate Schmoedown Singles Champion Mark “Yodi” Reilly to form the aptly named Team Champs. Their first round opponents were the B-Team (Cody Hall, Cobbster and Ace Cabrera) who were unable to pull out a victory despite having an extra man. Team Champs were beaten in the quarterfinals by Top 10, but the 18-19 final score was the closest losing margin in the tournament.

Murrell made his Schmoedown return and his Singles debut in the Season 3 opener against John Campea. He TKO’d Campea with a 6-13 score and followed this up with a 16-11 TKO victory over Scott Mantz to set up a title match against his former teammate.

Reilly came into this match with a 5-0 record, but Murrell handed him his first ever loss in Singles with a 15-18 victory to win in his first ever Championship Match. He soon had to defend his title against Clarke Wolfe – who went on to be crowned 2016 Rookie of the Year – where in a dominant performance he earned his 3rd TKO victory in 4 matches, with a score of 11-4.

Mark Ellis worked his way through the field in the 2016 Ultimate Schmoedown tournament to challenge Murrell for the belt at Schmoedown Spectacular, but once again Murrell emerged with the victory, 23-20. This match is notable for being Murrell’s first perfect Round 1, though it must be remembered that this was in the old format where competitors were only asked 6 questions and each competitor received different questions.

The Three Champions[]

Up until this point, Murrell had been a lone wolf or accompanied by some of his Screen Junkies colleagues, but following victory over Mark Ellis he accepted an invitation to join the Lion’s Den, furthering a rivalry with John Rocha, who was targeting all the belts and all the records. Rocha’s win over Reilly at Spectacular earned him a Championship match against Murrell and the Champ finally received his first loss in Singles, by a margin of 20-21. After this match, Murrell chose to leave the Lion’s Den as he felt he was not getting the support he wanted from them. He chose instead to fly solo.

Murrell’s next Schmoedown outing was at the 2017 Free 4 All. Coming in at number 12 (out of 35), Murrell’s 11 rounds was the longest anyone lasted that year, and his total points (47) was 19 more than his closest competitors, John Rocha and John Humphrey. However, Murrell was unable to get the victory here: he was eliminated along with Rocha, William Bibbiani and Drew McWeeny by Marc Andreyko in one of the greatest moments of Schmoedown history: XX5XX.

After Mark Reilly won the belt back from Rocha, the three of them competed at Collider Collision in a Triple Threat match for the title. Reilly was the first to be eliminated in Round 5 and Murrell won the belt back on the final question, with a final score of 13-22-26. He wasn’t given long to savour his victory though, as his interview was interrupted by Samm Levine appearing at the table and cashing in his Free 4 All victory for a shot at Murrell. Samm’s logic was that Murrell would be tired, but he instead earned his first Perfect Round 1 in the 8-question format (though he missed the bonus) on the way to a 26-23 victory to retain the belt.

Stepping Away[]

By this point, the Commissioner Kristian Harloff was on his revenge tour and a victory over Jeff Sneider at Collision set him up for a September showdown with Murrell. In a match where points were hard to come by, Harloff emerged the victor to become the 3rd competitor to hold the Singles Title. Following the match, Murrell shocked the world by announcing his retirement from the Schmoedown, stating that with all the new blood coming into the league it was time someone else had a shot at the title, but vowing that he would return at some point.

Time went on, Samm Levine went on a run through both the Singles and Teams Ultimate Schmoedowns, winning the Singles belt but losing the Team Championship to the Patriots, with his partner Drew WcWeeny. Samm defended his title against Rachel Cushing and Above the Line beat Modok to earn another shot at the Teams Title. As this incredible run continued, debates began amongst the fans as to whether the title of Greatest Of All Time had to move from Murrell to Levine… yet still we heard nothing from Dan.

The Return[]

Before we knew it, the 2018 Free 4 All was here. 48 competitors all competing for a title shot of their choice. RB3 was eliminated and the 47th competitor was about to be announced. The entrance music began and it was unmistakably the Jaws theme that Murrell always came out to. Kristian began his announcement at the desk: “Representing Screen Junkies… Ladies and gentlemen… Dangerous Dan Murrell!” The world was buzzing with excitement at the GOAT’s return, only for Andrew Ghai to emerge, giving the middle finger salute to anyone and everyone, announcing that he’d killed Murrell and buried him.

Over the next few weeks, he would go around proclaiming himself the Ghai that beat the GOAT, prancing around the Collider studios as if he owned the place. At the end of the second live event at the El Portal Theatre, Andrew Ghai came back on stage and announced to the crowd that he could get Dan Murrell there tonight. This “Dan Murrell” turned out to be none other than his Team Action teammate Ben Bateman in costume, and the pair of them mocked him publicly. The bear had been prodded… or perhaps I should say the Horse…

The lights went out and when they came back up, four hooded figures were on the stage. The revealed themselves one by one: Knost, Rocha, Inman, Reilly, all holding up the four-fingered sign of the Four Horsemen. Then their salute changed, from four fingers to five, the lights went down again and a fifth hooded figure appeared, and was revealed, and it was none other than Dan Murrell. The Five Horsemen had formed, with the original 3 Singles Champions all in one stable. Murrell told Ghai right then and there that he’d had enough and pressured him into a match at Collision.

Mixed Results[]

Of course, things didn’t go as planned when that match came around. Kal the Schmoe Dog’s theft meant that Reilly was not there to support his stablemate and when he got to the table, Murrell realised just how much the game had moved forward while he was away. A combination of ring-rust, being put off by Ghai’s antics and poor luck when spinning the Wheel saw Ghai shock the world. Andrew Ghai hand Dan Murrell his first ever TKO defeat: 14-16!

Murrell’s next match came at Season 5’s final live event as he and new teammate John Rocha took on Wait, I Know This! in the opening match of the Ultimate Schmoedown Anarchy tournament. With two former champions teaming up, the Founding Fathers made short work of Stacy Howard and Winston Marshall with a 20-17 TKO victory.

The Founding Fathers were many people’s favourites to win the tournament, but they had a much tougher test in the second round, against KOrruption. The teams could not be separated over 3 rounds and a 30-30 score saw them go to Sudden Death. On the first question, Murrell was unable to get his answer down in time and following the “Jane Fonda Rule” did not get the point, while Rocha and Kalinowski both got the correct answer of “David O. Russell” and Chance Ellison was controversially given the point for the phonetically correct “David O’Russell,” knocking Murrell and Rocha out.

Murrell was one of six players to be given an automatic entry into the 2018 Ultimate Schmoedown Singles tournament, while Chance Ellison won a spot with the magic number and Ben Bateman earned his spot by winning the gauntlet. Murrell’s first round match was against Stacy Howard and he came away with the 18-7 KO victory. This was a notable match for Murrell as not only was this the first time he managed a perfect Round 1 and hit the bonus point, it was also the first time that he finished with 100% accuracy, a feat that only 3 other competitors (Mark Ellis in Season 1, William Bibbiani on his debut and Rachel Cushing in Innergeekdom) have achieved.

Next up though was rookie sensation Ethan Erwin in the semifinal and the league’s new “Big Time” competitor proved too much for Murrell, who had a bad day with just 60% accuracy and earning 46% of the points available to him, on the way to a 12-13 TKO defeat.

The Road to New York[]

Any other year and that would have meant his season was over, but it had been announced that this year’s losing semi-finalists would compete in a third-place playoff, the winner of which would face the losing finalist in a Number 1 Contender match at Spectacular III. Murrell faced Marc Andreyko in the playoff and blew the Android away for a 15-14 TKO victory, managing to hit a perfect Round 1 and the bonus question for the second time in his career.

This result left him facing Clarke Wolfe at Spectacular III for the chance to face either Ethan Erwin or stablemate John Rocha at the Season 6 opener in New York. This match was much closer than when they faced previously, but Clarke again succumbed to a 12-15 TKO defeat, likely fatigued from having already defended the Teams Title earlier in the event. In the conclusion to the season, Ethan Erwin completed his run through the Singles Division with a victory over John Rocha to become the first rookie to win the Singles Title, setting up a rematch with Murrell in New York.

What felt like years of no new Schmoedown matches passed, but eventually the big day came. Dan Murrell came to New York without any of his fellow Horsemen, but with a clear determination to win the title back. In front of a raucous crowd, Murrell managed to hit a perfect Round 1 with the bonus question for the third time, to open up a 2 point lead. He went 4/4 in Round 2, checking down once to multiple choice, while 8 points from Erwin narrowed his lead to 1 point, which disappeared as both answered correctly in Round 3, but Murrell only bet 2 points to Erwin’s 3. Erwin took an early lead in Round 4, beating Murrell to the buzzer on the first 2 questions for 2 points. Murrell pulled it back with the next 2, but Erwin got the final question to take a 1 point lead into Round 5. Both competitors hit their 2-pointer, then Murrell hit his 3-pointer to send things back to Erwin. The Champion missed on both his 3- and 5-pointers, giving Murrell a 23-25 victory while the crowd went wild and began a chant of “You deserve it!”

Match History[]

Singles[]

Date Competitor Round 2 Category Outcome Notes
3/25/16 John Campea Fantasy/Sci-Fi Win by TKO
5/20/16 Scott Mantz Oscar Movies Win by TKO #1 Contender Match
7/8/16 Mark Reilly Sly & Arnie Win Championship Match
8/26/16 Clarke Wolfe Sports Movies Win by TKO Championship Match
12/23/16 Mark Ellis Spinners Choice-Comic Book Movies Win

Championship Match

2016 Schmoedown Spectacular

2/17/17 John Rocha Mixed Bag Loss Championship Match
4/14/17 2017 Free 4 All None Loss Draw Number: 12
7/7/17

Mark Reilly (II)

John Rocha (II)

Spinners Choice-Comic Book Movies Win

Championship Match

2017 Collider Collision

7/7/17 Samm Levine Famous Actors & Actresses Win

Championship Match

2017 Collider Collision

9/15/17 Kristian Harloff Opponents Choice-Sports Movies Loss Championship Match
7/13/18 Andrew Ghai Opponents Choice-Romance Loss by TKO 2018 Collider Collision
11/30/18 Stacy Howard New Releases Win by KO 2018 Ultimate Schmoedown
12/4/18 Ethan Erwin Spinners Choice-Oscar Movies Loss by TKO 2018 Ultimate Schmoedown
12/11/18 Marc Andreyko Opponents Choice-Tim Burton Win by TKO

Contender Qualifier

2018 Ultimate Schmoedown

12/21/18 Clarke Wolfe (II) Fantasy/Sci-Fi Win by TKO

#1 Contender Match

2018 Schmoedown Spectacular

2/1/19 Ethan Erwin (II) Disney Movies Win

Championship Match

Schmoedown Live

3/29/19 2019 Free 4 All None Win

Draw Number: 31

Schmoedown Live

5/3/19 William Bibbiani Stanley Kubrick Win by TKO Championship Match
7/19/19 Paul Oyama New Releases Loss Championship Match
2/6/20

Brendan Meyer

William Bibbiani (II)

Natalie Portman Win

#1 Contender Match

Schmoedown Live

3/6/20 Ben Bateman Anne Hathaway Win in SD

Championship Match

Schmoedown Live

8/14/20 Ethan Erwin (III) Fantasy/Sci-Fi Win in SD

Championship Match

Schmoedown Throwdown

9/11/20 Ben Bateman (II) Alfred Hitchcock Win

Championship Match

Schmoedown Throwdown

12/12/20 Adam Collins Young Adult Adaptations Loss

Championship Match

2020 Schmoedown Spectacular

3/5/21 Jeff Sneider Wrestlers in Film Win

#1 Contender Match

Schmoedown Versus

4/9/21 Adam Collins (II) Courtroom Dramas/Legal Thrillers Win

Championship Match

Schmoedown Throwdown

4/24/21 2021 Free 4 All None Loss Draw Number: 9
8/6/21 Ethan Erwin (IV) Directors Loss

Championship Match

Schmoedown Live

Schmoedown Versus

9/2/21 Jessica Schloth Opponents Choice-Romantic Comedies Win by TKO 2021 Ultimate Schmoedown
10/15/21 Lon Harris Classics Win in SD 2021 Ultimate Schmoedown
11/12/21 Jeannine Brice Martin Scorsese Loss 2021 Ultimate Schmoedown
12/4/21 John Rocha (III) Audrey Hepburn Win by TKO

G.O.A.T. Championship Match

Schmoedown Live

2021 Schmoedown Spectacular

4/30/22 2022 Free 4 All None Loss (MVP) Draw Number: 27
10/1/22 Samm Levine (II) Monster Movies Loss by TKO

Championship Match

2022 Schmoedown Spectacular

Teams Matches[]

"Champs"

Date Competitor Round 2 Category Outcome Notes
8/27/15 B-Team (Christian Ruvalcaba, Andres Cabrera & Cody Hall) Oscar Movies Win 2015 Ultimate Schmoedown
9/24/15 Top 10 (John Rocha & Matt Knost) Horror Loss 2015 Ultimate Schmoedown

"Screen Junkies"

Date Competitor Round 2 Category Outcome Notes
4/4/17 Collider (Kristian Harloff & John Rocha) Classics Loss

"Founding Fathers"

Date Competitor Round 2 Category Outcome Notes
9/11/18 Wait, I Know This (Winston Marshall and Stacy Howard) Opponents Choice-Movie Release Dates Win by TKO

Schmoedown Live

2018 Ultimate Team Schmoedown

10/23/18 KOrruption (Mike Kalinowski & Chance Ellison) Horror Loss in SD 2018 Ultimate Team Schmoedown
4/25/19 Wildberries (Josh Macuga & Eliot Dewberry) Tim Burton Win by TKO
5/23/19 Double Toasted (Korey Coleman & Martin Thomas) Spinners Choice-Stanley Kubrick Win by KO Schmoedown Live
7/15/19 KOrruption (Mike Kalinowski & Chance Ellison) (II) Opponents Choice-Romance Loss #1 Contender Match
10/25/19 KOrruption (Mike Kalinowski & Chance Ellison) (III) New Releases Win

Championship Match

Schmoedown Live

12/17/19 Shazam (William Bibbiani & Brendan Meyer) Fantasy/Sci-Fi Win by TKO

Championship Match

Schmoedown Live

2019 Schmoedown Spectacular

8/21/20 KOrruption (Mike Kalinowski & Chance Ellison) (IV) Angela Bassett Loss

Championship Match

Schmoedown Throwdown

11/20/20 The Witching Power (Perri Nemiroff & Haleigh Foutch) Innergeekdom Win 2020 Ultimate Team Schmoedown
11/27/20 Final Exam (Paul Oyama & Lon Harris) Eddie Murphy Loss 2020 Ultimate Team Schmoedown

"Danger Zone"

Date Competitor Round 2 Category Outcome Notes
5/7/21 The Midterms (Eric Zipper & Jonathan Harris) Movie Release Dates Win 2021 Mid-Season Team Tournament
5/14/21 Deception (Marisol McKee & Adam Collins) Movie Release Dates Win 2021 Mid-Season Team Tournament
5/21/21 Rushmore (JTE & John Rocha) Opponents Choice-Martial Arts Movies Win 2021 Mid-Season Team Tournament Final
5/28/21 KOrruption (Mike Kalinowski & Chance Ellison) Francis Ford Coppola Loss

#1 Contender Match

Schmoedown Battlefield

7/29/21 Lightning Time (Ethan Erwin & Liz Shannon Miller) Lucasfilm Loss
10/21/21 The Untouchables (Drew McWeeny & Paige Frabetti) Spinners Choice-Ice Cube Win 2021 Ultimate Team Schmoedown
11/4/21 The Press Room (Perri Nemiroff & Josh Horowitz) Tyler Perry Loss 2021 Ultimate Team Schmoedown
5/6/22 Peggy Gubbins/David Jindoian Paul Newman and Robert Redford Win by TKO
6/17/22 King Arthur (Griffin Newman & Jeffrey Kan) Alfred Hitchcock Loss #1 Contender Match

Exhibition Matches[]

Date Competitor Round 2 Category Outcome Notes
4/22/20

John Rocha

Kevin Smets

Alex Damon

2000's Loss (4th) Battle of the Champions
4/25/20

Perri Nemiroff

Paul Oyama

Brendan Meyer

Comedies Loss (3rd) New Releases Championship Match
6/10/21

Alex Damon (II)

Ben Goddard

Mara Knopic

Evil Exes Loss (3rd/4th)

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World Exhibition Match

After Round 2 Dan Murrell and Mara Knopic were allowed to team and combine both of their points

9/24/21 Adam Collins Lucasfilm Win

Schmoedown Live

Murrell vs Collins III

9/2/22 Mara Knopic (II) Who Said It? Loss Lord of the Rings Exhibition Match

Ultimate Schmoedown History[]

Year Category Result
2015 Ultimate Schmoedown Tag Team Quarterfinals (8th Place)
2018 Ultimate Team Schmoedown Tag Team Quarterfinals (5th place)
2018 Ultimate Schmoedown Singles Semifinals (4th Place)
2020 Ultimate Team Schmoedown Tag Team Semifinals (3rd Place)
2021 Mid-Season Team Tournament Tag Team Winner
2021 Ultimate Schmoedown Singles Quarterfinals (5th Place)
2021 Ultimate Team Schmoedown Tag Team Semifinals (3rd Place)

Awards and Nominations[]

Former 5x Singles Champion

Former Teams Champion

Nominations:[]

2016 Babyface of the Year

2016 Singles Match of the Year (Murrell v Ellis)

2017 Match of the Year (Murrell v Rocha)

2017 Match of the Year (Murrell v Reilly v Rocha)

2017 Upset of the Year (Lost to Rocha)

2017 Upset of the Year (Lost to Harloff)

2018 Upset of the Year (Founding Fathers lost to KOrruption)

2018 Babyface Team of the Year (Founding Fathers)

2018 Comeback Player of the Year

2018 Match of the Year (Founding Fathers v KOrruption)

2019 Upset of the Year (Lost to Oyama)

2019 Babyface Team of the Year (Founding Fathers)

2019 Babyface of the Year

2019 Comeback Player of the Year

2019 Match of the Year (KOrruption v Founding Fathers III)

2019 Singles Player of the Year

2020 Player of the Year

2020 Singles Player of the Year

2020 Team of the Year (Founding Fathers)

2020 Faction of the Year (The Finstock Exchange)

2020 Feud of the Year (Founding Fathers v KOrruption)

2020 Moment of the Year (Murrell v Collins Post-Match Interview)

2020 Babyface Team of the Year (Founding Fathers)

2020 Match of the Year (KOrruption v Founding Fathers IV)

2020 Match of the Year (Murrell v Bateman I)

2020 Match of the Year (Murrell v Bateman II)

2020 Match of the Year (Murrell v Bibbiani v Meyer)

Wins:[]

2016 Player of the Year

2018 Upset of the Year (Lost to Ghai)

2018 Moment of the Year (5 Horsemen Reveal)

2019 Team of the Year (Founding Fathers)

2019 Player of the Year

2020 Moment of the Year (Disbelief at win in Murrell v Bateman II)

2020 Match of the Year (Murrell v Collins)

External links[]

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