The Gladiators Thread

[Benji]

Ohhh my bad, I thought they said this was the semis, but they said it was for a semi place.

There will only be three quarters because only six qualified (five winners, one fastest), so presumably quarters will follow same ruling (three winners, one fastest) which makes us up to eleven episodes.

[Benji]

That crossed out "Bring back Jet" replaced by "Hi Diamond" sign 🤣

Why not both?

[Chris2K]

Maybe I'm just in a bad mood, but a lot of things rubbed me the wrong way here:

- Bionic was terrible during Duel. It was like a game of Karate Fighters where only one side was being used.

- Viper's "failed" takedown on The Wall looked incredibly like a deliberate act to miss. 

- I hadn't noticed how easy the new Wall is, especially as there is a set path now and barely any hand/foot grips in the middle.

- The Edge needs a massive overhaul, if you have to instigate a points limit then maybe you're giving out too many points to begin with.

- The female Gladiators dropping their pads during Gauntlet and tackling instead was just insane, made worse by the bizarre stance afterwards that they were "unbreakable" having just mentally broken moments before.

- Apparently there's a rule that says you can just decide not to do an event if you don't want to, which is new to me. Amazing how you can close an 11 second gap in the Eliminator when you have the extra energy from not doing the previous event.

On the plus side...

  

On 23/01/2024 at 11:26, Chris2K said:

- Speaking of Duel, I don't like that the Gladiator is on screen left, instead of screen right.

THEY FIXED IT!!

[Benji]

3 minutes ago, Chris2K said:

The female Gladiators dropping their pads during Gauntlet and tackling instead was just insane, made worse by the bizarre stance afterwards that they were "unbreakable" having just mentally broken moments before.

Yeah this is stupid. I like the idea of having heel Gladiators, but it needs to be in the promos and not the events. It's absurd.

Bloody hell, that was a tense women's Eliminator. Was pulling for both competitors, both did themselves proud throughout.

[therockbox]

My wife keeps trying to initiate conversation whenever Sabre is on screen. Needs my full attention and eye contact.

Leave me alone, you're not having it!

[Chris2K]

I'm still irrationally annoyed about how a contender is allowed to just say they don't want to do an event because they might aggravate an injury. Either you're fit enough to take part or you're not. The show literally started with a contender dropping out because they were injured, a contender who got injured and still did two more events including winning an eliminator before being ruled out.

There was also no direct penalty involved, they said he lost the chance to score points but that's only a penalty if the other contender does score some in the event. If Wesley had scored 0 in Gauntlet (seemingly impossible in this format as it is) then would this still have been allowed?

Anyway, to calm myself down, here are some Duel statistics from Series 1-4.

For clarity, "Won" means knocked the contender off or the contender was disqualified, "Lost" means the Gladiator was knocked off or was disqualified, and "Time Limit" means they went the full 30 seconds.

Female Gladiators

Total of 74 matches:

Won 19 times

Lost 7 times

Drawn 48 times

Individual - Rankings based on 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw, -2 for a loss

1. Nightshade - 11 wins, 8 Draws, 1 Loss - 39 points

2. Lightning - 5 Wins, 8 Draws, 2 Losses - 19 points

3. Falcon - 1 Win, 8 Draws, 0 Losses - 11 points

4. Panther - 0 Wins, 9 Draws, 1 Loss (her first 8 fights were draws) - 7 points

5. Flame - 0 Wins, 6 Draws, 0 Losses - 6 points

6. Jet - 1 Win, 2 Draws, 0 Losses - 5 points

=7 Amazon - 0 Wins, 3 Draws, 0 Losses - 3 points

=7. Zodiac - 1 Win, 2 Draws, 1 Loss - 3 points

9. Scorpio - 0 Wins, 2 Draws, 2 Losses - -2 points

No Duel appearances as of the end of Series 4 - Phoenix, Vogue

International Gladiators - Flash (Finland) - 0 Wins, 4 Draws, 0 Losses

Male Gladiators

Total of 86 matches*

Won 54 times

Lost 15 times

Drawn 17 times

*More matches are due to the Celebrity Specials only using Male Gladiators for Duel

Individual - Rankings based on 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw, -2 for a loss

1. Shadow - 21 wins, 8 draws, 2 losses - 67 points

2. Hunter - 9 wins, 3 draws, 0 losses - 30 points

3. Warrior - 7 wins, 2 draws, 3 losses - 17 points

4. Trojan - 6 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses - 15 points

5. Cobra - 4 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss - 11 points

6. Raider - 2 wins, 0 draws, 0 losses (and he's done, so he'll stay at 100%) - 6 points

7. Saracen - 3 wins, 0 draws, 2 losses - 5 points

8. Rhino - 1 win, 1 draw, 1 loss - 2 points

9. Wolf - 1 win, 1 draw, 4 losses - -4 points

Only Hawk (the Welsh one) never made a Duel appearance.

International Gladiators

1. Sabre (USA) - 1 win, 1 draw, 0 losses - 4 points

2. Hawk (USA) - 1 win, 0 draws, 1 loss - 1 point

3. Dynamite (Russia, not the tiny one from 2024) - 0 wins, 0 draws, 2 losses - -4 points

[Benji]

I think it's fine to not compete for injury purposes. Not all injuries force you out, but doing two separate athletic contests (especially running at a bunch of physical human walls) is different to doing one even with a light injury. Plus it's a risk/reward thing, yeah his opponent may not have scored, but the odds of that aren't particularly high and it still leaves you at a disadvantage.

[Benji]

Can't say I care for all the Gladiators trying to be heels this week. If that's the way the show is going to start going I'll lose interest quickly.

[Colly]

In the second semi they're going full Nexus and the final is Nitro vs Giant.

[Chris2K]

I dunno, I thought Apollo's character development was great this week, from dumping Jake into the ball bin and showing no remorse, to singing Another One Bites The Dust.

I have very few complaints this week, which is a nice feeling. Really enjoyed the episode and glad the two contenders that went through did. Chung is a prototypical contender in being small enough to do well with agility events and the eliminator, plus being a perfect victim for a Duel thrashing.

Meanwhile Bionic turned up for the show, only appeared in Duel, won in 5 seconds, and went home. Good work if you can get it.

[K]

Fury is incredible. Easily my favourite. 

[andrethegiantstopfan]

I liked Apollo this week too. The "taking out the trash" comment made me laugh, especially when they cut to Jake who didn't look very amused by it.

Phantom and Legend are my faves. Viper's a bit cringe and not great at the games either.

Really wasn't expecting much with the disappointing Crystal Maze reboot in recent memory, but I've been pleasantly surprised by this. A couple of weak links (The Ring, Barney Walsh) but overall, good stuff. My niece is obsessed with it, which is awesome.

[Chris2K]

Thank God Betti has gone. From pushing Fury's face into the mat during The Ring, to being the worst competitor in Duel history, in addition to her antics during the Eliminator in the first round, she may be the most unsporting and unlikeable contender from any series. That said, the editing made it very clear she will be the fastest loser, so I expect she'll be back.

Kinda glad Ash didn't get through as well, I appreciate his representation but he looked constantly scared during every game against a Gladiator and offers barely any challenge until the Eliminator.

Legend was my favourite Gladiator this week, got me to properly laugh twice with his interviews with Bradley.

[Tigerstyle]

Legend is going to get so many club appearances off the back of this series.

[Benji]

On a delay watch now. I know this is me being an absolute pedant, but I really hate them calling Gladiators "Glads". Put some respect on the name you lazy twats.

I find Viper cheating every single time to be utterly dull. I know Wolf did it on occasion, but it wasn't every time, and most of his heelness came from his post event antics from what I recall. Is my memory wrong @Chris2K?

What the fuck? Betti remains an absolute shit sport from the first round. Pushing Fury's head into the mat when she's downed. What an arsehole.

[Benji]

Betti is so full of shit. That Duel display was even worse than the last time. Then calling for a rematch when she blatantly cheated. Absolutely hate her. Hope they do they Gauntlet and the Gladiators turn her inside out.

[Baddar]

I know they only record a limited amount of episodes for the series run, but I do wish there were enough of them filmed to avoid the fastest loser situation. 

In the heats I can kind of get one spot being given to make the Quarters, but a fastest loser spot for the Semi's too? It's a bit much. I'm all for injury replacements going to fastest losers, however. 

[Benji]

Glad Dev won. Liked him in round one and he's again seemed lovely in round two. Ash just looked bloody petrified in every event.

Seeing Betti get wrecked by Kerry in a perfect performance was great, I almost hope Betti comes back in fastest runner up just so the Gladiators have it out for her

[Chris2K]

1 hour ago, Benji said:

I find Viper cheating every single time to be utterly dull. I know Wolf did it on occasion, but it wasn't every time, and most of his heelness came from his post event antics from what I recall. Is my memory wrong @Chris2K?

No you're about right, certainly the biggest difference is that Wolf's behaviour was pre or post game, and whilst he lost quite a lot he rarely got intentionally disqualified or actively looked like he was trying to lose. Viper feels like he's gone off the deep end of being a whipping boy, to the point that it's just assumed he'll lose every time.

They do really need to stop the best loser for next series, and I'm sure the BBC might be willing to give them more episodes. Doing it once for the 1/4 final is understandable, but again for the semi final is ridiculous. Imagine someone getting through to the semis after losing twice, but boy can they climb a cargo net quickly.

On that note, I've just finished watching one of the 1996 International Gladiators semi finals...

Spoiler

and the UK champion Mark Everitt had to pull out through illness, so they replaced him with a guy who lost in the opening round of the 1996 series, but had the fastest eliminator time. To face the Australian champion who had won every show he had competed in. The Australian guy won.

 

[Bobfoc]

Nice mention of Mark Everitt. He was the first "celebrity" I ever met.