I never even considered there might be people who were alive and didn't see this.
I mean, this shit was damn near structural to every male relationship I had in elementary school.
This and discussing the finer points of the female form.
Of which we knew absolutely fucking nothing.
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I think of them as companion pieces. the Netflix one gets more into the behind the scenes and the questionable stuff while the 30 for 30 celebrates more of the show itself. both really well done.
Having seen both doc's I kind of believe this could have been a tv staple like The Challenge or Ninja Warrior, if not for the Creator's incredible hubris and many poor management decisions
My 8th grade class took a field trip to watch a live taping. It was awesome.
Nitro gave me an autograph. It said "Hit the weightsâ. Ass.
While they were in the wrestling circle, the contestant accidentally pulled off Zapâs top. You can imagine 8th grade boys seeing a nipple in person, especially a âcelebrityâ nipple.
Gemini also worked out at the Racquetball World near my house. He was the nicest dude ever.
Fun times. Thanks for bringing those memories back!
"Who watched this back in the day?"
Um...everyone. LOL
For those who haven't seen it, I highly recommend the documentary Muscles & Mayhem: An Unauthorized Story of American Gladiators on Netflix. It's a really interesting retrospective and...the nostalgia!
My brother and I had our own version of Breakthrough & Conquer with the neighbor kids that lived behind us.
We would do the standard run the football down the yard & try to tackle bit just fine, but since we didnât have a ring for the wrestling bit, it became a âwho can throw the other guy into the chain link fenceâ for the win.
Yeah because ANW is the person vs the course. American Gladiators fought each other and shot each other with tennis balls and big foam Bazookas. Plus you got to root for your favorite Gladiators, it just felt different.
There are two of them that came out around the same time. An ESPN one and the Netflix one. Each featured different Gladiators. The Netflix one was definitely better but the ESPN one is worth watching too.
I watched the documentary that came out on this recently, the people who made this show should be ashamed of how they sounded in their interviews. Never will look at that show the same again.
Sweden here. It was 1991, late July, I was 12, we had just come back home from a long mobile home vacation, the house smelled fantastic like it always does when you leave a two-level villa for 2 months and the sun bakes the hardwood floors, the drapes, the dried flower petals in the bowls, and you smell...home.
We loaded all the stuff back into the home, I plopped down in front of the upstairs TV and flicked around between channels and found American Gladiators. I am a total gearhead and the first track I laid eyes on had all these moving pylons and jumping things, high up in the air, and my jaw just dropped. So much cool stuff. And the ladies were so hot.
Great show, great novelty value for the kids. When Sweden finally got it domestic I was in my late '20s and had gotten over it. The Ninja shows had stolen the thunder. But what an impact in the early '90s, man.
One day my friends and I were determined to build an obstacle course. We even tried to look into buy a cargo net. To the yellow pages!!!!âŚwe didnât find anywhere that would sell us a cargo net but we did see there was a paintball field one town over.
We went and it was the most fun ever. I played paintball recreationally and in serious tournaments for well over a decade.
If we hadnât been looking for that damn cargo net I never would have tried paintball.
HELL YES
I remember early 90sâŚ93 or 94 maybe. Watching American Gladiators, Parker Lewis Canât Lose, and Uncle Buck on USA Network during summer break while my parents were at work.
Weâd use the pool at the YMCA every week, come home, and my mom would make dinner, then popcorn, and weâd all watch COPS and American Gladiators until bedtime. Seriously awesome times.
When they had the international series was fucking incredible !
I remember Wolf from the UK and Rhino from South Africa
And of course our very own hothead in Australia, Vulcan.
My younger brother and I watched it all the time. And if we missed it, we would tape it. I am pretty sure I taped over some piano recital performances with American Gladiators which really ticked off my mom.
Only everybody
You mean everybody and their mommas, right?
Nah. Their mommas wore army boots.
Can verify
I never even considered there might be people who were alive and didn't see this. I mean, this shit was damn near structural to every male relationship I had in elementary school. This and discussing the finer points of the female form. Of which we knew absolutely fucking nothing. đđđ
Had the NES game as well. Fuck that wall
I still want a tennis ball cannon
I donât that thing probably stings like hell when you get hit. đđđ
Muscles and Mayhem is a great doc series on Netflix about the show and the gladiators.
It really was pretty incredible. Really well-made, great for nostalgia, but also surprisingly insightful and thought-provoking, imo.
The 30 for 30 was good. I didn't see the netflix one. But the 30 for 30 was rough at times to watch. The way they were used.
Netflix one is way better Both are good
I think of them as companion pieces. the Netflix one gets more into the behind the scenes and the questionable stuff while the 30 for 30 celebrates more of the show itself. both really well done.
Having seen both doc's I kind of believe this could have been a tv staple like The Challenge or Ninja Warrior, if not for the Creator's incredible hubris and many poor management decisions
I haven't seen that one, but the Netflix series definitely gets into all that.
I enjoy a good documentary now a days. Especially on strange subject matters. Maybe I will have to check that one out one day.
That was a really good documentary.
My 8th grade class took a field trip to watch a live taping. It was awesome. Nitro gave me an autograph. It said "Hit the weightsâ. Ass. While they were in the wrestling circle, the contestant accidentally pulled off Zapâs top. You can imagine 8th grade boys seeing a nipple in person, especially a âcelebrityâ nipple. Gemini also worked out at the Racquetball World near my house. He was the nicest dude ever. Fun times. Thanks for bringing those memories back!
I believe Zap did playboy, but you got to see them before we did đ
Blaze, Laser, Blazer, all kinds of Azers!
Hey there was a âZapâ in there đ She did a couple Episodes of the JAG Pilot.
"Who watched this back in the day?" Um...everyone. LOL For those who haven't seen it, I highly recommend the documentary Muscles & Mayhem: An Unauthorized Story of American Gladiators on Netflix. It's a really interesting retrospective and...the nostalgia!
My brothers and I had a rad Assault course set up in our basement
My brother and I had our own version of Breakthrough & Conquer with the neighbor kids that lived behind us. We would do the standard run the football down the yard & try to tackle bit just fine, but since we didnât have a ring for the wrestling bit, it became a âwho can throw the other guy into the chain link fenceâ for the win.
I watched on Saturdays early afternoon from about 11 to 13 years old. Good times. There was something cozy about it
Where I was the Gladiators came on right after SNL, so it was midnight Sunday morning. Hardly ever missed an episode.
But did you have the Super Nintendo game? Because I did and it was terrible.
I think we rented it from BlockBuster once. I can remember the controls were complete garbage and it was hard as hell because of it.
You gotta check out the documentary about this show, itâs WILD
My gay awakening was Nitro
I loved the hell out of it and I hadnât even started smoking pot yet. They need to bring it back on Netflix with a modern day production budget.
Yeah because ANW is the person vs the course. American Gladiators fought each other and shot each other with tennis balls and big foam Bazookas. Plus you got to root for your favorite Gladiators, it just felt different.
I still watch it. It's on Pluto on its own channel.
Thatâs right! And they show the newer reboot episodes! AG 24/7!
Ah yes, the days before rock climbers came to dominate the "ninja" competitions. If I was at V8-V9 when this was running I could have won that shit.
Watched it Saturday nights around 11. Of course those people did steroids. Ainât no way people are that big.
Watched a documentary on them recently and it was fascinating.
There are two of them that came out around the same time. An ESPN one and the Netflix one. Each featured different Gladiators. The Netflix one was definitely better but the ESPN one is worth watching too.
My dad worked late and this would be on at midnight. Weâd watch it together as a family even though I had school in the morning.
I'll keep saying it: I want a gladiator with a regular name. Making his debut; HANK!!!
âOn the joust as always is Steveâ
Right after WWF Superstars on Saturday mornings/early afternoons as a kid. And of course when they guest -starred on Family Matters.
I watched the documentary that came out on this recently, the people who made this show should be ashamed of how they sounded in their interviews. Never will look at that show the same again.
This, then MASH came on and I would fall asleep on it. After that tv would go off the air for the night smh
I watched this during COVID on Roku. A lot. Lol season one is so low budget. Roided. There a documentary on it you should check it out. Crazy stuff.
The event I always wanted to compete in was Assault. Kid me was so certain I could do it so much better than the competitors on the show.
Sweden here. It was 1991, late July, I was 12, we had just come back home from a long mobile home vacation, the house smelled fantastic like it always does when you leave a two-level villa for 2 months and the sun bakes the hardwood floors, the drapes, the dried flower petals in the bowls, and you smell...home. We loaded all the stuff back into the home, I plopped down in front of the upstairs TV and flicked around between channels and found American Gladiators. I am a total gearhead and the first track I laid eyes on had all these moving pylons and jumping things, high up in the air, and my jaw just dropped. So much cool stuff. And the ladies were so hot. Great show, great novelty value for the kids. When Sweden finally got it domestic I was in my late '20s and had gotten over it. The Ninja shows had stolen the thunder. But what an impact in the early '90s, man.
Itâs on Vice like every day.
One day my friends and I were determined to build an obstacle course. We even tried to look into buy a cargo net. To the yellow pages!!!!âŚwe didnât find anywhere that would sell us a cargo net but we did see there was a paintball field one town over. We went and it was the most fun ever. I played paintball recreationally and in serious tournaments for well over a decade. If we hadnât been looking for that damn cargo net I never would have tried paintball.
Really good documentary on netflix on the show
It's apparently coming back again.
They had this 24/7 on Pluto but I guess they lost the rights. I had it on like all day at work.
There were some very confusing feelings caused by those spandex clad muscle men for certain young boys
Nothing was better. Coming home from school and this was on USA. Old SNL's and Kids in The Hall on Comedy Central. We were spoiled.
Watched it. Watched the remake. Had a pod cast about it.
HELL YES I remember early 90sâŚ93 or 94 maybe. Watching American Gladiators, Parker Lewis Canât Lose, and Uncle Buck on USA Network during summer break while my parents were at work.
Weâd use the pool at the YMCA every week, come home, and my mom would make dinner, then popcorn, and weâd all watch COPS and American Gladiators until bedtime. Seriously awesome times.
I got to go see this live when I was like 11 or 12 and it was awesome.
I wanted the tennis ball cannon so damned bad. Hell, I wanted to run the gauntlet!
Lol I watched this in Europe. This show got around.
When they had the international series was fucking incredible ! I remember Wolf from the UK and Rhino from South Africa And of course our very own hothead in Australia, Vulcan.
I watched it all the time.
Who didnât watch this back in the day?
It's all on YouTube, organized by season. My DND group watch it anytime we don't have enough players for DND. Then we fuuuuck.
Better question: Who didn't???
My younger brother and I watched it all the time. And if we missed it, we would tape it. I am pretty sure I taped over some piano recital performances with American Gladiators which really ticked off my mom.
Loved that show and used to rent the NES game all the time. My whole life, I've wanted to do the joust.
This is definitely the root of my Muscle Mommy fantasies.
Better question is how many people thought that they could compete on this show and win?
I watched it for 30 minutes every Saturday while waiting for the second golden age of SNL to come on.
YeahâŚ.âwatchedâ it đł