American Gladiators

As you all know, American Gladiators has returned since its hiatus from when it initially aired in 1991. Now, Gladiators is hosted by Hulk Hogan and Laila Ali, and I have to admit, I am a frequent watcher. Watching reruns of Gladiators on late-night, high-channel TV was hilarious. It was just as good as watching Nickelodeon GUTS reruns from the early 90s. The return of Gladiators is pretty amazing, perhaps because it is just as corny as it was almost fifteen years ago.

I am much more involved with the new 2008 series than I am with the past seasons of Gladiators, but these new gladiators are badass. They are so into it that I normally hold myself laughing. These gladiators include Blast, Crush, Fury, Hammer, Hellga, Justice, Mayhem, Militia, Siren, Stealth, Titan, Toa, Venom, and Wolf. Their names are even pretty funny, and it's funny to watch them play their roles.

If you were a gladiator, what name would you give yourself?



Imagine that your job was being a gladiator... For work, you would come in and practice events like pulling people down from rings, wrestling on a moving stand, shooting nerf darts from a far distance, stuffing people in powerball, and jousting on platforms. Not a bad job. And in the meantime, you stay absolutely ripped and go on a power trip whenever you compete and defeat small-town competetors who really think they can beat you. And I bet that's a cool job to spit out to people. You could get so many free drinks at a bar! "I'm a Gladiator..." but I bet that might get old after a while as people ask you the same questions and perhaps try to take you down in a bar setting. Not as cool.

They're corny comments on the show are ridiculous, and constant. Hulk Hogan is the worst, but I know he's being fed cards by the writers on the show. The chiropractor gets his "back cracked" when he's taken down by a gladiator, or you have competetors who give the motivational speeches on why they're going to take down a gladiator themselves. It's non-stop cornball--and that's one reason I love it. Try playing a drinking game with it (as I have before), and drink whenever some corny line is played. It's actually pretty fun, and hilarious.

My main question though is, which do you like better, the old Gladiators or the new? Or, why do you like the show or dislike it? I'm curious to see how the public feels about Gladiators.