YMMV / Gladiators (1992)

• Awesome Music:
  • Using several Queen songs. Including "Another One Bites the Dust" whenever someone fell out, the Gladiators theme, Duel, the Eliminator.
  • The main theme starts with a big fanfare and cuts straight into Epic Rocking.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Wolf and Jet. The former is helped by the fact that Michael Van Wijk asked the producers to let him be mean, with the result being that he really stood out against the rather polite and friendly Gladiators. The latter by standing out as Ms. Fanservice even among a cast of Amazonian Beauties.
• Love to Hate: Wolf, deliberately so. He played the role as a pro wrestling Heel and crowds loved to see him getting taken down a peg by Contenders. Hell, he even had a Leitmotif for when he lost.
• Memetic Badass: Wolf, who didn't excel at any event but reached legendary status among fans as the most ferocious of the Gladiators (and was promoted as such by the show.)
• Narm Charm: It could get silly, and the stuff that was an act seems obvious nowadays; however it really knew how to grip an audience and play up the competitiveness of it all.
• Replacement Scrappy: Jeremy Guscott, who co-hosted Series 6 and 7, was not a patch on John Fashanu.
• The Scrappy:
  • Tilt, because it was dangerous even by the standards of the show. It was axed due to serious injuries to Panther and Nightshade.
  • During international competitions, American host Mike Adamle always seemed to interview the Russian and Finnish contenders.
  • Hunter, Saracen, and Panther all hated Pole-Axe, due to the long fall at the end. The American Gladiators disliked it during the international events, and thanks to the propensities for injury the event had, it was removed in 96, then brought back in 97 with changes (see below).
• Seasonal Rot: By about Series 5, it was clear that the producers had run out of ideas and the public was starting to get bored. It was also the year that saw a few popular Gladiators suffer a Career-Ending Injury. The series never really recovered from there. It also didn't help that they tried to play up the Narm and Kayfabe tropes more. The Wolf/Vulcan duel, while awesome and funny, was also obviously staged, which went against the subtlety that made the series work.
• Tear Jerker:
  • During the first Springbok Challenge, someone failed to finish the Eliminator because they couldn't climb the ropes, one of the early obstacles. They broke down into tears, as well.
    • Even worse, according on a news article, she had never climbed a rope beforehand.
  • Another contender infamously broke down during Gauntlet after several false starts cost them the chance to earn some much-needed points.
  • Any time a contender sustains a Game-Breaking Injury that forces them to pull out of the competition.
    • Perhaps the most "tear-jerkery" was the one to Sam Codjoe from the Series 3 Grand Final. Not only was he trailing 30-5 to Paul Field going into Powerball, but a bad tackle from Shadow just seconds into the event resulted in Sam having to be carried out of the NIA on a stretcher. Even Shadow himself was shaken up by it when Fash interviewed him.
  • As mentioned in the Heartwarming section above, the closing montage of the final episode. It's hard not to get even a little chocked up by it, especially the final scene of the empty arena, with the lights slowly turning off.
  • The announcement of the passing on Falcon on 14th March 2023 after battling cancer for a number of years.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Unfortunately this happened in the final series, which likely killed off the show too. Changing the iconic outfits, very poorly thought-out new games, as well as the fact they made the games easier for the contenders, caused a big backlash.
  • Pyramid also suffered from this. Following Jet's injury, it was suspended until they could make it safer, which unfortunately killed off any tension it once had. It was canned shortly after.
  • Pole-Axe as well, also due to injuries. They added safety harnesses onto it — which, while a sensible move, also eliminated any tension it once had. It managed to survive into the final regular series however.
  • Joust was also axed due to safety concerns. Basically a modified Duel on mechanical bulls, both Contenders and Gladiators usually ended up spending more time concentrating on not falling off than fighting. Infamously, a showdown between Wolf and Vinnie Jones was a total Anti-Climax, since Wolf destroyed Jones in seconds instead of the pair being put up against each other in the Duel.

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