American Gladiators

Contestant Rico Constantino, winner of an American Gladiator series went on to work for the WWE under his own name. As of the beginning of 2004, Rico has performed as the fashion designer/manager of Chuck and Billy, two later-shown-to-be-false homosexual wrestlers, and is now wrestling on his own as a flamboyant wrestler of questionable sexual orientation. He is managed by Jackie Gayda.

This was the highlight of my teenaged years. To sit down on a Saturday morning and watch American Gladiators. My favorite gladiators were Blaze, Siren and Nitro. I liked Siren because she never let her disability get in the way of becoming a gladiator. She seems normal in every way except for the fact that she can't hear but she could use her other senses , sight; taste and smell, and that's something that I really admire her for. I like Blaze because she's a very strong woman, and she doesn't take any crap from anybody. I thought Nitro was a BABE! Hubba! Hubba! A teenaged girl's delight. :)

After discovering the show sometime around '94, I watched every episode, including the reruns that were on at the time. The varied competitions made it something of an athletic game show, and it was always entertaining. My favorite was always the Eliminator.

Some people have expressed uncertainty as to why this show left the air. Well, watching the reruns you will never realize it, but the big problem with the show was that near the end new episodes became something of a rarity. The "International Gladiators" specials became more and more common, which eroded their mystique and made them somewhat dull. But in the end it seemed like every week (and I mean EVERY week) was a rerun--especially of the episode with Dean Cain, which must have shown at least twenty times. (An exaggeration perhaps, but not much of one.) So yes, the show was canceled without much fanfare, but that's because most viewers thought the show was already over. One new episode every couple of months isn't enough to hold viewers--I don't care how popular the show is.

I was just thinking about the show the other day and how neat it would be to have a traveling version of Gladiators that would work similarly to American Idol. Perhaps it's just nostalgia on my part, but I think it would be quite cool.

I remember this show very well. When I was around 12, I watched this almost every Saturday night. It was a very amazing show. The events were great, it couldn't bore you, it was a very high-technical show. To me, it was almost olympic like. I don't think there will ever be anything close to it.

This show is part of the reason I was inspired to become a gym rat. And I think it had to have inspired many others to take charge of their health and fitness too. Simple challenges and glamorous gladiators drew in people with no interest in sports whatsoever. And if you WERE a sports fanatic, this show helped fill the void between games! I was very sad when it ended its run, but grateful for the 7 seasons it aired.