If you grew up in the 1990’s as I did, the mere mention of two words: “American Gladiators,” is bound to evoke a lot of smiles and rabid discussion. For those of us that spent our younger years in the decade of the 90’s, “American Gladiators” was a pop culture phenomenon. After the immense success of professional wrestling, many people sought out to build on that by introducing their own form of sports entertainment. The closest we ever got was “American Gladiators.”
For those unaware, the series was a sports entertainment series revolving around a group of normal contestants. They’d have to go up against a group of muscular, athletic and vicious male and female athletes, all of whom had one mission to keep the competitors from winning.
Like pro-wrestling, all of the gladiators had their own personas and names, and even built their own characters. While the series was pretty much more performance than an honest sports show, “American Gladiators” was a huge hit, nevertheless. From 1989 through 1993 the series garnered a huge rabid fan base, hit big in the ratings, and at one point mentions of them could be found on sitcoms, and magazines, and produced its own large wave of merchandise to boot. Directors Ben Berman and Kirk Johnson’s “The American Gladiators Documentary” is a three hour look in to the beginnings of the pop culture dynasty from its creation in Erie, PA, to its inevitable shockingly meteoric dive in to obscurity.
And its less than thrilling reboot in 2008.
For folks that even consider themselves hardcore fans, they’ll be shocked to discover what went on behind the scenes and how much the series had an impact on the lives of the gladiators. While the documentary does revel in celebrating how beloved it was, like most sports endeavors, there was also a lot of heartache, competition, and bad blood born. As well, it also helped usher in the back stage steroid abuse issue, one of the biggest elements that led to the downfall of the productions. What the documentary mainly zeroes in on is Johnny Ferraro, one of the co-founders of the series who sought out to do whatever he could garner wealth from the show.
This even meant stabbing original creator Dani Carr in the back, leaving him to languish in poverty and general obscurity, while he basked in the fortunes. The documentary is very much tainted by Ferraro’s intense personality as he shows little apology for his actions, and is insistent on having the last word on every single issue that’s presented. Although the documentary is a darker look at “American Gladiators” is does at least garner some fascinating stories, mostly about how the Gladiators dealt with their success. One of the more interesting anecdotes involves Gemini’s tragic past with the police and how he used one competition to brutalize them.
There’s also a look at how the show grew so large that they inevitably had to begin bringing in new Gladiators. This, of course, would spawn resentment and anger among the more popular gladiators that were, by that time, household names. The pair of directors delve in to the lives of the more popular gladiators, discussing how they have changed or fallen to the wayside after the series. While Ferraro isn’t looked at as any kind of likable individual, the gladiators get a pretty intimate peek in to sudden fame and the hard ships of the sports world.
“The American Gladiators Documentary” is a wonderful, engrossing, exhaustive exploration of the nineties phenom that promoted a lot of positivity in spite of its sad background.
Premiering on ESPN Tuesday, May 30th, at 8:30p.m. ET and Wednesday, May 31st, at 9p.m. ET. Will debut in EPSN Plus immediately after.