u/RelevantNothing4653

From the original series, what times can you recall Gladiators and contenders having verbal & or physical confrontations during events?

I remember Billy Wirth and Gemini during Powerball in Season 1 when the former hit the later in the head with a ball.

Season 2 I remember Blaze being rough after the whistle with a contender in Powerball.

Season 3 I remember Ice and a contender glaring at each other after Breakthrough.

Turbo and a contender had to be separated after a Breakthrough game after the contender did a straight bull rush.

Then of course in a Best of the Best special in Season 7; Turbo punched Kyler Storm in Slingshot because the former faked a jump. Kyler got a point deduction and Turbo was disqualified

Just for shits & giggles, where do you think the characters (not the real life actors behind them) of the show would be lifewise in 2026?

Al - finally retired from the shoe store, spending his evenings bowling and late nights at the Nudie Bar. Of course, CEO of NO MA'AM.

Peg - Still tormenting Al and trying to get her granddaughter to be just like her

Bud - Still living in the basement with his wife Amber and two kids

Kelly - Still living at home with boyfriend of the week.

Marcy - CEO of FANG

Jefferson - Trying to hook up with younger women

Steve - Living off the grid

We've all had work colleagues get fired.

This was when I worked at a movie theater: One got let go because he was caught chugging a Colt 45 behind the trash compactor, while another was too stoned to function properly.

Last week I asked which TW's had the worst production.

On the other side of the coin, can we fairly say that any of them had decent production?

There are only two I can think of off the top of my head, though these might be examples of the trope Damned by Faint Praise:

Crash - Yes, The Human League were the wrong group and except for 'Human' none of the songs were decent; but the production from Jam & Lewis was good.

Passage - Even though people were tired of The Carpenters at that point and were puzzled by the song choices being all over the place; can't deny the production was solid.

So I've decided to watch the final season of the original series.

Season 6 was really circling the drain, and 7 was worse.

Nitro moving from Gladiator to commentator was decent; but Zap was let go (why her and not one of the other female gladiators?). Season was very short, just a total of 16 contenders in single elimination format.

I also observed how in the later seasons (5 thru 7) the show put more emphasis on the special shows and International Gladiators as opposed to the parent show.

What are some of your favorite songs that got a 🥈?

Some of mine are:

Notorious - Duran Duran

Devil Inside - INXS

Start Me Up - Rolling Stones

You Belong With Me - Taylor Swift

Double Vision - Foreigner

Major step down from Season 5.

The tournament format was confusing: a lot of preliminary matches and the top 4 point scorers made the semi-finals. I think they should've used the Season 5 format (preliminary rounds were for seeding purposes then single elimination).

Kyler Storm and Dan Cunningham both managed to beat Turbo in Hang Tough during the season (the only other times Turbo lost in that event were to Coz Worthington and Cliff Miller).

As I said before, Snapback was just Swingshot on the ground.

Which Sears store has the record for the longest time in business?

And of the remaining 5 locations, which one has been open the longest?

One of the You Can't Do That on Television episodes with Alanis Morissette

From the original series, is there any table or chart that lists the number of DQ'S over the years?

I'm aware that Blaze accumulated the most DQs for an individual Gladiator. Most DQs were in Powerball (hits and tackles above the neck); but some were also in Hang Tough (grabbing contenders uniforms or helmets).

In fact one Season 5 episode had Sky get two DQs: high tackle in Powerball and excessive holding in Pyramid

Just wanted some general discussion of the "Y2K pop/TRL pop" era of music (98-01).

The era of Britney, Christina, Jessica, Mandy, Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, 98 Degrees, etc.

After the fall of the gritty/downbeat grunge/gangsta rap sound; a change was needed. And indeed it was successful for a time. TRL on MTV was at it's peak, every new interview/video was a big deal.

Of course, nothing lasts forever: Oversaturation, and the massive change post-9/11 which would really take effect after American Idol entered the picture in 02: NSYNC broke up/Justin went solo, Backstreet Boys went on hiatus. So basically one era of manufactured music was replaced by another.

I remember seeing interesting signs when watching WWF/WCW/ECW back in the day.

What were some of your favorites?

Some I recall from the WWF Attitude era were:

Attention KMart Shoppers: Suck It!

Chyna is Cartman's Dad

I have to poop!

Simple question: Which Trainwreckords do you feel had the worst production?

To me the bottom 3 are American Dream, Cut the Crap (with Dictator being very abysmal), and of course Summer in Paradise

Did he have free reign when doing his intros or were they scripted by Paul Heyman?

And what were some of your favorites?

Mine were:

Whether the ladies are at home or here in Dayton, they're watching me and masturbatin!

The ladies want to feel me up, good thing I ain't wearing a cup!

I'm California dreamin' and I leave all the girlies screamin, cause I'm a pu$$y licking demon with vanilla flavored semen!

What do you all think was the best and worst overall seasons of the show, and how would you rank them best to worst

Pretty much everyone agrees that Season 3 was the greatest: perfect mix of quality contenders and Gladiators at top form (Zap returned from maternity leave, Diamond, Storm and Tower stepped on board, Turbo, Lace and Gold missed time due to injury). Also the events were good, The Maze and Swingshot debuted; plus they moved to Gladiator Arena.

Worst was season 7: Very short season, most of it was International Gladiators anyway. Zap and Nitro leave,.but he stays on as commentator and she returns to face Dallas on an alumni special episode. By this point, Gladiator Arena crowds were quite small and less vocal.

What do you think were the best and worst PPV's that WCW had?

One that I've always thought was solid was the 1989 Great American Bash: Flair/Funk, Sting/Muta, Luger/Steamboat, that War Games match (Road Warriors, Midnight Express and Steve Williams vs Freebirds & Samoan Swat Team). Even the comedic tuxedo match between Paul Heyman and Jim Cornette was decent.

Too many to think of for worst: 1991 GAB, Souled Out 1997, etc

Your thoughts on this song.

Solid for a stand-alone song IMO. Would it have fit better had it been released earlier on Lightning Bolt, or if they waited and included it on Gigaton?

What have been some of your favorite snippets of introductions to a Trainwreckords episode?

A couple of mine have been

They're only human, and they're born to make mistakes. And boy; this was a big one. The Human League crash out of the 80s. This is Trainwreckords (Crash)

The American Dream dies because these fat old hippies killed it. This is Trainwreckords (American Dream)

<reaction to Pumps and a Bump video clips> Yeah, that actually happened. This is Trainwreckords (The Funky Headhunter)