| BattleBots | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Also known as | Comedy Central Sports Presents: BattleBots(seasons 1-5) |
| Genre | Robot competition |
| Created by |
|
| Directed by |
|
| Presented by | |
| Starring |
|
| Narrated by | |
| Composer | Vanacore Music |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 12 |
| No. of episodes | 191(list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Editor | Jonathan Siegel |
| Running time | 30–60 minutes |
| Production companies |
|
| Original release | |
| Network |
|
| Release | August 23, 2000 (2000-8-23) – May 25, 2023 (2023-5-25) |
| Related | |
| BattleBots: Bounty Hunters | |
BattleBots is an Americanrobot combat television series and company. The show is an adaptation of the American Robot Wars competitions hosted in the mid–late 1990s byMarc Thorpe, in which competitors design and operate remote-controlled armed and armored machines designed to fight in an arena combat elimination tournament. The same competitions inspired the British TV programRobot Wars, which acquired the name in 1995.
Legally barred from the name "Robot Wars", American robot combat aficionados created a new company, BattleBots, under the ownership of Greg Munson and Trey Roski. The first official BattleBots event was hosted at theLong Beach Pyramid inLong Beach, California in August 1999, while a second event inLas Vegas was used to pitch the competition to television networks. For five seasons,BattleBots aired on the AmericanComedy Central and was hosted byBil Dwyer,Sean Salisbury, andTim Green. Comedy Central's first season premiered on August 23, 2000, and its fifth and last season ended on December 21, 2002. While small untelevised competitions continued to be run under the BattleBots name, the show was on hiatus until it was revived on ABC in 2015.
A six-episode revival series premiered onABC on June 21, 2015, to generally favorable reviews and ratings. Additionally, ABC renewedBattleBots for a seventh season, which premiered on June 23, 2016. In February 2018,Discovery Channel andScience picked up the show for an eighth season, which premiered on May 11, 2018.[1] A ninth season ofBattleBots premiered on Discovery Channel on June 7, 2019,[2] the tenth season premiered on December 3, 2020,[3] the eleventh season on January 6, 2022, and the twelfth season on January 5, 2023.
Two spin-off competitions have debuted onDiscovery+. The first spin-off,BattleBots: Bounty Hunters, premiered on January 4, 2021 onDiscovery+.[4][5] A second spin-off premiered on August 5, 2022, under the nameBattleBots: Champions.
BattleBots is an offshoot of the original Robot Wars tournaments, the brainchild of Marc Thorpe. Robot Wars had financial backing from Sm:)e communications, a New York record company. The Thorpe partnership broke up in 1997, starting many years of legal wrangling between Thorpe andProfile Records (the former Sm:)e Communications). Profile licensedRobot Wars to a UK production company.Robot Wars ran from 1998 to 2004 as a popular television program in the UK, with a short-lived revival from 2016 to 2017.
The robot builders left behind in San Francisco formed BattleBots, Inc. and began a series of larger competitions. The first was held inLong Beach, California in August 1999 andstreamed online, attracting 40,000 streams. Lenny Stucker, a television producer known for his work on telecasts ofprofessional boxing, was in attendance and showed interest in being involved withBattleBots—believing the concept ofrobot combat was "hip" and have shown an interest in technology. Stucker made changes to the competition's format and presentation to make it more suitable for television, including elements reminiscent of boxing (such as a red and blue corner) and shifting to a single-elimination format. The creators tried selling the competition as a television series to networks such asCBS,NBC,HBO, andShowtime, but none picked it up. A second event was held as apay-per-view inLas Vegas in 1999, the PPV was in turn, used as apilot to pitch the show again, with a higher rate of success.[6]
Among the networks interested wasComedy Central, who ultimately picked up the program.Debbie Liebling, the network's Senior Vice President of original programming and development, felt that the concept would appeal to the network's young adult demographic, explaining that "it was really funny and really nerdy. The Internet was not a big thing yet, so the nerd culture wasn't so celebrated. It was sports for the nerdy person, I guess."[6] Co-creator Greg Munson viewed the deal as a double-edged sword; it gaveBattleBots an outlet and a larger budget, but the network insisted on the addition of comedic aspects toBattleBots as a program, such assketches involving contestants. However, the competition itself was not affected by this mandate; Liebling described the final product as being "a parody of a sports show without being a parody". Munson lamented that the network had also ignored his suggestion for the co-host role to be filled by "attractive geek girls" with sufficient knowledge to speak with builders, having elected to "[keep] throwing bigger and better hot babes at it", such asCarmen Electra.[6]
Despite this, viewership and awareness ofBattleBots grew progressively over time; contestants Christian Carlberg andLisa Winter were invited to appear onThe Tonight Show with Jay Leno,BattleBots beatSouth Park as Comedy Central's highest-rated program for a period during Season 3, competitor interest grew and licensing deals also emerged.[6] The success ofBattleBots, however, resulted in competition from other broadcasters;TLC introduced a competing program,Robotica, while other channels imported episodes of the BritishRobot Wars series.[6] By 2002, the program had begun to face further difficulties; Munson felt that the bouts had become "homogenized" because the participants had "perfected" the sport of robot fighting, leading to a lack of innovation in robot designs and strategies.[6] Furthermore,BattleBots had suedAnheuser-Busch and its advertising agency for producing and airing acommercial during Super Bowl XXXVII that parodied the program and featured a robot greatly resembling one fromBattleBots (this lawsuit, however, was dismissed in 2004, after a judge ruled that the ad was aparody protected byfair use).[7] In September 2002, Comedy Central cancelledBattleBots after its fifth season,BattleBots 5.0.Viacom acquired full control of the network in April 2003;[6][8] Stucker believed that Comedy Central had become "tired" of the program, and Roski stated that Viacom had wanted to shift Comedy Central back towards traditional comedy programming.[6]
Between August 21 and 26, 2009 a BattleBots-branded event was held and filmed in California.[9] Three competitions were held: The High School Championship, Collegiate Championship and Pro Championship. Competitors included a mix of Comedy Central stars and newcomers who would return to the reboot. CBS sport originally agreed to air the Collegiate Championship before dropping out due to lack of commercial interest. A deal with Fox was later signed before also falling apart for unknown reasons.[10] The pilot episode of the Collegiate Championship was released onto the official BattleBots YouTube Channel on the 17th of September 2010.
In December 2014,ABC announced that it had picked up a six-episode revival ofBattleBots, produced byWhalerock Industries, to premiere in June 2015. Roski and Munson served as executive producers, joined byLloyd Braun.[11] The 2015 revival drew an average viewership of 5.4 million in its Sunday-night timeslot, with a 1.9 share in the 18-49 demographic. In November 2015, ABC announced that it had renewed theBattleBots revival for the seventh overall season of the series. The 2016 competition expanded to a 56-team field.[12][13]
After ABC declined to renew the revival for a subsequent season, the series was picked up byDiscovery Channel and sister networkScience.[14] In April 2018, the networks announced that a new season would premiere that year: May 11 on Discovery and May 16 on Science Channel.[15] The announcement reported that among the returning bots would be favorites Tombstone, Minotaur, Chomp, Witch Doctor, Bronco, Bombshell, Bite Force, and Yeti.Chris Rose andKenny Florian return to call the action, provide background information about the bots and teams, and offer commentary.Jessica Chobot served again as the sideline reporter. Faruq Tauheed returned as the ring announcer.
BattleBots returned for another season on June 5, 2019, on Discovery and Science Channel. Chris Rose and Kenny Florian returned as hosts with a new sideline reporter,Jenny Taft, interviewing all of the BattleBots competitors in the workshop. TheCOVID-19 pandemic delayed the tenth season premiere on Discovery, planned for May 2020. Filming finally occurred October 10–21 for the season 10 premiere on December 3, 2020.[16] An eleventh season ran from January 6 to April 7, 2022, establishing a permanent base for production at Caesars Entertainment Studios in Las Vegas. A twelfth season—marketed as "World Championship VII"—ran from January 5 to May 25, 2023.
Apart from the televised competitions, BattleBots has hosted several untelevised shows in Las Vegas. In 2019 and 2022, minor tournaments were hosted in collaboration with re:MARS, a technology conference run byAmazon. The re:MARS competition on June 6, 2019 was won by Witch Doctor (out of ten competitors), while the competition on June 23, 2022 was won by HyperShock (out of eight competitors). A live show, 'BattleBots: Destruct-A-Thon', was presented four days a week from February to May 2023. 'Destruct-A-Thon' exhibited unscripted fights between replicas of classic and reboot BattleBots competitors. The replica bots, or 'ShowBots', were built and driven by a production crew with guidance from the original teams who designed them. Starting May 2023, the production space was utilized for another live show, 'BattleBots Proving Ground', which involved fights between newly designed or untested bots from newcomers or unproven teams.
For the first five seasons,BattleBots was hosted byBil Dwyer,Sean Salisbury, andTim Green. Correspondents included formerBaywatch actressesDonna D'Errico,Carmen Electra, andTraci Bingham, formerPlayboy PlaymateHeidi Mark, comedianArj Barker and identical twinsRandy and Jason Sklar.Bill Nye was the show's "technical expert". The show's match announcer was longtime boxing ring announcer Mark Beiro.
The 2015 edition was hosted byMolly McGrath, withChris Rose and formerUFC fighting legendKenny Florian as commentators. The battle arena announcer was Faruq Tauheed, andAlison Haislip conducted interviews on the sidelines and behind the scenes. The judges were engineer andNASA astronautLeland Melvin,Nerdist News anchorJessica Chobot and visual effects artist, and former competitor, Fon Davis.
For the 2016 season,Samantha Ponder was added as host, replacingMolly McGrath. The returning judges were Fon Davis, Jessica Chobot, and Leland Melvin, as well as celebrity guest judges actorClark Gregg,MythBusters host and former Battlebots builderAdam Savage,NFLtightendVernon Davis, andYouTube starMichael Stevens a.k.a.Vsauce.
For the 2018 season, Rose, Florian, and Tauheed all returned in their roles, with Rose and Florian taking over as the primary hosts of the show. Chobot and Haislip switched their roles, with Chobot becoming the new sideline reporter and Haislip one of the rotating judges.[17] Other judges include formerBattlebots competitorsLisa Winter, Derek Young,Grant Imahara and Mark Setrakian.[17]
For the 2019 season, Chobot was replaced with Jenny Taft as a sideline reporter, and the judging panel was fixed to Winter, Young, and former competitor Jason Bardis instead of rotating as it had done in previous seasons.
For the 2020 season, former builder Peter Abrahamson was added as a ringside "bot whisperer" who provided technical details and in-depth analysis of matchups, robots, and damage.
 | This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(September 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "BattleBots" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(September 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Robots at BattleBots tournaments were separated into four weight classes in seasons 1–5. The weight limits increased slightly over time. At the final tournaments, the classes were:
Starting in season 6, there were no longer separate weight classes, while the weight limit for heavyweights was increased from 220 to 250 pounds.
"Walking" robots (stompbots) propelled by means other than wheels were initially given a 50% weight bonus. The rules changed following the victory of a heavyweight stompbot (Son of Whyachi) at BattleBots 3.0. For BattleBots 4.0 and beyond only a 20% weight bonus was given to walkers and the technical rules specified that walking mechanisms do not usecam operated walking mechanisms as they were functionally too similar to wheel operation. Since the rules change, walking robots have entered the competition, but none has achieved any success beyond preliminary rounds. As of 2020, true walkers are given a 100% weight bonus, allowing the only competing walker, Chomp, to weigh 500 pounds.[18]
Matches are three minutes long. During a match, two robots do their best to destroy or disable each other using whatever means available. The match begins with a series of lights that flash from yellow to green. The original Comedy Central version used a standard Christmas tree as seen in the sport ofdrag racing; the ABC revival uses just one box of lights that flash yellow three times, and then flash green.
If a robot pins or grabs an opposing robot by any means, the aggressor can hold the defender for up to 30 seconds before needing to release, though they are allowed to attempt another pin/grab after releasing, thereby granting another 30 seconds. Robots that are unable to release their opponent or otherwise become entangled may cause the match to be paused, allowing BattleBots technicians to enter the BattleBox and attempt to separate them. If they are able to be separated, the match restarts with the remaining time on the clock. If unable, the match will be ended prematurely and sent to the judges.
If a robot is unable to move for ten seconds, because it is too badly damaged or it is stuck in some manner (e.g., ensnared in an arena-trap), it is declared knocked out. In the Comedy Central version, the driver could also call a "tap-out" to forfeit the match if his or her robot is about to be destroyed. This ends the match ten seconds later; the opposing driver is "asked" (but not instructed) not to attack during the ten-second count.
If both robots survive the three minutes, or if the match is prematurely halted, a panel of judges distribute a total of 33 points (11 points a judge) over three categories: Damage, Aggression, and Control. Damage is weighted more heavily with five possible points, while Aggression and Control account for three each. Judges are provided with detailed guidelines for scoring, but in general terms, Damage points are awarded for how much non-cosmetic damage is inflicted to both robots either directly by their opponent and/or by arena hazards, Aggression refers to how much each robot engaged or avoided the other, and Control points are awarded based on how skillfully the drivers either evaded their opponents' attacks or positioned their own for maximum effectiveness. The robot with the higher score wins. Starting in Season 7, competitors who disagreed with the judges' decision may file an appeal, prompting a closer look at the fight and potentially overturning the decision. If this appeal fails, that team loses the ability to challenge further rulings that season.
At the end of the tournament, a series of 'rumbles' or 'melee rounds' is typically held in each weight class, allowing robots that survived the main tournament to fight in a 'free for all' in a 5-minute match. Occasionally, there are too many robots for one rumble, and multiple rumbles are held with the top surviving bots competing in a final event. During the Season 5 Heavyweight rumble (the first rumble of that competition), a sheared-off robot part went through the Lexan arena roof and fell (harmlessly) into the audience. Because of this, the rest of the rumbles were canceled due to safety concerns.[19]
The BattleBox is a 48 ft × 48 ft (15 m × 15 m) square arena designed to protect the drivers, officials, and audience from flying debris and charging bots. It was originally designed by Pete Lampertson. As of the 2015 season, Pete was still overseeing the box with the help of Matt Neubauer. It has a steel floor and steel-framed walls and roof paneled with thick, bulletproof polycarbonate plastic. The teams bring their robots in through doorways, which are sealed after all humans have exited. The drivers control their machines from outside the sealed arena.[citation needed]
Arena booby-traps are intended to make fights more interesting and unpredictable and to reward drivers who can avoid the traps while pushing or carrying their opponent into them.[citation needed]
Besides the Giant Nut trophy awarded to the winning team of the championship tournament, there are cash prizes for all robots that compete in combat at the tournament. In thesecond season of the ABC revival series, the winner of the championship tournament finals was awarded a cash prize of US$25,000.[20] DuringSeason 10, the prize was US$10,000.[21]
Additionally, the Giant Bolt trophies are awarded to teams based on their robot’s design and operation, regardless of their performance in the tournament. The awarded categories are: Most Destructive Robot, Best Design, and the Founder’s Award (which celebrates those that "best represent the spirit and values" ofBattleBots).[18] Following the death of longtime competitorGrant Imahara in 2020, the Best Designer award was renamed to the Grant Imahara Award for Best Design in his honor.
| Season | Episodes | Originally released | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | Network | |||
| 1 | 15 | August 23, 2000 (2000-8-23) | December 5, 2000 (2000-12-5) | Comedy Central | |
| 2 | 19 | December 12, 2000 (2000-12-12) | March 6, 2001 (2001-3-6) | ||
| 3 | 20 | July 10, 2001 (2001-7-10) | September 11, 2001 (2001-9-11) | ||
| 4 | 20 | January 8, 2002 (2002-1-8) | March 12, 2002 (2002-3-12) | ||
| 5 | 20 | August 20, 2002 (2002-8-20) | December 21, 2002 (2002-12-21) | ||
| 6 | 6 | June 21, 2015 (2015-6-21) | July 26, 2015 (2015-7-26) | ABC | |
| 7 | 10 | June 23, 2016 (2016-6-23) | September 1, 2016 (2016-9-1) | ||
| 8 | 20 | May 11, 2018 (2018-5-11) | October 5, 2018 (2018-10-5) | Discovery Channel | |
| 9 | 16 | June 7, 2019 (2019-6-7) | September 27, 2019 (2019-9-27) | ||
| 10 | 14 | December 3, 2020 (2020-12-3) | March 11, 2021 (2021-3-11) | ||
| 11 | 14 | January 6, 2022 (2022-1-6) | April 7, 2022 (2022-4-7) | ||
| 12 | 19 | January 5, 2023 (2023-1-5) | May 25, 2023 (2023-5-25) | ||
This is counting of all seasons. It is also usual to start counting again from 1 after the reboot, so that season 6 is season 1 and so on.
On December 3, 2020, a spin-off streaming series was announced, titledBattleBots: Bounty Hunters. The streaming series was filmed concurrently with the 2020–2021 season and aired from January 4 to March 18, 2021 onDiscovery+.[4][5]
BattleBots: Bounty Hunters is a six-episode series involving 48 bots in total. Each episode is themed around a "bounty" placed on the heads of six destructive veteran bots: Bronco, Icewave, Tombstone, Beta, Witch Doctor, and Son of Whyachi. In each episode, eight bots (including newcomers) fight through a single-elimination tournament for the chance to fight in a bounty match against the veteran bot in question. Whichever team wins the bounty match earns US$25,000.
On July 19, 2022, a second spin-off, titledBattleBots: Champions, was announced. The streaming series aired from August 4 to September 8, 2022 onDiscovery+.BattleBots: Champions is a sequel toBattleBots: Bounty Hunters, filmed concurrently with the 2022 season.
BattleBots: Champions is a six-episode series involving 48 bots in total. In each of the first five episodes, eight bots fight through a single-elimination tournament, called the "Sin City Slugfest". Each winner of the Sin City Slugfest then battles a winner of aBattleBots: Bounty Hunters bounty match. The victor progresses to the Golden Bolt tournament. The sixth episode is the Golden Bolt tournament, where the five surviving bots face off against each other and three current or former BattleBots champions (for 2022, Tombstone, End Game, and Tantrum). The overall winner ofBattleBots: Champions is awarded the Golden Bolt.
From October 5 to November 9, 2023, a second season ofBattleBots: Champions, titledBattleBots II: Sin City aired onDiscovery Channel and streamed onMAX. The format was similar to the earlier series, eschewing the bounty match battle and replacing Tombstone with SawBlaze as an automatic Golden Bolt qualifier. It was filmed concurrently with the 2023BattleBots World Championship VII (season 12).[22]
Currently, End Game is the reigning champion with two consecutive wins.
| Season | Year | Weight class | Number of competitors | Winner | Runner-up | Semi-finalists |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 2000 | Superheavyweight (325 lb) | 15 | Minion | DooAll | Rammstein, Ronin |
| Heavyweight (210 lb) | 20 | Vlad the Impaler | Voltarc | Punjar, Killerhurtz | ||
| Middleweight (115 lb) | 12 | Hazard | Deadblow | Super Orbiting Force, Pressure Drop | ||
| Lightweight (58 lb) | 24 | Backlash | Alpha Raptor | Das Bot, Mouser Mecha Catbot | ||
| 2.0 | 2000–2001 | Superheavyweight (325 lb) | 26 | Diesector | Atomic Wedgie | War Machine, Revision Z |
| Heavyweight (210 lb) | 33 | Biohazard | Vlad the Impaler | FrenZy, Voltronic | ||
| Middleweight (115 lb) | 29 | Spaz | El Diablo | Bad Attitude, The Master | ||
| Lightweight (58 lb) | 40 | Ziggo | Backlash | Beta Raptor, Toe Crusher | ||
| 3.0 | 2001 | Superheavyweight (325 lb) | 62 | Vladiator | Minion | Diesector, Toro |
| Heavyweight (210 lb) | 90 | Son of Whyachi | Biohazard | Hexadecimator, Overkill | ||
| Middleweight (115 lb) | 132 | Hazard | Little Drummer Boy | T-Wrex, SABotage | ||
| Lightweight (58 lb) | 115 | Dr. Inferno Jr. | Gamma Raptor | Sallad, Wedge of Doom | ||
| 4.0 | 2002 | Superheavyweight (340 lb) | 69 | Toro | New Cruelty | Little Blue Engine, Diesector |
| Heavyweight (220 lb) | 71 | Biohazard | Overkill | Tazbot, Surgeon General | ||
| Middleweight (120 lb) | 106 | Hazard | Complete Control | Heavy Metal Noise, Zion | ||
| Lightweight (60 lb) | 104 | Ziggo | The Big B | Death by Monkeys, Carnage Raptor | ||
| 5.0 | 2002 | Superheavyweight (340 lb) | 92 | Diesector | Vladiator | New Cruelty, Maximus |
| Heavyweight (220 lb) | 101 | Biohazard | Voltronic | Aces and Eights, Overkill | ||
| Middleweight (120 lb) | 150 | T-Minus | SOB | Hazard, Turtle | ||
| Lightweight (60 lb) | 156 | Dr. Inferno Jr. | Wedge of Doom | Gamma Raptor, Code:BLACK |
| Season (overall) | Revival season | Year | Number of competitors | Winner | Runner-up | Semi-finalists (top 4) | Quarter-finalists (top 8) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 1 | 2015 | 24 | Bite Force | Tombstone | Ghost Raptor, Bronco | Overhaul, Witch Doctor, Icewave, Stinger |
| 7 | 2 | 2016 | 55 | Tombstone | Bombshell | Yeti, Minotaur | Beta, Poison Arrow, Chomp, Bronco |
| 8 | 3 | 2018 | 55 | Bite Force | Minotaur | Whiplash, Lock-Jaw | Rotator, Monsoon, Bronco, Bombshell |
| 9 | 4 | 2019 | 68 | Bite Force | Witch Doctor | Tombstone, Death Roll | Lock-Jaw, SawBlaze, Whiplash, Minotaur |
| 10 | 5 | 2020–2021 | 59 | End Game | Whiplash | Tantrum, Black Dragon | Shatter!, Hydra, SawBlaze, Ribbot |
| 11 | 6 | 2022 | 59 | Tantrum | Witch Doctor | Hydra, SawBlaze | Cobalt, Minotaur, Blip, Riptide |
| 12 | 7 (World Championship VII) | 2023 | 50 | SawBlaze | HUGE | Ribbot, Copperhead | Minotaur, Witch Doctor, Hydra, Riptide |
| Weight class | Number of competitors | Winner | Runner-up | Semi-finalists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Gigabots" (200 lb) | 24 | Biohazard | Killerhurtz | Tazbot, Vlad the Impaler |
| "Megabots" (109 lb) | 13 | Son of Smashy | Knee Breaker | Deadblow, Carnivore |
| "Kilobots" (55 lb) | 27 | Ziggo | Defiant | Toe Crusher, Tentomushi |
| Weight class | Number of competitors | Winner | Runner-up | Semi-finalists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Superheavyweight (325 lb) | 24 | Vlad the Impaler | Voltarc | Rhino, Punjar |
| Heavyweight (210 lb) | 8 | Minion | Ricon | World Peace, Mechadon |
| Bounty / Episode | Bounty Match Winner | Bounty Match Loser | Pre-bounty Finalist |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bronco (Episode 1) | Rotator | Bronco | MadCatter |
| Icewave (Episode 2) | Skorpios | Icewave | Hypershock |
| Tombstone (Episode 3) | Tombstone | Gruff | Kraken |
| Beta (Episode 4) | Lock-Jaw | Beta | Bloodsport |
| Witch Doctor (Episode 5) | Witch Doctor | SubZero | Malice |
| Son of Whyachi (Episode 6) | Gigabyte | Son of Whyachi | Copperhead |
| Episode | Golden Bolt Qualifier Winner | Golden Bolt Qualifier Loser | Sin City Slugfest Finalist |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gigabyte (Episode 1) | Hypershock | Gigabyte | MadCatter |
| Lock-Jaw (Episode 2) | Ribbot | Lock-Jaw | Deep Six |
| Rotator (Episode 3) | Glitch | Rotator | Uppercut |
| Skorpios (Episode 4) | Skorpios | Bloodsport | Blacksmith |
| Witch Doctor (Episode 5) | Witch Doctor | Whiplash | Black Dragon |
| Golden Bolt Tournament Winner | Golden Bolt Tournament Runner-up | Golden Bolt Tournament Semi-finalists | Golden Bolt Tournament Quarter-finalists |
| End Game | Witch Doctor | Tantrum, Hypershock | Ribbot, Glitch, Tombstone, Skorpios |
| Episode | Golden Bolt Qualifier | Slugfest Finalist | Slugfest Semi-finalist |
|---|---|---|---|
| Episode 1 | SHREDDIT BRO! | Valkyrie | Switchback, Rotator |
| Episode 2 | Whiplash | Black Dragon | Malice, MadCatter |
| Episode 3 | Free Shipping | Gigabyte | Beta, DeathRoll |
| Episode 4 | JackPot | Cobalt | Lucky, Emulsifier |
| Episode 5 | RIPperoni | HyperShock | Monsoon, Claw Viper |
| Golden Bolt Tournament Winner | Golden Bolt Tournament Runner-up | Golden Bolt Tournament Semi-finalists | Golden Bolt Tournament Quarter-finalists |
| End Game | SawBlaze | JackPot, Tantrum | Free Shipping, SHREDDIT BRO!, Whiplash, RIPperoni |
Hit Series to Launch Friday, May 11 at 8 PM ET/PT on Discovery Channel and Wednesday, May 16 at 9 PM ET/PT on Science Channel
| Episodes |
|  | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spin-offs |
| |||||||
| Related |
| |||||||
