[IMG:L]Just because Hulk Hogan is cohosting American Gladiators, don’t mistake this for a professional wrestling spinoff. Gladiators, the revamping of the late ’80s extreme sport sensation, is a real competition. Stylized events like The Joust, Hang Tough and The Pyramid. These stylized events have contestants wailing on muscle-bound gladiators with big sticks or trying to weave through obstacles while the gladiators aim to pull them down.
This competition is so intense, Hogan doesn’t even think he would qualify. “My left knee is replaced, my right hip is replaced, this right knee’s been cut on 17 times,” Hogan said. “I don’t think I could make it. I think I could do a lot of the upper body stuff, like the joust and the hanging stuff. As far as the Gauntlet and running, I could try but I think I’d have a half a shot at it and then you’d be rolling me in for the replacement.”
As one of the original superstars in entertainment, Hogan already has his picks for which gladiators will be the breakout stars of the new show. “Initially we’ve got a real big gladiator called Hellga. She’s like a brewmaster type, bar waitress type thing. All the gladiators are in real good shape and she comes out. She’s in good shape, but she’s big, so she gets good crowd reaction. On the male side, there’s this guy named Wolf that comes out howling, so he gets a good reaction. I think initially those two are the most popular, but the more I watch it, there are girls named Venom and Siren and Crush, the black-haired cage fighter type girl. Their personalities are going to build further. On the male side, there’s Titan and Mayhem. So we’ve got some larger than life characters coming at you.”
But don’t take Hulk‘s word for it. Meet the new gladiators in their own words:
Crush
Real Name: Gina Carano
Background: Muay Thai and Cage Fighting
Favorite Event: Joust
Quote: “You can’t kick the [contestants] in the head. I got penalized.”
Fury
Real Name: Jaime Kovac
Background: Softball, track team
Favorite Event: Hang Tough
Quote: “I’m actually in my high school yearbook Most Likely to Be on American Gladiators. So I seriously considered this a valid career choice when I was in high school. I settled for being an engineer and I was so excited when they brought the show back. I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is for me.’ I just knew it. You have this feeling, I knew I was going to end up here.”
Hellga
Real Name: Robin Coleman
Background: Bodybuilder, World’s Strongest Woman competitor, Rowing
Favorite Event: The Gauntlet
Quote: “Helga is a Nordic word for butt kicker so that’s not a problem.”
[PAGEBREAK]Justice
Real Name: Justice Smith
Background: Weight lifting, Tae Kwon Do, Basketball, Kickboxing
Favorite Event: The Pyramid
Quote: “It was pretty interesting for my audition. I wasn’t invited actually. I went with a friend that was invited and I was waiting on him. Then they came out and asked me to audition. I did and my friend was like, ‘Shit, I knew I shouldn’t have brought you to the audition because your mohawk’s bigger than mine, plus you’re 10 years younger.’ It was very interesting. He didn’t get the part but he loves that one of us did.”
Mayhem
Real Name: Romeo Williams
Background: K1 Kickboxing
Favorite Event: The Pyramid
Quote: “You know what’s so funny? Actually, I did a national commercial for the Luxor hotel in Las Vegas as King Tut. Then we come here and I’m like, ‘Wait a minute. My house. They put my house over here.’ So yeah, Pyramid, that’s the one.”
Militia
Real Name: Alex Castro
Background: Bodybuilding
Favorite Event: Unknown
Quote: “Each one of us has his character we’re trying to show, like Wolf screaming and [Siren]’s sexy, smiley. I’m like Militia, military, serious, taking everything very serious. The only acting in the show is that you bring your character. You’re trying to put your character in everything you do but it’s mostly really no acting. This is real TV. This is as real as you can get. We’re competing against people that are really well trained. It’s just hard. I don’t think there’s much acting.”[PAGEBREAK]Siren
Real Name: Valerie Waugaman
Background: IFBB Figure Competitor
Favorite Event: Powerball
Quote: “For me, I’m here for a purpose, a higher purpose than just to be on TV. For me it’s to be a role model for kids and for other people to dream big and take care of their bodies in health and fitness, to eat right and to have goals. For me, this is a stage to be able to get that message out there in interviews just like this. So I definitely feel like it’s a great opportunity to be a role model.”
Stealth
Real Name: Tanji Johnson
Background: Air Force, IFBB Fitness Competitor
Favorite Event: Unknown
Quote: “Two things come to mind. I always think first of all, no pain no gain, and sacrifices must be made. So this Gladiator zone for all of us is like a war zone. When we compete, we’re going to war. So I feel 100% confident that I know that when I’m getting ready to compete, it’s on. So you pretty much have to hurt me to get past me.”
Titan
Real Name: Mike O’Hearn
Background: Natural Mr. Universe, California Power Lifting Champion, California Judo Champion, Original American Gladiator
Favorite Event: Powerball
Quote: “I’ll tell you, what’s new is the set. The set’s amazing. The old set was small, we filmed it up in Burbank. Now we turned one of the biggest soundstages into our home. We’ve got water, we’ve got fire, we’ve got everything. It’s insane.”[PAGEBREAK]Toa
Real Name: Tanoai Reed
Background: Stuntman
Favorite Event: Powerball, Pyramid and Gauntlet
Quote: “We rehearse in the stunt world. We don’t rehearse for this. The stunt world, we make it look like it hurts. Sometimes it does. We try not to make it hurt. We try to make it hurt in this. This is real live action.”
Venom
Real Name: Beth Horn
Background: National Fitness Champion
Favorite Event: The Wall and Hang Tough
Quote: “Standing on top of that pyramid and looking down on them, I can’t imagine what it feels like for them just looking up. You can just see fear in their eyes, like oh my God, I can’t believe I’m going to do this. So that’s a pretty good feeling. It’s all mental. It’s physical but it’s all mental once you get out there so you’ve got to be ready for it. They’re not going to take us down. That’s our mentality.”
Wolf
Real Name: Don Yates
Background: Rodeo bull fighting
Favorite Event: Hang Tough
Quote: “I like destroying people physically, but even more so I like destroying them mentally so that 10 years down the road when they hear the word wolf, they’re going to get chills. That’s what I like. Any time I get to hit somebody so hard that when they come back for the next event, they’re already remembering what I did to them the last time, that’s fun.”
American Gladiators premieres Sunday night on NBC.