Jolt Country

Muscles and Mayhem is a 2023 Netflix documentary that takes a look at the creation, operation, demise, and legacy of one of the more unusual shows of the late 80s/early 90s: American Gladiator.

The majority of this five-part documentary takes viewers through the American Gladiator story, mostly through the eyes of the gladiators themselves. All off the biggest gladiators, including Gemini, Zap, Nitro, and all the others were all interviewed at length. The interviews have been combined with footage from the show, lots of behind the scenes and home movies clips, with a few gaps filled in with animated scenes.

Those who grew up watching the show may have wondered why some gladiators were replaced and why the events changed from season to season, and all of that is explained here. To be honest, it's amazing more gladiators and contestants weren't injured during the filming of this show. Once the story gets rolling, the documentary spends an extended amount of time covering topics that haunted the show including drug use (specifically steroids) and partying gladiators.

As the story goes on it becomes evident that the producers of the original television show didn't understand what made the show work, specifically in regards to how little they valued the gladiators, how underpaid they were, and how willing they were to replace them. In the seventh and final season many of the more popular gladiators that had previously been let go were brought back in various roles (Zap returned as a competitor, while Nitro returned as a co-commentator), but it was too little, too late.

As the documentary ends, the gladiators discuss what they've been doing, an entire genre of shows that were inspired by American Gladiator, and what the show's legacy means to them today.

All seven seasons of American Gladiator are currently streaming on Amazon Prime, but many people will find this documentary meets their needs.