FanPost

Bring Back Ninja vs. Ninja

This winter/spring was the first without either Team Ninja Warrior or Ninja vs. Ninja, which was very sad. Ninja vs. Ninja is my favorite Ninja show. It brings out the competiveness in the Ninjas we don’t get to see in the main series. The main series is Ninja versus the course, and it’s hard to bring out the competitive spririt against something that’s not alive. But when you’re racing against other Ninjas, that’s when it comes out. Look at the third season, Kevin Carbone, who was a rookie to the competition and a rookie the previous season, wasn’t afraid to ram into Brian Kretsch to make sure he couldn’t dismount easily. Where else would you see a rookie be willing to get physical with one of the few guys to compete on every season of Ninja Warrior? The same thing happened with a pure rookie Kyle Soderman and veteran Kevin Bull. There was also much more of an adrenaline rush than the regular season. We had multiple finishes of less than second. We also saw the return of athletes like JB Douglas and one of the most well known ninjas from the earliest seasons, Paul Kasemir from this show. We also discovered rookies like Mathis Ohwadi(he actually competed on Ninja vs. Ninja before season 10), Kyle Soderman, and Kyle Soderman. There was also the unpredictability of the show, as there was no repeat champions, and in the second season, the defending champion Party Time was knocked out in the first round. The fact that a team comprised of Drew Dreschel and James McGrath didn’t win in the first two seasons was shocking. Or a team of Flip Rodriguez, JJ Woods, and Meagan Martin didn’t win in the third season also added to the unpredictability. And a team of Adam Rayl and Sean Bryan didn’t even make the finals. We got to see friends compete against one another and team up. With the course difficulty lowered, we didn’t have to worry about completions of the course, just finishing it. The show also brought us so many "What If’s" to light. Travis Rosen vs. Drew Dreschel, Flip Rodriguez vs. Daniel Gil, Thomas Stillings vs. Lorin Ball, Megan Martin vs Jesse Labreck, just to make a few. But it also left us with a bunch of matchups we wish we still had seen. Like arguably the two greatest Ninjas right now, Drew Dreschel vs. Joe Moravsky, or two of the oldest competitors who frequently took down younger competitors, Travis Rosen vs. David Campbell. The production in the third season was also greatly improved, with it now taking place at night. The rules also were changed for the better, in the first two seasons the the teams of 3 faced off in 3 heats, and the last one being worth two points and if there was a tie, a sudden death. This was flawed because one person could tied it up 2-2 and then win the sudden death, so instead of the team aspect, one person could win it, that happened with dominant athletes like Karsten Williams and Daniel Gil, but then their teams would lose in the relays because there whole team wasn’t as strong. The latest season all heats were worth 1 point, and you had to sweep to end it, but if it was 2-1 then it would go to relays. Those rules lead to the competition being more of a team aspect. They also didn’t struggle with ninjas participating. All the big names participatied except for season 3, where Drew Dreschel, defending champ Joe Moravsky(with teammates Josh Levin and Alyssa Beird), and Jesse Graf sat out. But I bet with a year off they would be ready to jump back in. I think the power tower this season will remind people how awesome the head to head is, and people who never watched Ninja vs. Ninja will fall in love with it. For now, I’m super excited for the Power Tower to bring back some of the head to head I love. What do you guys think? Should they bring Ninja vs Ninja back?

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of American Ninja Warrior Nation's writers or editors, or of NBC.

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