It’s been a season of buzzers for Michael Torres. He’s practically having a perfect season...If it wasn’t for the Mega Wall. (That thing was cruel this year.) Competing since season eight, this was the first year that Michael Torres came up buzzer-less in the City Qualifiers. However, he did capture his very first City Finals buzzer this season. And, he’s hit every buzzer since!

City Finals Buzzer: CHECK

Power Tower AND earned the Safety Pass: CHECK CHECK

Stage One Buzzer: CHECK

Stage Two Buzzer: CHECK

And about that Safety Pass…Michael was the ONLY NINJA who didn’t need to use it. The rules state that the Safety Pass cannot be used for Stage Three or Four, so Michael is officially the only Ninja with his Safety Pass untouched.

We talked to Michael after his super strong City Finals showing in Cincinnati.

City Finals: The highlight of his Ninja career --

“City Finals for me was amazing. I’ve been wanting to hit a City Finals buzzers since Season Eight. To finally hit one… so far, that’s the highlight of my Ninja career. It was even better to hit that buzzer alongside some of my great training partners, who I consider like my brothers and sisters.”

“That City Finals run also brought me into the Power Tower, and I was racing Ethan Swanson. We literally work at the same gym. We train all the time. We see each other all the time. To see each other in the Power Tower was… kind of expected. I had a dream about it. We talked about it. Of course, anything could happen, but just the way we both executed, seeing each other in the tower was kind of fun.”

Having a Safety Pass in his back pocket --

“Having this do-over is kind of stress-free for me. I can attack the course with no hesitations, with nothing holding me back. That’s the way I should be attacking it anyway, so this just gives me that extra sort of confidence that if anything goes wrong, I’m still fine. I’ll be all right.”

“I think it’s the first season I’ve been in Vegas, that I don’t have those nerves looking at the course. I have a sense of calm, mainly because, bringing it back to City Finals, I executed how we trained and that came out great. I figure I’ll just do the same thing here in Vegas, and I should have a similar outcome.”

David Becker/NBC

Training with intensity and purpose for the National Finals --

“I’m expecting a fast, fluid, smooth Stage One, which is what we train. As long as I just perform how I train, and how I know I can do the obstacles, it should be totally fine. I feel confident in Stage One. We have been doing A LOT, A LOT, A LOT of Stage Two training. I can’t stress how much we’ve been doing it. I’m very confident in Stage Two, as well. I’ve been training my muscles, training my body, and getting used to those specific sort of movements that you would see in a typical Stage Two, so I feel very prepared for that.”

“Looking on towards Stage Three and Stage Four… we’ve been supplementing with Stage Three training, as well as rope climbs. I feel like I’m very prepared for this year. As opposed to other years, I feel like this year I’ve got the best chance.”

David Becker/NBC

The training is paying off. Michael had 3 goals for the National Finals. Two of them have been achieved. Will he achieve his third goal next week?

“My first goal is to get through Stage One and Two without using my Safety Pass. My second goal is to get to Stage Three. That’s been one of my primaries since Season Eight. I’ve always thought, ‘Hey, if I made it to Stage Three, I’d be happy.’ But now, just the vigorous training, Stage Three would be my second goal and obviously, my third goal would be to complete Stage Four.”

Will the buzzers continue? Tune in to the American Ninja Warrior Finale on NBC (Monday, September 16 at 8/7c) to find out if Michael has what it takes to hit a Stage Three, and maybe even a Stage Four, buzzer!