Vince McMahon might have coined the term Sports Entertainment in WWE, but it was American Gladiators that showcased just how profitable to television networks that the genre could be. While Hulkamania was running wild on Saturday morning syndicated television, after WWE Superstars, most networks would present American Gladiators. The show’s simple concept has been copied and built upon for years in shows like American Ninja Warrior.

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Recently Netflix released the documentary, Muscles & Mayhem: An Unauthorized Story of American Gladiators. The five part documentary tells the story of the rise and fall of the popular show that ran from 1989-1996 and interviews all of the original Gladiators and several key people behind the scenes. No, we don’t hear from former contestant and wrestler Rico Constantino, but that doesn’t end the parallels and similarities between both American Gladiators and WWE.

Early 'American Gladiators' Felt Like The Beginnings Of NXT

Similar to a WWE PC Tryout, there was an open casting call to all sorts of musclebound meatheads and athletes throughout California in order to find The American Gladiators for the show’s first season. With Michael Horton being the first one cast as Gemini, the ex-football player was able to help the producers of the show find the rest of the team. He helped find Malibu, Lace, Zap, Sunny, and Nitro. Much like PC Classes, some didn’t make it and the rest became staples of the show and pop culture icons once the series took off. Similar to the first season of NXT, the first season of Gladiators was a trial and error about figuring out which games would work best for the cameras and for the health of the contestants and Gladiators. Much like the first few years and rosters of NXT, it’s clear the original Gladiators have a love and respect for another.

'American Gladiators' Was Ahead Of The Curve In How They Presented Women

Much like wrestling in the eighties and early nineties, the first set of episodes of American Gladiators had next to no protection for the Gladiators or the contestants. Some of the events, like Cannonball, weren’t fully realized. The production team wasn’t sure how to make it safer. The end result was Malibu got concussed and that was the end for him. Sunny suffered a debilitating injury because of a stumble she took on the elevated Conquer ring. There wasn’t a doctor or a trainer in sight. That was something that quickly changed after the first 13 episodes. As far as having trainers on hand, that wouldn’t be something WWE would adapt for years.

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In a lot of ways, what really set the show apart was how forward-thinking it was with the ladies. While the women in the WWE at the time were barely featured (except for Sherri and Elizabeth), the lady Gladiators were double-tough and the events were the same level of performance that the men had. It wasn’t lessened or dumbed down at all for the Gladiators and contestants. Much like today's women’s matches, sometimes Zap, Ice, and Blaze would smash harder than the men.

'American Gladiators' Beat WWE To Steroid Testing

Another ahead of its time practice that Gladiators did was steroid testing. Yes, as they do detail in the documentary, the producers of the show let the Gladiators know they would be testing them in six weeks time. That allowed them all to get off the juice if they were on it, which the ones that at least copped to being on the gas did indeed do in order to keep their jobs. Similar to WWE Superstars, The American Gladiators were being seen as heroes to look up to, and even one of them visited a Make-A-Wish kid. They couldn’t be seen using performance enhancement drugs like steroids. Just by making sure the athletes got tested put the show over a decade ahead of WWE in that regard.

So while American Gladiators and WWE are two very different programs both in the realm of Sports Entertainment, there was a definite synergy. That synergy went beyond network execs pairing them together on early Saturday afternoons. It also went far past future WWE Superstar, Rico Constantino, being a contestant on the show. Aside from unknowingly being the perfect pairing to WWE programming, American Gladiators inadvertently set a few standards that WWE would eventually adopt several years later, and in some cases, decades later.