"American Gladiators" is back and bigger than ever for its second season. NBC hammered this idea home with the new intro, which featured huge versions of the Gladiators taking on faceless challengers as they towered over metropolises. The events were bigger, the new gladiators were better – NBC is ready to kick the series into a higher gear.

Monday night’s premiere was two episodes wrapped into one, just like last year’s premiere. They teased some of the new events and Gladiators after the opening (Atlasphere is back! However, it was nowhere to be seen in full form last night). Randy; a hyperactive contender with 13 siblings, took on Jay; a SWAT team leader. Their first event was Rocketball, one of the additions this year. Basically, contenders must grab a ball and then push a button that will launch them into the air. In the middle of the arena are two baskets and the challengers will try to get the ball in the baskets – one point for the lower basket and 2 for the upper. Meanwhile, two Gladiators will be launching up with them in an attempt to keep them from scoring. The men did alright, each netting two points.

They moved onto Hang Tough, where Wolf dominated Jay (who made a lame “Lord of the Rings” reference) but couldn’t pull Randy down before time expired. Gauntlet was next, and Jay made use of his larger frame to bust through the course, which has changed since last year - there is no longer a “gate” at the end. Randy got knocked around and was only able to get through three sections. In the Pyramid, big boys Titan and Justice kept the men from scoring.

The new Eliminator has changed for the better. The beginning wall climb is gone, replaced with a longer swim under fire. After the rope net climb, there is a rope swing that looks very difficult before the hand bike. The hand bike section now has a deep ball pit beneath it, so it is no longer a shorter route to just drop. After a new spinning-barrel run, it’s up the pyramid and down the zip line before attempting to keep your balance on a large teeter-totter. Then it’s the menacing travelator before swinging on another rope through a banner and into the water. Randy tackled the Eliminator head on and beat Jay easily with an impressive time of 2 minutes, six seconds.

Wolf: Back for more!

On the women’s side, Elena the firefighter and Melissa the martial arts instructor faced off. Their first event was Pyramid, where they were dominated by Venom and Crush. Crush then returned for more in Joust, knocking both contenders out easily. We then got a look at the new assault course, which now features a bazooka instead of a sand dig for a crossbow bolt. This lead to an amusing moment when Elena shot the bazooka backwards. Still, she managed to match Melissa’s four points. The Wall was next, and it’s taller and looks more imposing than it did last year. It also brought us the debut of Jet, who is season 1 champion Monica. Venom joined her on the hunt, but Elena beat Jet to the top for 10 points while Melissa lost her grip and fell on her own.

In the Eliminator, we had one of the longest contests. It was neck and neck until the travelator, where the women could not get up to the top. NBC skipped forward a few times until the running clock was reaching 10 minutes. Elena just sat down and seemed to give up, while Melissa finally made her way up and swung through the finish line. Still, she knew that it would take a miracle to make the tournament with such a long time.

Crush: Still Queen of the Pyramid and Joust.

The second episode featured paralympian John, who lost his leg in a car crash. John struggled throughout the show due to his condition, but put up a fight that’s hard not to be inspired by. Gerry, a teacher for autistic children, had the upper hand on John throughout the completion, and put him away in the Eliminator with a good time of three minutes and three seconds. Still, John insisted on trying to finish the eliminator and did, with the entire crowd cheering him on. Earlier, we got our first look at Rocket, who is season 1 champion Evan. Rocket pulled Gerry off The Wall to deny him of any points.

On the women’s side, Nikki the bartender went up against Vanessa the United States Air Force Major. In the Pyramid event, Nikki turned her ankle and had to be taken out of the competition. She was replaced by… Nikki, a sixth grade teacher. During this competition we got to see the new event Vertigo. Challengers must race a Gladiator across several swaying platforms. If the contender gets halfway before the Gladiator finishes the course, she gets 5 points. If she beats the Gladiator to the finish line, she gets 10. The women were totally outmatched and befuddled by the new event and by new Gladiator Phoenix. We didn’t see much of her outside the event, but she dominated bother women to keep them from scoring. During the Eliminator, Nikki fell hard during the first rope swing, but was matched evenly with Vanessa up until the travelator. Vanessa used the downward portion of the teeter-totter to gain speed for the travelator and when right up it to beat Nikki with a nice time of 3 minutes and 24 seconds.

Venom remains perfect on the Pyramid. No one has gotten a point against her.

So far the season looks like it’s off to a great start, although the producers are still holding a lot to their chest - several new events and Gladiators are still waiting to be unveiled. This includes Beast, a 7’1” Gladiator that is apparently introduced by releasing him from his cage. American Gladiators airs on Mondays at 8 EST on NBC, and the premiere will be re-broadcast this Friday at 8 EST.

Story by Casey Johnson

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