Netflix has unveiled the official trailer for “Muscles & Mayhem: An Unauthorized Story of American Gladiators,” which will offer a behind-the-scenes look into one of the biggest spectacles on television during the height of the ’90s.
The five-part docuseries includes firsthand accounts from the stars who lived through it, sharing untold stories of American Gladiators’ triumph, turmoil and the ultimate price of fame. They include Dan “Nitro” Clark, Debbie “Storm” Clark, Erika “Diamond” Andersch Bunker, Jim “Laser” Kalafat, Lori “Ice” Fetrick, Michael “Gemini” Horton, Raye “Zap” Olson, Shari E “Blaze” Pendleton Mitchell, Shirley “Sky” Eson-Korito, Steve “Tower” Hennebery
“Muscles & Mayhem: An Unauthorized Story of American Gladiators” is directed by Tony Vainuku and Jared Hess, produced by Campfire Studios and Game Seven Media and executive produced by Clark, Vainuku, Hess, Ross M. Dinerstein, Kyle McCutcheon, Peter Sussman and Chris Koras.
“I’m kind of known to be pretty obsessed with the ’90s, a fan of professional wrestling,” Dinerstein, the chief executive officer of Campfire Studios, told TheWrap in an interview. “I grew up watching American Gladiators religiously and actually had gone to a live show. So when our friends at Netflix called me about the project, I jumped on the opportunity. This show is special because it’s the gladiators telling their story. We have outside perspectives but it is really the people that were in those production meetings, in those sales meetings, but also those people that were competing both as gladiators and also as contenders. And it’s really raw and unfiltered and truly fascinating.”
Dinerstein said he was most surprised by the level of injuries the gladiators suffered and how they played through them.
“As a child, I’m watching it and seeing these larger than life characters. You do feel like they’re indestructible and I think it made it a lot more relatable to see some of the pain that they went through,” he added. “But they also loved what they were doing and enjoyed it and I think they really enjoyed entertaining their audience.”
Ultimately, he hopes the series will encapsulate how different television was in the ’90s.
“My goal is that fans will see just sort of how different television was back then. And these event-sized weekly shows don’t really exist in the way that they did back then because of the amount of content that’s available. And also seeing a show that really captures that era. That show worked because it was in the nineties and our docuseries really looks back at the nineties and why that show worked. And so I really want fans who knew the show to sort of relive that and fans that didn’t know about it to get a real peek into like a very fun and exciting time.”
“Muscles & Mayhem: An Unauthorized Story of American Gladiators” premieres June 28 on Netflix.
