#20: Complete Control vs. Super Chiabot (Comedy Central Season 2 middleweights) & Complete Control vs. Bombshell (ABC Season 2 prelims)

Results: Complete Control, 38-7, and Complete Control, 3-0

All right, I cheated here. Both of these fights are similar in what it stood for and for Derek Young and Team Mission Destruction’s contributions to the fighting robot world, especially hearing the news of his retirement. Yes, they won a Nut in the pre-TV days with Son of Smashy, but this is their signature robot, Complete Control, at its best. The first, the Season 2 domination of Super Chiabot, was the first demonstration of the clampbot, a bot that could grab its opponent from above, lift them, and do whatever to damage them, normally by taking them to the killsaws or pulverizers. The first attempt wasn’t perfect—in the fight against Super Chiabot Complete Control overbalanced while suplexing Super Chiabot; it’s an iconic moment in BattleBots history, but one that called for a reset due to both bots being immobile. But Complete Control grabbed, paraded, and tossed its opponent around in a fight that Sean Salisbury correctly said would change the way we look at BattleBots (last year’s champ, Bite Force, for instance, was a bit more modular with different ways to clamp and lift but was a clampbot).

After a controversial fight and loss last year to Ghost Raptor (Boxgate), Complete Control came back this year, this time without a net in a box, but in their fight against Bombshell showed what a flamethrower, normally a weapon that looked nice but probably did minor damage at best, can do. Once Complete Control got a grab and hoist on Bombshell (which I still think went with the wrong weapon by choosing the axe) it could use the flamethrower to its full potential, roasting Bombshell for thirty seconds at a time before tossing it aside, and topping it off the last time by taking Bombshell to the pulverizer for the last few seconds.

#19: Techno Destructo vs. Cuad the Crusher (CC S3 super heavyweights)

Result: Techno Destructo, 23-22 (split decision)

I’ll be honest, I had the top 20 post pretty much done and then I thought to myself “Oh wait, Cuad vs. Techno was a good fight, I should rewatch it.” This was a back and forth fight between the flipper Techno Destructo (whose team returned this year with the surprisingly disappointing Ultimo Destructo) and lifting spike Cuad (correctly pronounced by Mark Beiro according to the wiki as cue-ad, not quad) whose wedge shape was indeed an issue for Techno as Tim Green said about six times and creatively put the spike under the rest of the robot lifting it up also making it tough for Techno to get under. I would have taken Cuad throughout this fight especially after lifting Techno and getting the killsaws to take out the top armor pieces, but the damage in the last 20 seconds to Cuad’s lifting spike removing it from the bot was enough to swing the decision the other way. I don’t agree with the judges, but a back-and-forth fight with significant damage to both bots gives it a last-second entry into this list.

#18: Hazard vs. T-Minus (CC S5 middleweight semifinals)

Result: T-Minus, KO 0:55

I wouldn’t call it the biggest upset in BattleBots history, but it’s one of the most important fights in BattleBots history and enough to warrant entry on the list right there. If the Internet was as big of a thing in 2004 as it was today, or if social media existed this would be as hyped as Tombstone–Bronco was last year.

Hazard at this point was 17-0, winning the Season 1, Season 3, and Season 4 middleweight crowns. The only thing preventing it from being four straight Nuts was that Hazard didn’t compete in Season 2 because builder Tony Buchignani retired Hazard to build lightweight Evil Fish Tank and super heavy War Machine instead. T-Minus was always a contender from its inception but never had things break right for them. The two finally squared off, and as extremely hyped events often go, it didn’t quite live up to it. It wasn’t the best driving job by Buchignani, who saw the sparks from the titanium flipper that Inertia Labs put on for the fight and thought he could shear it off. He was wrong, as T-Minus got under Hazard’s front wedge and lodged it between the blade, stopping it, and then it was easy to get to the champ for one final flip. T-Minus would earn that title with a KO over dustpan-style bot S.O.B., which is good because that would have been really disappointing if they had lost.

#17: Complete Control vs. Warhead (ABC S2 1st round)

Result, Warhead, KO 1:26

Maybe a little bit of newness involved, but Warhead quickly did damage to Complete Control showing that that dome isn’t irrelevant, and Senor rejoiced. After taking some time getting its own bearings back (that was a hell of a hit after all), the combo of the spinner hitting Complete Control’s fuel line plus a lick of flame from Warhead’s wings led to Complete Control getting a taste of its own medicine. The final hit which drove the Internet in a frenzy, where Warhead spun on its head across the arena to hit Complete Control, was really to show that Warhead still had directional movement or else there would have been a double KO and the fight would have gone to the judges (probably still for Warhead but still). I think the hit was a bonus—it still didn’t properly self-right, though. And for Derek Young, I guess if this is the way to go out, best be spectacular. Still not the worst beating Complete Control’s ever taken but more on that much later.

#16: Surgeon General vs. Hexadecimator (CC S4 heavyweight quarterfinal)

Result: Surgeon General, KO 2:22

This looked like a one-sided fight from the get-go as the big disk of Surgeon General tore through Hexy D (this nickname made Hexadecimator one of my favorite bots when I was young) and it looked like it would end with the flipper being destroyed. Then Surgeon General went up the front wedge and landed in the worst way it possibly could, on its back. What followed was one of the best self-rights in BattleBots as the spinner went back and forth to get itself back on its wheels. From domination to despair and back, getting a second chance to finish off the flipper and make it to the semis.

#15: Stinger vs. Bronco (ABC S1 quarterfinals)

Result, Bronco, KO 1:18

Two fan favorite teams, one from the TV days and one from the more recent past in between TV runs. Bronco showed off a lot in this fight. Its moment of peril, riding the rails and the screws and being inverted, was due to a missed flip on its own end. Stinger really had one brief moment of control where it got a lift in. But in terms of spectacles, Bronco’s big flip on Stinger with the flames on and then the first out of the arena in BattleBots history was the first “break the Internet” moment of this run of the show, now that there’s the Internet and all. I think Stinger did like a 1080 with a twist on that first big flip, and then of course there’s the last flip which put Stinger over and out.

#14: Blacksmith vs. Minotaur (ABC S2 1st round)

Result: Minotaur, 3-0

Blacksmith put a fantastic effort against Minotaur and was able to push it around early. Once the wedge finally got ripped off it became a matter of when, not if, the carnage would ensue, and even though it was completely destroyed Blacksmith just barely lasted the bell. It was called a knockout by the judge but the Facebook page clarified that somehow, someway, Blacksmith went the distance against the Brazilian bull. According to the old rules I think my personal card would have had it… something like 9-6 Minotaur. 5-0 in damage obviously, but I’d give Blacksmith the aggression and strategy edges considering Minotaur took a few hammers from the pulverizer, not that it did much to them. Man, poor Blacksmith, going up against Bronco and Minotaur in its two fights. That’s a rough go.

#13: Vlad the Impaler vs. Mechavore (CC S3 heavyweights)

Result: Mechavore, 24-21

Vlad the Impaler was one of the first great robots of BattleBots history. Originally built in 1996 for Robot Wars, Vlad ended up winning two consecutive Giant Nuts (the pay-per-view Las Vegas 1999 tourney and Season 1). This Season 3 tilt, however, was a changing of the guard, as the big horizontal spinner Mechavore sliced through Vlad like a knife through hot butter—those are some clean cuts on Vlad, and a few more hits would have sliced Vlad’s armor completely in two. Vlad stayed mobile throughout though, pushing back and lifting Mechavore a few times, but even the veteran driving of the legendary Gage Cauchois wasn’t enough against a technologically superior bot.

#12: Slam Job vs. Nightmare (CC S3 heavyweights)

Result: Nightmare, 25-20

One of the most destructive single hits in BattleBots history. The one shot was all Nightmare needed to take down Slam Job, taking out the weapon shaft and bottom plate of Slam Job and who knows what else. Even though the announcers called this a knockout on TV, both bots were deemed immobile from the force of the blow—Nightmare’s weapon motor was damaged—leading to the judges’ decision listed because it was a double knockout.

#11: Tombstone vs. Bronco (ABC S1 semifinals)

Result: Tombstone, KO 2:09

A fight between fan favorites, and nobody was sure what would happen, or they were very sure depending on who their favorite bot was. Bronco took the hits as well as one reasonably could (it took a few to take out that wheel guard) but couldn’t time its flips properly, maybe due to the extended flipper which tried to keep the bar at bay. There was one successful flip but Bronco flipped inself, took a while to self-right, and when finally righted, landed right where Tombstone took off a tire, which more or less did it. Tombstone went for one more hit while Bronco bucked to unsuccessfully try to show movement but the hit reversed and turned Tombstone’s internals into externals. Some speculate that that hit might have cost him the Nut in the final against Bite Force where the big spinning bar stopped spinning, and some forums said it was Ray Billings playing the heel going for one more, but Bronco was trying to show movement and if the referees had claimed that those flips counted the fight would have kept going, so of course Tombstone would be inclined to try and finish Bronco off.

Well that does it for this first part. Please join me next week for the second and final part of this break where I reveal my top 10 BattleBots fights of all time, including a pair of fights from this season, the most self-inflicted damage done to a BattleBot, and of course, the best BattleBots fight of all time.