BattleBots: Champions I

## Overview

"*In the fight capital of the world, a new tournament kicks off for robotic combat’s hottest trophy: The Golden Bolt. But first the robots must face the toughest battle ever seen in Vegas: the Sin City Slugfest*"
— Discovery's official description for the spin-off series.
**BattleBots: Champions** was the name given to the sequel spin-off series to *BattleBots: Bounty Hunters*. It premiered on August 4, 2022 at 8pm ET on Discovery and discovery+.

The five Bounty winners from 2020 returned in an attempt to defend their crowns in a similar knockout format to Bounty Hunters - Gigabyte, Lock-Jaw, ROTATOR, Skorpios and Witch Doctor. These made up five of the six confirmed episodes, dubbed **Sin City Slugfest**. In the final episode, the five winners of their respective qualifier episodes were joined by former Giant Nut winners Tantrum, End Game and Tombstone to form an eight robot tournament, with the overall winner taking home the Golden Bolt trophy.

In January 2022, the Perfect Phoenix team stated they would be exclusively competing in the spin-off competition due to conflicting schedule with team captain and driver Tyler Nguyen's school. Notably, Big Dill and Double Jeopardy also returned for the spin-off, having been absent from the main season.

In June 2022, *BattleBots* confirmed on social media that Sin City Slugfest episodes would begin airing in August that year. Each episode was two hours in length and will air immediately on the main Discovery network as well as its streaming service, discovery+. Gigabyte's episode kicked off the summer series, which concluded with the hunt for the Golden Bolt on September 8, 2022. Its bracket was revealed to Facebook Supporters on June 28, and each subsequent bracket was revealed to Supporters each week.

The official 30 second trailer for *BattleBots: Champions* was revealed on July 20, 2022. It did not reveal any Sin City Slugfest fights, but showed past trophies preceding the Golden Bolt, with narration from Faruq Tauheed. This was followed by hits from various 2021 season battles and the *BattleBots: Champions* premiere date before the most recent Giant Nut winner Tantrum was shown with an animated face to end the trailer.

Unlike in *BattleBots: Bounty Hunters*, the following week's bracket was publicly revealed in the closing minutes of each episode. The final Golden Bolt tournament bracket was the only exception, which was instead revealed via social media soon after the episode had aired.

The Golden Bolt Tournament was ultimately won by Team End Game and End Game, who entered the final episode as a former Giant Nut winner from the 2020 season. Knocking out the second bracket winner Ribbot in Round 1, End Game handed a first loss to Tantrum since its 2021 season title win before getting the better of Witch Doctor in the final.

*BattleBots: Champions* also saw the best in show awards being handed out to teams from the 2021 season. Rookie of the Year was split between Riptide and Glitch, both of which had stellar debut seasons and took home retired pulverizer hammers as trophies. The Most Destructive Robot Award was given to HyperShock after its destructive campaign, which continued into its Sin City Slugfest episode win. The Founder's Award went to Jamison Go and SawBlaze, and the Grant Imahara Award for Best Design was won by Aren Hill's flywheel flipper Blip.

## Event Results

### Gigabyte Bracket

#### Episode #1: Let the Slugfest Begin!

"*In the fight capital of the world, a new tournament kicks off for robotic combat’s hottest trophy: The Golden Bolt. But first the robots must face the toughest battle ever seen in Vegas: the Sin City Slugfest. Starring: Gigabyte.*"
— Official description for Episode 1

\* This fight was highlighted in the aired episode and revealed exclusively to Supporters on August 4, 2022. It was uploaded in full to YouTube on August 7, 2022.

### Lock-Jaw Bracket

#### Episode #2: The Slugfest Continues

"*Tonight’s quest is to beat Desperado champion Lock-Jaw. But first 8 bots have to fight to the death in the Sin City Slugfest. Only one will survive to face the veteran and qualify for the exclusive Golden Bolt tournament of champions.*"
— Official description for Episode 2

### ROTATOR Bracket

#### Episode #3: The Slugfest Part 3

"*8 hopefuls slug it out to the death to earn the right to take on Rotator. The winner will join the Field of Champions to compete for the exclusive Golden Bolt. Will Rotator live up to its reputation and fend off the opposition, or will one bot triumph and join the elite group of BattleBots Champions?*"
— Official description for Episode 3

\* This fight was highlighted in the aired episode and revealed exclusively to Supporters on August 18, 2022. It was uploaded in full to YouTube on August 21, 2022.

### Skorpios Bracket

#### Episode #4: The Slugfest Part 4

"*The Sin City Slugfest continues as eight more bots go head-to-head for a chance to punch a ticket to the Golden Bolt Tournament.*"
— Official description for Episode 4

### Witch Doctor Bracket

#### Episode #5: The Final Slugfest

"*The final Sin City Slugfest blasts off. 8 contenders must fight to the death – only one will survive to take on Witch Doctor, gatekeeper of the last vacant spot in the Golden Bolt Tournament. Who will join the field of Champions?*"
— Official description for Episode 5

### Golden Bolt Tournament

#### Episode #6: The Golden Bolt

"*After the ferocious Sin City Slugfest, the 5 new Champions join 3 Giant Nut winners for one night of carnage in the BattleBox. At stake is BattleBots’ newest trophy: The Golden Bolt.*"
— Official description for Episode 6

## Trivia

* Due to its status as a Giant Nut winner, Tombstone is the only Bounty Hunters winner who did not need to defend its title in a Sin City Slugfest episode, instead qualifying automatically for the Golden Bolt tournament.
* The spin-off marked the final appearances of Deep Six, DUCK!, Ghost Raptor, Pain Train, SMEEEEEEEEEEEEE and Triple Crown, who were confirmed by their respective builders to be retiring from competing in *BattleBots* following the conclusion of the 2021 season.
	+ Team Shreddit have, however, applied for the 2022 season with their new entry Shreddit Bro.
	+ *BattleBots: Champions* also marked the final appearance of Kraken in its current design, as the team confirmed their intention to redesign it for future competitions.
* Although the spin-off was aired as taking place after Discovery Season 6, it was actually filmed during the season.
* With five consecutive wins to its name, *BattleBots: Champions* marked HyperShock's career-best winning streak, dating all the way back to its 2015 debut.
* The spin-off is erroneously listed on discovery+, as well as other streaming services, as Season 7 of the *BattleBots* reboot.
* In winning its Sin City Slugfest episode, Glitch's unbeaten 7-0 record spanning the 2021 season and *BattleBots: Champions* matched the record for the longest unbeaten run of a debuting robot in the reboot era.
	+ This record is shared by Bite Force, who won seven consecutive battles across 2015 and 2016 before its Round of 16 loss to Chomp.
* Rusty, Fusion and Jäger all put their names down on the whiteboard for *BattleBots: Champions* consideration, but neither were selected.
	+ Rusty was originally set to compete in the ROTATOR Sin City Slugfest episode and fight Mammoth in Round 1. However, due to electronics and weight issues, Rusty had to withdraw on the day of filming. As such, Retrograde, who originally put their name down but were not initially chosen, was subbed in as a last minute replacement.
	+ A five-way rumble between Overhaul, Claw Viper, Slammo!, Big Dill and Deadlift was also proposed, where each robot would be holding a steel chair in its grappling mechanism, but this was reduced to a 1v1 exhibition between Big Dill and Overhaul instead.
* *America's Got Talent* finalist Piff the Magic Dragon was present at filming of *BattleBots: Champions*, seen in costume in several audience shots.
	+ He was later referenced in one of Faruq Tauheed's introductions for Black Dragon, ahead of its fight against Whiplash.

## See Also

* BattleBots: Champions on the BattleBots wiki