Michael Needham

Michael Needham is a golf course landscaper from Flemington, New Jersey who trains for American Ninja Warrior in his bedroom, in which he has built a plethora of training obstacles for ANW.

American Ninja Warrior 4
In American Ninja Warrior 4, he had impressively finished with the 2nd fastest time in qualifying, but in the regional finals, he shockingly failed the Godantobi, eliminating his chance as qualifying for Mt.Midoriyama as a rookie.

American Ninja Warrior 5
After sending in his Submission Video for American Ninja Warrior 5, he soon found out he wasn`t supposed to compete in 2013, so he decided to get a walk-on spot in Baltimore, and he was the last walk-on selected, and became one of the 13 American Ninja Warrior veterans to make it into the Baltimore city finals.

Needham bested his performance in the previous season and conquered the first obstacle, but later failed the Body Prop, which was moved from the 2nd to the 9th position. However, it was enough to place 11th, and qualified for Las Vegas.

In Vegas, he cleared the first obstacle, but went out on the Giant Cycle when he leaned too far forward and backflipped into the water.

American Ninja Warrior 6
In ANW 6. he had completed the qualifying course finishing 4th overall. In the city finals, he placed 4th again, completing the course as well. He was able to get through the Giant Cycle this time, but fell on the Jumping Spider after taking an unorthodox leaping approach into the chute.

American Ninja Warrior 7
In ANW 7, he was expected to return to Vegas again after the past 2 seasons, but he shockingly fell victim to the Snake Crossing in Pittsburgh. This was the first time he failed on a qualifying course, and it also marked the last time he competed on the show.

After American Ninja Warrior
Michael was not brought back on American Ninja Warrior 8 after several veterans were passed on during casting, and he hasn't been brought back since, despite multiple application attempts. In 2018, after a 3-year absence, Michael made a return to ninja competitions. He was recruited by Mike Bernardo for his team, Hazard Brigade, on the first season of American Ninja Warrior: Ninja vs. Ninja. Also that year, he competed in SASUKE Vietnam 4, becoming one of the six Americans to participate. He qualified through the foreign competitor audition phase and ran Stage 1B, completing it with 59.61 seconds left to spare. He also completed Stage 2 with 2:17.90 seconds. On Stage 3, he failed on the Pole Maze when he tried to dismount. This was his best performance on any SASUKE or Ninja Warrior competition. On SASUKE Vietnam 5, he cleared Stage 1A with 2:06.44 second left, making the first time reached Run of the Night, and received VND 4.000.000 cash prize.

Results

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