American Ninja Warrior: All Stars Special

American Ninja Warrior: All-Stars is the second postseason tournament of American Ninja Warrior 7. It aired on May 29th, 2016 as a two-hour special.

Synopsis:

The All Star Special took place at Mt Midoriyama in Las Vegas, Nevada between the events of Season 7 and Season 8. during the first hour of the all-stars was the Team Competition and during the second hour was the Skills Competition.

Team Competition:

The team competition consisted of two five person teams picked by the hosts of American Ninja Warrior, Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbaja-Biamila. Each team has three veterans, one rookie and one female competitor.

TEAM	COMPETITOR
	VETERANS			ROOKIE	WOMAN
Matt Iseman	Joe Moravsky	Lance Pekus	JJ Woods	Grant McCartney	Jessie Graff
Akbar Gbaja-Biamila	David Rodriguez	Brent Steffensen	Jamie Rahn	Daniel Gil	Meagan Martin

The competition began on the same Second Stage that was used in American Ninja Warrior 7, the obstacles were the same from the original season.

Obstacles

1. Rope Jungle
2. Double Salmon Ladder
3. Unstable Bridge
4. Butterfly Wall
5. Roulette Row
6. Wall Lift

There were three head to head matchups/heats on Stage 2 each heat was worth one point.

First Heat

Team	Competitor	Result	Notes
Team Matt	Joe Moravsky	Clear (1:08.52)
Team Akbar	Brent Steffensen	Failed Double Salmon Ladder	First wall.

By that point Team Matt was leading 1-0

Second Heat

Team	Competitor	Result	Notes
Team Matt	Lance Pekus	Clear
Team Akbar	Jamie Rahn	Failed Roulette Row	First Hoop. Jamie was the first to run.

So now the score was Team Matt: 2 Team Akbar: 0

Third Heat

Team
Team Matt	Grant McCartney	Failed Unstable Bridge	Transition to second board. Grant was the first to run.
Team Akbar	Daniel Gil	Clear

So the score was Team Matt: 2 and Team Akbar: 1

The competition continued on the Third Stage that was used in that same competition.

Obstacles

1. Psycho Chainsaw
2. Doorknob Grasper
3. Floating Boards
4. Ultimate Cliffhanger
5. Pole Grasper
6. Hang Climb
7. Area 51
8. Flying Bar

There were two head to head matchups/heats on Stage 3 each heat was also worth one point.

First Heat

Team	Competitor	Result	Note
Team Matt	JJ Woods	Failed Floating Boards	JJ was the first to attempt
Team Akbar	David Rodriguez	Failed Ultimate Cliffhanger	Transition to final ledge.

Since David went farther than JJ, Team Akbar won the heat and now both teams were tied 2-2.

Second Heat

Team Matt	Jessie Graff	Failed Ultimate Cliffhanger	She cleared the first three obstacles faster the Meagan.
Team Akbar	Meagan Martin	Failed Ultimate Cliffhanger	Meagan was the first to attempt. She finished the first three obstacles in 3:19.

By now the score was Team Matt: 3 and Team Akbar: 2

As the competition was now moving on to Stage 4 where there was going to be a side by side climb off on the 75 ft tower for the first time ever. This heat on stage 4 was worth 3 points.

Obstacle

1. Rope Climb (75 ft)

Final Heat

Team	Competitor	Result	Note
Team Matt	Lance Pekus	Clear
Team Akbar	David Rodriguez	Clear (30.23)	David finished first.

The Final Score was Team Akbar: 5 points and Team Matt: 3 Points making Team Akbar the winners in the competition.

Skills Competition:

The Skills Competition was when some of the most iconic obstacles were supersized to the max.

The First part of the skills competition consisted of a Giant Peg Board where each of the four athletes chosen to take on this obstacle, would have one minute to clear as many sections on the peg board as possible while moving clockwise around it. (the Giant Peg Board was shaped like a giant clock that was divided into 12 sections). In the time limit given Ben Melick cleared 12 segments on the Giant Peg Board. Jessie Graff cleared 10 segments, David Campbell cleared 13 segments on the Giant Peg Board and Brian Arnold cleared 15 segments. Therefore Brian Arnold won the Giant Peg Board competition and he won a medal as a reward.

The Second part of the skills competition consisted of the Supersonic Shelf Grab where each of the four athletes chosen to take on this obstacle, would jump off a mini-tramp catch themselves on a small shelf that has just a two-inch ledge and then lache a certain distance and catch themselves on a second shelf that also has a two-inch ledge with just their fingertips. Each of them had one attempt they would get eliminated if they came up short. The competition began with the distance between the two shelves at 9 ½ feet. And all four competitors cleared the 9 ½ ft. gap. With that the ANW pit crew then backed the second shelf up 1 foot, making the gap 10 ½ ft. Unfortunately Meagan Martin came up short. But the other three athletes cleared it. With that the gap was made much larger- 12 feet. Kevin Bull came up short and was eliminated, but Drew Drechsel and Isaac Caldiero both cleared it. So the gap was increased to 13 feet but both Drew and Isaac cleared it again With that they reached the max, for safety reasons the gap couldn’t be any greater than 14 feet. And yet Drew and Isaac both cleared the 14 foot gap. (Drew even did a Double Flip into the water on the dismount). Therefore both were deemed co-champions and both earned medals.

The third part of the skills competition consisted of the Super Salmon Ladder where each of the four athletes chosen to take on this obstacle, would use their upper body strength to hoist themselves up the rungs. There were 35 rungs in all equaling the super salmon ladder to be 4 stories tall. Dustin McKinney (known as the only finisher in the San Pedro City Finals). Cleared 22 rungs. According to the hosts that is like doing the normal salmon ladder four times. Kacy Catanzaro (the shortest woman to scale the warped wall and the first woman to complete a salmon ladder in competition). Cleared 11 rungs. Lance Pekus (known to practice the salmon ladder which he built out of wood at his ranch). Cleared 28 rungs. And Mike Bernardo (Washington D.C. Firefighter). Cleared all 35 rungs and did a celebratory dive into the water after being lowered. So Mike Bernardo won the Super Salmon Ladder competition and he won a medal as a reward.

The fourth part of the skills competition consisted of the Giant Jump Hang where each of the four athletes chosen to take on this obstacle, would jump off a mini tramp and leap from a great distance and grab the hanging cargo net. The competition began with the mini-tramp 16 feet away from the cargo net. And all four athletes cleared the jump to the net. But when the gap was increased to 17 feet, Abel Gonzalez and Brent steffensen both came up short. But JJ Woods and Nicholas Coolridge both cleared the 17 foot gap. But when the trampoline was moved back to 17 ½ feet away from the net, both JJ and Nicholas came up short therefore both of them were declared co-champions and were each given a medal. (This event was digested).

The fifth and final part of the skills competition consisted of the Mega Wall which was the Warped Wall on Steroids. each of the four athletes chosen to take on this obstacle, would sprint down the runway and scale the wall each of the four competitors had one attempt, if they came up short they would be eliminated whomever scales the wall would move on to the next round. The Mega Wall started out at 16 feet tall and all four athletes successfully made it to the top. When the height was increased to 18 feet Alan Connealy came up short, but the other three athletes scaled the wall successfully. With that the warped wall got taller now 18 ½ feet tall but the remaining three athletes each made it to the top. By that point the sun was rising up and the dark clouds were disappearing and even though "it was almost time for breakfast in Vegas nobody wanted to miss this." The Warped wall now stood at 18 feet 9 inches. Jamie Rhan came up short but Joe Moravsky and Flip Rodriguez both scaled the wall. So then the ANW pit crew brought the Mega wall up to 19 feet. Joe Moravsky unfortunately came up short, but Flip Rodriguez scaled the 19 ft. wall and became the champion for this final event, winning another medal.