Final Stage (American Ninja Warrior)

The Final Stage, more commonly referred to as Stage Four or Stage 4, also known as Mount Midoriyama, is the final course at the National Finals of American Ninja Warrior. There is a single common goal: to scale the tower and reach the button at the top before the time expires. Reaching the top of the tower before time runs out is referred to as Total Victory.

So far after 16 American Ninja Warrior tournaments, only 22 have made it to the Stage Four, with only seven competitors attempting it more than once (tying it with SASUKE):

Daniel Gil in American Ninja Warrior 11 and him finishing the stage in American Ninja Warrior 15
Kaden Lebsack in American Ninja Warrior 13 and American Ninja Warrior 14
Vance Walker with his victories in American Ninja Warrior 15 and American Ninja Warrior 16
Nacssa Garemore in American Ninja Warrior 15 and American Ninja Warrior 16
R.J. Roman in American Ninja Warrior 14 and American Ninja Warrior 15
Noah Meunier in American Ninja Warrior 15 and American Ninja Warrior 16
Caleb Bergstrom in American Ninja Warrior 15 and him finishing the stage in American Ninja Warrior 16

Currently, there are only six competitors who have achieved Total Victory:

Overview[]

Stage Four is the final stage of the National Finals and it was determined to test whatever the ninjas had left. Although the stage has only had one obstacle throughout all sixteen appearances, being the Tsuna Nobori. It is essentially the final obstacle of the entire American Ninja Warrior course. The basic concept is that competitors must climb up a rope to reach the button at the top of the tower before the time runs out, in order to achieve Kanzenseiha.

Competitors[]

Only the competitors who could clear Stages One through Three were allowed to take on Stage Four. Stage Three was so brutal that the Final Stage has only seen a total of 22 attempts by 15 different competitors. Those who were able to clear both the body-heavy Stage Two and the upper-body intensive Stage Three, these lucky few often timed out on the rope.

Female Competitors[]

No woman has ever attempted Stage Four in the regular season, simply because of the brutality of the previous stages. Excluding during the American Ninja Warrior: Women's Championship 3 and American Ninja Warrior: Women's Championship 4 (which will be entered below).

Teenage Competitors[]

Only seven competitors have ever attempted Stage Four: Kaden Lebsack, Jay Lewis, Josiah Pippel, Nacssa Garemore, Hans Hertz, Vance Walker, and Noah Meunier. Out of these seven, only Walker has been able to clear this difficult stage.

Course Layout[]

Stage Four consists of one obstacles and the only obstacle to not be built over a large pool of water, Stage Three helps drain the last bits of strength a competitor had.

Course History[]

Unlike Stage One, Stage Two, and Stage Three, Stage Four has only been a part of one main era with each era having a few different modifications.

Version 1 (American Ninja Warrior 4 to American Ninja Warrior: USA vs. the World)[]

Starting on American Ninja Warrior 4, the national finals (SASUKE's 4-stage course, referred as Mount Midoriyama) would eventually be built in the U.S. soil (specifically Las Vegas). On American Ninja Warrior 4, the national finals' Stage Four consisted of a Tsuna Nobori (referred to as Rope Climb), which was 23.5 meters (77 feet) in high. However, due to the difficulty of Stage Three (particularly at the Hang Climb and Flying Bar), it was attempted for the first time during USA vs. The World by Travis Rosen from Team USA and Sean McColl from Team Europe, with Sean McColl reaching the top of the tower faster than Travis Rosen, giving his team a victory in that tournament).

Version 2 (American Ninja Warrior 7 to American Ninja Warrior 8/American Ninja Warrior 11 to American Ninja Warrior 16)[]

The rope was lowered to 22.9m (75 feet) and competitors were given 30 seconds to complete the obstacle, this version of the Rope Climb (along with Stage Four) was finally attempted during the regular season in American Ninja Warrior 7 as Geoff Britten and Isaac Caldiero became the first two competitors to attempt it for the very first time during the regular season of American Ninja Warrior, and both of them completed it within the time limit (30 seconds), achieving the show's first and second total victories, which was the first (and only) time that Stage Four had a 100% completion rate on American Ninja Warrior.

On American Ninja Warrior 11, the rope's height was returned back to 75 feet. This time, Drew Drechsel and Daniel Gil both reached Stage Four, but only Drechsel could complete it within the 30-second time limit, achieving the third total victory in American Ninja Warrior history, while Gil timed out.

On American Ninja Warrior 13, Kaden Lebsack would earned his chance to attempt Stage Four, with the same height of 75 feet. Unfortunately, due to lacking the skills needed to climb faster, he timed out but he would win the $100,000 prize as the Last Ninja Standing. Similar to the other stages, the clock had the competitors surname underneath the 30 seconds time limit.

On American Ninja Warrior 14, five competitors reached Stage Four (Josh Levin, R.J. Roman, Josiah Pippel, Jay Lewis, and Kaden Lebsack), and as a result a rule was implemented, stating that even if a competitor times out that they continue climbing to the top as the competitor who makes reaches the buzzer the fastest would be declared the Last Ninja Standing. Unfortunately, all five competitors who reached the stage could not finish in time. However, since Kaden Lebsack made it to the top faster than everyone else, he was declared the Last Ninja Standing for the second year in the row and won the $100,000 cash prize.

On American Ninja Warrior 15, a new record-breaking eight competitors reached Stage Four: Hans Hertz, Nacssa Garemore, Daniel Gil, Noah Meunier, Ethan Bartnicki, Vance Walker, Caleb Bergstrom, and R.J. Roman and called the Great Eight with the same rule as the previous season. Only Daniel Gil and Vance Walker were able to conquer the rope and they achieved the show’s fourth and fifth total victories. But since Vance Walker finished with a time of 03.25 seconds left, he won the US$1,000,000 prize, making it the second time that two ninjas conquered Stage Four in the same season. For the first time, when competitors finished such as Daniel Gil's time of 02.01 left they showed how fast it was which was 27.99 seconds.

On American Ninja Warrior 16, (tying the record from American Ninja Warrior 14), five competitors were able to reach Stage Four: Kai Beckstrand, Nacssa Garemore, Vance Walker, Caleb Bergstrom, and Noah Meunier with the same rule as the previous seasons. Only Vance Walker and Caleb Bergstrom were able to beat the rope and they achieved the show's sixth and seventh total victories. But since Vance Walker was able to finish with a faster time of 2.40 seconds left, he won the US$1,000,000 prize for the second time, and this marked the third time (and second consecutive time) that two ninjas were able to conquer Stage Four in the same season.

Version 3 (American Ninja Warrior 9 to American Ninja Warrior: USA vs. the World 5)[]

However, on American Ninja Warrior 9, the Rope Climb's height was increased to 24.4m (80 feet). This version of the Rope Climb was attempted for the first time during USA vs. The World 4 by Sean Bryan from Team USA and Sean McColl from Team Europe, with Sean McColl reaching the top of the tower faster than Sean Bryan, giving Team Europe their second victory in the tournament. This same version wasn’t attempted in American Ninja Warrior 10, but it was attempted in the American Ninja Warrior: USA vs. The World 5 by new faces of Ashlin Herbert and Drew Drechsel (who both achieved Total Victory in each of their show’s respective next seasons), where Drew beat Ashlin to the top and won it for Team USA.

Due to format change for American Ninja Warrior 17, Stage Four and the other stages for the National Finals will be replaced by a series of side-by-side races.

Mega Spider Climb[]

The original incarnation of the side-by side Spider Climb made its first appearance as a event in American Ninja Warrior: All Stars Special 3, 4, and 5, known as Mega Spider Climb. Here, the Spider Climb takes place at the Midoriyama tower. It is a tournament consisting of three heats (seven in the third special). It works as expected; the competitor who either gets to the top, or reaches the highest first, moves onto the next round.

The following competitors won their respective tournaments:

Cat Grab[]

On American Ninja Warrior: All Star Spectacular, a supersized fusion version of the Lumberjack Climb and Spider Flip, called Cat Grab, appeared as an event of the specials, which took place at the Stage Four tower, replacing the Mega Spider Climb from the previous three tournaments. The Cat Grab later appeared in American Ninja Warrior: Women's Championship 3 and American Ninja Warrior: Women's Championship 4 as the only obstacle in Round Three.

The event involved competitors using their hands and feet in a similar fashion to the Lumberjack Climb to climb a series of planks while doing a Spider Flip transition in between. As a side note, this obstacle made its first unofficial appearance during the season finale of American Ninja Warrior 13 behind the Rope Climb.

There were three heats in this competition, with two competitors in each heat. In each of the first two heats, the competitor who reached the top of the tower (or made the highest) in the fastest time moved on to the final heat. In the final heat, the competitor who reached the top of the tower (or made the highest) in the fastest time was the champion. There was no time limit in this competition.

A hidden rule for this obstacle was revealed by Addy Herman on Instagram where, should competitors accidentally let go of a plank, they will be kept at the same height by the safety wire that holds them. This rule came into play when she herself missed a transfer to a plank in her race against Jessie Graff in American Ninja Warrior: Women's Championship 4.

So far, there have been three winners:

Final Stage Results[]

ANW	Clears	Attempts	Percentage	Finishers
ANW1	0	0	N/A	N/A
ANW2	0	0	N/A	N/A
ANW3	0	0	N/A	N/A
ANW4	0	0	N/A	N/A
ANW5	0	0	N/A	N/A
ANW6	0	0	N/A	N/A
USA vs. The World	2	2	100%	Travis Rosen and Sean McColl
ANW7	2	2	100%	Geoff Britten and Isaac Caldiero
ANW8	0	0	N/A	N/A
ANW9	0	0	N/A	N/A
USA vs. The World 4	2	2	100%	Sean Bryan and Sean McColl
ANW10	0	0	N/A	N/A
USA vs. The World 5	2	2	100%	Drew Drechsel and Ashlin Herbert
ANW11	1	2	50%	Drew Drechsel
USA vs. The World 6	2	2	100%	Adam Rayl and Bryson Klein
ANW13	0	1	0%	N/A
ANW14	0	5	0%	N/A
ANW15	2	8	25%	Daniel Gil and Vance Walker
ANW16	2	5	40%	Vance Walker and Caleb Bergstrom
Total	15	31	48.39%