User blog comment:NJGW/Ranking the Reboot/@comment-4700688-20180912201526

OK, I know for a fact that I'm biased when I blurt out this opinion, and I'm OK with it being 'just me'... but is Gabriel vs Beast really just a 2/10?

There have been plenty of deserved 2/10 fights in this blog, and in this same episode, so to see Gabriel vs Beast lumped among them makes me quite sad. This was the fourth Robot Wars fight in a row that I got to see after a long 12-year hiatus, with it being one of my limited pieces of reboot exposure at the Series 8 filming, but I had the context that Gabriel needed a knockout to make the Heat Final, so I wanted it at all costs.

What I got was, yes, a knockout too quick to make this a good fight, and an extended period of nothing. Still though, Dominator II gets credit for its snipe on Henry, and Gabriel quite visibly spiked Beast's wheel to disable it. After that, we get the comedy of Craig Colliass refusing to hurt his friend while the (quite dashing) audience and even Team BEAST themselves egged him on, and eventually it does happen with some solid blows. It's not more than a 4/10, but a 2? Come on man.

On the whole I do think this was the better episode than Series 9 Heat 5, because the melee is another fight you've not really credited enough, with Chompalot taking blow after blow from a modern spinner and somehow living to fight another day. Thermidor II breaking down instantly was sad, but honestly you can put that thing in the arena for 4.5 seconds and I'm still going to enjoy just seeing it there. Gabriel vs Pulsar isn't a spectacular episode, but having a good heat final boosts an episode's overall rating much more than a solid heat semi-final can.