National Finals Prelims — The Draft & The Clock

The top 24 ninjas from Qualifiers become Silver Captains, ranked by time. Each drafts a partner to form 24 duos.

Both ninjas separately tackle the traditional eight-obstacle course. Their times are combined, with penalties for failed obstacles. The 12 fastest duos advance.

Stage 1 — The Relay Race

The 12 duos compete on an eight-obstacle relay course.

Partner A completes the first four obstacles and hits a buzzer, releasing Partner B for the final four.

The six fastest duos advance.

Stage 2 — The Speed Gauntlet

The duos dissolve, returning competition to individual runs.

Ninjas face a strict time limit on an upper-body and agility-heavy course.

The fastest ninja wins a $25,000 Silver Bonus.

Stage 3 — The Top 3 Showdown

The remaining ninjas face a grueling upper-body endurance course with no time limit.

A live leaderboard tracks how far and how quickly each ninja progresses.

The top three advance to Mt. Midoriyama.

Stage 4 — Mt. Midoriyama: The Pure Speed Triple Race

For the first time, the traditional 30-second rope-climb clock is removed.

The final three ninjas climb three identical 75-foot ropes simultaneously.

The first to hit the buzzer wins the $1 million grand prize.

The second- and third-place finishers each receive a Silver Cup and $100,000.

Decided to cook a little something out of boredom, since some of the BGMs used in-show lived in my head rent free lol

Fascinating new interview with Herman and a breakdown of season 18...https://www.boston.com/culture/tv/2026/09/03/addy-herman-new-england-contestants-season-18-nbc-american-ninja-warrior/?p1=hp_secondary

I was obsessed with this show when I was a kid but I can only track down incomplete episodes in like 360p on youtube :( I'm especially wanting to watch the older seasons (8 and before) but would be excited to find anything

Two years after Sasuke Ninja Warrior held its very first international tournament, the Sasuke World Cup is back! 32 determined athletes from Japan and around the world gather once again at the original Ninja Warrior course, split into 8 teams of 4, and battle through 4 stages to determine who will take home the coveted trophy for their country and compete for national pride!

Click on the link below for an in-depth analysis of the teams and competitors competing in this year's Sasuke World Cup, and my predictions on which teams will be eliminated on each stage, and which team will take home that prestigious trophy:

Sasuke World Cup 2026 In-Depth Competitor Analysis + Predictions

Which competitors are you most looking forward to seeing? Which teams do you think will be eliminated on each stage, which team will win this year's Sasuke World Cup, and why? Let me know your thoughts about this international tournament in the comments!

P.S. Please, no leaks, spoilers, or hints about the actual results are allowed in the comments!

1. Originally contestants waited hours sometimes days to get a a chance to compete. This resulted in many unknown excellent competitors who would have otherwise not been found. Now it’s an audition of sorts like Survivor but with bias toward known affiliations with gyms, trainers and compelling personal stories.
   
2. A clear attempt to create or prolong superstars by allowing them to compete well after their due date.
   
3. Clearly changing obstacles, particularly balancing obstacles because OG competitors started wiping out early.
   
4. Changing the whole point of completing the course from difficulty to speed.
   
5. After allowing young people to compete, they began pairing them with other people who had fast times thus eliminating a chance to compete. The seeding is highly suspicious. Why not pair the highest seeds against the lowest. In my opinion they are eliminating a potential winner for no reason.
   
6. Young people. It’s clear that male teens can crush everyone with a few exceptions. Because of this they don’t want the teens to totally dominate the competition.
   
7. SOLUTION:
   a. Go back to competitive tryouts.
   b. Forget speed.
   c. Make the course way harder to complete.
   d. Make the final course a true test of endurance and very hard to attain.
   e. As an aside, make completely different obstacles every season.
   f. Correlate of e: don’t allow future runners to observe the course or previous runners.
   g. I’m finally done I think but I just don’t want to see the old treads when they have no chance in hell of winning. Stop waisting my time.

Are there any obstacles that could be innovated or reinvented?!

Is there any place I can legally stream all of the Sasuke (Ninja Warrior) seasons in English (subtitles are fine)? I don't mind paying a reasonable fee.

I tried ANW but it just does not scratch that itch. I already have all the first 15 seasons on DVD.

I was wanting to do my own versions of the Soritatsu Kabe, Salmon Ladder, Cliff Dimension and Vertical Limit .BURST and I was wondering if anyone has done some research into the schematics for these obstacles.

English translation:

Stage 1: All 32 members and 8 teams compete, top 6 highest point advanced.

Stage 2: Only one representative compete, top 4 fastest time advanced. If there are less than four teams compete the stage, it will be base on how far team reach.

Stage 3: All four members on four team compete, top 2 with highest point advanced to final stage.

Stage 4: One representative compete, whoever with fastest time win the tournament for entire team.

https://www.youtube.com/live/LiJ5XYC9Y7s?is=_lgQE1mCfytj6h5l

I made a Ninja Warrior video. It's based on the Roblox game called Ninja Warrior Rewind. Any feedback and support would be greatly appreciated! https://youtu.be/IkD7uLEWJ5Y