If you were watching NBC back in the summer of 2017, you probably remember a specific feeling of dread every time a veteran stepped onto the starting platform. It was American Ninja Warrior season 9. Honestly, it felt different from the jump. The air in Daytona Beach and Cleveland was thick with humidity, sure, but the real weight came from the course design. This was the year the producers seemingly decided that "challenging" wasn't enough anymore. They wanted to break people.
It’s wild to look back on now.
Before season 9, the show was riding the high of Isaac Caldiero and Geoff Britten finally conquering Mt. Midoriyama in season 7. But by the time the American Ninja Warrior season 9 qualifiers started rolling through Los Angeles, San Antonio, and Denver, the honeymoon phase was over. The obstacles got technical. They got punishing. We saw some of the biggest names in the sport—people you’d bet your house on to reach the buzzer—splash down in the first half of the course. It wasn't just about strength anymore. It was about grip endurance that defied biology.
The Denver Massacre and the Rise of "Mega" Obstacles
Most fans point to the Denver city finals as the moment things got truly absurd. You had legends like Meagan Martin and Brian Arnold facing down obstacles that looked like they belonged in a physics nightmare. One of the most notorious additions was the Battering Ram. It sounds simple on paper: just slide a heavy metal bar along a track while hanging from it. In practice? It was a forearm killer that ended more dreams than almost any other regional obstacle that year.
Then there was the Wingnut Alley in the Vegas finals.
If you want to talk about the exact moment American Ninja Warrior season 9 peaked in difficulty, it’s Stage 2 in Las Vegas. This season featured the debut of Wingnut Alley, an obstacle that required athletes to leap between swinging "wingnuts" using only their hands to catch the edges. It required a level of precision and timing that felt almost unfair. Out of the 41 athletes who made it to Stage 2, only three survived. Three. Think about that for a second. You have the elite of the elite, the top 1% of human physical movers, and the course basically laughed in their faces.
Joe Moravsky, Sean Bryan, and Najee Richardson were the only ones to move on to Stage 3. This wasn't just a "tough" year; it was a statistical anomaly.
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The Legends Who Defined the Season
Joe Moravsky, "The Weatherman," really solidified his "GOAT" status during American Ninja Warrior season 9. While others were slipping on the Elevator Shaft or failing the Spinning Bridge, Joe looked like he was playing a different game. His run in the Vegas finals was a masterclass in efficiency. But even Joe couldn't overcome the sheer brutality of Stage 3.
We also have to talk about Jessie Graff.
She had already become a household name, but season 9 was where she proved that her season 8 success wasn't a fluke. She didn't just compete; she led the way for a generation of female athletes who realized they didn't need a "modified" course. They just needed the opportunity to crush the same one the men were failing. Her technical prowess on the Rolling Thunder in the Daytona qualifiers was something people still talk about in ninja gyms today.
And then there was Najee Richardson, the "Phoenix." His story in season 9 was incredible because he was dealing with asthma issues that would have sidelined most people. Watching him fly through the city finals and become one of the "Final Three" in Vegas was the emotional core of the season. He represented that "never quit" spirit that the show tries to bottle up, but he did it with a raw, authentic intensity that didn't feel like a scripted TV segment.
Why the Ratings Spiked Despite the Low Success Rate
You'd think that watching person after person fall into the water would get boring. It didn't.
Usually, when a show gets too hard, the audience tunes out. But American Ninja Warrior season 9 saw a massive surge in engagement because the stakes felt real. When someone like Drew Drechsel—who was the "Real Life Ninja"—hit the water, it shocked the system. It made the rare buzzer sound like a literal miracle. The show leaned heavily into the "city" identities too. San Antonio brought that Texas heat, and the obstacle The Sky Hooks became an instant villain.
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People love a villain. In season 9, the course was the villain.
The Technical Evolution of the Sport
Behind the scenes, the athletes were changing just as fast as the obstacles. This was the year where we saw a massive shift away from general "parkour" or "gymnastics" backgrounds toward specialized ninja training.
- Grip Strength Specialization: Athletes started using "cannonball" grips and "pegboard" variations in their daily workouts specifically to counter the new designs.
- The "Lache" Meta: If you couldn't jump 8 to 10 feet between bars with pinpoint accuracy, you weren't making it past the second obstacle in most cities.
- Mental Resetting: Because the failures were so frequent, the "mental game" became a talking point. You saw athletes standing at the start for thirty seconds just breathing, trying to lower their heart rate.
The Controversy of Stage 2
A lot of people are still salty about the Stage 2 time limit in season 9.
The "Crank It Up" into "Wingnut Alley" sequence was a brutal combination. "Crank It Up" required athletes to use a crank handle to move themselves across a track, which burned out the triceps and lats. Immediately following that with the technical jumps of Wingnut Alley was, in the eyes of some critics, a bit too much. The time limit was so tight that even if you were technically perfect, you were still racing against a clock that didn't seem to account for the physical reality of the movements.
Was it fair? Maybe not. Was it entertaining? Absolutely. It forced the athletes to take risks they wouldn't normally take. That’s where the "miracle" saves come from—those moments where a ninja catches a ledge by a single pinky finger because they were moving too fast to get a full grip.
What Season 9 Taught the Ninja Community
Basically, season 9 was a wake-up call. It proved that the "standard" training wasn't enough. It pushed the sport toward the professionalized version we see today. Before this, you could be a talented amateur and maybe make a deep run. After season 9, if you weren't training on specific replicas of the Curved Body Prop or the Stair Salmon Ladder, you were essentially just a tourist.
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The "Big Three" who made it to Stage 3—Joe, Sean, and Najee—didn't just get lucky. They were the ones who had adapted their training to the "new normal" of extreme technicality.
Lessons for Future Ninjas
If you're looking back at American Ninja Warrior season 9 to learn how to tackle modern courses, the takeaways are pretty clear.
- Don't ignore the transitions. Most people fail on the dismount or the move between obstacles, not the obstacle itself.
- Forearm recovery is everything. You need to learn how to "rest" on the course, finding those tiny 2-second windows to shake out your arms.
- Precision beats power. In the early seasons, you could muscle your way through. In season 9, if your foot was two inches off on the Spinning Bridge, you were done.
The Lasting Legacy
When the lights went down on the Vegas strip at the end of the season, there was no "Total Victory." Nobody won the million dollars. In some ways, that made the season feel more authentic. It reminded us that the mountain is the boss. American Ninja Warrior season 9 was the year the mountain fought back and won.
It set the stage for the massive changes in season 10 and beyond, including the introduction of the "Mega Wall" which would eventually change the qualifying rounds forever. But for those who lived through it, season 9 remains the "hardcore" year. It was the year of the Wingnut, the year of the Denver Massacre, and the year where the "Phoenix" truly rose.
If you want to understand the evolution of the sport, go back and watch the San Antonio finals. Watch the way the crowd reacts when a favorite goes down early. It’s a masterclass in tension. It reminds us that in the world of American Ninja Warrior, nothing is ever guaranteed.
How to apply these insights today:
- Study the "Wingnut Alley" footage: If you’re training for any kind of obstacle race, the physics of the "lache" shown in those episodes is the gold standard for technique.
- Focus on grip endurance over max strength: Most season 9 failures were due to "pumped" forearms. High-rep hanging exercises are your best friend.
- Analyze the "failed" runs: Don't just watch the winners. Watch why the veterans fell. Usually, it’s a tiny slip in focus or a rushed transition. That's where the real learning happens.