Robot Wars: Top 10 Greatest Upsets Part 1

There were many great upsets on Robot Wars, as the unpredictable nature of the competition meant that it was never easy to predict the outcome of a battle. Viewers were reminded of this time and time again throughout the shows history, as many fights didn't go the way the majority of the audience was expecting them to. This is our top ten list of what we think were the greatest upsets ever. Videos have been included where possible so you can judge for yourself!

This is part one counting down battles ten to six, for places five down to one, continue reading part two by clicking the link below:

» Robot Wars: Top 10 Greatest Upsets Part 2

10. Mace vs Chaos (Series 2)

Chaos was the predecessor to the highly successful twice UK Champion Chaos 2. The team had previous experience in Robot Wars, reaching the grand final of the first series with Robot The Bruce and were anticipated to have similar success with the more advanced Chaos. They reached the heat final without too many difficulties, where they met the similar looking Mace. Unlike Chaos, it was Mace's first competition however the two robots appeared to be evenly matched at the start of the fight. Chaos attempted to flip Mace without success, before being pushed into the House Robot Matilda and being flipped.

Chaos was technically capable of self-righting, unfortunately however the team had forgotten to attach some small pieces of plastic to the back of the robot before the fight. When Chaos fired its flipper it ended up resting on its back with the flipper pointing upwards. Mace attacked the motionless Chaos with its rear mounted flail, and the House Robots moved in. Chaos did get back onto its wheels by the time cease was called, but it had already been immobile for too long and was eliminated from the competition having not even reached the semi-finals.

9. Hypno-Disc vs Nasty Warrior (Extreme 1)

In Robot Wars Extreme Series 1, the highly successful top seed Hypno-Disc fought the newcomer Nasty Warrior, in a UK vs Germany special. Hypno-Disc seemed assured of an easy victory, as the German machine was not very well armoured and did not possess any particularly potent weaponry. As predicted Hypno-Disc began very strongly, spinning its flywheel up to speed and causing significant damage to Nasty Warrior from the very start of the battle.

After a while it appeared that Hypno-Disc was losing power, something which had happened in several of its battles in Extreme 1 due to a wiring fault that remained undetected until the start of the Fifth Wars later that year. Eventually, the disc stopped spinning and the machine came to a complete halt. Refbot counted Hypno-Disc out, leaving the very damaged Nasty Warrior as the victor.

8. Tornado vs Diotoir (Series 5)

Tornado won the Best Newcomer award in Series 4, and had a very impressive run during Robot Wars Extreme Series 1, defeating then reigning champion Chaos 2 twice and winning and retaining two Challenge Belts. The Diotoir team did have experience on their side however, as they had competed in every single series of Robot Wars up to that point. With a couple of exceptions, they had never really had any great success and never took the competition too seriously. As a result, they won the Sportsmanship award several times, but were not expected to beat the more powerful and successful Tornado.

From the start Diotoir were under pressure, Tornado having a reputation for being very persistent in combat and not letting their opponents get away from them for long. To everybody's great surprise however Diotoir managed to keep going, even attacking and managing to push Tornado on a number of occasions. The strain of a prolonged fight eventually began to tell on Tornado, and one of their drive chains broke allowing Diotoir to open the pit and push them in.

7. Cassius 2 vs Pussycat (Series 3)

Both the Cassius 2 and Pussycat teams were very experienced, having competed in the previous two series of Robot Wars. Both were former grand finalists, the Pussycat team reached the Series 1 final with Bodyhammer and finished second overall, while the original Cassius came second overall in Series 2. Going into the fight Cassius 2 appeared the favourite, after its success in the Second Wars and the fact that while many people liked Pussycat's unusual design, they didn't believe it had the capability to win a difficult fight.

Indeed, Cassius 2 started very strongly by pushing Pussycat all around the arena before knocking it onto its side. Pussycat's unique design allowed to self-right very quickly and as Cassius 2 lined up to knock it down the pit, Pussycat moved out of the way causing Cassius to drive straight past and into the pit itself. Cassius 2 did have a rear pneumatic spike designed to push the robot back out of the pit, but as the robot went in sideways the spike was ineffective, and Pussycat won the fight.

Unfortunately I can't embed the video but it is available to watch on Youtube (approx 7 mins in).

6. Bigger Brother vs Iron Awe 2.1 (Series 7)

Despite the very powerful axe and flipper Iron Awe had never had much success in previous series, going out in the early rounds in Series 4, 5 and 6. It looked like it would again be defeated in round two when it met the popular and successful Bigger Brother, who had reached the grand final of Series 5 and the later round of the Series 6 semi-finals. Bigger Brother was more maneuverable, better driven and seemed to make better use of its flipper weaponry than Iron Awe was ever able to.

Once again the favourite to win, Bigger Brother, started well by throwing Iron Awe up into the air repeatedly with its flipper. Iron Awe was slow to recover and it seemed only a matter of time before Bigger Brother would claim victory. However the House Robot Shunt momentarily prevented Bigger Brother from moving freely when it strayed too near the CPZ and Iron Awe was able to take full advantage, getting its powerful flipper right underneath their opponent and throwing Bigger Brother over the arena side wall.