World Championship VI

World Championship VI
Network	Discovery
Presented by	Chris Rose Kenny Florian
Champion	Tantrum
Runner-up	Witch Doctor
Premiere Date	January 6, 2022
Episodes	14
Defending Champion	End Game
Filming Dates	August 25 - September 5, 2021
Location	Las Vegas, NV
Preceded by	World Championship V
Succeeded by	re:MARS all:STARS BattleBots Challenge (2022)

World Championship VI, also known as Discovery Season 6 and the 2021 season, was the sixth season of BattleBots since its return to television in 2015, and the fourth season since the Discovery network picked the show up from ABC.

Like every other reboot era season, it exclusively featured heavyweight robots. The season was filmed at Caesars Entertainment Studios in Las Vegas, Nevada across a two-week period spanning late August to early September 2021.

The BattleBots slot machine, developed by KONAMI.

To commemorate the new location, KONAMI developed a unique slot machine featuring a handful of iconic BattleBots competitors in their 2021 guise. This slot machine was present during filming for the return of a live audience, as they were absent during the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

World Championship VI had 60 competing robots in total. The roster included several established teams entering multiple robots, including but not limited to Seems Reasonable Robotics with Tantrum and Blip, and Team Fast Electric Robots with Whiplash and Defender. This season saw the return of former runners-up Team RioBotz and Minotaur, as well as fan favorites Icewave and Yeti returning to the main competition for the first time since World Championship III and IV respectively.

The season was won by Tantrum after defeating Witch Doctor in the Championship decider, led by co-captains Alex Grant and Ginger Schmidt with Dillon Carey driving. This marked a third different Giant Nut winner in as many seasons as reigning champion End Game was dethroned by Minotaur in the Round of 16. Rookie of the Year was split between Riptide and Glitch with both teams impressing throughout, the Founder's Award was presented to Team SawBlaze and HyperShock was declared the Most Destructive Robot for World Championship VI.

Tantrum's team hoist the Giant Nut.

Founder's Award winner - SawBlaze.

Most Destructive Robot Award winner - HyperShock.

Rookie of the Year co-winner - Riptide.

Rookie of the Year co-winner - Glitch.

Champion	Runner-Up	Semi-Finalists	Quarter-Finalists
Tantrum	Witch Doctor	SawBlaze Hydra	Minotaur Riptide Blip Cobalt

Changes to the BattleBox

The Upper Deck during the 2021 season.

The Pulverizers during the 2021 season.

The biggest change to the BattleBox ahead of the season concerned a brand new hazard at the top of the arena - a 16' x 8' raised platform with flat sides and a pair of screws protruding from the front unofficially called The Shelf, but later dubbed the Upper Deck. It sat a total of six inches above the BattleBox floor, with slightly taller walls surrounding some of the edges to make it harder for bots to escape from. Once a bot drove or was moved onto the Upper Deck, red lights flashed behind the wall to signal a 20 second count. If a robot was sat upon the hazard for more than 20 seconds, irrespective of its mobility, it lost the fight.

The Screws during World Championship VI.

The newly-widened Killsaws during World Championship VI.

The out of the arena zones near the doors where robots enter and exit the BattleBox were initially off-limits for use before filming, though Greg Munson stated this was purely in the interest of safety to prevent these doors from being blocked by defeated bots. Notable competitors to have lost to these OOTA zones in previous seasons include Bombshell in World Championship III courtesy of Bronco and Bloodsport's freak exit from World Championship IV during their play-in rumble with Railgun MAX and Uppercut. However, the OOTA zones by the doors to enter and exit the BattleBox were later back in use after several builders voiced their opinions to BattleBots officials during the season's first builders' meeting that this change, along with the lack of OOTA zones due to modifications to the BattleBox, was unfair. According to several teams, teams were not notified of this change, along with the addition of the Upper Deck, until shortly before filming, with teams such as Malice opting out of a total redesign after learning of the latter. Despite these changes, Hydra was able to throw Gruff out of the arena in Episode 5, and HyperShock did the same to Lock-Jaw in the following episode's Main Event. However, the HyperShock instance was filmed first, hence the surprised and worried looks on some of the team. No punishments were issued for these out of the arena attacks, and they were permitted later in the season.

As well as this, the iconic BattleBox killsaws had their slots widened to be able to throw sparks at the beginning of each episode and before the Main Event. However, this proved to be detrimental to several robots during the season. Deep Six became immobile after jamming its front stabilizing leg into the slot in an unaired loss to SMEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Jamison Go's SawBlaze caught the casing for the hazard as it attempted to charge down End Game, jolting the whole robot sideways and making it vulnerable to an early attack from the defending champions.

"We wanted to race to the center first and establish position away from the walls but our forks were interrupted by the kill saws. Not the slots (our forks are designed to prevent that issue) but the covers, which are polycarbonate plastic, were gouged by the tips and dug in, spinning the whole bot around."

— Jamison Go reports on SawBlaze's loss to End Game

Rule Changes

The new Matrix system for judging battles.

Concerning the rulebook, the sole major change concerned corralling following a highly controversial encounter between Hydra and HUGE during World Championship V. Hydra's "bike rack" attachment prevented HUGE's spinning bar from making contact with Jake Ewert's machine while simultaneously being able to keep HUGE in a corner for much of the fight. Though not previously forbidden, fans and builders alike voiced their opinions on the fight. If a bot now corrals its opponent, the referee will instruct the operator of the corralling robot to move to a specific area of the BattleBox to free the corralled opponent. If the corralling bot's operator refuses to comply, the referee will issue a warning. If the operator still refuses to comply, the Referee will begin a ten-second countdown on the corralling bot and it will be considered knocked out. The first instance of this ironically came in HUGE's first fight of the season, as newcomer Riptide was instructed to back away from Jonathan Schultz's bot during their fight in Episode 3.

The eleven-point judging system, which scored five points for damage and three points for both aggression and control, remained the same. The judges now uses a Matrix system to determine the winners of fights that go the whole three minutes in a more objective manner than before. Aggression and Control are now ranked "minimal", "moderate" or "significant" and in the case of Damage, "massive" is the uppermost category.

	Damage	Aggression	Control
Minimal	"Doesn't reduce the functionality or effectiveness of the Bot."	"A Bot waits for its opponent to come to it, or else actively avoids contact with the opponent (except when resetting or spinning up its active weapon)."	"Bot is rarely able (or unable) to initiate physical or weapon contact with, and also avoid attacks from, its opponent. It also may inadvertently hit the guardrails or an Arena hazard."
Moderate	"Reduces the effectiveness of the drive, defensibility, or weapon system of the Bot."	"Bot occasionally demonstrates boldness and/or intent by utilizing its active weapon or ramming to attack the opponent."	"Bot can occasionally use its weapon or armor to attack its opponent and sometimes avoids opponent attacks. Generally avoids the Arena hazards."
Significant	"Eliminates the functionality of the drive, defensibility, or weapon system, or reduces the effectiveness of two or more systems of the Bot"	"Bot shows frequent demonstrations of boldness and/or intent by utilizing its active weapon and/or ramming to attack its opponent."	"Bot moves decisively and effectively and is consistently able to attack its opponent and avoid hits by the opponent's weapon or armor."
Massive	"Eliminates the functionality of at least two systems of the Bot."	N/A	N/A

As a result of the primary weapon usage controversy during the 2020 season, teams will now only get a maximum of two points in both the aggression and control categories if they don't use the bot's functional primary weapon and are just pushing their opponents around the BattleBox. Self-inflicted damage is now considered when the judges determine the winners.

Chris Rose, Kenny Florian, Faruq Tauheed, Pete Abrahamson, judges Derek Young, Lisa Winter and Jason Bardis, as well as referees John Remar and David Sanfilippo all retained their respective roles from the previous season, though pit reporter Jenny Taft did not return due to conflicting sporting commitments.

The competition structure remained the same from last season, with each bot getting a maximum of three Fight Night matches to impress the selection committee, who eventually chose 32 bots for the single elimination Championship bracket. Each week, the Main Event and Fight Card were revealed to Facebook Supporters at 6am CT/PT and 2pm CT/PT on Mondays respectively. The Fight Card was then publicly revealed on Wednesday mornings via the podcast show Behind the Bots, with clothing released to commemorate Main Events throughout the 2021 season. The full Fight Card was officially revealed later on that same day.

Broadcasts

The season trailer was publicly released on December 2, 2021, showcasing snippets from several fights across the competition. It largely focuses around Faruq Tauheed, while also teasing the Giant Nut and panned shots of several robots' weapons. The editing style, actions of Faruq and mood of the trailer pays homage to Styx and the music video for their lead single "Mr. Roboto", which plays throughout. However, the song was replaced by generic dubstep in early 2022 for unconfirmed reasons.

In the week leading up to the season premiere, BattleBots announced via Facebook that Supporters would get a bonus battle each Thursday morning at 7am ET/PT, with the battle going public on YouTube each Sunday. The first of these saw home team JackPot fight the redesigned Deadlift in a rematch from the Tombstone Bounty Hunters bracket. World Championship VI premiered on January 6, 2022 at 8pm ET/PT on the Discovery Channel, with episodes airing each subsequent Thursday at 8pm ET/PT, or available to stream from 3am ET/PT that morning on discovery+. World Championship VI concluded on April 7, 2022.

Although BattleBots: Bounty Hunters did not explicitly return under the same name for 2021, a new summer series named BattleBots: Champions followed the regular season. Three robots turned out to be competing exclusively in this tournament and the handful of exhibition matches for varying reasons, which were Perfect Phoenix, Big Dill and Double Jeopardy. It was confirmed that the Bounty Winners from the 2020 season would try to defend their titles for the 2021 season in brackets known as Sin City Slugfest. Later explanation confirmed that the teams who successfully defended their titles or overcame the holders would be joined by Giant Nut winners Tantrum, End Game and Tombstone in a special tournament of champions. This was held as the final episode of BattleBots: Champions and would crown the winner of the elusive Golden Bolt trophy.

Following the end of BattleBots: Champions, a number of exhibition fights which went unaired during the regular season were shown to Facebook Supporters, and eventually released publicly on October 8, 2022. This was officially titled Vengeance in Vegas. The spin-off was retrospectively named BattleBots: Champions I following the shift in nomenclature ahead of the seventh season.

Controversy

Fight Night

Eighty pre-tournament battles were filmed in total, exactly enough for eight fights per episode for ten Fight Night episodes. However, with the announcement of Episode 10's fight card, it became apparent that a handful of teams currently sitting at 2-0 would not get a third Fight Night match. The only instance of a robot who had won a fight up to now who was not given a third battle was SMEEEEEEEEEEEEE, who had to withdraw from fighting MadCatter after damage sustained by Gigabyte in their second battle. SMEEEEEEEEEEEEE was replaced by Rampage, thus finishing 1-1.

Although the decision was made to act as a "bye" for teams already in good stead to seed highly in the Top 32 and make production more efficient within the filming schedule, several teams took to social media to voice their frustration at not being offered a third Fight Night battle. Outside of the fun aspect of getting an additional fight, teams cited sponsor exposure and the opportunity to properly test their robots as the main drawbacks to this decision.

"Everyone knows you're not guaranteed 3 fights. But up to this point we thought going 2-0 was a great way to get it - that the better you did the more fights you get. I don't think production realized at the time that teams want that third fight. They thought it was a reward, like a bye, but teams use the regular season for testing and going into a fight 2-0 gives you a great place to test something you might not want to risk in a do or die playoff fight. No only that, we need the airtime for sponsors. So, yea, not a lot of people were happy about this."

— Bots FC address the controversy on Reddit

OOTA Inconsistencies

Team HyperShock react to their KO over Lock-Jaw.

The aforementioned lack of consistency within enforcing the "out of the arena" rule by the BattleBox entrance for safety reasons also sparked controversy. Although Hydra's out of the arena flip on Gruff aired first, it was not the first filmed instance of an OOTA during the 2021 season.

"We were the first Out of the Arena of Season 6, thus Will and I making 'oops' faces when it happened. We were terrified they'd disqualify us. I was worried about a worse possibility where we end up in some kind of controversial debate with production about the legality of the OotA."

— Team HyperShock's account of their Lock-Jaw victory

Team End Game react to their win over SawBlaze.

At the time, there was no certainty over what sanctions may have been enforced if there was an out of the arena near the entry. This led to Team HyperShock and Team End Game, following their OOTA wins over Lock-Jaw and SawBlaze respectively, showing visible concern on-camera about being sanctioned. As it happened, neither HyperShock, End Game nor Hydra were punished, and OOTAs were permitted from that point in the filming schedule onward, becoming the cause of two of Tantrum's wins en route to the Giant Nut. However, this led to teams and fans alike airing their frustration at the mid-season change in stance on this rule.

Unstick and Crab-Walking Inconsistencies

Minotaur loses one of its two wheels in the short corner.

Minotaur gyros to the center of the BattleBox.

Team RioBotz protest their mobility.

Likewise, there were a number of instances throughout the season where rules concerning what qualified as translational movement were not consistent. This most notably came to a head during Minotaur's quarter-final clash against Witch Doctor, where after the fight was paused to unstick the latter after it became stuck on the Upper Deck, tension arose as Mike Gellatly refused to engage with Minotaur. Under the impression that the referees would count it out, a lack of communication resulted in Witch Doctor evading a limping Minotaur for roughly half of the fight. Minotaur was only able to crab-walk on one wheel and used the gyroscopic forces of its own primary weapon to arc around the arena. This was deemed barely sufficient despite warning concerning counting Minotaur out throughout the battle, which were not well received by the team.

Ribbot moves in arcs as it is controversially counted out.

However, in an earlier Round of 32 clash between Hydra and Ribbot, David Jin's bot was similarly arcing around the BattleBox but was counted out at the time, much to the frustration of the Ribbot team.

Whiplash and Cobalt stuck in the short corner.

Similarly, whereas Witch Doctor was freed by BattleBots crew in a safe manner and the fight was allowed to resume, 2020 season runner-up Whiplash did not receive the same treatment as it lodged its forks into the Upper Deck in its Round of 16 loss to Cobalt.

"When attempting to shut off Cobalt, Trey could not shut off the weapon as there was some debris blocking the switch. What we had told Trey which was not heeded, was that our weapon and drive switch are linked, so the drive switch could've been shut off which would have powered down the whole bot. At no point was our spinner stuck on. Trey decided to simply count the whole thing as a double KO, and did the KO as seen filmed."

— Derek Tran of Robotic Death Company speaks on the occurrences during Cobalt vs. Whiplash

Trey Roski determined that the fight could not be safely restarted, and a simultaneous knockout was declared. Cobalt got the judges' approval and advanced to the Top 8, meaning Whiplash was eliminated from the tournament in controversial circumstances.

Following the final episode of the season, BattleBots responded to criticism of the implementation of these rules by stating they would reassess both topics ahead of future seasons. It was ultimately decided that crab-walking and any other limited showings of mobility would be considered sufficient in the eyes of the referees, and a robot would have to be fully knocked out to be counted out in future competitions.

Static Electricity Issues

A team at filming demonstrate the static electricity issue.

During the season, a handful of teams present were badly affected by static electricity in the new Las Vegas filming location. Notably, a weapon controller in SawBlaze died while the bot was sat inside the battery charging tents, and the team had just an hour to replace it and reassemble SawBlaze ahead of their Main Event fight against defending champions End Game. Team HyperShock theorized that a USB port from the side of their tablet may have broken as a result of the issue, but suffered no damage to the robot itself.

"The static electricity made it hard to just hand people parts this year."

— Kyle Awner of Team HyperShock states the extent of the issue.

Team End Game, Bloodsport and the HiJinx team also lost speed controllers during filming, and many other teams were affected in less serious ways, often struggling to handle metal parts or touch their allocated pit tables without receiving minor shocks.

Fight Night Schedules

Robot		Fight Night Record	Fight Night Opponents
Big Dill		0-0	**
Black Dragon		2-1
Blacksmith		1-2
Blade		1-2
Blip		3-0
Bloodsport		2-1
Captain Shrederator		2-1
Claw Viper		1-2
Cobalt		2-1
Copperhead		2-0			*
Deadlift		0-2			*
Deep Six		1-2
Defender		2-1
Double Jeopardy		0-0	**
Dragon Slayer		1-2
DUCK!		0-3
End Game		3-0
Free Shipping		0-3
Fusion		1-2
Ghost Raptor		0-2			*
Gigabyte		2-1
Glitch		3-0
Gruff		1-2
HiJinx		2-1
HUGE		2-1
Hydra		1-2
HyperShock		2-0			*
Icewave		2-1
JackPot		2-0			*
Jäger		0-2			*
Kraken		0-3
Lock-Jaw		0-3
Lucky		2-1
MadCatter		2-1
Malice		1-2
Mammoth		1-2
Minotaur		2-1
Overhaul		0-2			*
P1		2-1
Pain Train		0-2			*
Pardon My French		0-2			*
Perfect Phoenix		0-0	**
Rampage		0-2			*
Retrograde		1-2
Ribbot		3-0
Riptide		2-1
Rusty		0-2			*
ROTATOR		2-0			*
SawBlaze		2-1
Shatter!		2-0			*
Skorpios		1-2
Slammo!		0-2			*
SMEEEEEEEEEEEEE		1-1			*
SubZero		0-3
Switchback		1-2
Tantrum		2-0			*
Tombstone		2-1
Triple Crown		0-1		*
Uppercut		2-0			*
Valkyrie		2-1
Whiplash		2-0			*
Witch Doctor		2-1
Yeti		2-1

* This robot did not receive any further Fight Night battles.

** This robot competed exclusively on BattleBots: Champions I and did not compete in the regular season.

BattleBots: Fight Night

Episode 1: Slash and Burn

"Buckle up as bots from around the globe return to the BattleBox to face off in the world's top robot combat tournament including reigning champ End Game from New Zealand, launching its title defence against Hydra, the biggest flipper on the planet."

— Official description for Episode 1

Main article: World Championship VI/Episode 1

SawBlaze vs. Minotaur
Uppercut vs. Gigabyte
Switchback vs. Gruff
Captain Shrederator vs. Tombstone
Free Shipping vs. Blacksmith
Pain Train vs. Deep Six
Hydra vs. End Game
YouTube Bonus Battle
Deadlift vs. JackPot

Episode 2: I Like Big Bots (That Will Not Die)

"Fourteen killer bots enter the arena in Sin City. Legendary drum-spinner Yeti returns after a year's absence. Rusty is back too but will his Mum's popcorn bowl be enough protection against the deadly weapon of his first opponent?"

— Official description for Episode 2

Main article: World Championship VI/Episode 2

Yeti vs. MadCatter
Defender vs. Ribbot
HiJinx vs. Mammoth
Kraken vs. ROTATOR
Rusty vs. Blip
Tantrum vs. Malice
Bloodsport vs. Whiplash
YouTube Bonus Battle
SubZero vs. Shatter!

Episode 3: Ducks, Dragons, Killer Snakes - What a Zoo!

"The action reaches fever pitch as more bots make their season debuts. Veterans return to the BattleBox to relive their glory years, while Giant Nut contenders are determined to make a splash."

— Official description for Episode 3

Main article: World Championship VI/Episode 3

HyperShock vs. Slammo!
Valkyrie vs. P1
HUGE vs. Riptide
Cobalt vs. Fusion
Black Dragon vs. Icewave
Witch Doctor vs. DUCK!
Copperhead vs. Lock-Jaw
YouTube Bonus Battle
Claw Viper vs. Pardon My French

Episode 4: Out With the Old

"With World Championship qualification on their minds, many of the best bots on the planet, including Tantrum, Sawblaze, Madcatter and former champ Tombstone, put it all on the line trying to win their second match of the qualifying round."

— Official description for Episode 4

Main article: World Championship VI/Episode 4

Malice vs. JackPot
Ribbot vs. Overhaul
Blade vs. Skorpios
Tombstone vs. Mammoth
Lucky vs. Tantrum
Ghost Raptor vs. Glitch
SawBlaze vs. MadCatter
YouTube Bonus Battle
Retrograde vs. Rampage

Episode 5: Let's Uppercut to the Chase!

"The march toward "The Giant Nut" continues as several fan-favorite bots face a potential 0-2 start; in a violent main event, defending champs End Game take on 2019 finalists Witch Doctor in a clash of the vertical spinners."

— Official description for Episode 5

Main article: World Championship VI/Episode 5

Free Shipping vs. Uppercut
Blacksmith vs. Shatter!
Jäger vs. P1
Hydra vs. Gruff
Gigabyte vs. Captain Shrederator
Dragon Slayer vs. DUCK!
End Game vs. Witch Doctor
YouTube Bonus Battle
Valkyrie vs. Triple Crown

Episode 6: Bigger Than Bots

"A legendary driver and his teammates attempt to overcome not only their opponent, but personal tragedy - as the second half of the World Championship Qualifiers begins."

— Official description for Episode 6

Main article: World Championship VI/Episode 6

ROTATOR vs. Black Dragon
Lucky vs. Blade
Minotaur vs. Dragon Slayer
Yeti vs. Pain Train
Kraken vs. HiJinx
Defender vs. Riptide
HyperShock vs. Lock-Jaw
YouTube Bonus Battle
SMEEEEEEEEEEEEE vs. Deep Six

Episode 7: Edges, Wedges and Wheels

"It's a symphony of destruction as a fresh group of bots look to leave their mark on the 2021 season with a signature victory; the night reaches a crescendo as two of the sport's best drivers square off in the main event."

— Official description for Episode 7

Main article: World Championship VI/Episode 7

Bloodsport vs. SubZero
Ghost Raptor vs. Cobalt
Deadlift vs. Icewave
Blip vs. Overhaul
HUGE vs. Retrograde
Copperhead vs. Fusion
Whiplash vs. Skorpios
YouTube Bonus Battle
Switchback vs. Slammo!

Episode 8: Flip the Script

"Shocking upsets shake up the entire competition. And with the World Championship looming, it's the last chance for many teams to make a statement that they belong in the Round of 32."

— Official description for Episode 8

Main article: World Championship VI/Episode 8

Blacksmith vs. Malice
Black Dragon vs. Claw Viper
SMEEEEEEEEEEEEE vs. Gigabyte
Hydra vs. Glitch
Free Shipping vs. Tombstone
Ribbot vs. P1
SawBlaze vs. End Game
YouTube Bonus Battle
Jäger vs. Captain Shrederator

Episode 9: Put Up or Shut Up

"The penultimate week of the qualifying round has fourteen of the field's most destructive bots vying for a kick at The Giant Nut! In a tactically tantalizing Main Event two of the most aggressive drivers duke it out in a clash between Skorpios and Yeti!"

— Official description for Episode 9

Main article: World Championship VI/Episode 9

Gruff vs. Cobalt
DUCK! vs. Riptide
Valkyrie vs. Pardon My French
Lock-Jaw vs. Blip
Minotaur vs. Deep Six
SubZero vs. HiJinx
Skorpios vs. Yeti
YouTube Bonus Battle
Defender vs. Retrograde

Episode 10: To The Victor, Go the Spoils

"It's the Selection Show! The Qualifying Rounds wrap up with 7 must-win matchups, as many fan faves try to secure a spot in the World Championship Tournament. At the end of the night, the field for the Round of 32 is revealed."

— Official description for Episode 10

Main article: World Championship VI/Episode 10

Bloodsport vs. Claw Viper
MadCatter vs. Rampage
HUGE vs. Switchback
Kraken vs. Glitch
Mammoth vs. Lucky
Rusty vs. Witch Doctor
Fusion vs. Icewave
YouTube Bonus Battle
Dragon Slayer vs. Blade

Top 32

Episode 11: Let The Tournament Begin!

"The World Championship Tournament has arrived! Only one team will hoist the most coveted trophy in the sport, the Giant Nut. The defending champions, End Game, are ready to defend their crown, but a stacked group of contenders aren't backing down."

— Official description for Episode 11

Main article: World Championship VI/Episode 11

Play-in Match
Malice vs. Skorpios
Round of 32
(1) End Game vs. Skorpios (32)
(16) Minotaur vs. Bloodsport (17)
(8) Copperhead vs. Lucky (25)**
(9) Mammoth* vs. Witch Doctor (24)
(4) SawBlaze vs. HiJinx (29)
(13) HyperShock vs. P1 (20)
(5) Uppercut vs. HUGE (28)**
(12) Shatter! vs. Riptide (21)

*Mammoth replaced Glitch as the No. 9 seed after Glitch was forced to withdraw from the Round of 32 due to major technical issues with its primary weapon. The team was unable to fix this in time for their fight with Witch Doctor.

**This fight was highlighted in the aired episode and revealed exclusively to Supporters on March 17, 2022. It was uploaded in full to YouTube on March 20, 2022.

Episode 12: 8 Down, 8 to Go

"It's all on the line for 16 killer bots as the round of 32 concludes. Spinners, lifters and flippers battle for survival in their quest for the ultimate prize: the Giant Nut!"

— Official description for Episode 12

Main article: World Championship VI/Episode 12

Play-in Match
Defender vs. Hydra
Round of 32
(2) Ribbot vs. Hydra (31)
(15) MadCatter vs. Black Dragon (18)
(7) Blip vs. Valkyrie (26)
(10) JackPot vs. Tombstone (23)
(3) Whiplash vs. Icewave (30)*
(14) Cobalt vs. Yeti (19)
(6) ROTATOR vs. Captain Shrederator (27)*
(11) Tantrum vs. Gigabyte (22)

*This fight was highlighted in the aired episode and revealed exclusively to Supporters on March 24, 2022. It was uploaded in full to YouTube on March 27, 2022.

Top 16

Episode 13: Round of 16

"The march towards The Giant Nut rages on as the final 16 bots fight for survival! The best of the best are left, but only eight will survive tonight to face the ultimate conflict."

— Official description for Episode 13

Main article: World Championship VI/Episode 13

Round of 16
(5) Uppercut vs. Riptide (21)
(6) ROTATOR vs. Tantrum (11)
(7) Blip vs. JackPot (10)
(18) Black Dragon vs. Hydra (31)
(8) Copperhead vs. Witch Doctor (24)
(4) SawBlaze vs. P1 (20)
(3) Whiplash vs. Cobalt (14)*
(1) End Game vs. Minotaur (16)

*This fight was highlighted in the aired episode and revealed exclusively to Supporters on March 31, 2022. It was uploaded in full to YouTube on April 3, 2022.

Top 8

Episode 14: BattleBots: The Finals

"By the end of tonight's season finale, a new team will hoist the Giant Nut and be crowned BattleBots World Champion. It's winner takes all, as the final eight bots face off in the ultimate robotic fight to the death."

— Official description for Episode 14

Main article: World Championship VI/Episode 14

Championship Quarter-Finals
(16) Minotaur vs. Witch Doctor (24)
(4) SawBlaze vs. Riptide (21)
(7) Blip vs. Hydra (31)
(11) Tantrum vs. Cobalt (14)
Championship Semi-Finals
(24) Witch Doctor vs. SawBlaze (4)
(31) Hydra vs. Tantrum (11)
Championship Final
(24) Witch Doctor vs. Tantrum (11)

Vengeance in Vegas I

The promotional thumbnail for Vengeance in Vegas I.

Towards the end of the season, BattleBots confirmed a total of ten exhibition fights which would initially be shown to Facebook Supporters before being released publicly at a later date. On August 27, 2022, BattleBots confirmed a unique steel chair fight between Overhaul and Big Dill. A different fight was shown to Supporters, with the view to later upload unseen exhibition fights every Monday, Wednesday and Friday as "Smash & Grab" battles.

Much like Supporter exclusive videos in past seasons, these exhibition battles had no commentary from Chris Rose and Kenny Florian, and also had also had no introductions from Faruq Tauheed.

These fights were publicly announced by BattleBots on October 5, 2022 and would premiere on their YouTube channel three days later under the revised name Vengeance in Vegas. The premiere would begin at 1pm EDT or 10am PDT, according to a trailer uploaded to YouTube which teased each of the fights. Following the new nomenclature for naming seasons, this was retrospectively titled Vengeance in Vegas I with a second series of exhibitions following World Championship VII titled Vengeance in Vegas II.

Big Dill vs. Blip

Bloodsport vs. Riptide

Captain Shrederator vs. HUGE

Cobalt vs. Pardon My French

Deadlift vs. Pain Train

Lucky vs. P1

Overhaul vs. Big Dill

Rampage vs. Mammoth

Valkyrie vs. Blade

Riptide vs. JackPot

See Also

• 2021 Design Rules
• 2021 Tournament Rules

Trivia

• World Championship VI marked the reboot era of BattleBots being officially longer than its classic era on Comedy Central.
• The entire first episode's fight card was revealed to Supporters on Facebook in October 2021, a whole three months before the episode would air on Discovery.
• This season marked the first since the expiry of Robot Wars contracts for a handful of European teams, hence why robots such as Sabretooth were allowed to apply under the same name as their Robot Wars counterparts.
• Both Hydra and Blip achieved a total of 17 flips against Black Dragon and Valkyrie, respectively, before meeting one another in the Top 8.
• The 2021 season marked the first time BattleBots saw a female-led team win the Giant Nut in Tantrum's co-captain Ginger Schmidt.
• During the season, damaged parts were collected to form a sculpture of a horse. Known as BattleTrot, the sculpture was made by David Fay and auctioned immediately after the season's end, with proceeds going to the Grant Imahara STEAM Foundation. The piece ultimately sold for $17,101 on April 17, 2022.