It’s robot fightin’ time!

Gladiators have fallen out of favor—polite society doesn’t exactly condone murder you can sell tickets to. Long gone are the days when a warrior would don a suit of armor and tread a coliseum’s blood-stained dirt. These days, that crimson dirt is the oil-spattered walls of the Battle Box. That’s right, our robotic warriors are back to fight and die on a new season of BattleBots on ABC.

Though the real tournament begins on June 23, BattleBots is airing their “The Gears Awaken” special tonight at 10/9c. Nerdist was lucky enough to make it behind the scenes during the special, and even snag an interview with one of the guest judges: Agents of SHIELD‘s Clark Gregg! Check it out in the video above.

Everything was on the line for these bots. In the special tonight, you’ll see robots wrestling three at a time, because the winner makes it into the remaining slots for the new season. Spoiler alert: some contestants have their robots completely destroyed. And set on fire. And flung 10 feet into the air by what is effectively a remote-controlled lawnmower.

Are you excited for the new season of BattleBots? Did you know the trophy is still called “The Giant Nut”? What would you call your champion robot? Clark Gregg’s “Sir Crushalot” is a bit regal for us—why not something like Circuit Breaker or Jessica Battle-Bot? Let us know your best bot name in the comments below.

Images: Mohawk