Gladiatorial combat

One of the less reputable aspects of Cybertron before the Great War was the fact that gladiatorial combat was one of the most popular sports. Though many of these games were officially illegal, they often thrived, with Transformers battling each other to the death. Knowledge of this circled among the government officials, but they tended to turn a blind eye to the bloodsport.

They should have paid better attention, for within these arenas, Megatron first arose... and found many similarly-minded individuals.

Pre-MUX continuity
Millions of years in the past, when Cybertron was still a Quintesson-ruled factory world, the planet's robot slaves were often forced to battle each other in gladiatorial combat for the amusement of their masters. Some of the robots forced to compete in these sadistic games grew tired of it, and attempted to fight back against their masters. Although this initial revolt failed, it would plant the seeds of rebellion that would eventually prove successful.

State Games
Later, The Gladiatorial Games of Cybertron were ancient athletic contests meant to demonstrate the combatants' skill and ability. Gladiators usually wore battle masks, and fought with shields and hand-to-hand energon weapons.

During the reign of the final Overlord of Cybertron, the planet was experiencing much political strife. Overpopulation had led to a fuel shortage. The larger cities of Cybertron had become sovereign city-states, and the Overlords had become little more than figureheads. In an attempt to garner some good will between city-states, the last of the Overlords had revived the games, starting an inter-city competition. The attempt backfired and it seemed to excite rivalries, especially between Iacon and Tarn.

At the same time, saboteurs from Vos were using the games as cover for an operation to destroy Tarn's main power plant and frame Iacon for the deed. They were caught by a technician from Tarn who recognized them as members of the Vos gladiatorial team. The power plant was still destroyed, bringing Vos and Tarn to war.

Devastation Derby
When Smokescreen was introduced to Earth's demolition derbies, he considered it a form of gladiatorial combat and went in to participate as soon as he knew he was allowed to.

Deadly Games!
The games on Cybertron did not surface for another 4 million years. The Decepticons revived the gladiatorial combat in an alliance with the alien known as Zabra.

List of gladiators

 * Megatron
 * Soundwave
 * The Insecticons
 * Lugnut
 * Sunstreaker