"Some hits are going to happen. Bodies will be flying, and some blood will be shed," Steve Henneberry says.
Steve Henneberry is an American Gladiator, but we started off as old friends.
"Every time I come back, you know my folks have WTMJ on their television. So I kind of like feel like I know you, as well," Steve Henneberry says.
That's because Henneberry went to Waterford High School.
"We lived in a little town called North Cape," Henneberry says. "Off of I-45, and I grew up there my entire life on a farm."
Henneberry is best known as "Tower," on one of the biggest shows of the 90's. His audition for the show was quite memorable.
"All I see is people this high," Henneberry says. "I said I'm this high! I told them I wanna be the Tower of Power, and all of a sudden they get this look on their face and they go ok, you go over here."
His first day on set was even more memorable, with him coming off a cover appearance in 'Muscle and Fitness magazine' and meeting the iconic Arnold Schwarzenegger on set.
"I was the cover picture and Arnold was down in the corner, advertising Total Recall," Henneberry says. "And he looked at me and he goes, oh, you're that big guy from the magazine. He goes you look good. He goes come to my dressing room, he goes let's talk. Now I'm thinking to myself. Arnold wants to talk to me. They need me on set. And I said can I get back to you when I get done filming? He says oh go, go. So the whole time I'm out there? My very first day, I'm thinking about, I gotta go meet with Arnold after this!"
Despite being 61, Henneberry is still in phenomenal shape.
"This is a concealed carry state," I asked Henneberry. "Do you have holsters for those things or what's going on?
"I got permits, yes!" Henneberry says with a laugh.
Now, he returns to Milwaukee and the Midwest Gaming Classic this weekend, still telling fans 30 years later that he's undefeated in his signature event, the joust.
"He who hits first will always win," Henneberry says. "And you know I always came up real quick with an undercut, sending them back. And then coming down with a slash to finish them off. I never lost. Never was knocked off the platform."
Tower will combat convention-goers in Johann Sebastian Joust, a no-graphics, digitally-enabled playground game.
America's Largest Retro Gaming Event is at the Baird Center from April 5 - April 7.
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