Monster Jam World Finals

Monster Jam World Finals
World Finals logo.
Promoters	FELD Motorsports & Monster Jam
Current Venue	SoFi Stadium (Los Angeles, California)
Month Held	May (2019; 2022; 2024-present)
Competitors	24 (2006-2012; 2019-present)

The Monster Jam World Finals are an annual event held in the United States, and promoted by Monster Jam. The event is the pinnacle of each Monster Jam season, which is the finale of the Monster Jam's first quarter season and is arguably the most anticipated monster truck event each year. It features the largest monster truck lineup of any Monster Jam show. Originally, there were no official world championships awarded at the event, outside of the season points series championship. After the reboot of the series in 2000, two event World Championships were now awarded, for Racing and Freestyle, but this has grown to 4 (previously 7) championships with the addition of the Skills and High Jump championships. Monster Jam World Finals XX originally added on non-monster truck competitions, including the Speedster Racing and Speedster Obstacle Course by the Monster Jam Speedsters, and ATV Racing by the Monster Jam ATV'S, derived from the Triple Threat Series, but they have since been on hiatus. The event was also well-known for being hosted in the Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada for many years since the reboot of the event in 2000 until 2018, when Monster Jam announced a rotational schedule which signaled the departure from Las Vegas, with the first venue outside of Vegas being in Orlando, Florida. The next World Finals will be held in Los Angeles, CA in 2024.

Most of the drivers who get to invited at the World Finals are selected based on their performance throughout the season. However in 2015, Monster Jam introduced new points series' where drivers can get themselves automatically inducted into the lineup by winning. Since then, more and more tours were created and even more drivers have the ability to get a chance for an automatic spot at the World Finals.

Format

For the 1993, 1994, and 1999 Monster Jam World Finals, the event would all take place in one day. The 1993-1994 events would feature two separate racing brackets, while the 1999 event would feature only one. None of these events featured a freestyle competition, with the freestyle portion of the 1999 event only being an encore performance for the fans in attendance.

From 2000-2011, the event was split into two days. The first day, later named the "Double Down Event" would have Qualifying, where each driver earns their own spot at the racing bracket. Starting in 2005, the top 12 qualifiers would automatically advance to Round 2, the top 8 in 2006 through 2012, and then 4 in 2013. It would also hold the biggest Monster Jam Pit Party that features trucks excluded from the event's competition lineup and is solely for display, along with fan interaction. The amount of trucks in the Pit Party would continue to grow from year to year. The following day, the competitions would occur as each driver would compete in Racing and Freestyle on this day. Since 2001, a special Encore performance would conclude the event.

Starting in 2012, the World Finals would have a big addition. The Double Down event would now host the yearly Young Guns Shootout, where select rookie and young new drivers with no World Finals experience would be able to enter a special racing bracket. In 2013, a new update would be added where the winner of the bracket would get the final spot in the World Finals field. After this, the same festivities from before would then continue.

From 2014-2017, the two day weekend would be revamped into a three day event. The first day would have the same events from before while the second day would solely be for racing, while the third would be for freestyle. This not only allowed Monster Jam to make two different tracks for the same event, as the first one would be racing track and the second being a track exclusively for freestyle, but also allowed teams more time to make repairs if their truck crashed in racing, as well as tune their trucks solely for each competition.

In 2018, the event was changed back to a two day weekend due to schedule conflicts. The first day would now feature the Double Down Showdown as well as racing while the second for freestyle. Qualifying was also no longer for audiences and was held after practice sessions.

In 2019, the format was the same as the last year’s event only with some major additions, namely the relocation of the event to Orlando, Florida. On the first day, the Two-Wheels Skills was held after the Showdown, while the first heat of the Speedster Racing/Obstacle Course and ATV Racing were held at the pit party. On the second day, the second heat of the Speedster and ATV competitions was held at the pit party, while the high jump competition was held before closing out the show with freestyle.

In 2022, with the return of the World Finals, most things would stay the same, however, the competition days would be moved to Saturday and Sunday. The Speedster and ATV world titles would also be put on hold as well as the Showdown, and it is unknown if they will return in the future. However, due to rain issues, only the racing competition would be held on the first day, as the Skills competition would be postponed and moved to Day 2.

In 2023, the World Finals would move to Nashville, TN where would also revive the original format of having all competitions in one day, in this case, having all four world titles held in one day. It would also continue to exclude the Showdown and ATV/Speedster world titles.

Re-location of the World Finals

On March 27th, 2017, just two days after World Finals 18 ended, The Oakland Raiders were approved by the NFL to move from Oakland to Las Vegas by no later than 2020. The current plan is for the UNLV Rebels, the college football team that currently plays at Sam Boyd Stadium, to join the Raiders in the brand new Allegiant Stadium. When this happens, there was a possibility that Sam Boyd Stadium would be demolished, which would therefore require the World Finals to move to another location. However, Sam Boyd Stadium's future is presently unclear, as the Raiders are also considering selling Sam Boyd Stadium or turning it into a Raider's practice facility. However, it has been publicly stated though that Sam Boyd Stadium will no longer be hosting any events after June, prohibiting any Monster Jam events from being held there, making the venue change necessary.

It was announced on February 15th, 2018, that beginning with World Finals XX, the host stadium of the World Finals would be a rotating schedule, beginning with MetLife Stadium in May 2019 although, a few months later, the venue and date was removed due to schedule conflicts with MetLife Stadium. Meanwhile, Sam Boyd Stadium would get one more event, being the first, and as of now, only Monster Jam All-Star Challenge. On September 5th 2018, there was a press release about the Monster Jam World Finals XX and it confirmed the new rotation schedule for World Finals, with the first venue for World Finals outside of Vegas would be Camping World Stadium in Orlando, FL.

Lists

List of World Finals venues/month held

• Pontiac Silverdome; Pontiac, MI (October 1993-1994)
• Trans World Dome; St. Louis, MO (April 1999)
• Sam Boyd Stadium; Las Vegas, NV (March 2000-2018)
• Camping World Stadium; Orlando, FL (May 2019 & 2022)
• Nissan Stadium; Nashville, TN (July 2023)
• SoFi Stadium; Inglewood, CA (May 2024)

List of competitor amount

• 16 Competitors (1994, 1999, 2000-2004)
• 20 Competitors (1993, 2005)
• 24 Competitors (2006-2012; 2019-present)
• 28 Competitors (2013)
• 32 Competitors (2014-2018)

List of events

Current

• Racing Competition (2000-present)
• Freestyle Competition (2000-present)
• Skills Competition (2019-present)
• High Jump Competition (2019-present)

Former

• The Showdown (2012-2019)
• ATV Racing (2019 only)
• Speedster Racing (2019 only)
• Speedster Obstacle Course (2019 only)

Pre-2000

Despite Monster Jam World Finals 1 having taken place in 2000, there were three different Monster Jam World Finals events that took place in the 1990's, however they were not officially numbered nor was every event universally referred to as the Monster Jam World Finals in all forms of publication or advertisements. USHRA-officiated monster truck "World Finals" events have been taking place since as early as 1987, but only three were billed as being the Monster Jam World Finals prior to taking place, being in 1993, 1994, and 1999. The series would be rebooted in 2000 as an annual event and was given an official numbering system as a result. Despite there being racing winners at each World Finals event prior to 2000, the only championships that were recognized at the time were the overall season points championships.

1993 World Finals

The 1993 Monster Jam World Finals took place on October 23rd 1993 and was held in the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, MI. This event was the finale for the 1993 USHRA Monster Wars series. While the event had been advertised as the "Monster Jam World Finals", it was also advertised as the "Dodge Ram Monster Jam", as well as the "U.S. Hot Rod Super Series World Finals". The event featured 20 trucks in competition in two different classes. Ten trucks were featured in the televised Monster Wars bracket in a straight-line drag race course, while 10 non-televised trucks competed in the Monster Truck Challenge bracket on a j-drag style course. Paul Shafer in Monster Patrol would defeat Fred Shafer in Bear Foot in the final race of the Monster Wars bracket while Charlie Pauken in Excaliber defeated Andy Brass in Bigfoot in the Monster Truck Challenge bracket.

1994 World Finals

See main article: Pontiac 1994 (October)

The 1994 Monster Jam World Finals took place in October of 1994 and was held in the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, MI. It was the season finale of the 1994 USHRA Monster Wars series, which was not televised that year. The event was advertised as both the "Monster Jam World Finals", which can be seen on the video boards at the event, as well as the "U.S. Hot Rod Super Series Monster Truck Finals". The event featured the top eight trucks in both the East and West divisions racing in two separate multi-elimination brackets, with the two winners of each bracket facing off in a "grudge match" at the end. The racing layout was an extended St. Louis style course for both brackets. Footage of the event is featured on Monster Jam's History of Monster Trucks at the Pontiac Silverdome DVD. Eldon DePew in Taurus would defeat Dan Runte in Bigfoot to win the West Division bracket and Dennis Anderson in Grave Digger would defeat Mark Bendler in Kodiak to win the East Division bracket, leading to Taurus defeating Grave Digger in the "grudge match".

1999 World Finals

See main article: Motor Madness World Finals

The 1999 Monster Jam World Finals was the championship event for the 1999 USHRA Monster Jam winter season, taking place on April 3rd, 1999. The event has commonly been referred to as "World Finals 0" by fans, an unofficial name stemming from the fact that Monster Jam would begin numbering their World Finals events the following year and the previous World Finals events being largely unrecognized by most fans. The event itself was officially called the "Monster Jam World Finals" and referred to on TV as the "Motor Madness World Finals" to coincide with the Motor Madness TV series. The racing layout was a St. Louis style course, similar to the 1994 World Finals. Brian Womack in Bear Foot would defeat Gary Porter in Carolina Crusher to win the racing competition, and while not recognized as a Racing World Champion at the time, Brian Womack and Bear Foot have since been retroactively recognized as such by Monster Jam. This is would also be the only pre-2000 World Finals to be recognized by Monster Jam as being part of the official series post-2000.

Events

World Finals I

see main article: World Finals I

The first Monster Jam World Finals post-reboot was held on March 25th, 2000. The event featured 16 trucks even though only 14 trucks came out for freestyle due to Airborne Ranger being severely damaged from a side wall collision in round 1 (despite Predator suffering the same type of accident in round 2) and King Krunch's motor being blown in round 3. Tom Meents in Goldberg won racing over Scott Hartsock in Gunslinger, and Dennis Anderson in Grave Digger won freestyle with a score of 40. Dennis' winning run would go on to be the highest winning score in World Finals history, being the only instance of a "perfect score", getting a 10 from all judges. Three freestyle performances would be cut from the Pay-Per-View and all home releases of the event due to the runs being too short.

World Finals 2

See main article: World Finals 2

Monster Jam World Finals 2 was held on March 24th, 2001. Tom Meents, driving Goldberg, doubled down, winning in racing over Blue Thunder and winning freestyle with a score of 38. This was the first time a competitor had doubled down during the World Finals. Only 13 trucks came out for freestyle due to an unknown issue with Gunslinger, Wolverine losing oil pressure, and Blue Thunder crashing in the finals (despite appearing to be fixable). Also, Blacksmith wouldn't return for freestyle after violently crashing into the wall protection after the race has finished. However, Pablo Huffaker, who was driving the truck, would come back and drive Ragin Steel as a substitute truck for his Blacksmith truck. This would be the only time a different truck name was used as a substitute truck. This World Finals would also notably have its racing track shortened to the inside of the stadium after a water pipe was broken, flooding the outside of the track. Two freestyle performances would be cut from all home releases of the event due to the runs being too short, yet highlights were shown on TV. This would be the first World Finals to feature an encore. Dennis Anderson would bring out multiple Grave Digger's for an encore freestyle along with Tom Meents bringing out another Goldberg truck.

World Finals 3

See main article: World Finals 3

Monster Jam World Finals 3 was held on March 23rd, 2002. Meents doubled down again, this time in Team Meents, winning in racing over Jimmy Creten in Bounty Hunter and winning freestyle with a score of 37. This would be the second, and as of now, last time a truck has doubled down at the World Finals. This also marked the first time a truck won the double down consecutively two years in a row, and the first and only time a truck has won a championship three times consecutively. All 16 trucks came out for freestyle, making it the first time all trucks would come out for freestyle. This event also featured the debut of the Hot Wheels truck. Only one freestyle performance would be cut from all home releases and TV broadcasts of the event due to the run being too short. That truck was Bulldozer & Guy Wood. For the encore, some of the drivers brought out another truck or used the one they ran with during the show. Team Meents ran on the Spider-Man chassis.

World Finals 4

See main article: World Finals 4

Monster Jam World Finals 4 was held on March 22nd, 2003. Two surprise winners were found this year, with Brian Barthel, driving Wolverine, winning racing over Jimmy Creten in Bounty Hunter and Jim Koehler in Avenger winning freestyle with a 37. This would be the first post-2000 World Finals to have a competition won by an independently-owned monster truck, referring to Jim Koehler's Avenger, as well as the fastest qualifying pass, being ran by Bounty Hunter. This was also the first Monster Jam World Finals not to have Dennis Anderson competing, which was due to an injury. He would still be in attendance at the event, mainly being the coach of the Grave Digger team and Pablo Huffaker would drive his Grave Digger truck. Tom Meents would also have his 13 World Finals race winning streak be broken by Gunslinger in round 2, as well as being the first World Finals post-2000 where Tom won no championships. Only 15 trucks came out for freestyle due to Gunslinger's engine being blown in racing. For the encore, Lyle Hancock used his damaged Blue Thunder from freestyle & made passes over the racing lanes. Another Blue Thunder truck would join him, along with Tom Meents in Maximum Destruction & Pablo Huffaker in Grave Digger.

World Finals 5

See main article: World Finals 5

Monster Jam World Finals 5 was held on March 20th, 2004. This would be the last World Finals to feature 16 competitors. Dennis Anderson, driving Grave Digger, would win his first racing title over Pablo Huffaker in Blacksmith. This World Finals also infamously featured a three-way tie for the freestyle title with a score of 31, crowning three world freestyle champions, being the first time that more than two world champions were crowned. The winning drivers would be Lupe Soza in El Toro Loco, Debra Miceli in Madusa, and Tom Meents in Maximum Destruction. Debra Miceli winning the world title also made history, making her the first woman to ever win a world title. This World Finals would also start the tradition of Avenger using a special paint scheme exclusively for the World Finals, running a special orange body this year. There has a short lived rule used only during this event where a truck would be brought back up if they went over in the first 30 seconds, however, they would have a 5 point deduction. All 16 trucks came out for freestyle. For the encore, 2 Blue Thunder trucks freestyled, along with 2 Maximum Destruction's & 2 Grave Digger's.

World Finals 6

See main article: World Finals 6

Monster Jam World Finals 6 was held on March 19th, 2005. Debra Miceli, driving Madusa, won racing over Dennis Anderson in Grave Digger, and Jimmy Creten, driving Bounty Hunter, won freestyle with a 31 in a tiebreaker over Tony Farrell in Blue Thunder, beating him by one extra tiebreaker point. The event was notable for it having of rained during majority of the racing competition, leaving behind a muddy track. This was also the first World Finals to have the tiebreaker system put into play, which was made in response to last year's infamous tie. This was also the only World Finals to have a 20 truck line up. This World Finals also started the tradition of Jim Koehler jumping into a body of water after his freestyle run. Only 19 trucks came out to freestyle due to Gunslinger's engine being blown once again, despite Scott Hartsock already having a backup Gunslinger truck. This would make Scott Hartsock and Gunslinger currently hold a record of having of missed the most freestyle competitions at the World Finals, with a total of 3. Grave Digger & Maximum Destruction did an encore freestyle together.

World Finals 7

See main article: World Finals 7

Monster Jam World Finals 7 was held on March 25th, 2006. Dennis Anderson, driving Grave Digger, won racing over Jimmy Creten in Bounty Hunter, and Tom Meents in Maximum Destruction won freestyle with a 37. This was the first World Finals to have a 24 truck line up. This was also the first ever World Finals to not have a reigning world champion come back to defend their title, with Debra Miceli temporarily leaving Monster Jam at the time. Only 23 trucks came out to freestyle due to Hot Wheels suffering a violent crash in the racing competition. Charlie Pauken in Grave Digger & Neil Elliott in Maximum Destruction did an encore freestyle together.

World Finals 8

See main article: World Finals 8

Monster Jam World Finals 8 was held on March 24th, 2007. John Seasock, driving Batman, won racing over Dennis Anderson in Grave Digger, and Pablo Huffaker in Captain's Curse won freestyle with a 34. This was the debut show of Captain's Curse, and the debut of the chrome 25th Anniversary body for Grave Digger. This was also originally planned to be the first World Finals to separate the two competitions for each day, including the 32 truck lineup, however, this wouldn't happen until 2014. Only 22 trucks came out to freestyle as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle was damaged from a racing crash and Hot Wheels' engine had caught fire after a race, along with other mechanical issues. The encore featured the 25th anniversary of Grave Digger.

World Finals 9

See main article: World Finals 9

Monster Jam World Finals 9 was held on March 29th, 2008. John Seasock driving Batman, won racing over Jimmy Creten in Bounty Hunter, and Adam Anderson in Taz won freestyle with a 37. This was the first World Finals to feature Bonus Time. It is also currently the only time where all world titles were won by sponsored trucks, both ironically coming from the same sponsor, Warner Bros. This was also the second time where a reigning champion didn't return to defend their title, with Pablo Huffaker not competing, though Captain's Curse was featured in the main field with the World Finals debut of Alex Blackwell. Grave Digger would also run the fastest Vegas Style racing pass in history during round 1 with a time of 15.19 seconds. Randy Brown in TMNT came out in-between racing rounds & did an encore freestyle. All 24 trucks came out to freestyle, notably being the first and currently only Word Finals to not have a single racing crash. The racing also featured seven photo-finishes, the most in World Finals history. This encore featured the debut of Spitfire & Backwards Bob. Tom Meents would return to the track & do an almost identical freestyle to the one he just did moments earlier.

World Finals 10

See main article: World Finals 10

Monster Jam World Finals 10 was held on March 28th, 2009. Tom Meents, driving Maximum Destruction won racing over Alex Blackwell in Captain's Curse, and Damon Bradshaw in the Air Force Afterburner won freestyle with a 36. For the encore, Maximum Destruction would attempt Monster Jam's first publicly-performed backflip. He would fail the attempt. This would also be the debut of the Nitro Circus truck. Only 23 trucks came out to freestyle due to Captain's Curse's violent racing crash caused by brake problems, thus it couldn't be fixed in time for freestyle. Also, reigning champion Adam Anderson, although being in the field, would be unable to defend his title after a violent racing crash took Adam out of the event, although the truck would be able to freestyle with Chad Tingler filling-in for him. The event was touted as the 10th anniversary of the Monster Jam World Finals, with the timeline starting from World Finals 1 (2000).

World Finals 11

See main article: World Finals 11

Monster Jam World Finals 11 was held on March 27th, 2010. Dennis Anderson, driving Grave Digger, famously won racing over his long-time rival Tom Meents in Maximum Destruction, and Charlie Pauken in Monster Mutt won freestyle with a 39, the second highest score in the history of the World Finals freestyle competition. Only 22 trucks came out to freestyle since both King Krunch and El Toro Loco had racing crashes and they couldn't be fixed in time for freestyle. On that topic, this year featured the most amount of racing crashes in world finals history, with a total of 5. The encore featured 10 trucks doing a freestyle for the fans.

World Finals 12

See main article: World Finals 12

Monster Jam World Finals 12 was held on March 24th, 2011. Tom Meents, driving Maximum Destruction, won racing over Jimmy Creten in Bounty Hunter for the second time, and Jim Koehler in Avenger won freestyle with a 32 in a tiebreaker with Cam McQueen in Nitro Circus, Cam notably being the first truck out in freestyle, making it the first time someone was in the lead for the entirety of a World Finals freestyle competition. All 24 trucks came out to freestyle. Son-uva Digger also made its debut during the encore. Also featured in the encore, all 3 Grinder trucks & all 3 Maximum Destruction's did freestyle. It would also be the last World Finals track to have multiple designs and colors, rather than having a specific paint scheme.

World Finals 13

See main article: World Finals 13

Monster Jam World Finals 13 was held on March 23rd, 2012. This would be the first year the Young Guns Shootout took place, although the winner would not compete in the main event, being Bari Musawwir in Spider-Man, who defeated Nicole Johnson in the Advance Auto Parts Grinder. For the main field, Tom Meents, driving Maximum Destruction, won racing over Damon Bradshaw in Monster Energy and Cam McQueen in Northern Nightmare made a comeback after last year and won freestyle with a 38. All 24 trucks came out to freestyle. This would also be the first World Finals track to feature a uniform paint scheme, rather than multiple designs and colors. The encore would feature the 30th anniversary of Grave Digger.

World Finals 14

See main article: World Finals 14

Monster Jam World Finals 14 was held on March 22nd, 2013. Joe Sylvester in Bad Habit won the Young Guns Shootout over Morgan Kane in Iron Man. This got him the 2th spot in the lineup. Adam Anderson, driving Grave Digger the Legend, won racing over Marc McDonald in El Toro Loco, and Tom Meents in Max-D won freestyle with a 34. This was the only World Finals to have 28 trucks. Only 27 trucks came out to freestyle due to Bounty Hunter's engine being blown. This is the last time a monster truck gets left out for freestyle because of the new format for the Monster Jam World Finals in 2014 and beyond. This would also be the first year the Young Guns Shootout winner competed in the main event. The encore featured the 10th anniversary of Max-D with Tom Meents attempting a double backflip.

World Finals 15

See main article: World Finals 15

Monster Jam World Finals 15 was held on March 20th, 2014. Mike Vaters II in Overkill Evolution won the Young Guns Shootout over Coty Saucier in Monster Energy, Adam Anderson, driving Grave Digger the Legend, won racing over Tom Meents in Max-D, and Todd LeDuc in Metal Mulisha won freestyle with a 37.5. This was the first World Finals to have 32 trucks and the first utilize the two day format. It was also the first World Finals were the judges could add half a point in the scores. All 32 trucks came out to freestyle. The encore featured 6 Doom's Day trucks attempt backflips.

World Finals 16

See main article: World Finals 16

Monster Jam World Finals 16 was held on March 26, 2015. Coty Saucier in Monster Energy won the Young Guns Shootout over Colt Stephens in NEA Police, Todd LeDuc, driving Metal Mulisha, won racing over Ryan Anderson in Son-Uva Digger, and Mikey Vaters in Overkill Evolution won freestyle with a 33.5. All 32 trucks came out to freestyle. This was also the first World Finals to include multiple of the same truck name. The encore featured several Zombie trucks with different features crashing into each other in the dark.

World Finals 17

See main article: World Finals 17

Monster Jam World Finals 17 was held on March 17, 2016. Scott Liddycoat in Dragon won the Young Guns Shootout over Tyler Menninga in Blue Thunder. Morgan Kane, driving Grave Digger, won racing over Todd LeDuc in Metal Mulisha, and Adam Anderson in Grave Digger won freestyle with a 33. All 32 trucks came out to freestyle. This would be the final Monster Jam World Finals that Dennis Anderson would compete in. The encore featured military themed trucks doing donuts & backflips.

World Finals 18

See main article: World Finals 18

Monster Jam World Finals 18 was held on March 23-25, 2017. This was the first World Finals since 1999 that did not feature Tom Meents, and the second World Finals not to include Dennis Anderson, as both were out due to injury. Tristan England in Earth Shaker won the Double Down Showdown over Eric Swanson in Obsessed, Ryan Anderson won racing in Son-uva Digger over Tyler Menninga in Grave Digger, and Lee O'Donnell won freestyle in VP Racing Fuels' Mad Scientist with a score of 9.355. He completed the first front flip in a scored competition. All 32 trucks came out to freestyle. The encore was for Grave Digger's 35th anniversary.

World Finals 19

See main article: World Finals 19

Monster Jam World Finals 19 was held on March 23-24, 2018. Cory Rummell in Pirate's Curse (Team Scream) won the Double Down Showdown over Brandon Vinson in Grave Digger, Adam Anderson won racing in Grave Digger over Tyler Menninga in Grave Digger, and Ryan Anderson in Son-uva Digger won freestyle with a score of 9.182. All 32 trucks came out to freestyle. This was the last World Finals ever held at Sam Boyd Stadium. The encore was for Max-D's 15th anniversary.

World Finals 20

See main article: World Finals 20

Monster Jam World Finals 20 was held on May 10-11, 2019, beginning the new rotating host location schedule. This marked the first time the World Finals was held outside of Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas. Jimmy Creten won racing in Bounty Hunter over Bari Musawwir in Fire Zombie and Linsey Read in Scooby-Doo! (who had also won the Showdown over Tony Ochs in Soldier Fortune Black Ops) won freestyle with a score of 9.371 after coming out second. All 24 trucks came out to freestyle. The first ever Speedster, high jump, ATV and 2-Wheel Skill champions were crowned. Armando Castro and El Toro Loco won the Speedster Racing Title, while Matt Cody and Blue Thunder won the Speedster Obstacle Title. Blake Granger in Max-D won the ATV Championship, while Tom Meents in the fire version won the 2-Wheel Skills Title, and Cynthia Gauthier in Monster Mutt Dalmatian Ice, won the high jump Title. The high jump would be the only competition where a competing truck was absent, that being Rosalee Ramer’s Wild Flower/Time Flys (as the truck's chassis was used for the second Wild Flower). The racing encore featured the Fire & Ice trucks doing backflips along with the debut of Soldier Fortune Ice & Grave Digger Fire. The freestyle encore saw Colton Eichelberger in the stunt truck jump over several trucks.

World Finals 21

See main article: World Finals 21

Monster Jam World Finals 21 was held on May 21-22, 2022, which made it the first World Finals to take place on a Saturday and Sunday. This World Finals is noteworthy for having been postponed for two years after the outbreak of COVID-19, causing it to be cancelled from its original dates on May 2-3, 2020, along with all other upcoming 2020 events. This World Finals also excluded the Showdown, as well as the ATV and Speedster world titles. This World Finals would result in Brandon Vinson winning the Spin Master Racing title in Grave Digger #36 over Ryan Anderson in Son-uva Digger, although Son-uva Digger would win the Lucas Oil High Jump competition, and Tom Meents winning the Great Clips Two-Wheel Skills Challenge and freestyle championships in Max-D. The Saturday show for this World Finals would be plagued with many rain delays and weather issues, causing the show to be postponed for over an hour and eventually cancelling the Great Clips Two-Wheel Skills Challenge for that day, having there be three competitions on Sunday. It was also the first ever World Finals to not feature any defending main-field champions compete to defend their titles, as well as the first World Finals where the new 30 second rule (resulting in competitors needing to fill 30 second to get a score) took effect, as well as including "professional" judges' scores. All 24 trucks came out to freestyle. The encore saw Adam Anderson in Grave Digger jump several other Grave Digger's for the team's 40th anniversary.

World Finals 22

See main article: World Finals 22

Monster Jam World Finals 22 was held on July 1st, 2023 at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, TN. This marks the third venue to hold a World Finals and the third month change for the World Finals. This also marks the first World Finals since 2013 to have all competitions during one day, as well as the first one to take place during summer. This event would be very notable for its messy weather, leaving behind a thick and muddy track. When the Skills Challenge (the initial first competition) was about to take place, the competition would infamously be postponed immediately after the intro ceremony due to an incoming thunderstorm. It would cause the show to be on hiatus for two hours before returning, with the high jump competition first instead. This event would result in Ryan Anderson defending his high jump championship, Tyler Menninga winning the skills championship, Tristan England winning the racing championship, and Colt Stephens winning the Target freestyle championship. All 24 trucks came out for freestyle, although Great Clips Mohawk Warrior broke before hitting an obstacle. It is unknown why a 20th anniversary encore for Max-D didn't happen.

World Finals 23

See main article: World Finals 23

Monster Jam World Finals 23 will be held on May 18th, 2024 and it will be held at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, CA. This marks the fourth venue to hold a World Finals, 5 if World Finals 0 in St. Louis is counted.

Reception

2009-2015 World Finals logo.

World Finals 1-5 have been fairly well received and they are especially popular among more old-school Monster Jam fans who favor crushing cars over dirt ramps. At the same time, they have been more looked down upon recently due to them being more dated and being them products of their time, with there being less air, truck breakage, and few wow moments, although there have been famous instances of large air, such as Gunslinger's 50 foot high jump at the World Finals 3. Despite this, they were still amazing events for their times, some still holding up well to this day. World Finals 5 would also somewhat controversial due to its large size, particularly a shipping container in the middle of the track that caused three trucks to crash, as well as its controversial scoring.

World Finals 6 and 7 have been seen as improvements over 1-5, with improved ramps for great air time, while still keeping relatively the same format. It was also around this time when water fountains came into use for World Finals tracks.

World Finals 8-12 is often considered to be the golden age of the Monster Jam World Finals, which many fans consider to be the perfect blend between large, challenging dirt ramp obstacles, as well as its uses of cars/vans either next to them, or even on top of them. These World Finals also offered many popular and iconic moments in the industry because of this. Despite this, World Finals 11 was somewhat controversial due to its large size, but the next year's track would be designed by the drivers instead, in response to this.

World Finals 13 and 14 were a bit less well received, but were still enjoyed. By this point, dirt was becoming the norm, but regardless, crush cars were still not uncommon to see out on these tracks, and there were many wow moments that during these shows.

World Finals 15 was very controversial for having a very messy and jumbled track, being a huge combustion of dirt ramps, which also had a huge lack of crush cars, excluding those embedded in the ramps. This caused many trucks to break or crash early, with barely any trucks being able to do much on the track when taking Todd LeDuc's famous winning run out of mind.

World Finals 16-17 have been heavily criticized for their nearly dirt-only setups, which have been seen as boring due to their lack of crush cars as well as a major, challenging obstacle which was essentially a tradition throughout the history of the World Finals. These shows did still result in a lot of wow moments and somewhat enjoyable shows to fans.

World Finals 18, however, exploded with approval, as it brought back the fountain, more cars, a bus, and a much less challenging course, allowing for more drivers to freestyle longer. On top of that, many drivers attempted new stunts like the corkscrew, and succeeded in creating new stunts, like the reverse backflip, and frontflip.

World Finals 19 was met with both positive and negative reviews, with some fans saying that it was one of the better events of 2018, while others thought it was near the worst for being the last World Finals in Sam Boyd Stadium. Some of the complaints included many of the trucks breaking down, or crashing early, while the converse argument pointing out that the trucks who managed to stay driving, had spectacular runs that more than helped to make up for some of it. Another complaint was for the Rampage and Max-D encores being sub-par, with the Max-D encore not going to plan, and the Rampage encore being an advertisement for the movie of the same name. But the converse argument made by the other half argues that the stunts that managed to be accomplished for both encores made it incredible.

World Finals 20 was also met with mixed to negative reviews. Some fans consider it a spectacular event due to an independent (Jimmy Creten) winning racing, a woman (Linsey Read), winning the showdown and freestyle competitions, having first-time competitions at the World Finals such, as the high jump and 2-wheel skills competitions, the Saturday night encore to be amazing, as well and having spectacular moments in all the competitions and being the first official World Finals in Orlando and having a unique elevated starting line. However, some fans consider it to be one of the worst World Finals of all time due to several trucks breaking or crashing early in freestyle, having the additional competitions in the event (particularly the ATV and Speedster competitions), the World Finals being moved from Vegas, having the freestyle event delayed for about an hour due to rain, the judging in freestyle and 2-wheel skills to be rather controversial, the track having almost no cars except for and firetruck stack buried in the dirt, and the Friday night Fire and Ice Encore to be just big air and backflips.

The new World Finals over-under racing track debuted at World Finals 21 was met with mixed opinions, but most positive for it being an long, complex, and technical racing track for the drivers, and notably for it being for excited and entertaining for the fans to experience. The freestyle show of the event was also met with mixed opinions, as some saw it as a more boring and less memorable freestyle show compared to previous World Finals, while some did enjoy it for its amount of technical and skills based moves.

Champions

Current events

Racing

• 2000 – Goldberg – Tom Meents
• 2001 – Goldberg – Tom Meents
• 2002 – Team Meents – Tom Meents
• 2003 – Wolverine – Brian Barthel
• 2004 – Grave Digger 19 – Dennis Anderson
• 2005 – Madusa – Debra “Madusa” Miceli
• 2006 – Grave Digger 20 – Dennis Anderson
• 2007 – Batman – John Seasock
• 2008 – Batman – John Seasock
• 2009 – Maximum Destruction – Tom Meents
• 2010 – Grave Digger 20 – Dennis Anderson
• 2011 – Maximum Destruction – Tom Meents
• 2012 – Maximum Destruction – Tom Meents
• 2013 – Grave Digger the Legend – Adam Anderson
• 2014 – Grave Digger the Legend – Adam Anderson
• 2015 – Metal Mulisha – Todd LeDuc
• 2016 – Grave Digger– Morgan Kane
• 2017 – Son-uva Digger – Ryan Anderson
• 2018 – Grave Digger 35 – Adam Anderson
• 2019 – Bounty Hunter – Jimmy Creten
• 2022 – Grave Digger 36 – Brandon Vinson
• 2023 – Earth Shaker – Tristan England

Freestyle

• 2000 – Grave Digger 7 – Dennis Anderson
• 2001 – Goldberg – Tom Meents
• 2002 – Team Meents – Tom Meents
• 2003 – Avenger – Jim Koehler
• 2004 – El Toro Loco – Lupe Soza (Tie)
• 2004 – Madusa – Debra “Madusa” Miceli (Tie)
• 2004 – Maximum Destruction – Tom Meents (Tie)
• 2005 – Bounty Hunter – Jimmy Creten (Won Tiebreaker)
• 2006 – Maximum Destruction – Tom Meents
• 2007 – Captain’s Curse – Pablo Huffaker
• 2008 – Taz – Adam Anderson
• 2009 – U.S. Air Force Afterburner – Damon Bradshaw
• 2010 – Monster Mutt – Charlie Pauken
• 2011 – Avenger – Jim Koehler (Won Tiebreaker)
• 2012 – Northern Nightmare – Cam McQueen
• 2013 – Max-D – Tom Meents
• 2014 – Metal Mulisha – Todd LeDuc
• 2015 – Overkill Evolution – Mike Vaters II
• 2016 – Grave Digger 32 – Adam Anderson
• 2017 – VP Racing Fuels Mad Scientist – Lee O’Donnell
• 2018 – Son-uva Digger – Ryan Anderson
• 2019 – Scooby-Doo! – Linsey Read
• 2022 – Max-D – Tom Meents
• 2023 – ThunderROARus – Colt Stephens

Skills Challenge

• 2019 – Max-D – Tom Meents
• 2022 – Max-D – Tom Meents
• 2023 – Grave Digger 39 – Tyler Menninga

High Jump Competition

• 2019 – Monster Mutt Dalmatian Ice – Cynthia Gauthier
• 2022 – Son-uva Digger – Ryan Anderson
• 2023 – Son-uva Digger – Ryan Anderson

The Showdown

As the Young Guns Shootout

• 2012 – Spider-Man – Bari Musawwir
• 2013 – Bad Habit – Joe Sylvester
• 2014 – Overkill Evolution – Mike Vaters II
• 2015 – Monster Energy – Coty Saucier
• 2016 – Dragon – Scott Liddycoat

As the Double Down Showdown

• 2017 – Earth Shaker – Tristan England
• 2018 – Pirate’s Curse (on Rage) – Cory Rummell

As the Showdown

• 2019 – Scooby-Doo! – Linsey Read

ATV Racing

• 2019 – Max-D – Blake Granger

Speedster Racing

• 2019 – El Toro Loco –Armando Castro

Speedster Obstacle Course

• 2019 – Blue Thunder – Matt Cody

By Driver

14

• Tom Meents (6 Racing, 6 Freestyle, 2 Skills)

5

• Adam Anderson (3 Racing, 2 Freestyle)

4

• Dennis Anderson (3 Racing, 1 Freestyle)
• Ryan Anderson (2 High Jump, 1 Racing, 1 Freestyle)

2

• Jim Koehler (Both Freestyle)
• Jimmy Creten (1 Racing, 1 Freestyle)
• John Seasock (Both Racing)
• Madusa (1 Racing, 1 Freestyle)
• Todd LeDuc (1 Racing, 1 Freestyle)

1

• Armando Castro (2019 Speedster)
• Blake Granger (2019 ATV)
• Brandon Vinson (2022 Racing)
• Brian Barthel (2003 Racing)
• Cam McQueen (2012 Freestyle)
• Charlie Pauken (2010 Freestyle)
• Colt Stephens (2023 Freestyle)
• Cynthia Gauthier (2019 High Jump)
• Damon Bradshaw (2009 Freestyle)
• Lee O'Donnell (2017 Freestyle)
• Linsey Read (2019 Freestyle)
• Lupe Soza (2004 Freestyle)
• Matt Cody (2019 Speedster Obstacle Course)
• Mikey Vaters (2015 Freestyle)
• Morgan Kane (2016 Racing)
• Pablo Huffaker (2007 Freestyle)
• Tristan England (2023 Racing)
• Tyler Menninga (2023 Skills)

By truck

• Maximum Destruction - 9
• Grave Digger - 9
• Son-uva Digger - 4
• Goldberg - 3
• Team Meents - 2
• Madusa - 2
• Batman - 2
• Avenger - 2
• Grave Digger the Legend - 2
• Metal Mulisha - 2
• Bounty Hunter - 2
• El Toro Loco - 2
• Wolverine - 1
• Captain's Curse - 1
• Taz - 1
• Air Force Afterburner - 1
• Monster Mutt - 1
• Northern Nightmare - 1
• Overkill Evolution - 1
• VP Racing Fuels' Mad Scientist - 1
• Scooby-Doo - 1
• Max-D Fire - 1
• Monster Mutt Dalmatian Ice - 1
• Blue Thunder - 1
• Earth Shaker - 1
• ThunderROARus - 1

Trivia

• Brian Barthel was the first driver to retire after winning a world championship. He won the World Racing Championship in 2003 and his retirement from the sport came in 2005. Other retired World Champions post- 2000 include:
  • Dennis Anderson (won in 2000, 2004, 2006 & 2010, retired in 2017, injuries)
  • Lupe Soza (won in 2004, retired in 2017)
  • Madusa (won in 2004 & 2005, retired in 2016, injuries)
  • John Seasock (won in 2007 & 2008, retired in 2016)
  • Pablo Huffaker (won in 2007, retired in 2018)
  • Damon Bradshaw (won in 2009, retired in 2017, contract issues)
  • Cam McQueen (won in 2012, retired in 2021)
  • Lee O'Donnell (won in 2017, retired in 2018)
  • Brandon Vinson (won in 2022, retired in 2024)
• World Finals 2 currently has the least amount of competitors to actually compete in freestyle as only 13 out of 16 monster trucks came out for freestyle due to others breaking down or crashing in racing.
• Including 1999, Avenger is the only truck so far to compete in every single World Finals while being driven by the same driver, Jim Koehler.
  • Ironically, Jimmy Creten in Bounty Hunter has actually been present for every single World Finals from 2000-2019, as he was on display in the pit party for 2000, and 2001, with 2002 being his first competitive year, and with him competing every year until 2020.
  • Grave Digger has also competed at all World Finals events, although not with the same driver.
• Bounty Hunter has appeared in 6 World Finals championship races, and has only won one, being World Finals 20.
• As of today, only 7 World Finals championship titles have been won by four independent teams.
  • Wolverine (Clear Channel/Marvel name under Little Tiger Racing)- 2003 racing title
  • Avenger (Team Scream) - 2003 & 2011 freestyle titles
  • Bounty Hunter (2Xtreme Racing) - 2005 freestyle title & 2019 racing title
  • Overkill Evolution (Vaters Motorsports) - 2015 freestyle title
  • Blue Thunder (FELD name under Vaters Motorsports) - 2019 Speedster Obstacle Course title
• Jim Koehler and Jimmy Creten are the only independent monster truck drivers to win more than one world title.
• Koehler is the only independent driver to win two freestyle titles, and Creten is the only independent driver to win both the racing and freestyle title.
• Matt Cody, an independent driver won the first, and only Speedster Obstacle Course. However, he did it under the Blue Thunder name, so he enters into both categories of FELD and Independent championships.
• No independent trucks have gotten a “Double Down“ yet, unless you count Pirate's Curse, as it was run on RAGE.
• Avenger has won the "Extreme Air of the Year" at the World Finals 6 years in a row from 2012-2017. The streak would be ended by Rosalee Ramer (Wild Flower) in 2018.
• To date, Bounty Hunter is the only independent truck to have won a world racing title, unless Wolverine is counted as it was ran on Little Tiger.
• In the week leading up to the World Finals, there is a special day held exclusively for the Wounded Warriors and Make a Wish Foundation's. All the competing drivers and display drivers who have arrived are on hand to spend the day with these special fans.
• The Wheels of Freedom ride truck was present for every special day mentioned above from 2014 to 2018.
• Only seven drivers have won both a world racing championship and a world freestyle championship at least once:
  • Tom Meents (Won racing six times; won freestyle six times)
  • Dennis Anderson (Won racing three times; won freestyle once)
  • Adam Anderson (Won racing three times; won freestyle twice)
  • Ryan Anderson (Won racing and freestyle once)
  • Debra Miceli (Madusa) (Won racing and freestyle once)
  • Todd LeDuc (Won racing and freestyle once)
  • Jimmy Creten (Won racing and freestyle once)
• Only three drivers have won both in The Showdown and in the main field winning either Racing or Freestyle at least once:
  • Mike Vaters II (Won Showdown in 2014; won freestyle in 2015)
  • Linsey Reed (Won Showdown in 2019; won freestyle in 2019)
  • Tristan England (Won Showdown in 2017; won racing in 2023)
    • Linsey Read is the only driver to win The Showdown and racing or freestyle in the same World Finals event.
• Despite not being put into effect until 2014, the idea of a 32 truck line up with individual days dedicated to racing and freestyle was announced a decade earlier in 2004. The idea was for 2004 to have 16 trucks, 2005 to have 20 trucks, 2006 to have 24 trucks, and then 2007 to be the first year that had 32 trucks, and individual days of racing and freestyle. For inexplicable reasons, the idea was postponed for 7 years.
• World Finals 9, 21, and 22 are the only World Finals to not have a racing crash.