Well it didn't, thank god

It might as well have. One win each and a reset (which arguably the American bot was winning). Even so, it was horribly staged. Found the first fight oddly satisfying though. Sometimes the simplist solutions are the best.

Yea, the announcers running away took it over the top with the staged stuff

The illusion ended for me as soon as the firsr American bot stood up. Was screaming in my head, "They have f***ing NASA scientists support this? Keep your center of gravity low, idiots! Stay down!" Overall cool looking but a really bad design choice.

True, but at the same time it allowed them to utilize their paintball cannon while behind cover

Eh, I don't think they gained a huge advantage by having it higher up. They could aim up and down. That was another thing that kinda killed it for me. The paint cannon was a complete waste and the drone was pointless. If there was a scoring system like in boxing they might serve a purpose but as it was the only way to win was disabling, knocking over or forfeiture. The paintalls and drone wouldn't disable anything, so melee was the only viable option from the beginning. I was hoping to see a fight, not a show.