Hulk Hogan, 'American Gladiators' co-host, says 54 is a little old to be taking part in the show's stunts.

Laila Ali may be the undefeated super-middleweight boxing champion of the world and the co-host of NBC's revamped "American Gladiators," but don't expect her to run the Gauntlet against someone named Ice in red, white and blue spandex anytime soon.

"One thing about me - and I know this might sound crazy being that I'm a fighter - but I don't want to get hurt, as far as breaking an arm or a knee or something like that," Ali told reporters in a conference call Wednesday.

"There's just so much action going on [on the show], especially when you have an event where there's four gladiators on you at a time, there's just so much room to get hurt, and that's just not really my thing."

Even Ali's new partner in crime, former wrestling star Hulk Hogan, isn't about to drop an ax bomber or big boot in the Powerball grid.

"At this stage, with cooler heads prevailing and knowing my limitations at 54 years old, it's a lot more fun to watch than get kicked in the head," said Hogan.

"When nobody was around the first rehearsal day, I was in there with a couple of the grips and the electricians, and I made an attempt to climb to the top of the pyramid with my fake knee and fake hip.

"And I did get to the top, but I kind of crawled up slowly, and once I got to the top I was sweating like a dog."

Ali and Hogan say the competition on the new version of "Gladiators," launching Jan. 6 at 9 p.m., is stronger than ever.

"We're operating at a really raised-bar level here as far as these athletes are," Hogan said. "In my own personal opinion, these gladiators are really top-notch athletes ... I think people are not only going to enjoy it, but once they see some of the events and some of the things that are going to go on, they'll respect not only the gladiators but the competitors as well."

There will be a dozen new gladiators: Crush, Fury, Hellga, Justice, Mayhem, Militia, Wolf, Venom, Toa, Titan, Stealth and Siren.

"We've got a real big gladiator called Hellga," said Hulk. "She's like the big German character, a brewmaster-type bartender, waitress type. When she comes out, she gets good crowd reaction. And on the male side, there's this guy named Wolf, and he comes out howling and he gets a good reaction ... We've got some larger-than-life characters coming at you."

Hogan joked that audiences may get to see celebrities in competition mode in the near future. "Of course we will [do a celebrity version]!" said Hogan. "We're going to see Army versus the Marines ... celebrities, the sky's the limit with this one. Action translates in any language."