I'd have to reread it, but i'm sure your probably right. I just remember Simon got whipped and I was mad that a cheap imitation Thor was going to take care of business.
Simon got whipped, but all in all it wasn't such a terrible showing for him.
He flew up to Gladiator saying, "Let's talk, we don't want a fight" or something like that, and Gladiator immediately hit him with his laser vision, blowing up Simon's jetpack and setting him up for a piledrive blow into the ground. Right off the bat he was hurting and he didn't have a chance of avoid those attacks. Simon got one decent shot in and was then hammered relentlessly deep into the core of the planet. Glads basically rained down dozens of blows and still Simon was able to dig his way out from deep in the planet.
Then whereas Simon vs. Gladiator started off with Gladiator suckering Simon, Thor vs. Gladiator was exactly the opposite. Masterson hit Glads with a huge surprise attack from behind. From there, it was all Gladiator's fight, and he dominated about as well as he did against Simon. Eventually he had Masterson on his hands and knees and was standing over him triumphantly. Masterson's saving grace was catching sight of Living Lightning and using him to hit Gladiator from behind (again), which stunned him long enough to land something like a dozen enraged Mjolnir blows to the head--an onslaught that I imagine would kill most opponents, let alone KO.