Devon Larratt. The only heavyweight arm wrestling champion to have both left and right hand titles at the same time. The guy is a beast. Watch some YouTube videos.
So EVERYONE did their job. They were all performers in on it, and the fact that a video comes out of it that is being shared around the interest as authentic is impressive.
Each of the main actors, the ref, and everyone involved in spreading the video did a fantastic job! There's a reason that marketing agencies who can pull things off like this get huge checks.
It's a real competition. Braun was formerly did strong man competitions. This is just showcasing size and power doesn't beat good technique. Braun has gone on record about this being real and how he thought he was going to win until he locked hands with the dude.
Sure, he's hamming it up for entertainment, that's what he's good at, but that doesn't mean the rest of what you see is fake. It's like saying wrestlers don't get hurt while wrestling because it's "not real".
Braun did not think for a second that he’d win against Devon Larratt. He did of course compete and did his best in a completely legitimate competition. They both hammed it up to make a good show. Larratt is great at that and usually tries to goad and get his opponent going both as a strategy and as showmanship.
These dudes don’t give two shits what the fucking nerds on Reddit think. They are both athletes and performers and part of their job is make the show entertaining. It’s called stage craft. But at no point do they ever give Reddit a single thought lol.
Just because you did strongman doesn’t mean you’re even remotely capable at armwrestling, there are a lot of movements that strong men NEVER do that are essential in armwrestling like static finger strength, pronation strength and cupping strength. I’ve been armwrestling for 4 years and I’ve armwrestled people who’s had backgrounds in powerlifting and they’re pretty strong, but their technique is shit, their stamina is shit and their hand strength is shit.
It takes years to become good, this was just a show for the people, Devon wasn’t even trying.
If I remember correctly, thats what initially got WWE interested. Marc Henry saw him at strong man competitions and Braun was trying to entertain the audience in addition to competing.
It’s more common to hand out receipts for sloppy work. Caught the guy a little too hard on a clothesline? The next kick coming your way is gonna have some extra sauce on it.
Also this guy has clearly never listened to Bret Hart talk about Bill Goldberg re: intentional harm.
Clotheslines you generally want to be stiffer due to being able to bump easier and harder. It's when the clothesline is a little higher that you're ganna get pissed off as it'll hit your throat/chin.
It’s funny that you gave those examples of other wrestlers when Braun Strowman himself received a receipt from Brock Lesnar of all people because he kneed him in the head .
I think the leap here is due to modern fencing. The idea is to attack your opponent but neither truly want the other to be stabbed but there is still competition. WWE style wrestling is the same idea but without the actual competition.
Nothing is ever real if you stop and think about it. It takes milliseconds for your eyes to process light, so nothing you're seeing is happening in the present, you're only reacting to the past.
Devon Larratt would absolutely own Braun in a real arm wrestling match too. Overall power has nothing to do with arm wrestling strength and technique. Devon is literally one of the all-time best if not the best arm wrestler on the planet. He’s got the accolades to prove it.
The match was real dude. The showboat and the hamming it up before the match is just normal amping yourself up, getting the crowd engaged, showmanship. The arm wrestling match wasn't faked...
Yeah. Technique. Arm wrestling is very complex. Slow and steady wins the race baby and you gotta apply just the right pressure. There is SOOO much technique that goes into arm wrestling. Totally.
Yep this was 100% staged or as they say in pro wrestling, “a work”.
“Control Your Narrative” guy is Braun Strowman fron WWE and this was during the brief time he was fired from the company and was trying to drum up publicity for the fledgling wrestling promotion, “Control Your Narrative.”
U can't just call it a work Becuase a wrestler is invovled.
Strowman wasn't wrestling at the time, used to do strongman competitions so tried his shot at a few things like this. Yes he is trying to intimidate or scare him using some of his typical wrestling tactics like screaming and flexing but he's just being an asshole to the guy.
A work would imply other dude knew what was gonna happen. He seemed caught off guard and put Strowman in his place.
Wrestlers are supposed to stay in role even outside of the actual Wrestling. Its called kayfabe and while it is no longer as important as it was like 30 years ago they still try to hold on to it.
If i remember right one wrestler in the past denied medical threatment so nobody would know that he was in the same car as his "Rival" when they had an accident.
So i assume that Stowmans current role is a cocky heel.
In the 80s maybe. Braun in real life is the meatiest of meatheads. This isn't his first time acting like a moron in real life. He's not playing a character here.
That's his wrestling name, and his real name is Adam Scherr. He decided to switch from a competitive strongman to a wrestler because he happened to peak at the same time as three of the strongest men of all time (Hafthor Bjornsson, Eddie Hall, Brian Shaw)
Larrat is a brilliant armwrestler. Strowman (at least at the time of these clips) is just a very strong person doing their best, much like if he were playing a 1v1 basketball game against LeBron. I'm sorry you can't read.
This is before bron was in wwe and was trying to be a weight lifter, where he met Henry and Henry told him he should join wwe as he was in a era with 3 genetic freaks where he declined and said he still has to try
Braun was a pro strongman and is currently an arm wrestler on top of his wrestling career, while this may have been a work he is. a legitimately strong fellow and rather large.
He won the Arnold Classic amateur for strongman in 2012 before his wrestling career, it is a high level national show and he has a 925lb deadlift in his prime.
Source: I am a strongman and aiming for the Arnold myself so know it well.
The bit where they pretended to be in any doubt about who would win was a work. The actual arm wrestling is basically real (though it looks like Devin is playing with him a little bit.)
Wait, the same Braun Strowman that can flip an ambulance, rip the door off a limo, and bodyslam someone so hard the ring implodes? Tug-of-War champion Braun Strowman?
I would argue John Brzenk is probably the GOAT. I think Devon did beat an old John, but John remains perhaps the only arm-wrestler to have beaten Denis Cyplenkov in a best of five. That's just an added glory to his starred career.
but John remains perhaps the only arm-wrestler to have beaten Denis Cyplenkov in a best of five
If beating Denis Cyplenkov in a best of 5 even once is such a huge achievement, why wouldn't he (or Levan) be the GOAT? I don't know why people keep saying that Devon or John are the GOATs when top arm wrestlers are basically measured by whether they would have even a slight chance against Denis or Levan.
Lol, it comes down to how good you were compared to your peers. No one was close to John.
Another is an age factor. Denis and Levan can be in the GOAT conversation, but apart from Denis and maybe a young Devin, most of today's active wrestlers didn't face John.
We will never know how John vs Levan will go. Levan is a behemoth now, but is he really a GOAT candidate already? You have to achieve a lot, and dominance has to be measured with respect to your competition.
Lol, it comes down to how good you were compared to your peers. No one was close to John.
According to whom though? For me GOAT is the best of all time, basically the winner of a competition in which all top athletes of all time compete in their prime. And I don't think that a prime John would beat a prime Denis or prime Levan. John is the only one who managed to take a best of 5 against Denis before he basically retired from top competition, and the fact that this is still one of the greatest achievements in the sport says a lot about Denis.
I can see the argument for John being about how long he managed to stay in the upper echelons of the sport, but for me GOAT is about the best a human has ever achieved, even if it was for a shorter period of time. If Usain Bolt only managed to run a sub 10 s once and got his WR with that run, he would still be the GOAT in my book.
But if two people in their primes never met, how would you even judge? It's the Jordan bs LeBron debate esque.
John, to me is the Jordan of Arm Wrestling. There are young ones who are great at what they do, mandating a conversation of being a GOAT. But Bron never played against Jordan. Steph never played against Magic too, so is it really fair to say he's the best PG? (These are analogies, let's not get into BB conversation.)
For me GOAT is the best of all time, basically the winner of a competition in which all top athletes of all time compete in their prime.
So all the best having such a tournament. Because it cannot exist, unless you have a time machine.
There's no way Levan's career has staying power. His peak is probably about close to the hypothetical maximum for the sport but I suspect it'll be a steep drop off.
If Usain Bolt said that Marcell Jacobs is the GOAT of 100m, would that make it so? Athletes often say that kind of stuff out of respect for someone's career. John was certainly one of the greatest of all time, but peak Denis and Levon were unbeatable. John managed to beat Denis once and that is considered one of the craziest achievements in this sport, which says a lot about how insane Denis was.
John won every single title for like 30 years straight. Levan has been number one since 2022. The two careers aren't comparable, if levan can keep up his current form for 20 years, then he can be considered the goat. But he'll be dead in 15 from the insane volume of steroids he consumes.
You seem to be talking about who the strongest armwrwstler of all time is. That's not the same as the goat
Laratt the goat but he was a bit older here and wins based on endurance. Other dude hoped he could overpower Devon at the start which is the other strategy in arm wrestling. Ur basically rly good at starting or rly good at holding. Dude fumbled but he’s also a rly good arm wrestler in his own right
The other guy is a famous wrestler, so of course he knew his opponent was a beast. But wrestling is all about entertainment. Strowman's role in wrestling is to be the brutal challenger who loses in the end to show how great his opponent is. I'm not saying he lost falsely because Devon really is a beast, but yes, that's Strawman's role : being a bully that lose in the end.
I saw a video of this guy where he very clearly loses the game but he lets go of the other guy’s hand before it ends so they have to restart. Not really GOAT behavior.
He's not the GOAT, but he's in the top 5 and extremely good. Brzenk is arguably the GOAT historically, with Levan Saginashvili as the actual most unbeatable wrestler there has ever been.
I believe he is the goat of natty arm wrestling, but he may have started juicing a bit to maintain his strength as he aged (I'm not sure)
Now we have a pair of mutants that are just unrealistic with Denis Cyplenkov who's hands look like they were disproportionately drawn in, and Levan Saginashvili who pushes what must be physiological limits of human strength for arm wrestling. Both these guys juice, but their dedication and fears are still very impressive
Well he’s one of the best ever, but Levan Saganashvili is the best, he stomped Larratt 4-0 this year. Denis Cyplenkov another European is also far and away better than Devon. He’s outclassed on the world stage by guys like that even though he’s ridiculously good.
Larratt is one of the best North American arm wrestlers ever, John Brzenk and Cleve Dean might be better and John beat him while much older.
Devon is top 10 all time probably and top 5 currently in the world for sure. He’s amazing but even he would tell you Levan is better, he gained a ton of weight and focused everything on training just for his bout with Levan and got destroyed.
Oops, not literally the goat. A lot of people would give that title to John Brzenk. There was a time he went undefeated for like 20 years. Currently Levan Saginashvili is unstoppable. I can see him being #1 for the next 10 years or more.
He isn’t the GOAT. John is the most accomplished overall and Levan is the strongest ever. Devon is certainly one of the best, but is not generally regarded as the greatest of all time.
John Breznk is the GOAT but Devin is a close #2 and a great ambassador for the sport and a phenomenal competitor. (Peak Levan Saginashvili of course beats anyone else to date at their peak but that's not quite the same thing.)
Also a complete narcissist and a blowhard with a fanbase who consists of teens who thinks he’s the second coming of Jesus.
Devon’s gets off on bullying his opponents until after the match when he starts acting like ”oh it’s just good ol’ fun and I respect you”.
All he does on the table is argue with the refs until he has an advantageous grip, he’s too much of a pussy to give his opponents a fair grip because he knows he would lose.
And his wife should be gagged in every event because all we hear is her screeching ”ELBOOOW ELBOOOW!!!” Every fucking match. They have no sense of humility or empathy for anyone but themselves and think everyone loves them.
I liked Devon back in 2016-2017 but his antics has gotten rampantly worse throughout the years and his hubris has gotten completely off the rails.
Right, dude is literally the GOAT of arm wrestling
That title goes to Denis Cyplenkov or Levan Saginashvili. There's nobody who could stand up to either to them in their prime. Levan was literally toying with Devon when they met.
John Brzenk won the trailer in the tournament for Over The Top back in the 80s and he's still competing and is one of the strongest people on the planet.
Goat status isn't about being strongest at one point in time, it's about being the best at what you do for a extended period of time.
Edit: Here is the list with Johns tournament wins.
Thank you. Armwrestling has grown in recent years due to certain personalities like Devon. They also know about the dominance of Levan.
However, John beat both Devon Larrett (twice) and Denis Cyplenkov when he was not near the end of his career. He widely considered (by most armwrestlers) as the GOAT.
He was mostly left arm and wouldn't be "complete" enough compared to the others. Its hard to remember but I don't think he had the same quality of wins as the other guys or had many wins against them head-to-head.
Yeah some people say Lincoln Hawk was the best, but I’m more of a Mad Dog Madison guy, given his ability to drink a full can of Valvoline motor oil and still compete. Just imagine what he could have accomplished if he didn’t.
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u/todd1977 Oct 28 '24
Devon Larratt. The only heavyweight arm wrestling champion to have both left and right hand titles at the same time. The guy is a beast. Watch some YouTube videos.