Biography & Accomplishments
John Brzenk's father, John Brzenk Sr., was an arm wrestler, and Brzenk says he gained some of his forearm size through genetics. [5] John started his amateur career in the classroom, where he arm wrestled students across tables for five years. When he was in eighth grade, he broke his arm while armwrestling his father's friend, and has stated that this breakage increased his tendon strength significantly. [6] Over the years, Brzenk has often been called "The Giant Crusher", "The Golden Boy", "G.O.A.T." or the "Perfect Storm" for his ability to pin opponents twice his size. [7]
Brzenk started his professional career in 1982, at the age of 18, where he won his first world title on ABC's 1983 Wide World of Sports. From 1982 to 2015, John only lost a single supermatch, and only a handful of people had beaten him in tournaments. Most of these losses occurred later during that time when he was of advanced age. Two of his most prominent losses were to Alexey Voyevoda in 2004 and Devon Larratt in 2008, both of whom are considered legendary arm wrestlers. [8] Aside from arm wrestling, John works as a mechanic at Delta Air Lines. [9] He says the job is non-physical so his arms get plenty of rest. During his career he has competed for upwards of US$80,000. [10] [11]
Brzenk won championships in a number of different weight classes, including four world championships in the heavyweight division, and the middleweight world championship. [12] He also had an uncredited cameo in the 1987 Sylvester Stallone film Over the Top , and was the subject of the feature documentary "Pulling John", directed by Vassiliki Khonsari and Sevan Matossian. The documentary chronicles Brzenk's legendary arm wrestling career by following him intimately for 4 years, in which John competes in global tournaments and ponders retiring from the sport he loves. [13] [14] After defeating Marcio Barboza in the 2015 WAL Heavyweight Right-Handed Championship, Brzenk would take an extended period of time off from armwrestling due to injuries. [15]
Arm Wrestling Comeback
In 2018, John Brzenk would lose an attempted comeback match against Travis Bagent in Moldova. [16] On July 31, 2021, Brzenk would return to arm wrestling full time by defeating Chance Shaw in a supermatch. [17] On December 11 of the same year, John Brzenk would face right-handed heavyweight title holder Devon Larratt at King Of The Table 2 (KOTT 2). Despite John defeating Larratt in one of his most recent matches before his layoff from armwrestling, a bigger, stronger Larratt would prove to be too much for John as he would go on to lose by a score of 4–0. [18]
On February 10, 2022, Brzenk would make his debut at the international arm wrestling tournament East vs West (East vs West 2 event) by defeating Khadzimurat Zoloev. This win allowed John to once again, at the age of 57, reclaim the world's top ranking in the 225 pound division. [19] On May 21, at East vs West 3, Brzenk would have a match against Zurab Tavberidze. John would go on to win this match by a score of 3–2. [20]
On August 6, 2022, at East vs West 4, John Brzenk was defeated in a right-handed supermatch with Kazakhstan armwrestler Kydyrgali Ongarbaev. [21] On November 19 of the same year, in the next installment of East vs West, Brzenk would defeat Oleg Petrenko in a right-handed supermatch in dominant fashion, 3–0. [22]
On January 21, 2023, John Brzenk would participate in a fifth consecutive installment of East vs West, losing a hard-fought supermatch to Irakli Zirakashvili by a score of 3–2. [23] The next month, on February 25, Brzenk would have his toughest test to date, a match at KOTT 6 against Super Heavyweight Denis Cyplenkov, the former world #1 who had not had a match in 4 years due to health issues. Despite the long layoff, Cyplenkov did not look like he had lost any of his physical or table ability, defeating Brzenk by an almost effortless 6–0 score. [24] On August 12, 2023, Brzenk would lose 0–4 to Todd Hutchings at the AWC Reloaded event. [25]
On September 23, 2023, John Brzenk would go against Alexey Voyevoda at King Of The Table 8. This was a rematch of their historic first match in 2004 which Voyevoda won. Circumstances were different this time as Voyevoda had not competed in years and was not as dominant as he was back then. John would win the match 4–2. [26]
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