The follow-up article. From Muscle Builder: Vol 15, Num 2, Page 24. May 1974.
Most Mind-Blowing Muscle Panorama Ever Held
by JOE WEIDER,
Trainer of Champions since 1936, with over 3,000,000 successful students!
Sergio chickens-out as Arnold cops Mr. Olympia honors for a record fourth time! Columbu and Nubret add to best-ever Mr. O contest! Ken Waller is easy Mr. World victor! New Super-Star, Lou Ferrigno, is easy AABA Mr. America!
Like a pack of lusting sharks sensing blood, over 3,000 muscle fans stormed the Brooklyn Academy of Music on September 8, '73, to gorge themselves on the greatest bodybuilding show ever held. . . 2,000 couldn't get in, but refused to leave, and even police reinforcements failed to remove them from the streets until the last light was out and the final contestant had left.
MONSTER MUSCLESHOW OUTDRAWS RIVAL CONTEST 3 TO 1!
At the same time, another muscle show was being held a few subway stations away in a Manhattan college auditorium. Although it had some name entrants, and was selling through the widespread Ticketron outlets, orders were lagging until the legendary Steve Reeves, in New York on business remarked on TV that he would attend. Reeves' appearance, dressed, ensured a crowd for the rival show. Yet there were more bodybuilders milling about on Lafayette Avenue and St. Felix Place outside the Brooklyn Academy who chose not to go to Manhattan than inside the college hall! In the only known instance of contests in competition, the IFBB/AABA contest won by several thousand muscle supporters!
New York's authoritative weekly, the Village Voice, blasted the other show, ridiculing its presentation and content; but Voice columnist, Howard Smith, wrote agreeably about the IFBB event, calling it "rather enjoyable" and "more like a sporting event than a beauty contest."
BODYBUILDING MAY BE ON OLYMPIC CALENDAR
Traditionally, Ben Weider opened the evening with a fiery speech detailing how very close we are to Olympic recognition. With Ben, a sports power in Canada and Montreal, hosting the next games, the IFBB may get Olympic exhibition permission by 1976. Yet, even as he spoke these encouraging words, the audience writhed restlessly. They had come to see, hear, eat and breath muscle - and MMMMMuscle it was about to get . . . !
With Lon at the organ playing "Mr. Wonderful," and Jimmy Caruso and Artie Zeller at stage center snapping their fabulous musclepics, the curtain flashed up to reveal the most super mind-blowing collection of bodies ever placed on one physique-contest stage! Quickly it dropped to keep the awed crowd in a "Gimme more! Gimme More!" state of anxiety . . . and then the posing began.
ARNOLD CONFOUNDS HIS MR. OLYMPIA CRITICS!
The muscle-dazed audience had hardly a moment to relax before bodybuilding's top contest, "Mr. Olympia", was upon them. . . Much to the relief of IFBB officials expecting mayhem, Sergio Oliva had defected to guest-star at the other show, and he wasn't even missed! Another superstar, rarely seen in America, Serge Nubret, more than compensated for the absence of chicken-hearted Oliva. Not since the incredible Larry Scott / Harold Poole showdowns of the mid-sixties had the fans been treated to such an Olympian Olympia!
Nubret, whose 1972 comeback at Munich was cheered by all muscledom, posed first and was brilliant! The long-time hero had Schwarzenegger and Columbu worried as he scored near-perfect marks with the judges. "Vive le Serge!" yelled his French-speaking fans as he rolled from one breathtaking muscle display to the next. Only the super-greatness of the two other contestants subverted Nubret's life dream of an Olympia medal. Joe Weider claims Serge clearly is an odds-on favorite to display Arnold in '74, if he would come to California and train Nubret's life dream of winning the Olympia title. Serge Nubret has certain weaknesses, hardly noticeable in mortal company, ,but alongside Arnold and Franco, one must be a God. . .
Franco Columbu has no muscle gaps that human vision can detect. Every inch of his physique burned with muscle-on-muscle. In terms of pure muscularity, he is the Greatest Show on Earth; he has more than anyone! Unfortunately, his small stature compares unfavorably with taller stars. But this night, Franco, in his absolutely greatest shape, made the crowd literally go beserk! Over 3,000 mouths screamed, programs were thrown to the stage, and anxious guards rushed to protect him against an onrush of crazed Franco-worshippers. He held the audience captive for ten minutes, and when he left , the knocked-out fans knew that no better Short Class man exists!
Now it was Arnold Schwarzenegger's moment in the spotlight . . . The man they said couldn't do it; the man who couldn't come back! The man whose injured leg had ruined his training career. The crumpled Apollo whose dethroning was a certainty according to Sergio Oliva and Ricky Wayne. Well, here was the "Mighty Oak", Arnold, bigger and better than ever, throwing a 22-inch plus biceps and 57-inch chest right in their stunned faces, and then telling them to back-off. . . ! There would be no other Mr. Olympia this night; Arnold was "Super Arnold, September 8, 1973!" Greater than when he beat Sergio in years gone by, and by God Almighty, the best built of the 50-billion men who have trod the Earth since time began!
Arnold had endured the doubts of his friends and the malevolence of his competitors. He came back from a wrecked knee to train harder than ever. As the truest of the true Weider Champions, Arnold was unstoppable! Everyone in the hall knew it, and even Franco and Serge gaped at him, entranced. There is only one Mr. Olympia; there is only one Arnold . . . and they are one and the same.
Mocking boos echoed mercilessly when Sergio Oliva's non-appearance was announced. In order to match Arnold and Sergio - to satisfy IFBB fans yearning to know who is truly the greatest - I had offered Oliva an $1,8000 bonus to appear. The proposal was made during Tiajuana's Mr. International contest. Sergio could make more losing than Arnold winning ($1,000 first prize). And would total $2,800 for beating Schwarzenegger! But apparently Oliva was scared to taste defeat again. He forfeited, for at least a year, any right to call himself the world's best built man.