Theres probem with your analysis as well...
You see , at the time of lee winning , there were no problems existing between MD and Flex
The heck it wasn't. You might want to check those old issues of MD again. MD and FLEX have been taking shots at each other for YEARS. The same Steve Blechman that owns the magazine now owned it back then.
On top of all that, the two supplement companies, Twinlab and Weider, were in competition with each other. Haney went from endorsing Weider's goods to those of Twinlab, most notably the aforementioned Mass Fuel kit.
Secondly Nobody was close to Lee - so how can you fix the contest , it made no sense.
Try that again. Remember 1990?
You have the drug testing issue, Haney's jumping ship, AND Haney's potentially tying Schwarzenegger's all-time Olympia record (and beating his consecutive Olympia records). Many people felt that, if there were any time for Haney to fall, it was in 1990. And Labrada came within an eyelash of doing it.
Like you said , Ronnie signed with Weider on the heels of becoming MR O - again they controlling the ship
But, when Ronnie won the title, he was with MET-Rx. Plus, Wheeler (the odds-on favorite to win, coming off a red-hot performance at the Arnold Classic) had JUST LEFT WEIDER to sign with Bio-Chem.
No matter how you slice it, the 1998 Mr. Olympia would go to a man, who (at the time) WAS NOT a Weider-contracted athlete.
Look at jay vs Victor debacle 2 years ago.Controversy.I think Blechman had realised his folly in having Romano and Palumbo and let them go , as it was ruining his magazine and athetes.Romano is a piece of shit
ND - i thought you were smart - i take it back
MD does this foolishness everytime one of its boys gets beat (which further diminishes your claim of there being no beef between MD and FLEX, back in the day). Go back to 1996, when Romano was accusing the IFBB of punishing their (Twinlab) guy, Gerard Dente, for his FOURTH-place finish in the heavyweight class of the North American Championships. Romano was talking smack about Dente being robbed, even though he admitted that HE WASN'T EVEN THERE. He even went so far as to claim that heavweight (and eventual overall) champion, John Simmons, apologized to Dente and stated that Dente should have won.
MuscleMag printed several letters by fans who were actually at the show and said Romano was full of bull. To them and the rest of the audience, Simmons was the hands-down winner. Dente wasn't even in the running. Simmons himself stated in a letter to MuscleMag that, at no time, did he apologize to Dente or anyone else for his victory.
Simmons stated that he was the underdog, because other heavweights (including Dente) had major supplement companies backing them. Plus, they were seasoned heavyweights, while he was making his debut in the class after competing in the light-heavys for YEARS; he won that class at the NAC twice ('91, '92) and at the USA ('93).
MD's purpose in life is to be the anti-FLEX. If FLEX features information about anabolics, MD goes on the "natural" kick, as it did in the mid/late-90s (morphing into
"Muscular-Development-Fitness-Health" and eventually to
"All-Natural Muscular Development"). When FLEX de-emphasizes drugs and goes back to the basics, MD gets "hardcore" and can't talk about steroids enough. (i.e. "My First Syringe", "Anabolics and me", "Steroids: Taste like Chicken", etc.).
