Agree that Chris got screwed - he should have easily beaten Flex. I think Flex should have even lost to Levrone that year - flex was soft and oily in 1999.
Chris should have been second behind Ronnie, who was in great shape for that show. Had Ronnie been off, Chris could have won. But, Ronnie was in good shape and pre-gut at that point in this career - he even has good abs at that contest! (at least on my video tape).
Exactly. From the front, you could have made a case of it being reasonably close between Ronnie and Chris, with Chris having a nice shape/structure while Ronnie having a Freakier look due to his ridiculous taper and his freaky bodyparts. But once they turned around, it was 'lights out, game over' for everyone else. Dorian, who emceed that show, himself remarked 'Ronnie looks like a cartoon character'.
Between Chris and Flex, it was touch and go. Between Ronnie and Chris/Flex/everyone else, it was night and day. And ND, if anyone placed high due to 'having momentum built up before the show', it was more so Flex than it was Ronnie.