of course he does.
dorian was good.
Ronnie was better.
The score cards, competitive history and overrall professional careers of both bodybuilders show a different story...

the standard was raised, plain and simple.
You keep saying this shit for no other reason, I suspect, than to be annoying. Ronnie didn't raise
any standards in 1999, you moron. He did raise the standard, but at the 2003 Olympia, and for muscularity. Ronnie in 1999 was pretty mediocre. His muscularity was common place and even sub-par by then - Nasser, Dorian,Fux, Dillet, etc, all had previously shown equal or greater muscularity. Ronnie's taper was not that great and his midsection was sub-par when compared to Dorian's.
Now, Ronnie had round and separated muscles, granted. But Dorian's muscles, while not as round and separated as Ronnie's, were bigger and harder-looking. You might prefer Ronnie's type of muscles, but I prefer Dorian's. Yates had a "stony" look to his muscles which appeal more to me and to other fans than the kind of "swelled" muscle bellies which characterized Ronnie's physique.
So, in conclusion, Ronnie did not raise the standard, in 1999, either for muscularity or symmetry. You could argue that he had a combination of great taper at over 250 lbs that we hadn't seen before. The problem here is that Dorian had a combination of flat stomach and etched serratus at the same bodyweight Ronnie had in 1999 that no one had seen before. Besides, Levrone had even better taper and a flat stomach than Ronnie at 250 lbs. So Ronnie set no new standard because his size was mundane and he already had some symmetrical liabilities, such as a gut, large glutes and no calves at that weight. Again, you do have a point that Ronnie was 257 lbs was good taper, but Dorian was the same weigt, six years before, with etched serratus and a flat stomach - which Ronnie did
not have in 1999 -, and his muscle size was even greater and his muscles looked much harder than Ronnie's. So, who set the standard? I believe that Wheeler set a standard for symmetry, at the 1993 ASC, that has never been surpassed, and Ronnie did set a standard for
muscularity(not quality), in 2003, which has also never been surpassed. But 1999? No.

SUCKMYMUSCLE