I didn't see the qualifier because my flight was repeatedly delayed by bad weather and arrived too late.
The pro prejudging was kind of long. It was poorly attended, and not very exciting. Unless I'm watching the Olympia, I'm not too excited by prejudgings any way. If more people attended, as NY crowds go, it could have gotten rowdy. They need to work on the entertainment value of prejudging if they want to in fact present something different. They need way more butts in the seats too.
The night show was well run, well produced and very tight. Except for the 70 year-old Indian dude they hired for that time slot they need to fill while the voting is tabulated. I've seen this swami guy before and he is pretty pathetic. He employs a bunch of specially made gigantic contraptions that hold various insane loads within 3.2 millimeters of full lockout. Worse rep range than even Kamali. I mean we're talking NYC. Go down to Battery Park and pickup some of those Rastas doing those crazy gymnastics stunts. I was really disappointed with the old swami doing micro reps. Not exactly breathtaking.
Nor were the competitors. Clearly, the best bodybuilders in the world are in the IFBB. Lee looked awesome (he is actually an IFBB athlete), even in spite of what his arm looked like two week ago. He made an amazing transformation. I know he suffered for it. He won twice that night. The next three guys behind him could be good bodybuilders in the IFBB if they could bring in really crisp condition. But even if they did, they would be second tier at best. In PDI they will be the top row. The next three or four guys had potential if they made some big changes to both their mass and their condition. The rest were a joke as far as what we are used to seeing.
PDI was billed as something different. It was different, but only slightly. I was expecting way more in the entertainment department. It was just another bodybuilding show. Some guys used props, but not very well. No Melvin Anthonys, that's for sure - except for the little dude from Argentina with the spike blond hair, and Sami, most accessorized routines were pretty dry. Lee did his Superman routine with a phone booth that was pretty cool. Wayne's son dressed up like Clark Kent and ran into the booth. The lights went out and then Lee was int he booth in Clark's place with his Superman costume on when the lights came back up. The sound system was really good, and as I said, the production was flawless. They just need more of it to make it truly something different.
Clearly, the IFBB has nothing to worry about. I have no logical explanation as to why they care what Wayne is doing. He is doing something good and they should leave him alone and let him do it. The theater was pretty full during the night show, and a theater full of New Yorkers is always more vocal than anywhere else. They sure seemed to like what they saw - regardless of if they were schmoes, gays, or people who didn't work out. And, more importantly, Five guys other than Lee, who wouldn't make a dime in the IFBB went home with paychecks, and in this display of pagentry that is erroneously mistaken for a sport, that's pretty damn good. I'm looking forward to next year's NOC. It's got nowhere to go but up, and I'm sure Wayne will get it there. Look what he did for the Olympia.
