Fans of Larry Williams (a.k.a. Larry Wheels) know he’s heavily involved in the sport of armwrestling, especially over the last couple of years. On Feb. 6, 2022, he tested his skills against a different type of opponent — the reigning two-time Mr. Olympia, Mamdouh “Big Ramy” Elssbiay.
According to the tag on Wheels’ Instagram post, the showdown took place at the B1 Gym in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. In the 19 second video, the reigning world champion of bodybuilding and the multi-sport strength athlete locked their right hands on the table and ground through a teeth-gritting match.
Wheels appeared to put in serious effort, but he couldn’t budge the massive right arm of the Egyptian bodybuilder. While Wheels’ performance was Hollywood-worthy, this matchup was staged and once Elssbiay stabilized against Wheels’ max effort, the two-time Mr. Olympia went on the offensive. Ultimately Wheels’ wrist gave out, leading to his arm touching the pad. Check out the entire spectacle in the video below:
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It is unclear as to why Big Ramy was in Dubai, but Wheels says that their arm wrestling match was an official bout. This was, of course, part of the pro-wrestling-like facade, as Elssbiay is in the midst of his offseason after repeating as Mr. Olympia in Orlando, FL, in October 2021, and confirmed that the matchup was fake. Had the match been legit, Big Ramy would likely be a tough foe for Wheels as Big Ramy recently shared that his 2022 off-season bodyweight is 341 pounds.
The confirmation that the arm-wrestling bout was staged came from Big Ramy himself as highlighted by Nick’s Strength and Power on YouTube. Check it out:
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Bodybuilders don’t usually compete in other strength sports as it raises the risk of injury, potentially affecting their ability to compete. This is especially the case in this instance as Wheels has professional arm wrestling experience, whereas Big Ramy does not.
Elssbiay is not expected to compete on stage again until he defends his title for the third time at the 2022 Olympia on Dec. 16-18, 2022 in Las Vegas, NV. Rivals who will attempt to take the title will likely include 2019 Mr. Olympia champion Brandon Curry, Hadi Choopan, Hunter Labrada, and Nick Walker, among other opponents to be determined throughout the 2022 season.
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As for Wheels, he’s very much in the trenches of competitive arm-wrestling. He even prioritized training for it, such as seated barbell curls, which serve as an accessory movement for building the biceps and forearms. His last competitive match was in December of 2021 at the King of the Table 2 event, which he helped promote. He was defeated in that event by powerlifter Brandon Allen by a score of 4-2 in a best of seven matchup. Prior to that, he competed at King of the Table 1 in May of 2021, where he was bested by Alex “Schoolboy” Beziazykov in a 6-0 sweep.
At the time of this article’s publication, Wheels’ has not yet said when his next arm-wrestling event will be. However, he is not letting up during his training in the gym. In January 2022, he deadlift 337.9 kilograms (745 pounds) for 11 reps, showing that he could still likely hold his own in a sanctioned powerlifting meet.
Featured image: @larrywheels on Instagram
