The world of bodybuilding came undone with Nick Walker winning the biggest title in the world. Nobody ever saw this coming. I must admit, I didn’t see it coming. I had my predictions and he was not in them. He was in the top six possibly but I was even debating that. I must be honest with you when I saw him take the stage at the prejudging of my jaw dropped. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It seemed as if everything that I thought suddenly turned on its head. There was a competitor who I always complained about having a very blocky look, totally transforming his physique. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to become a Nick Walker bandwagon fan. I’ve never been a bandwagon fan for any competitor and I’m not about to start now. But I’ve got to give the guy his flowers because I’ve been probably one of the most critical writers in the scene for God knows how long. I have always been critical of competitors like this because I have a genuine dislike for mass monsters. I don’t think that they represent the values of bodybuilding. In other words, I don’t think that they have the aesthetics or the flow or the symmetry that is inline with the Golden Era of the sport. I think that bodybuilding should be a sport about art and presenting a physique that looks like that of a statue. The statue, like that of the Sandow. Eugene Sandow was not a mass monster. He didn’t walk around looking like he had a roll of carpet under each arm. He didn’t huff and puff. He was an aesthetic wizard. He was like a Robbie Robinson or Bob Paris, but not this. This, however, is what wins. Nick Walker brought it. How am I going to take that away from him?

It’s kind of like Branch Warren and Jay Cutler. These guys were also not aesthetically pleasing in my estimation, but they worked with what they had. And you have to really respect that. Because at the end of the day, bodybuilding is a sport about overcoming adversity. You have people that have lost a hundred pounds, you have people that have given up unhealthy lifestyles, you even people that have defeated what would otherwise be known as terminal illnesses. I have met people with stage 4 renal failure that are somehow alive 10 or 20 years later and it’s all because of weight training and sensible eating. A lot of them are even actively competing or promoting shows. And if you don’t believe me I can give you names. If I’m lying, I’m dying. I’m very serious when it comes to what I have seen over the 20 years covering physique-based sports. Bodybuilding is that powerful. It is all about being the best you. And like I said, it’s about working with what you have. Nick Walker didn’t have the body of a “Sugar” Shawn Ray, but he had the heart of a Jay Cutler. and he has been able to improve his physique over the course of I would say at least the last four years.

I think taking second place at this year’s Arnold Classic really emboldened Nick. I think it pissed them off. I don’t think he wanted to lose to Andrew and I don’t think that he thought he should have lost, either, but instead of whining or having a temper tantrum or going on any number of shows and accusing the Federation of politics or favoritism, he did the business of bodybuilding. He got himself in the gym, he got himself with a coach that he liked more, and he just did what needed to be done.

This is why when Nick took the stage, I literally couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Smaller waist, tight midsection, and condition beyond belief. Honestly, Nick and Derek were the most conditioned guys on that stage. And it doesn’t matter if you like them or you don’t like them. Facts or facts. I mean bodybuilding is a subjective sport but it’s also objective in some regards. I mean you have to be blind not to see that Nick was very conditioned and so was Derek. The thing is Nick was firing on all cylinders and Derek was not. Even Derek said that he was off. When Tony Dougherty was interviewing him backstage, Tony thought that Derek looked his best, but Derek corrected him. His muscles just were not firing at full throttle. But even still Derek looked phenomenal, as did Samson, as did Tonio. Andrew was a little bit off but overall, they were all giving their best and Nick Walker won. And this last piece is very important because I believe that Nick put special emphasis on it.

Nick didn’t win the contest because somebody was way off or because somebody wasn’t there. Now I will admit that the absence of The Persian Wolf may have opened the door ever so slightly, but I think even if he had been here, I still think Nick would have emerged victorious. That is because nothing, and no one, was going to stop him. He was winning the title this year. This was his destiny. I saw it in his eyes, and I saw it with the way that he posed. He wasn’t being phased by anything or anyone. He was there to do a job. He could not have had more Ironclad-concentration than what he had. I think the man was literally possessed to win the title and that’s exactly what he did. He wasn’t coming back from Las Vegas without the Sandow and the check for $600,000. That is hard work, it was the product of hard work. This was no fairytale – I can assure you of that. Nothing was given to this man. I didn’t even think that he could do it and I’m writing this article out of respect to him – out of respect for his commitment and out of respect for the fact he didn’t give up. That says a lot about him not only as a competitor, but as a man.

I have to say congratulations to Nick! Congratulations to Nick Walker. This guy was able to do the unthinkable and he was able to do it because he believed in himself. I mean even imagine Nick standing there next to Bob Cicherillo – a guy who just a couple of years ago said the best Walker would get was 8^th. Now Nick was crowned Mr. Olympia, but he didn’t say anything to Chick, he didn’t deliver any cheap shots, he didn’t humiliate the alleged voice of bodybuilding. Instead, it was all about professionalism. It was all about being gracious in victory. Nick didn’t act like a fool and he didn’t act like an asshole. Like I said, the guy was there on a mission. He was there to do something. and there was nothing that was going to take him away from the task at hand. He was a good sport, he worked hard and kept going. THE MAN JUST KEPT GOING!!

I have to say if you’re not a Nick Walker fan, I can see you becoming one. I’m not going to say that I’m a fan just yet because I will reiterate that I don’t like that particular look and I don’t like the direction the sport is going to go in with Nick Walker as champion, but I have to tip my hat to him. He did what he needed to do.

And why is the sport going to go in this direction? Because as Mr. Olympia everybody falls in line. Nick is the best bodybuilder in the world and anybody that wants to beat the best, needs to beat the best for whatever the best is. So now I suspect we’re going to have a whole wave of mass monsters which arguably will not help the sport grow. Then again, after the last few months of Derek’s reign, with all the bridges he’s burned, with all of that arrogance, I think that pretty much anything that Nick does is going to breathe some fresh air into the sport. I think we need a champion that’s about lifting people, not tearing them down. Derek’s arrogance was literally out of control and I’m so happy that he no longer holds the top title in bodybuilding.

Do you agree with the judges’ decision? I know that I do. As always, I hope you enjoyed reading my article here at IronMag. I look forward to reading your feedback in the comments. Please be sure to copy and paste a link to this article on all your social media feeds. It is bound to generate lively conversation.

Author Bio:

Christian I. Duque is the owner of StrengthAddicts.com, a physique and strength website founded in 2008. He has worked for a number of bodybuilding websites, including RX Muscle and Muscular Development. Christian has written nearly 1,000 published articles for IronMag Blog, as well as articles for StrengthAddicts, RX Muscle, and others. By day, he is also a licensed attorney practicing in the areas of family law, immigration, and criminal defense.