This is a BIG PLUS for Mitchell Hooper- he is the best conditioned strongman out there so I’m pretty sure he has said he didn’t want a day off in between.
@@bronchopedwon’t happen you always hear these rumors about a potential livestream and it never happens WSM is second tier for real fans it is just a tv show
I can only imagine this is a cost cutting exercise on behalf of wsm by reducing their overheads across 4 days vs 10. Hard to see any athlete benefit (stone off removal is good though)
Removing stone-off is good. But four day competition I expect a $h!tshow. Log lifting and loading events the 3rd and 4th day out in the heat, people will collapse.
Soooo they are trying to save money by cutting back days? The result of this to me is a worse competition overall with more injuries and a less comprehensive final.
It won't be a great fan experience if half the field goes down with injuries. Time will tell. I hope that if this scoop is legit that they also make the competition lighter.
5 events for the finals doesn't make sense to me, it seems like a way of favoring one athlete depending on the events you pick. If you have a yoke and deadlift, you favor Hooper, if you have stones (which always is) and keg toss, you favor Stoltman. Reducing events goes against what Brian was saying, you need more events to actually determine who's the strongest.
Right? Viking press, atlas stones, fingal's fingers and bag toss Tom wins. Yoke, max deadlift, bus pull, and axle press Hooper wins. They'll basically be giving the title to Tom or Mitch
I think that they meant 5 events for the heats instead seeing as the stone off has been removed. Because the finals is still over 2 days so I assume 6 for the final. 5 for the final would be awful, think 2019 and 5 events which too me always has an asterisk over it. Should be 7 events for the final I reckon
I hate the stone off. The worst example I can think off is that time Trey vs Novikov a year, Novikov was leading by way more points than 1 event win would be. I would like the OSG format, everyone vs everyone, cut the worst then move on. Would be equal for all. Not someone being destroyed like Brian was his last year by Rauno not giving him a easy fight on stones.
Craziest example is 2019. When Ole Martin Kristiansen only had 7 points and was out of the comp. But the third place guy couldn't do a single rep. So WSM brought Ole Martin back in. So J. Caron with 17 points had to go stone-off against Ole with 7 points 😆
lol that's what I was thinking. Fewer athletes which sucks. AGAIN in the US which sucks, fewer events which... (you guessed it) sucks. The no rest day is a mixed bag. It's really bad news for the athletes but is probably better for the live fans present. Perhaps they're doing that specifically to try and cater to the live audience? This also makes me skeptical that they're actually going to remove the stone-off. When have we known wsm to make a good decision that the fans have been calling for? 🤔 I'm doubtful, have to wait a few more months and see!
Scrap the heats and have a cut after day two, top ten go through. It's the only way to truly determine the top ten best in the world. They can then battle it out for the podium. I don't think removing the rest day is a good idea. Could potentially increase the risk of injuries. Getting rid of the stone off is a great move though. Come on PPV now!
Seems like that this entire new format favors a hooper in general just from a stamina standpoint. All of the big static lifters are going to struggle with the pace.
TFFT! The stone off is a crap way of deciding who goes through because it exhausts the guys that have to do it, affecting how they can perform in the final.
I’m assuming the shift to four days back to back is to make it more friendly for audiences. Less of a wait and fewer days at the hotel. The stone off being gone would be huge as well.
I was really hoping for no groups, 3 days of 8-10 events. Still happy they are making a change. As much as I love stones, the stone off is not good for anyone competing (except for the group winners lol)
They should consider doing more strongest man somewhere in the UK seeing that strong man has a much stronger presence there and it would be a big turn off. Also make it an arena show like Giants live that way they can perform to their best without having to be in the sun all day
Interesting 👍👍 It would be a NICE change, if they would show it live instead of making it a Christmas Show. I hope, it does not leed to more injuries, and I LOVE that they cut out the "stone off". 2.nd is 2.nd, and nr. 1 and 2 proceed to the finals. No BS. 👍👍👍☀️☀️☀️👍👍👍
Good to hear that they are gonna remove the stone-off, like you said it was so unfair when an athlete was in 2'place with 4 points and then instead of everyone doing a regular stone series, he could loose his spot to one other athlete that was great at stones.
Next change they need is that the TOP TEN from ALL heat groups should advance, not the top 2 from each groups, because sometimes the scores are way off. Secondly, it was better even for audience to have a rest day since it is like a holiday anyways for us going there it was nice to have a break in between because sitting in the sun for ten hours a day is pretty hard work tbh
All this will do is cause lifts in the final to drop. Say we see a max deadlift or log, you won't see the same numbers. 4 days in a row in incredibly hot climate when you're in a competition setting. I can't see this being a positive. It seems like an effort to reduce overheads more than to improve the competition. Stone off going though is brilliant.
"Strongest Man on Earth" is also a self-explanatory title of strength just like the WSM title. They are more or less the same appellation, but the words are in a different order.
Would agree with it all if they kept the rest day. 2 solid days for heats, 1 day of recovery, 2 solid days for finals Without the rest/recovery i think the finals will be underwhelming Theres an argument for splitting the comp in two, heats and finals as two seperate events. Months apart. Imagine the hype you could build off the back of the heats!
it would be amazing to see World's Strongest Man run as a four-day final format. By removing the group stage and allowing every athlete to compete across all four days, each competitor would have a real shot at the title, and we’d see 100% effort right from the start. Not to mention, all athletes would be tested in all disciplines and there would be no hiding. A final with only 5 events at this level is not enough to determine the “Worlds Strongest Man”.
Until worlds changes it's insane broadcast schedule, I really just don't care. I look up the results on Monday and say oh cool, and continue on with my life. It barely even exists to most people not directly involved
Honestly SMOE is operated a lot better. The biggest problem with it was the squat event, not that it doesn't have enough events which is a much bigger problem
I really want to know what some people in the comments are smoking ^^ So many weird and simply wrong takes. E.g. it's not going down from 10 days to 4 days of competing. It's 5 to 4 and they get rid of an event for it. Only half the finalists used to have a rest day. Now it's fair. Also, no, people won't all get injured and then stop going to WSM 😂 Guys, calm down a bit and be sensible.
Not sure about an odd number of athletes in the heats given they’re bound to have head to heads? Intentionally having one athlete going on their own doesn’t seem right.
I like the changes, especially getting rid of the stupid stone off But seems like it’s not going to be all to easy on the athletes Well, expect for Mitch, the alien c... 😂 He will probably thrive in this setup with no days to rest But yeah overall I hope these changes are legit! Let’s just make sure this is one HEAVY competition Not CrossFit with some extra muscles lol
World's Strongest Man still not live streaming then. I still haven't seen the competition because I'm British and have to wait until Christmas. In 2024. Fuck me.
Two ideas right off the bat: WSM is losing money, so they're reducing overhead with athlete travel and cost, and no rest days is one less day to account for expenses, which sounds likely because they don't know how to grow the sport. Money-hungry people ironically keep themselves in the dumps thinking of ways to siphon money off, instead of growing it the right way and making more money anyway. OR WSM is trying to be like Crossfit to grow the sport, which would be horrible, using Rogue as a gauge for how it looks.
Big negative for me is the no rest day and events from 6 to 5. Personally I think more events gives a better result of who is stronger and no rest day before the final only means a poorer final, surely? Maybe not for Hooper because he's a fekkin alien anyway! 🤣🤣 But the biggest change I want to see is not waiting fekkin 10 months to watch the damn thing! I know, I know, not going to happen...
Lowering the amount of the athletes and events is backwards. Assuming if they only have 5 a group not 6 then there’s only 25 total, or is there 6 groups, I doubt it? Only positive I’m seeing here is no stone off. Can’t see cutting the rest day is going to be beneficial to anyone
If its all true it's very stupid there's going to be a lot of injuries plus it's not good for the bigger men this seems like a MONEY SAVING EXERCISE ridiculous
You guys keep saying that people understand when you tell them I won the worlds strongest man they immediately get it, same goes for I won the Strongest Man on Earth, it means the same thing to the average joe, I ask people if they know the difference between SMOE, and WSM they think its the same thing. Even though SMOE is way more challenging.
No one outside of strongman has heard of SMOE. The general public has heard of WSM. Theres no comparison, WSM has the exposure and reach that evey other strongman competition does't. Basically the SMOE title is irrelevant. It means nothing because the average joe hasn't heard of it.
5 athletes per group is a major mistake, there’s so many deserving athletes and if you get injuries early it ends up being like between 3 athletes which is a poor watch
To be honest, as an american i wish they would do wsm in zambia 🇿🇲 falls or botswana 🇧🇼 again. The african wsm crowds were the best crowds. And the scenic backdrops were amazing. Also please stream it for heavens sake
A few random people they rounded up to watch in Africa are better strongman crowds than in Britain where they pack out multiple arenas every year, OK matey.
WSM saving all that money by condensing everything and working the athletes harder. But bet your bottom dollar that athletes won't see any of that savings in their pocket LOL
idk guys, you say that the title WSM matters more than who is actually stronger (in a round about way). I think that WSM is more of a "made-for-TV" spectacle more than it is for finding the strongest man in the world. Rogue and SMOE Shaw Classic, are far more suited to find the strongest man in the world RN than WSM has ever been. I disagree that perception outside of the sport matters more when it comes to the titles than the actual strength of the athlete. And you are right, the people in the community know better. But that is entirely the point. The fans know Zydrunas was better than Mariusz. The fans know that IFSA had a better line up than WSM. WSM hurts themselves more than help when it comes to the way they run the event and the NON-televised nature of it even though they still run it like a TV show. Then after everyone knows who won and has seen clips and behind the scenes and all that, 6 months later they release the show to the public for a fee. then a year later they make it free. WSM is losing steam as a show that actually picks the strongest man in the world and and is looking more and more like an athletic meet than a strongman show year after year. I dont even really care to watch WSM anymore. Id rather watch SMOE, Rogue, the Arnold strongman classic, giants live and other smaller shows. WSM just doesnt entertain me as much as it used to.
I suppose i should also say that i dont think the show is EASY by any means. and I dont think that its not a legit show for really strong guys to compete at. I just dont think its actually picking the strongest man as much as the strongest AND most athletic. Its not pushing the limits of human capability like it once did.
I'd say they should poll the athletes and poll the fans each year. If that results in a different competition format every year, to me, that feels exciting the same way it was in the 80's when the events were lawless, the equipment was unwieldy and the athletes were all tasked with showing up to god knows what. I get that we want to give them time to prepare and I agree. I also think one mystery event each year would be really fun for athletes and competitors.
That's just asking for someone to get hurt. You can't ask guys with ridiculous strength to tackle a hard event without any knowledge at all. Look at the bad bad injuries back in the 80's (franco comes to mind) it's now a recognised sport vs just a gimmick TV show.
More events is more fair. 5 events is just another way WSM can show favortism (like they did with the stone off and who got placed in what heats with what events).
Less athletes and no rest day seems like a big negative. Sounds like they aren't making as much money from the tv side as they want, so they're trying to cut costs somehow.
@@Harry_lifts yup. With 5 events they'll basically give the title to Tom or Hooper depending on the events. Hey Tom! Here's your title because it's viking press, fingal's fingers, bag toss, deadlift for reps and atlas stones. . Or, hey Mitch! We got you the title! Yoke, max deadlift, apollon's axle, bus pull and atlas stones!
@@polarbear4612 Hooper has never beaten Tom on any of those events except for the deadlift. So doubt it. But Hooper would have won with way more points with "his events".
@@simenandersen3262 There’s always other people in these events and Tom manages to have a real bad event almost every show and loses a ton of points with a 5th or worse. Not so for Hooper and other than stones he has a legit chance to beat Tom or come second in any event. People seem to hate it, but Hooper has won a competition without winning any single event. Consistency is king. Having said that I can’t see Hooper keeping his streak of wins going, but it will be very hard to end his podium streak.
@@polarbear4612 in one-day shows yes. But in the WSM people are so exausted in the final that Tom is top 3 in every event. Tom didn't win a single event in 2022 and 2024 except for the stones. And still won comfortably. Even his massive achilles' heel Conan's Wheel he got 3rd place.
If you want a stone off type thing just do a medley of everything. A loading race to fill a yoke and then carry that to a log and deadlift medley. I think that covers pretty much everything
Thanks for the information Lalas Brothers. I went to the WSM 2023 contest. Love to go have it again there in Myrtle Beach or another east coast city like Jacksonville Florida or Virginia Beach, Virginia. The crouch has been much bigger the past two years in SC compared to the previous two years in CA. They don’t need smaller crowds and hotter weather like it was in CA compared to SC. Having 4 days instead was 5 does help the fans financially and I am sure it does the same for them paying for the space. Good business move. They may look for a spot where they can hold WSM indoors and have an expo with it would be the best option in my opinion. You can have more vendors and not be that concerned about the weather. If Arnold and Brian can have an expo why can’t WSM???
