@@putanginamo2327 Are you kidding me? He literally won WSM, ESM, and the Arnold Classic in 1 year. He has won 5 ESM, 3 Arnold Classics, and a WSM. He has 10 Icelands Strongest Mans. He has multiple records including elephant bar deadlift, strongman deadlift, and WSM keg toss.
@@aaronbarlow4376 he is now yes ur right but this is a list about the greatest of ALL TIME not asking who would win now , u have to realize Z is an old man , when thor is his age he will b lucky if he can do half the shit Z can , prime Zydrunas would beat any other strongman in their prime 0 doubt
Icelandic mother: Bjorn, how are your black metal guitar lessons going? Icelandic boy: I'm not good at playing black metal guitar mum. Icelandic mother: well, you better get to the gym and become a strongman, those are the 2 choices son.
@mike gallimore I can live with the sack/barrel loading as the weight is usually heavy and tricky to hold, coupled with a short distance. I have a problem with people clean and jerking rather than pressing myself.
@@moonnightbricks3948 Facts. Jerking is a test of technique not strength. And I believe loading events should be short and heavy enough that bottom few guys aren't able to finish
I remember being a kid watching WSM when Pudzianowski was bursting onto the scene. He was always my favorite because he didn't look like the others. His physique was nasty and he was just fun to watch. GOAT to me.
@Colm Rich Mariusz was already past his prime and already training for MMA when Big Z returned. But in those years where they battle head to head, Mariusz was always ahead of points and didn't get a score lower than 50 when he's winning.
@Colm Rich you do know Big Z beats him in static events even in his prime right? But wsm isn't only about static strength events, it has multiple events which Mariusz is better than Big Z.
@Colm Rich lol since when did Big Z retired Mariusz? Mariusz already said in 05 that he only wants to win 5 times in WSM then he'll stop competing. At 09 Mariusz was already switching training from WSM to MMA.
Great call about Bill Kazmaier! The only thing you left out was that he was doing all this extreme static strength stuff sufficient to compete with today's guys weighing 100+ pounds less than them!
Mariusz Pudzianowski is the greatest of all time, nobody can compare to him. He was Strong , Fast, has an absolute will to win and was one of the most entertaining man to watch. He performs on an other Level than all the other Competitors.
Absolutely missing Jouko Ahola, the first man to build his own equipment and train events to absolutely punch above his weight. Most impressive deadlifter in my opinion as well, deadlifted 406kg @ 117kg.
It completely depends on the terms, right? Most victories, most records, etc. Let's speak in terms of podium spots at WSM, then international level wins. I would leave either Eddie Hall or Vasyl Virastyuk off. Both have only 2 podiums: third place and one win. In fact, I'd take off both Eddie and Vasyl, and put on Jouko Ahola and Magnus Samuelsson. 1: Ahola: 2 wins, one second place. Revolutionized the actual sport by actually training events. Strongest of his era pound for pound, also won other world level championships. 2: Samuelsson: 1 win, 1 second place, 3 third places. Long and glorious international career, also won other world level championships. 3: Vasyl Virastyuk: 1 win, one third place. Podium spots at IFSA (first, second and third). Three second places at the Arnolds. 4: Eddie Hall: 1 win, one third place. No other world level wins. Closest is second at ESM. Deadlifted 500kg, thus proving the impossible possible, but in terms of wins, doesn't count.
Great stuff Loz! You should do a list on your favourite year of World's Strongest Man, personally I fucking love 1988, Kaz vs Sigmarsson was fantastic!
He was weaker then many in the lower body parts but his arms and grips are probobly the strongest in history so he definetly deserves a mention he might not ben the moast well rounded strongman but were he was good he was the best. I mean the guy broke world records while still losning because of his powerfull arms
calle andersson he made the WSM final for a dacade in a row, he got on the podium a bunch of times. His static strength was not the best, but he was an amazing athletic strongman. He deserved a mention.
Gerrit, actually said on camera at the time, that magnus shouldn't be able to lift that at his weight. Gerrit was always one of my favourite guys to watch, seemed to be a nice guy and sportsman.
@@moonnightbricks3948 He was always so competetive, but after he saw magnus lift that weight you could tell he really just lost any hope of winning right there. He was just in shock at what magnus could do. One of my favourite contests to watch tbh.
I will never forget him. Hugo Gerrard was one of my favs back then and I think Phil phister was underrated the guy won twice and beat mariuz in his prime
Not only is big Z the strongest, but we forget what a great athlete he is. The strongman competitions not only require great strength, but also athleticism. You must be in supreme condition,strong as an ox, and a great athlete too. Big Z has it all.😁
Jouko Ahola and Magnus Samuelson had some battles. Respect for all the strongmen. Those two should be on that list. Jouko was amazing especially at his size and Magnus year after year improved. I could go on and on. Those two we're amazing.
I would have really liked to see Bill at #2. He is the only one that was so dominate during his time that they banned him to give the other guys a shot a winning. I agree with what you said about he would have won a total of 6 or 7 WSM titles if they didn't ban him.
Thank you very much for this great and well-thought-through list, Laurence! I agree with pretty much all of your choices, but I have to say that I question that Eddie Hall made the list and not Magnus Samuelsson, Svend Karlsen or Janne Virtanen, who to be fair have won more than Eddie. :-) I also have to add that I was hoping for Phil Pfister amongst the honorable mentions, but that's probably a lot due to the fact that I'm American and he is my favorite strongman. ;-)
@@geoffriquetupas4606 Not only that, but when you look back at the World Strongest Man from 2017, he dominated the vicking press, squat, and off course the deadlift events over Thor and Brian Shaw. He truly had an amazing static power that can't denied. Magnus Samuelsson, Svend Karlsen or Janne Virtanen are all incredible strongmans, but when it comes to pure strenght, I'm choosing Eddie Hall.
The powerlifting/strongman community is one of the most respectful , filled with legendary role models who show nothing but the best of what sportsmanship is all about
For me, the all time ranking of strongman is as follows; 1. Big Z (From 2002-2016 was top 2 in WSM or winner of ASC every year and is top 3 in static strength) 2. Pudzian (Best functional strength ever and most WSM (5) & ESM (6) titles all time) 3. Kaz (Would of had 5 titles if he didn't get banned & best powerlifting strongman with Reinhoudt) 4. Shaw (2nd most titles and podium finishes at WSM & ASC obtained during the height of the sport) 5. Hafthor (1 WSM title & 8 podiums against prime Big Z, Shaw, & Hall, 5 ESM & 3 ASC wins, best pull) 6. Jon Pall Sigmarsson (amazingly athletic & overcame injuries w/ bulk to win WSM a 4th time) 7. Magnus Ver Magnusen (dominated in the 90s (4 WSM & 2 ESM titles) and best technique ever) 8. Eddie Hall (Best static strength, won WSM in prob top 5 most difficult year while dehydrated) 9. Goeff Capes (2 WSM titles & 6 podiums, went up against and beat Kaz & JPS, shot put champ) 10. Jouko Ahola (Won 2 WSM & ESM titles against the stacked field of the Scandinavian era) 11. Jamie Reeves (1 WSM title & 3 podiums against legends, 2 ESM, a decade as the strongest Brit) 12. Vasyl Virastyuk (1 WSM & IFSA title, 8 combined WSM, ASC, and IFSA podium finishes against gods) 13. Magnus Samuelson (1 title and 5 WSM podiums, twice 2nd at ESM, decade as the strongest Swede) 14. Svend Karlsen (one WSM & ESM title, 3 podiums at each of WSM, ESM, and ASC) 15. Janne Virtanen (1 title and 3 podiums at WSM, twice 2nd in ESM, 5 years Finland's strongest man) 16. Gary Taylor (1 WSM title in 2 podiums & 1 ESM title, eight years as Wales Strongest man) 17. Riku Kiri (3 WSM podiums behind Taylor & MVM, 3 ESM titles, world class powerlifter) 18. Derek Poundstone (Barely missed 08' WSM title, 2 ASC titles in 4 podiums, injury held him back) 19. Martins Licis (One WSM title and 2 podiums at ASC, still young and has amazing technique) 20. Don Reinhoudt (1 WSM title & one 2nd place finish, had world record powerlifting total for years)
I grew up with Mariusz Pudzianowski. But i have the feeling the strongman field wants to forget him or never want to mention him. Thank you for mentioning him.
Personally, Mariusz Pudzianowski is my favorite by far. 5 times World's Strongest Man (WR) 6 times Europe's Strongest Man (WR) 4 times winner of the Strongman Super Series (WR) Very agile, fast, the best physique I've ever seen in a strongman competition. Truly Impressive Also he had a rock-solid determination to win everything. He could have clearly won even more events, but he went for a MMA career.
Very good list. I agree that Big Z should be at the top. He accomplished so much and has been doing it longer than anyone in the sport. It's hard to have the longevity that Big Z has had in this sport.
@@GoofballLOL Erm no. Just no. Thor hasn't won the amount Sigmundson did and never will. He may be stronger but we will never know. But in terms of accomplishments and legacy in the sport, Jon Pall will always be higher.
@@kingoftherodeo8380 "he may be stronger but we'll never know"? How do you say that when they literally have their numbers recorded. Thor can OHP more, move faster, deadlift more, pull more and pull faster, stone lift more, etc. and has won more medals in more contests. Jón Páll was a phenomenal strongman. There's no denying that. He helped make Iceland the sports juggernaut it is today and helped popularize the sport. Putting him in 8 was rough as fuck.. but regardless of that, Thor would still beat him if both of them were alive and competing and in their primes
The only reason people like Pudz is his abs. What about his 0 Arnold wins and Z's 8? What about the 70+ world records Z has? Mariuz had good conditioning but not the static strength of Z, Brian, Kaz, Eddie, or Thor
Ivan Pavlov the thing is Arnold becoming more the Strenght event and WSM the moving event. Mariusz have 5 WSM titles yes but was only dominant in the moving events also train a whole year for WSM when BIg Z also train for Arnold’s but for me Big Z,Shaw and Thor the greatest because they compete in ASC and WSM and are dominant in both
This is a great Top Ten, I think a lot of thought has gone into it, thank you for posting this entertaining video for us, Laurence Shahlaei btw was a great competitor himself Europe's Strongest Man 2016 and 4th in WSM 2011......
I truly believe Thor's not that cool but whatever . I still maintain Eddie could have lifted 501 4 years before Thor IN the competition 501 means fuck all 4 years later
@@rolli7489 Marius is a year younger than the mighty Zydrunaus, who actually was a champion powerlifter before coming to strongman, so he was not a pup. He was beaten by Marius twice in a row and yes Marius started wining titles right from the second year of his strongman carier which shows his greatness. In 2009 Marius was already in MMA and lost to Zydrunaus. Don't try to belittle the Great Dominator. He might not be the strongest in his lifts but he surely showed the world that you can be strong without being fat and unhealthy.
Yes zydrunas was a powelifter but this is a whole different sport to strongman and needs adjusting to. Which is why in my opinion the dominator won, 2nd year in..... don’t know if you saw the last dance when mike Jordan went from basketball to baseball and back to basketball. All the different training regimes required for each sport so different, might help with some aspects but in the end different.
Thanks mate for putting Big Z in first place on your list. Me and I think all Lithuanians are very proud of Žydrūnas. Such a great athlete, sportsman and very nice person and human! And come on guys it's obvious that he is the GOAT for the moment. You never know maybe someday, somebody will replace him...But for now he's got the most titles!
Top 10 competitors who never won, but should have: Hugo Girard Riku Kiri Manfred Hoeberl Gerrit Badenhorst Lars Hedlund Derek Poundstone O.D. Wilson Mike Jenkins Flemming Rasmussen Jesse Marunde
Personally I think Eddie Hall is a little over rated. He won only one major strong man tittle and that was just by one point. I would have him 9th or 10th
The thing with Hall though is he only has one because one is all he wanted. That was his goal, he accomplished it, he walked away. His potential was so much greater.
@@theteddy1487 Nope. He walked away because he was pushing himself so hard that he was about to die so it wasnt worth for him. He might of won 2 more titles max before dying if he didnt stop.
@@theteddy1487 Dude was an extremist, he went up as fast as he would go down. Dude injected himself with adrenaline to break deadlift 500kg, who knows what he did, but he himself said it was short term or he would die.
S Tier - Mariusz, Savickas A Tier - Shaw, Sigmarsson, Magnus Ver B Tier - Kazmier, Hafthor C Tier - Hall, Karlsen, Virastuyk, Novikikov, Licis, Pfister, Samuleson, Ahola, and a long list of other 1-2 time winners. D Tier - Marunde, Mateusz, Pundstone, Ortmayer and many other guys who are great but never won or have not won anything significant yet.
I was surprised that Magnus Samuelsson wasn't in the list, as a WSM winner, one of a small list of people that can master the Captain of Crush level 5, and broke the arm of an arm wrestling champion!
The guy who he beat (Nathan Jones) wasn’t an arm wrestling champ. It was Magnus who was European champ (I think- forgive me if I got it wrong)... was really nasty to watch
What about Bruce Wilhelm, 2x winner of WSM. Why does nobody talk about him? He was a great athlete, always charismatic, one of the greatest olympic weightlifters in history, shot put record holder, wrestler and discuss thrower, first American to snatch 400 lbs. He was awesome and went up against strong men like Ken Patera, Don Reinhoudt and Lars Hedlund.
Many people aren't aware of the Arnold Strongman Classic and of Fortissimus. The events of those two contests are (were) incredibly tough. In my opinion a win at one of them is as impressive as a win at WSM. I totally recommend watching both!
Great list! Hard to disagree even with the placings. Well reasoned. Like honorable mentions. Thanks for hard work in finding footage & editing that made your list pop. Like historical footnote tribute to Oddie - sad
8:37 eddie took the world record from 165 kgs to 500kgs...😂😂😂 That just made laugh so hard... Apparently my p.b deadlift wasn't that far off before Eddie's 500...lol (i know you have corrected the mistake in the video but still it made me laugh hard)
Not sure about Hall. He was strong. But not sure he was in the top 10 in terms of world's strongest man competitions or athletes. Most of the guys on the list won multiple strongman titles. Indicating they were great strongman athletes. Hall won one (coincidentally a very statically orientated competition that year), and he was definitely seriously strong though, but not sure he was top 10 strongman athletes.
"I hope you enjoyed it?" We absolutely loved it Loz. Please do more, you are a great communicator. It's great to hear the opinion of a real expert. You could do more about most amazing single performances (I'm thinking Thor's kettle throw win over Shaw), biggest surprises or even biggest upsets. I agree with my nama jeff, greatest years would be amazing. Mine is 2014, 3 top guys fighting for the title until the very last event. Wish this sport were MUCH bigger in Italy. Are they ever gonna stage one WSM final in Italy?
Please tell them to stage it in Florence (where I live)! I'd love to get involved in the organization of it. (Another idea I had is explaining how the whole circuit works. Most don't know the difference between WSM and Arnold's for example).
Lalas & Magnus Samuelsson are not mentioned here but they are very powerful. And Kieliszkowski has become one of the most athletic guys while still being extremely strong. I think eventually the list would be like Savickas, Bjornsson, Shaw, Kieliszkowski
Realy like your video and your background and knowledge around The split in 2004, i didn't know that but now it makes sense that Mariusz won 5 times!!!!!! Your top 10 is almost perfect! 💪🏼
Saying that Marius didn’t have a tough competition is kinda silly to me. Athletes from different era can’t really be compared.. Maybe its that strongman at time were strong but Marius is just on another level.. IMO
megin na how u gonna compare Brian’s lift from Marius’s(and there are a lot of Strongman like Kaz, Magnus before). Supplements/technique, everything gets better with time. It’s a completely different era. You can’t really compare if they didn’t went toe to toe in the same competition. If not it’s only a “What If”.
Marius Pudzianowski completely dominated everyone. He crushed with the most wins. He is obviously and clearly #1. Many of the other guys were legends (Kazmier being one of them) but Marius reached another level of explosive athletic strength dominance. 💪🏻💪🏻😎
Savizkas, Pudzyanovsky, Shaw, Thor. But Marius is my favourite, because this is the way the WSM should look like and win! And he is not the tallest and biggest, but strongest.
It's so fun to see similarities between different sports. In chess, there were also two separate titles in the years 1993 to 2006. The all-time greats is an often discussed question, as is the question of the strongest player to never win the title. Who do you think is the strongest man to never win World's Strongest Man? Wilson, Poundstone, maybe someone else? Good luck in Dubai.
@@cattycats4 Jerry is a world class deadlifter but hes not nearly as well rounded as these other guys and hes never placed top 4 if i can remember right
Poundstone for me. Remember watching the stones back in 2008. Most gripping climax ever. Gutted that he lost out to Mariusz. And the way Mariusz behaved after he lifted the final stone was disgusting in my opinion. And, to think, Poundstone was a full-time cop at the time, I believe. Amazing.
Magnus is the greatest chess player of all time and Thor the best strongman, i don't understand why its even a debate numbers show it clearly. If other people lived at our age maybe but that is just an excuse sports, that don't need a lot of skill evolve fast and that is just it. I want to believe Tal would have a chance but he lost to Bobby who would lose to kasparov who lost to magnus
@@samhollan4570 Yes cos Eddie did it at wsm lmao. It's no different than Eddie's record. Eddie did it at giants but then didnt do any events or do the show afterwards. How is it different? Idiot
Adam Sufc0594 well IDIOT this is how it goes he did it in front of a real crowd in front of RANDOM people so no chance of cheating you must be a ice landic prick
Awesome list Loz. My list is similar. big z 12 kaz- 9 mariusz- 7 magnus - 6 jon p - 6 shaw - 5 thor - 4 jouko- 3 capes - 3 vasyl - 3 Props to anyone who can work out my scoring system!
ur scoring system is WSM+arnold victories im thinking, but i would also add IFSA victories to big Z total since that comp was alot heavier and had tougher competitors than WSM at the time