Yates Vs Ray: Who really won the 1994 Mr Olympia? 

The judges of the 90s are responsible for the bubble guts today because they repeatedly chose Yates over Ray. If you could put together a perfect bodybuilder from scratch, it would pretty much look exactly like Shawn Ray.

wow Shawn's legs are underrated

The problem in 1994 is that the mass monster era had been introduced the year before, everyone was expecting these guys to all come in with comparable size to match Dorian's 1993 showing. Ray looks pretty much objectively better overall in terms of aesthetic, symmetry and balance, but the mass monster Freakshow was new and more impressive at the time

Shawn Ray was just a work of art!

Not only did Dorian win this Olympia he won it with a perfect score. Baffling judging. Possibly predetermined

1:25 "Dorian had the mass, thickness and density" I don't know about you, but Shawn's chest looks thicker and his legs look bigger too.

I agree that Ray deserved this one without question.

Shawn Ray...that vacuum shape!! He looked spectacular!

who had a more beautiful physique than Ray (dick head that he is)? Flex and Kevin are right there but Ray's midsection is so flawless. if I had to have on physique from the 90s, I'd take Shawn Ray's.

16:20 Paul Dillets calves are unreal

Dorian is my favorite bodybuilder, Shawn is my least favorite. However, as much as I love mass-monsters, I am continually leaning towards the idea, that Shawn is not only the best in 94, but arguably the best and most pleasing bodybuilder ever, even beating Chris Cormier, Flex Wheeler or Kevin Levrone. Thanks for the great video!!!

I am a Dorian fan for many reasons, I really like him as a person and he genuinely became MrO against the odds and he'll tell you the other guys had better genetics he just out worked them and I love that. But I do agree I think there is a STRONG case for Ray winning this year!

One word. Politics. I love Dorian and Dorian deserved all of his wins, but Shawn got robbed on this one. In terms of aesthetics Shawn was nearly unbeatable. I think Ray's career suffered because he was outspoken (which isn't a bad thing) but it will cause problems internally with a company. Nobody at the workplace, especially the owners, like an employee who rocks the boat so to speak. But you cannot dispute Ray's qualities and what he brought to the stage. Even at a young age when I didn't understand all the intricacies' of bodybuilding, Shawns talent level was noticed right away. The eye can see it even if you do not understand the entire realm of things. Shawn was a star to be sure.

Shawn by and large kicked Dorian's ass in that show.

I believe that Ray should have been awarded the Mr. Olympia that year. He was over all the more complete body builder in every body part. Very good video.

I can see the case for Shawn for sure. Am I crazy though in thinking Kevin was the best in almost all the shots where you see all three? Even then, Dorian can only be truly appreciated in video form. He had separation and insane conditioning that you had to see in motion. For years I was looking at Flex and MD and wondering why he was winning. I understood when I saw the videos later.

Dorian should have walked right over to Shawn after the show and gave that Sandow to him.

Dorian was not smooth in 94, literally shredded almost to death.. lol

Dorian is immensely ovverrated aside from his legendary back and his status in the community...he lost so many olympias in my view...worst being 97 when nassar took him to school

Shawn ray should have won!!

If there's a list for 10 best body builders ever, Shawn Ray has to be one of them.

The Olympia judges hate marking down the current Mr Olympia. Yates didn't deserve this.

Dorian Yates should have won 1 or 2 Mr Olympia, not 6 ! Ray and Kevin should have won more than him, shame on the judges who do NOT consider simmetry, beauty and proportions ! Come on, it is not BEEF Olympia, and the best body should win. The back of Dorian is really big, but it's not simmetric, and too big compared to his chest, pectorals and biceps, there is no proportion and elegance. Also his legs are not that good, as the OP already said. I agree with him.

agree Shawn deserves the win

Shawn Ray in '96 Olympia was perfection!

Dorian’s melted arm looked so funny

We need an extra bonus points for the relax pose and for the small waist , that's what can save bodybuilding !

Shawn Ray - absolutely the uncrowned Mr. O.

Call me crazy but I've had Levrone over both of them in most mandatories...

Yates = Walking Fridge, Shawn Ray = Work of Art

Dorian is a chill dude but he should have like 3 wins instead of 6

Shawn Ray all day because of a complete package with proper conditioning and proportions, one in which nothing was missing and of course crowned with superb posing!

I'm a Dorian fan but I believe Shawn deserves this one. And also Nasser should have won later in too.

Shawn Ray won this year, he was just more complete and aesthetically he was way ahead of Yates

Dorian rocking that insuline gut with accompanied blurry layer over the abs. Definately not saluted. Shawn definately had the best overal proportions in my opinion. If he'd be 2 inches taller and wider, he'd for sure have won way more shows. A bit of height/size is all he missed. For the rest he was perfect. Always came in super diced to the socks, huge conditioning and always great proportions and symmetry. Just pure aesthetics. He was one of the last 'classic' bodybuilders. Now classic bodybuilding's coming back as a seperate division, which is great, but ofcourse the best would be to have judges judge the Olympia's regular bodybuilding competition LIKE it's classic.

Shawn had one of the best shapes ever!!!

Yates has always been overrated to me.

No-one should ever win a Mr O without a bicep. End of. There is no counter argument to this. The body is flawed. I liked the analogy someone mentioned here about a show car with one busted up rim. Huge back and no bicep is worse than even a mediocre back and bicep. This is when I stopped following bodybuilding. The Mr O title should be given to the person with the most perfect physique. Yates always had very weak arms for his size even without the tear. His physique looked like a mismatch of muscles from different people and never flowed. It had no symmetry. Ray's physique was pretty much perfect. One bicep = shouldn't be placing in any top flight BB comp regardless of conditioning or overall size. Personality should not be counting against you in a BB comp (this is not Ms World)

I am glad to see that someone agrees with me on this issue. I honestly never understood why Dorian Yates won Mr. Olympia's. He seemed to me to be the beginning of the blocky big gut era of bodybuilding. I actually told Shawn Ray in person back in 1995 that I thought he was better overall than Dorian Yates. He must have liked my (honest) compliment, because he gave me a free autograph. :-)

Ray looked good but Yates had a "wow" factor that Ray simply didn't have. No one in history at that time had that kind of size and conditioning and as soon as Yates hit back poses he blew everyone away.

Ray had a narrow shoulder structure, short legs with no real quad sweep from the front, shitty calves, inferior torso mass, and very little hardness, with zero graininess. Dorian smoked the fuck outta him

Great analysis, yet again!

I do agree ray deserved title but dorian is so much dominant FDB:RAY FLS:DORIAN SC:DORIAN BDB:CONTROVERSIAL BLS:DORIAN ST:DORIAN ABT:RAY MM:RAY so you can see from the comparison of ur own word whose winning percentage is dominating? Dorian takes 4 shawn takes 3 1 is controversial in which dorian is most dominant

Whether you like Ray or not, he was winning this almost hands down. He was flawless for the most part. His balance, fullness and ripped physique was one of the best showings for him and one of the best in history. He is a bit on the short side which can count against him standing with the bigger guys but alone he dominates. Kevin also looked very good. I thought both of them beat Dorian this day. Dorian just did not look good. It was more than the torn bicep. His mid-section was bloated and he just did not bring that hard grainy look like the year prior. I think Shawn's mouth cost him this show which is dumb but I have a feeling that was the case. Many did not like Shawn and most likely the powers that be did not want a motor mouth as Mr O. Either way he won the show if you compare him to Dorian. Kevin took a few poses from both Ray and Dorian such as the side chest and front lats. Kevins combo of huge traps, shoulders and arms was hard to beat. Paul D could have been a bigger factor but the man sucked at posing and his back was never good. If someone had taught the guy how to pose and present himself, he would have won more pro shows. Mr O though??? Nah.....he was freaky but looked odd. It was like a regular guys head standing behind a body builder cut out. Something just looked odd and off. The veins in the chest did not help either. You spent more time focused on the leg size veins in his chest (wondering if they hurt or itched and why the hell he did not get them removed) vs looking at his physique. In short, Ray was robbed as was Kevin. Dorian got a gift and he got another one when Nassar came in 2nd. Nassar clearly destroyed Dorian that year (I think that was Mr O #6 for Dorian).

I completely agree with u. Not only do I think that Shawn should have won, but I also think that Kevin should have been 2nd and Dorian 3rd.

Dorians stage presence in real life would have been menacing... it would have been distracting as no one ever looked that massive and ripped before him. Shawn was just doing a smaller lee haney.. the world was simply hypnotized by the beginning of mass monsters.

I have to agree with you! Overall, Shawn, was better and more complete. Who wouldn't wanna look like Ray? His best year in my opinion.

2:10 This is when it started going tits up, favouring size over quality. Reminds me of Coleman's hideous separated belly and sagging pecs. Shawn Ray's physique was flawless!

Shawn ray’s way more aesthetic but I think Dorian deserved it from a bodybuilding perspective, the judges judge these shows this way so I think that Dorian was harder denser, thicker and downright dwarfs Shawn. He also won more poses since most muscular was not a mandatory: front lat, side chest, personally would give him back double bi, back lat and side tri, that’s objectively 4-5 poses he wins. And he was more massive and you could argue more conditioned, but arguable cuz Shawn was way more peeled in the hams and glutes

Shawn should have won here. If social media was a thing back then, and the IFBB judges were heavily scrutinized like they are now, Shawn would have gotten the sandow. Just like the way Shawn Rhoden won in 2018.

Shawn Ray was clear winner here,his physique was complete,Levrone should have beat Yates too in 94.

For some reason it's easy to forget just how good Shawn Ray was. He was incredible.

The only Olympia's I would give Dorian reliably would be 93 and 95. That is it lol.

Shawn or Kevin would have destroyed anyone on stage at the 2019 Olympia

Even though dorian was much bigger and thicker than Ray, shawn ray has a much bigger neck it helped his physique look even more complete and well balanced. They should of given the mr Olympia title to Ray bodybuilding would be so much better now!

Shawn Ray had the perfect V shape, no amount of training would help anyone to match him, this was pure genetics.

I love Dorian however, in my opinion he won 92and 93 that's it. The rest were gifts.

I tell ya, here Levrone looks amazing and should have taken the Olympia, 2nd Shawn Ray, 3rd Dorian.

I totally agree with you ! U see the real meaning of bodybuilding !

Shawn Ray and Kevin Levrone both deserve to have won Olympia's at one point in their careers

this is where bodybuilding split into the old aesthetic bodies and the new mass bodies. i like the aesthetic side more

Thank you for making this video, not a lot of people dare go against the almighty Dorian Yates. I understand why is he widely considered as one of the best ever, but I honestly think his physique does not represent bodybuilding in my opinion. I would take guys like Flex, Shawn and Levrone over him any day. Bodybuilding should be about shape, symmetry and fullness. Not just about hardness and blockyness (if that's a word)

So are we gonna ignore that rear relaxed Christmas tree ray is sporting @ 12:14 looking like a mini Ronnie Coleman

Tomn8er are you a bodybuilder?have you judged an actual contest before?

Shawn Ray should have won in 1994. Hands down. When his relationship of parts to his body are taken together his package was best that day and night.

If this contest was judged today I think Kevin Levrone would have probably won the contest Shawn would have been 2nd and Paul might have even beaten Yates for 3rd Yates definitely did not deserve this one he was very bloated and had the torn bicep, plus he always had poor hamstring sweep, weirdly shaped quads that lacked separation, his upper chest lacked alot of size, he had undersized delts from the front and sides, poor tricep sweep, and pretty terrible biceps. Although this is an unpopular opinion Yates was very OVERATED and it he competed today I believe he would have looked somewhat similar to Ian Valliere who has never even been in the top 6 of the Olympia at the time I am making this comment so no Yates did not deserve this one.

Also you should talk about levrone more. He could win a lot of those shots.

Yates squashed Ray. Over and out. Remember it's not a beauty contest.

Shawn Ray should have been Mr. Olympia that year. Sucks that Shawn never won this title during his entire career. He should have had at least one Sandow, and that year should have been his.

Shawn all the way and no one should ever win first place at Mr O with a torn bicep.. Mr O should be the closest thing to perfection as can be. This tells me there was some dishonest judges.

I think this was probably a bigger snub than nasser/levrone in 97 or levrone 92, although still not "robbed." This was for sure a political decision. Ray was probably the most vocal/capable critic of the IFBB. Dorian was the perfect out for the IFBB as he was a lone wolf and no one could claim that favoring him was a conflict of interest. But Ray is objectively better than Dorian here in terms of being more complete, no flaws and not lacking in any area. I'd also say his front double is the best pose of that night. But if you do rate in terms of size alone then yeah dorian won, but size should not be at the detriment to symmetry as his arms did not match his torso heap. And that became the criteria they judged on. If they picked Ray, then we would probably have a different sport today. Flex would have been olympia, Ronnie would not have matched Haney and his goat status would not be as solid as today. I just don't think the mass monsters actually dwarf guys like Ray. Sure they are smaller but they don't look small next to them. Hadi sort of redeems this by beating bigger guys, but he literally does look bigger than guys who are objectively bigger than him

Very rare they’ll let a short bodybuilder win the title. They can’t just be superior, they have to knock it out of the park.

Totally agree. Shawn was more aesthetic but this was a bodybuilding show and there's no way in hell he could have won over Dorian Yates. Yates was super impressive and freaky even in his worst year 1997.

Shawn had 3 main fault's: 5 inches too short, flat top that was 10 years out-of-date and a tendancy to whine and moan more than anyone. Apart from that, he was Mr'O

Awesome video. I agree. Ray had this no question. Shawn Ray is one of the best of all time. No one can take that from him.

Dorian will always be one of my heroes, but Shawn Ray had the best physique and should of won that year! My parents watching the contest with me and felt Ray got overlooked!

Dude I knew Dorians right arm was blown in 97… then I learned in 96 it was bad too… but this is 94? How long did he have a torn bicep

Ray probably should have won, Levrone second, Yates third, but you're right, they all looked fantastic.

I just don't understand people that complain about Yates more workman like physique. He just looks stronger. But when it comes to his legs they always had some kind of teardrop, bottom heavy shape that i actually think females would prefer.

I never liked Dorian. He introduced the age of roid bulk monsters. Dorian imo was always unbalanced. And his back NEVER looked as good as Shawn! Shawn's conditioning and muscle development was well above everyone but Kevin that year. Shawn Ray got snubbed that year. This was a great competition!

Shawn was in a different 212 class than Dorian and by today's competition standards he would dominate in his proper division. Shawn was actually at his best form from 1999 until the year he retired against Ronnie, Kevin, Flex and Jay.

Dorian should have placed behind both Shawn and Kevin.

It’s much harder to get a Xmas tree as a mass monster compared to shawn

Tomn8er, solid video. I enjoy these reviews of past Olympias. Question for discussion (anyone can chime in): Do you think that Dorian, Ronnie, Jay, and now Heath winning multiple Olympias, especially when it is a controversial win, is good or bad for bodybuilding? Wouldn't it be more exciting for there to be 3 or 4 previous Mr. Olympia champions on stage battling for the title instead of one guy who has dominated for half a decade or longer and all other competitors have 0 (exception being Dexter)?

Ray looked beautiful. I can imagine why he is so bitter nowadays - he should be Mr O 1994. That details and fullness of his legs... damn!

1-Shawn Ray 2-Kevin Levrone 3-Chris Cormier

Shawn really smokes Dorian in the lower body here

I still favor Arnold's physique. Like he said himself "the idea behind bodybuilding is to look at the guys on stage and think to yourself; whose physique would I want myself". After Arnold, the guys started to look like freaks created in a lab. If you saw any of the guys in this video walking on the beach they would look like aliens.

Yates destroys Shawn . Calves man. Granted Shawn is pleasing to the eye.

I’m a huge Yates fan, yet even I feel Shawn should of won in 94!!

Unfortunately for Shawn Ray, the mass monster age was in. The judges screwed up though on this one. Shawn Ray definitely looked better and should've won.

Shawn Ray should have won this Mr. O! I can see why he is salty about it: he beat Dorian flat out. He was the most complete bodybuilder that day, I can't believe they gave the win to Dorian.

What if Labrada was to come back that year and 20 pounds heavier?

Shawn Ray was robbed at the 1994 Olympia.

It's true that Yates wasn't at his best in 94 but he had sustained the biceps tear which would of made a cry baby like Ray withdraw. I think Dorian deserved the win. Although Ray edges him in a few poses, Dorian utterly destroys him from the back. The problem with Ray was that he presented pretty much the same package every year. His placing changed according to what the others looked like. In 95 Dorian came back with what was arguably, along with 93, his best ever shape and it wasn't even close.

Ray and Kevin destroyed that Olympia. If there was a tie in history that would be it. One with mass that still looks fucking great and one with Aesthetics and as much size you can have with Aesthethics

Mr Tomn8er you know what a good bodybuilder should look like.

Yes, it was definitely Ray. As far as I could tell, he was flawless.

I think Shawn Ray & the likes of Dorian Yates should've never been on the same stage. Anyone who wants to see Dorian will not appreciate Shawn enough & anybody who wants to see Shawn will certainly not appreciate Dorian. The Arnold Classic should have championed Shawn Ray & let the Monsters stick with the Mr Olympia. My take.

shawn is 100x more aesthetic than yates. shawn had the best V taper because his obliques aren't overly developed, literally dream fizeek.