Pre-Judging for Mr. Olympia Title Complete
By Joe Pietaro, MuscleSport Mag
Call it reading into something. Or reading between the lines. It could be either or a combination of the two. But it certainly appeared on Saturday night during the pre-judging for the 2008 Mr. Olympia that reigning two-time champion Jay Cutler and Dennis Wolf are going to be in the forefront tonight at the finals.
Both received a raucous ovation when introduced, and even more so when they were placed next to one another during the comparison stages. That may have been what occurred when the two behemoths were performing the requested poses, but the interesting moments came as they stood off to the side while some of the other competitors were posing.
What they were doing wasn’t the issue, but rather what they were not doing. Camaraderie runs high between the bodybuilders, even during strict competition. Many of the men, including, Cutler, were congratulating each other when the head judge called their name. A small handshake, fist pump or backslap were common, but Wolf and Cutler stood next to each other for a good length of time on and off stage without nary eye contact, let alone an exchange of words.
While that may have gone unnoticed by the majority of the crowd, it was glaringly obvious that these two have become fast rivals. Possibly Cutler is growing annoyed by the talk that Wolf may unseat him this year. Cutler’s blocky physique has been spoken about negatively and critics called his 2007 victory questionable at best.
Wolf has been compared to Arnold Schwarzeneggar, due to his thickness, height and close homeland (Germany and Austria). He is the ’sexy’ pick to take the Sandow from Cutler and the questions keep coming. When asked directly about Wolf on Thursday, Cutler gave a short, “He’s good†answer without elaborating.
Perhaps it is nothing and just an illusion of bad blood. But a rivalry only gets more intense when the parties are cold to one another.
