by Christian Duque
Merriam-Webster defines a paper tiger as “being one that is outwardly powerful or dangerous but inwardly weak or ineffectual.” This may not be a 100% accurate assessment of Nick “The Mutant” Walker but I feel there’s enough foundation here that we should at least ask the question. I’d like to rely on two contests to make my argument. The first would be the 2024 NY Pro and the second would be the 2025 Mr. Olympia. There are other shows that I may refer to and/or statements made via social media and press conferences, but I feel the strongest emphasis comes from the two contests I mentioned. And normally I would not use the term paper tiger to refer to a Top 6 Olympian, but this case is different.
If Nick had truly earned a spot in the Top 6 I wouldn’t dare ask this question. Being a Top 6 Olympian is a very big deal. Back in the day, getting into such a category could mean tremendous financial upward mobility. Being Top 6 met you were in striking range of winning the Sandow. Look at Brandon Curry. He made the Top 6 in 2018 and won the Sandow in 2019. The difference between a champion like Brandon getting Top 6 in 2018 and Nick Walker getting Top 6 in 2025 is that Nick didn’t deserve it. And interestingly, Curry and Burton both got shafted to keep Walker’s outwardly presence intact in 2025.
In a very real way Nick missed his Mark both in 2023 and 2024 when he dropped out of the Olympia’s those years. 2024 represented his comeback and the fans were delighted to see him back in the mix. The problem is he did not anticipate the level of resistance that he would get from Martin in New York.
Many commentators, myself included, believed that it was as clear as day that Martin should have emerged with the victory. But what would that have done for the Nick comeback? If Nick had lost the New York Pro in 2024, I don’t think that he had the mental resolve to try to win another contest. He wanted to make his comeback and he wanted to be victorious. That being said I took great comfort in knowing that I was not the only one of the opinion that Martin should have won. Martin has a far more aesthetically pleasing physique, far better structure, and a much better sense of flow and symmetry than Walker. That as much could not be any more clear. One guy has a beautiful physique, another guy has the genetics of a refrigerator. Now we have seen guys with bad genetics earn top honors but not against guys that are put together like Martin and come in perfect condition. Much like I said ending the first paragraph, I believe that there is a concerted effort in the industry to keep Nick Walker as being a lot more dangerous than what he is. We have seen from the 2024 New York Pro that he is very much beatable. But I think there is another contest that really sealed the deal for his house of cards.
And of course I’m talking about the 2025 Pittsburgh Pro. The Pittsburgh Pro is interesting because for this particular contest like for the 2024 New York Pro this was supposed to be Nick’s big comeback. It didn’t help that after he announced, other big names like Martin, and even bigger yet, Derek, said they would compete. Pittsburgh has always had special significance in the world of bodybuilding especially since the creation of the NPC. As a lot of open bodybuilders used to go to Pittsburgh to guest pose, when the contest announced it had open professional bodybuilding, this was a game changer.
As a result Nick was doing a comeback show with guys that either beat him across the board or beat him in the hearts and minds of the fans. Nonetheless he was up against ferocious competition. So when he plaCED second you know he couldn’t live with that. You know that the frustration of not being able to win a show that he had prepared for as much as he had must have been absolutely unbearable for him. And one thing that must be said is that he worked with Kyle Wilkes for that show. That was the best Nick Walker I had ever seen. And I will say it on record, as I have said it elsewhere, that Pittsburgh’25 will be the best Nick Walker will ever be able to achieve. If I’m wrong, then let me be wrong. I would love to be wrong. I would love to be disproven, but in my humble opinion, I believe that the 2025 Pittsburgh Pro look was Nick Walker’s best look to date and will probably be his best look in terms of his career. Even though he placed second in Pittsburgh and then went on to win his third New York Pro title, he looked far better in Pittsburgh than he did in New York. He looked better in Pittsburgh than he looked at the 2025 Olympia. If he had gone to the 2025 Olympia looking like he looked in Pittsburgh, I think he could have been as high as fourth. The reality of the matter is he came in looking like trash and there are different reasons behind that.
What I think Pittsburgh represented to him was the fact that the judges, the sport, the industry, was not going to give him the win just to make him happy. That might have worked at the 2024 New York Pro against the relatively unknown Martin Fitzwater, but it wasn’t going to work in Pittsburgh against a former Mr Olympia champion and current year’s reigning Arnold Classic champion. I think that Pittsburgh rattled Nick Walker quite a bit, but I still don’t think that it was as bad as the 2024 New York Pro and the 2025 Mr Olympia. Because in Pittsburgh he was fighting for the title. He looked his best. He had come there to do the business of bodybuilding and that’s exactly what he did. Whereas at the 2024 New York Pro and the 2025 Mr Olympia I believe that the danger that he represented, the power that he represented, was very much an illusion. I don’t think he was competitive at all at the 2025 Olympia, and I think he got his ass handed to him at the 2024 New York Pro. So in reality what are we talking about here? Are we talking about a future a future Mr Olympia?
Nick Walker will never win the Mr Olympia. He does not have the aesthetics, he does not have the frame, he does not have the kind of physique that most fans want to see as Mr Olympia. It would be akin to Markus Ruhl having won a Sandow. The guy was a freak and people loved seeing him on stage, but that is not Mr Olympia quality. The bottom line is that Nick Walker will only be Mr Olympia for promotional purposes, for posters, to build up hype, but he’s never going to be the best. Not in a subjective sport that focuses so much, that hyper focuses so much, on things like aesthetics, symmetry, and artistic flow. I know that art is in the eye of the beholder, but you can’t put a mass monster at the top spot and especially not a mass monster with bad aesthetics. It’s just not something that is feasible in my opinion. So therefore for that reason I would also lean more towards calling Nick Walker a paper tiger.
In the end I’m not trying to be a hater by raising this question but I think that 2026 and beyond is going to prove very trying for a guy that thinks he can be the best, but really will never be. He could absolutely win some smaller titles. But even the 2026 Arnold Classic it’s looking to be an all-out war. If he can content himself with going to these shows and walking away with some good prize money, provided he looks his best, and provided that his ego will be okay with him being top six, then he could write his own ticket. He could make hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money and potentially millions of dollars over the rest of his career in contracts with supplement companies and the like. But he needs to stop talking like someone who’s going to win the O and I don’t think that’s within his vocabulary. I understand that every competitor that competes is competing to win. That’s a great theory, but the reality of the matter is that he is not going to be Mr Olympia. It is highly unlikely. And if there is any possibility and he wants to cling to that, that’s fine, but the way that the guy talks is simply starting to sound comical. Not only can’t he beat Derek, but he is having a very hard time beating Martin, Hadi, Andrew, Samson. This is not a person that can dominate any of these competitors. And that is very telling because he is being marketed as somebody who’s going to hit the ground running and clean house. That is not who Nick Walker is right now. I don’t know if he ever represented that level of danger, but he certainly does not represent it now. And he is certainly not going to be representing it moving forward. Therefore, if he continues to be marketed the way that he’s marketed, I would have to say the guy is a paper tiger.
But what do you say? do you think that he’s just hit a streak of bad luck? Because if that is the way you think I have news for you, the streak has lasted years. This is not a streak. This guy is on the way down and if they keep marketing him like he’s a top top guy, I feel like he’s a paper tiger. But anyways, enough of what I think. I look
