John Brzenk

John Brzenk (born July 15, 1964) is a professional armwrestler from the United States, who is widely acknowledged as 'the greatest armwrestler of all time'. His grandfather immigrated to the US from Poland. During his undefeated streak of 22 years and career as a professional armwrestler, Brzenk has won more than 500 championship titles.
Biography & Accomplishments
John Brzenk's father, John Brzenk Sr., was an arm wrestler, and Brzenk says he gained some of his forearm size through genetics. John started his amateur career in the classroom, where he arm wrestled students across tables for five years. When he was in eighth grade, he broke his arm while armwrestling his father's friend, and has stated that this breakage increased his tendon strength significantly. Over the years, Brzenk has often been called "The Giant Crusher", "Superman", or the "Perfect Storm" for his ability to pin opponents twice his size.
Brzenk started his professional career in 1982, at the age of 18, where he won his first world title on ABC's 1983 Wide World of Sports. From 1982 to 2015, John only lost a single supermatch, and only a handful of people had beaten him in tournaments. Most of these losses occurred later during that time when he was of advanced age. Two of his most prominent losses were to Alexey Voyevoda in 2004 (John's first professional loss after 22 years) and Devon Larratt in 2008, both of whom are considered legendary arm wrestlers. Aside from arm wrestling, John works as a mechanic at Delta Air Lines. He says the job is non-physical so his arms get plenty of rest. During his career he has competed for upwards of $80,000 USD.
Brzenk won championships in a number of different weight classes, including four world championships in the heavyweight division, and the middleweight world championship. He also had an uncredited cameo in the 1987 Sylvester Stallone film Over the Top, and was the subject of the feature documentary "Pulling John", directed by Vassiliki Khonsari and Sevan Matossian. The documentary chronicles Brzenk's legendary arm wrestling career by following him intimately for 4 years, in which John competes in global tournaments and ponders retiring from the sport he loves. After defeating Marcio Barboza in the 2015 WAL Heavyweight Right-Handed Championship, Brzenk would take an extended period of time off from armwrestling due to injuries.
Arm Wrestling Comeback
In 2018, John Brzenk would lose an attempted comeback match against Travis Bagent in Moldova. On July 31, 2021, Brzenk would return to arm wrestling full time by defeating Chance Shaw in a supermatch. On December 11 of the same year, John Brzenk would face right-handed heavyweight title holder Devon Larratt at King Of The Table 2 (KOTT 2). Despite John defeating Larratt in one of his most recent matches before his layoff from armwrestling, a bigger, stronger Larratt would prove to be too much for John as he would go on to lose by a score of 4-0.
On February 10, 2022, Brzenk would make his debut at the international arm wrestling tournament East vs West (East vs West 2 event) by defeating Khadzimurat Zoloev. This win allowed John to once again, at the age of 57, reclaim the world’s top ranking in the 225 pound division. On May 21, at East vs West 3, Brzenk would have a match against Zurab Tavberidze. John would go on to win this match by a score of 3-2.
On August 6, 2022, at East vs West 4, John Brzenk was defeated in a right-handed supermatch with Kazakhstan armwrestler Kydyrgali Ongarbaev. On November 19th of the same year, in the next installment of East vs West, Brzenk would defeat Oleg Petrenko in a right-handed supermatch in dominant fashion, 3-0.
On January 21, 2023, John Brzenk would participate in a fifth consecutive installment of East vs West, losing a hard fought supermatch to Irakli Zirakashvili by a score of 3-2. The next month, on February 25, Brzenk would have his toughest test to date, a match at KOTT 6 against Super Heavyweight Denis Cyplenkov, the former world #1 who had not had a match in 4 years due to health issues. Despite the long layoff, Cyplenkov did not look like he had lost any of his physical or table ability, defeating Brzenk by an almost effortless 6-0 score. On August 12, 2023, Brzenk would lose 3-0 to Todd Hutchings at the AWC Reloaded event.
On September 23, 2023, John Brzenk would go against Alexey Voyevoda at King Of The Table 8. This was a rematch of their historic first match in 2004 which Voyevoda won. Circumstances were different this time as Voyevoda had not competed in years and was not as dominant as he was back then. John would win the match 4-2.
Physical statistics
Height: 6'1"
Weight: Varies between 195 and 245 lbs, depending on competition classes.
Style: Varies
Biceps: 18.25in
Forearm:
Right: 16.5in
Left: 13.5in
Achievements
A1 Russian Open
2015 – R-2nd Place
2014 – R-3rd Place
AAA Stand-Up National
1984 – R200 lbs
1985 – R185 lbs
1986 – R220 lbs
1990 – R220 lbs
Arnold Classic
2006 – R199+
2007 – R199+
AWI World
1986 – Pro Super Heavyweight
1987 – Pro Light Heavyweight
1988 – Pro Light Heavyweight
1995 – Pro Light Heavyweight
2001 – Pro Super Heavyweight
Carling O’Keefe International
1989 – R 200 lbs, R 231+ lbs
Forsa Tropical International
1998 – R198 lbs, R243+ lbs, L198 lbs
GNC Pro Performance
2002 – R198 lbs
GOLDEN BEAR
SUPERMATCH (Absolut Champion)
R1994
Pro tournament
R90+ kg: 1990, 1994, 1998
R90 kg: 1990
Harley Pull
2000 – R220 lbs + Harley Winner
2001 – R220 lbs
2002 – R198 lbs, L198 lbs
2009 – R225 lbs, L225 lbs + Harley Winner
Main Event
1998 – R220 lbs
Mike Gould Classic
2006 – R220 lbs, L220 lbs
2010 – R220 lbs
Mohegan Sun PAC World
2005 – R198 lbs, L198 lbs
2006 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs
2007 – R198 lbs, L198 lbs
Over the Top
1986 – Winner of Truckers Division in Heavyweight class
Reno Reunion
1999 – R200 lbs, R230 lbs, R231+ lbs, L200 lbs
2000 – R198 lbs, R242 lbs, R243+ lbs, L198 lbs, L242 lbs
2001 – R198 lbs, R242 lbs, R243+ lbs, L198 lbs
2002 – R198 lbs, R242 lbs, R243+ lbs, L198 lbs, L242 lbs
2003 – R233+ lbs
2006 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs
2006 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs
ROTN
2007 – R215 lbs, L215 lbs
2008 – R242 lbs, L242 lbs
2009 – R199+ lbs
Sands International Wrist Wrestling/Armwrestling
1988 – R190 lbs
1989 – R190 lbs, R215 lbs
Sherkston Beaches International
1987 – R200 lbs, R201+ lbs
SuperStar Showdown
2004 – R199+ lbs
2005 – R198 lbs
Ultimate Armwrestling (Las Vegas)
2004 – R242 lbs
2005 – R198 lbs, L198 lbs
2006 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs
Ultimate Armwrestling League
2011 – R200 lbs (Current Champion)
USAA National Pro-Am
1996 – R200 lbs, R201+ lbs
1997 – R198 lbs, R242 lbs, R243+ lbs, L198 lbs
1998 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs
1999 – R198 lbs, R242 lbs, R243+ lbs, L198 lbs, L242 lbs
2000 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs, L242 lbs, L243+ lbs
2001 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs, L242 lbs, L243+ lbs
2002 – R198 lbs, R242 lbs, R243+ lbs, L198 lbs, L242 lbs
2003 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs
2004 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs, L242 lbs
2005 – R242 lbs
2006 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs
2007 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs
2009 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs, L242 lbs, L243+ lbs
2010 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs
USAF Unified National
2005 – R220 lbs
WAF World Armwrestling Championship
1999 – L100 kg, Supermatch Winner
WAL
2015 – R: Heavyweight Champion
World Wristwrestling Championship (Petaluma)
Heavyweight Division
R: 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1996, 1998, 2001
Light Heavyweight Division
R: 1998, 2001
L: 1998, 2001
Middleweight Division
R – 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1996, 1998, 2001
L – 1996, 1998, 2001
Lightweight Division
R – 1984
WPAA World
1985 – Middleweight
Yukon Jack National/World
Heavyweight Division
R: 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993,
Middleweight Division
R: 1995, 1996.
Zloty Tur/Nemiroff World Cup
Category – Open
R: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
Category – 95 kg
R: 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
L: 2007, 2009
References
External links
Armwrestlers ONLY
Ifitandhealthy.com
Videos with John Brzenk
1964 births
Male arm wrestlers
American arm wrestlers
Living people
People from McHenry, Illinois