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Shouldn't Arm Wrestlers Make More Money?


Paul Savage

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Firstly, i've never been to an arm wrestling contest, never been on a table and the only knowledge of arm wrestling i have is from watching over the top, pulling john and some youtube and tv of travis, devon, dennis etc

Now that you know i know little to nothing about arm wrestling and how things work..i've been told there's no money to be made in arm wrestling (or at least in the UK where i live). I have thought about it only for 2 days so if i'm confused please enlighten me but wouldn't it be very easy to make money by paying an entry fee and having cash prizes for the top however many guys? In other sports i do such as poker or fishing, this is how the tournaments are run.

I can't see why a pub/bar would not let you hold an arm wrestling contest as they would make good revenue from the supporters and contestents in bar sales. I've managed to get a local pub to agree to put one on in there back room within a day, infact i got an instant yes.

Yes it's great to compete in sports you love but after all the effort of training and competing it would be nice if it helped to pay the bills. Other sportsman make a fortune and arm wrestling is as known a sport as any, nigh on everybody has arm wrestled.

How are tournaments ran now? (im assuming not as above) Any thoughts?

Paul

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There a few big reasons why it is very hard to make money in armwrestling.

An armwrestling tournament isn’t comparable to a poker or fishing tournament because there is much less chance involved. It’s easier to get many participants for a poker tournament, because everyone feels they have the potential to win. There’s always a chance that you’ll be dealt great cards, and if you’re a decent player, you may win. In armwrestling, if you have experience in or follow the sport, you have a pretty good idea of what your chances of winning are. If there was an armwrestling tournament where the overall winner won money and there was no prize for second place, and you knew Devon Larratt would be there, would you bother spending your money to compete? Even if there were prizes for the top three, it could be hard to get many competitors, because a lot of them realistically wouldn’t have much of a chance at placing.

Also, while in the early days of the sport there was only one open right-hand class, where pullers of all sizes competed together, now most events have separate classes for right and left, divided by weight, with possible distinctions between open and masters, and pro and amateur. With so many classes, the prize money gets significantly diluted.

Armwrestling tournament promoters who announce what the cash prizes will be ahead of time (e.g. $250 for 1st, $150 for 2nd, $100 for 3rd in all classes) tend to get better turnouts than for events that say “cash prizes will be given to winners, based on a division of entry fees” (which usually doesn’t amount to much). Most people prefer to go in knowing exactly what can be won. However, offering set prizes involves much more financial risk for the promoter.

Armwrestling doesn’t yet receive the exposure of many other sports, and so it doesn’t yet have the financial support of a big company (e.g. Nike, Pepsi, etc.). Hopefully this will not always be the case.

Now, if you’re among the armwrestling elite, as in one of the very best pullers in the world, you can make a bit of money, by being invited to compete in professional supermatches. But we’re still talking peanuts when compared with any major sport.

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By the way, I agree that it is very easy to find venues willing to host a tournament. However, it is much harder to get them to contribute money (at least significant money) towards an event.

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I see (thanks for clearing a few things up).

This is the way i was looking at it..

You have a day/night of arm wrestling tournaments with different stakes. From very low entry fee to fairly high entry fee, say £5-100 or $10-$200, enough to make a good wage at top end. The better arm wrestlers will always enter the higher money tournaments as they will make more money. Thus people still enter the low money tournaments as they will not be against high level competition.

Also, hasn't there been a ton of people who have wanted to 'pull john' - surely the top guys would get some action just because of the name they have..??

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It all comes down to how likely you think you are to win some money. If you don’t think your odds are great, based on what you know about the other competitors and about your own skill level, then you probably won’t be interested in paying to compete. This isn’t true for everyone, but it’s true for most (based on my experience of competing in and organizing money tournaments).

True, a lot of people would like to be able to say “I’ve competed with the best in the world”, but you could do this without spending money to enter a tournament. Most armwrestlers would be willing to pull on the practice table with you after the event for free. The world’s top armwrestlers are very accessible – it’s not impossible like playing a game on one-on-one with Michael Jordan.

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Arm wrestling and having a few beers at a pub sounds like fun to me, would have thought people be willing to pay a couple quid to do it ragardless of winning or not - got to be a good buzz with a close crowd in small rooms, family and friends around etc

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Also what about betting?? Do bookies not take bets on the big match ups?

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As far as I know, there has never been organized betting around an armwrestling tournament, as seen in Over the Top. It would be a lot of fun, though.

However, I have often seen bets between spectators (or between competitors' backers in the case of a supermatch).

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