Brian Shaw may have retired from Strongman, but his competitive spirit is still far from being extinguished. Instead, his interest shifted towards arm wrestling, where he recently had one very interesting match against Eddie Hall. However, the match was riddled with drama, trash talking, and a lot of tension. So, Brian Shaw has now decided to reveal how he feels about it.
Brian Shaw’s arm wrestling match against Eddie Hall took place on December 14 as a part of King of The Table 13. Despite not being the main match of the night, many considered it to be the most epic one. Brian ended up taking the win with a result of 4-2.
Brian Shaw Reflects on His Arm Wrestling Debut
Brian Shaw first addressed the fact that Eddie Hall was looked at as a beginner in the sport of arm wrestling. While he did have just around two months to prepare for the match, Brian reveals that Eddie actually had prior experience. Moreover, at some point in the past, Eddie was actually teaching Brian the basics of arm wrestling.
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“Eddie has for sure been on an arm wrestling table before. He was even giving me pointers on the table on how to move the elbow (a few years ago). He definitely has been coached before by Neil… To say that he never ever did anything on an arm wrestling table before the eight weeks leading up to this supermatch is complete nonsense.”
Brian Shaw then dissected the entire match, round by round. His start was extremely bad, having lost the first round on account of two back-to-back fouls. However, Brian managed to pull back the lead, comfortably winning the second and third rounds.
“There were two fouls, and I lost round one… I was able to climb back over his hand and put him down pretty easily in round two. The same thing happened in round three.
The fourth round was the surprising one, as Brian Shaw and Eddie Hall found themselves in a strap. This was expected to be a favorable position for Brian, but Eddie actually took the round win. Brian now revealed that the cause of this was a loose strap, which he had never dealt with before. As per him, he got into his head, overthinking the position, and soon found himself in a losing position. Brian still managed to win the match with wins in rounds number five and six.
Round four, I got to a point where I was able to slip out… I wanted to get in the strap… When the strap was applied by the head referee, it was very loose… Because the buckle was on Eddie’s hand, I didn’t get to make the call.
A loose strap was not something that I was prepared for… They called it an elbow foul in a losing position.
Going into round number five, I felt like I was going to go back to what worked in rounds two and three… Did the same thing in round number six… I won the match.”
Moving on to the most talked-about topic since the match. Many people noticed how tense the situation between Brian Shaw and Eddie Hall got during the match. A lot of trash talking was involved, which nearly resulted in a fight breaking out at one point. So, considering the friendship that they had before, Brian decided to reveal his thoughts on it.
There were some antics during the match… Things escalated very quickly during the match. Eddie was trying to be a showman and trying to put on a show… I think at certain points Eddie did cross the line.
There is a point in the match where Eddie and I crossed on the outside of the table. We were getting in each other’s faces, and there was a lot of tension. Things could have definitely escalated very quickly.
But, we were both in the zone, even if Eddie was crossing the line… Some of the things that came out of his mouth, I felt like were too far.”
Brian Shaw now recognizes that he needs to perfect some of the basic technical aspects of arm wrestling before moving on to the more complex stuff. So, Brian was dissatisfied with his performance but still learned a few valuable lessons. Moreover, Brian has also won a bet that he made with Eddie and is looking to collect the reward soon.
I was not happy with the way that I executed. You are going to take a win no matter how it looks. But, I wanted to execute much better… I will improve from this… Looking back, there are some small technical things that I need to become more efficient at.
We did have a bet… The loser has to buy an arm wrestling table for the winner. That is not something that I have forgotten, and I will be hitting Eddie up to collect that.
Watch the full video here:
Related: Phil Heath & Brian Shaw Inducted Into the International Sports Hall of Fame
It is clear that Brian Shaw has plans of continuing his path in the arm wrestling world. Eddie Hall was his first step, introducing him to the big scene. It is currently unclear what Brian’s next step will be or who his potential opponents are. Eddie Hall also enjoyed doing arm wrestling, leaving the doors open for himself to come back sometime in the future.
Brian Shaw’s love for Strongman still remains, having built a reputation for himself as one of the strongest men to ever live. He won 4x WSM competitions, the 2023 Strongest Man on Earth, and countless other elite shows. Now, during his retirement, Brian is still in the Strongman community as the organizer of the Shaw Classic and Strongest Man on Earth competitions. So, his life is extremely active, but Brian still has time to pursue greatness in arm wrestling.
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