How Shawn Rhoden Pulled Off the Biggest Upset in Olympia History!

Undeterred by last year’s 5th-place finish, the man called Flexatron hit the champ where he’s weakest.

On the morning following the Mr. Olympia, fans and pundits remained shocked by the previous night’s events at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. It’s a rare feat indeed for a defending champion to be dethroned, least of all a seven-time champion seeking history. The scorecard revealed the real damage, a four-point win (13–17, lower point total wins) for Shawn Rhoden, built upon a one-point advantage after the judging round that just widened as the finals proceeded.

What made the difference on this momentous weekend, in which Phil Heath was gunning for his eighth consecutive Sandow, a record that would have tied him with Olympia greats Ronnie Coleman and Lee Haney? Here’s how it all broke down.

Heath’s bulbous, 3-D muscularity seemed to be somewhat diminished this weekend. His trademark conditioning was matched by Rhoden onstage, but the seven-time champ was dethroned due to Flexatron stealing the show with a crisp, tight midsection and overpowering aesthetics.

From the rear, Heath still held a slight advantage in overall muscularity, proportions, and condition. However, Heath had trouble controlling his midsection, and it hurt him gravely when standing relaxed, in front and side shots, and in almost all transition moves.

Here’s how they compared side by side in a number of poses.

Front double biceps: Rhoden, by a mile.

Front lat spread: Toss-up. The overwhelming fullness of Heath, or the more tapered, but less bulbous Rhoden.

Side chest: Heath on development, density, and round, freaky muscle.

Back double biceps: Heath by a mile.

Rear lat spread: Heath by a pretty solid margin. A lot going on in this pose for the defending champ.

Side triceps: Rhoden. His overall aesthetics and tie-ins are too much for Heath in this shot.

Abdominals and thighs: Rhoden by a mile.

Most muscular: Hard to say if they really judge this pose, but I would give it to Heath, but only because Rhoden defaults to a hand-over-hand style that exposes weak forearms and triceps (muscle groups that the champ has in spades).

All in all, an argument could be made for eitherman. But our votes aren’t the ones that matter as only one man could be crowned 2018 Mr. Olympia, and this year it was Rhoden’s turn to finally get his glory.