Another great weekend in Columbus has come and go and now it's time to reflect on all of the events that took place over the last few days. The weather sucked with constant rain and even some snow last night, but we knew that we weren't going to Hawaii.
Branch Warren looked amazing and deserved to win his first 2011 Arnold Classic and fifth Most Muscular Award. He brought an unbeatable package with him from Texas and even joked that he needs to build another mantel over his fireplace to house all of the new hardware.
Runner-up Dennis Wolf came in strong and better than his FLEX Pro appearance two weeks ago. Since he has trained himself gain last summer, the Big Bad Wolf is back and in a big way. Victor Martinez was a mild surprise at third, but he did appear much improved since his eighth place finish at the Olympia. A former Arnold Classic champion, the Dominican Dominator was not spoken about as being a threat but proved his critics wrong.
If the first call outs at the pre-judging were any indication, Evan Centopani was headed for the top three. But the winner of the FLEX Pro took fourth, not bad when you also factor in that this was only his third pro show and first Arnold.
It appeared that experience and reputation were the deciding factors in Dexter Jackson finishing ahead of Ronny Rockel. The German could have easily finished as high as fourth, but took home his second consecutive sixth place check from Ohio.
Places seven, eight and nine could have gone many different ways, but Johnnie Jackson came in better than Roelly Winklaar and Toney Freeman and deserved to place just out of the top six. Ben Pakulski looked as serious as a corpse during his posing routine and (surprisingly) squeaked into the top 10 in his maiden Arnold.
Two minor head scratchers were Fouad Abiad finishing in 12th place and Robert Piotrkowitz 14th. Abiad did lose some of his sharpness in the 14 days following his third place finish at the FLEX, but still had enough to fare one or two spots higher. And Piotrkowitz should not have fallen all the way to last, even behind Essa Obiad and the smooth looking Pakulski.
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