Updated Rankings from inthehook

[bruizer28]

excellent idea del !

[Eric Roussin]

I like the idea in theory, but realistically I think it would be very hard to pull off.

Although there would be a number of obstacles, one would be the fact that for some of the established top pullers, a national title doesn't represent much of a draw. I think money would be the key draw, and raising enough money to offer significant cash prizes and/or cover travel expenses for all classes would be very difficult. Relatively little money can be raised for an armwrestling tournament through "corporate sponsors, entry fee's, liquor sales, 50/50 draw, silent auction at the after party". Ask any of the existing promoters, or try for yourself. And even if it was possible, it would be hard to find someone who would be willing to put in the legwork required.

[Rick Pinkney]

Who would hold a Nationals if only 4 people per class were permitted. As some classes are always empty and no guarentee that those 4 will go, you could end up with a Nationals with under 100 people. Not very enticing

[Rick Pinkney]

Sorry to rain on all the suggestions.

[mwiggins]

some interesting ideas, would be cool to try it for 1 year.

[Del]

The boring part for me is knowing who is going to win each division in almost every class in every arm every year! It depends where the nationals will be held. With exception of very few pullers a.d. For example attends almost every nationals. If the nationals is in the east we know that top pullers from the west probably won't go. And vice versa. So how can u call yourself the best in Canada if u know that the guys who posed the most threat don't show up. We might as well call it the eastern and western championships. U say how boring to only have four people in a class! I think it is equally boring having a large class where the talent is wide spread! The talent of our armwrestlers would get better by doing the two tournaments. Who knows TSN or sports net might pick up a tournament where it doesn't take all day to complete! The best of the best is what I'm after.

[Jeff Miller]

There would be many ways to implement this, but I think the top 2 from each side would find the top 2 best in Canada. Only risk is that, for example, the 2 from Ontario are way better than the 2 from AB and BC, so it's a wash until the finals. The advantage is lower cost Nationals tournament.

You could take top 4 from each East/West tournament which would make Nationals sizable if that was desired, and the cost of nationals would not be much reduced. Also, prize money would only help first place and maybe second place finishers with travel costs.

Personally, sending top 2 makes sense to guarantee an expected nationals turnout, reduce the cost of operating it, and get the best armwrestlers.

[Jeff Miller]

Another way is using the existing mechanism: Provincials
The top 1 from each province could win prize money. Unfortunately, there's not big enough population to get the prize money up enough to be worthwhile.

[John Milne]

If you want to establish who is the best in Canada (in my opinion) it's better NOT to use the Nationals. Some armwrestlers don't care about Nationals or draw tournament formats and don't want to put money up for this. The litmus test is one on one competition. Use a professional format - Supermatch.

Arm Melter East vs West. Joe Gould needs to franchise his brand, OR the west needs to copy his format. Establish these champions (the way Joe does) and then pit them against each other. This will tell you who's best.

Imagine a Professional Supermatch Tournament - East vs. West. Both using their established Champs to fighting for their region and the right to call themselves "The Best" or "The Champ" whatever. This could work if we really want it to.

Any ideas on this Joe? Or a Western promoter??

[Will Sarty]

The East has already mirrored Arm Melter with our Battle of the Atlantic with same weight classes