Review article on The Comeback as it appeared on an Italian web site some time ago. We are not sure who wrote this report and the views of the writer are not endorsed by the owners of this site.

See the world title of 'Mr. Olympia' return to Arnold Schwarzenegger as he stages an incredible 'Comeback' out of retirement at the 7th Annual Body Building World Championships. Also features Roy Callendar, Boyer Coe, and other top body builders (see below). Held in the thrilling spectacle of the Sydney Opera House in Australia on Saturday, October 4th. Prejudging was at 2pm. Bill Pearl was the IFBB Head Judge. It was held on the same weekend as the famous Muhammad Ali - Larry Holmes title fight in Las Vegas, which Ali lost. Arnold entered the contest in the last 24 hours, (or so it was said) to the surprise of many who wondered why would he want to try and risk his perfect record.

After the Olympia, Frank Zane asked Arnold why he came back to compete, and Arnold said "To get back at Mike Mentzer and Boyer Coe. To show them they can't get away with knocking me and my training". Arnold wanted to show them that you could go into the Olympia on a very positive note without criticizing others, and win. Before the contest, an ultimatum, in the form of a petition, signed by all of the competitors, except Arnold, read 'The following Mr. Olympia competitors are in favor of abolishing the two weight classes, and replacing them with one open class." The message in the petition was implicit: one class or no contest! However, Arnold would not budge, and the meeting between the bodybuilders and the judges got quite ugly, almost violent as 15 bodybuilders turned against Arnold. Finally, Joe Weider got involved, talked to Arnold, and Arnold withdrew his objection. The Mr. Olympia event became a one class contest again.

The judges for this contests were Reg Park, Mits Kawashima, Albert Busek, Dan Howard, Brendan Ryan, Jacques Blommaert and Mike Walczak. Before the contest, no one complained about the judges. Afterwards, well.... lets just say this was one of the most controversial Olympias ever. Arnold was not in his best shape, and the 15 other competitors knew it. Even Arnold realized he was only in 90% shape. When the top five were called out, things started to get bad. Mike Menzter in 5th place. The judges had to be joking. Mike was in the prime of his bodybuilding career, better than last years Olympia. Mike would say later "So ludicrous was the decision that, really; all I could do was laugh. I will tell you, somebody out there really wanted me crushed out completely". Boyer's reaction was a little different. "Is there no justice" Boyer demanded to know as he sent chairs flying into walls. Frank Zane accepted his trophy with a calmer demeanour, yet later shattered his trophy into hundreds of pieces by hurling it to the asphalt of the opera house parking lot. Dickerson accepted second place with a sharp "Oh no", and vanished into the night. And Arnold. Arnold was bood by over 40% of the 2000 fans in the opera house. All 15 competitors were unanimous in their belief that selecting Arnold was a bad decision on the part of the judges. Even the CBS Sports crew were shocked, expecting Mike Mentzer as the champion. Even Bill Pearl (who did not vote), said he would never have picked Arnold.

The main people featured in this DVD are:

Arnold Schwarzenegger
Tom Platz
Mike Mentzer
Frank Zane
Boyer Coe
Roy Callendar
Chris Dickerson
Casey Viator
Samir Bannout
Dennis Tinerino 
Bill Pearl