Could Kai Greene Actually Return? – IronMag Bodybuilding & Fitness Blog

by Christian Duque

The talk around the water cooler is that Kai Greene may come back for the 2025 Arnold Classic, but others think the show in question would have to be the Pittsburgh Pro. I’ve also heard about the possibility that The Predator might set his sights on the NY Pro. Greene is a New York native and has deep ties throughout the city and with gyms like Bev’s. Bev Francis Powerhouse Gym is the East Coast Mecca of Bodybuilding, and to some, it’s the only real Mecca. I had the honor of interviewing legendary influencer and judge Big Steve Weinberger at this hallowed ground.

Many fans would love nothing more than to see a Kai Greene return to the stage. Many only know of this legendary bodybuilder from YouTube videos. They had never seen him up close and in-person in his signature stage condition. Right now there is a tremendous interest in the past generation because of the fact that condition was such a treasured part of that look.

Kai was also able to get on stage and do some phenomenal moves like splits and handstands which absolutely no one does today. He’d take the stage in a theater mask and cape, which is a throwback to the Lee Priest days. We find ourselves in a day and age where entertainment has been put in the backseat. This is why so many enthusiasts get excited when they see guys like Sam Sulek’s road to pro. Others are glued to YouTube watching jailbirds talk about the discipline of training in prison with towels and bags of dirt. It’s not that anyone in their right mind would ever want to be a prisoner, but it’s all about the novelty factor. The sport, as I see it, yearns to have someone like Kai come back for a variety of reasons beyond the physique that he brought. There’s a whole backstory and side story to what this champion bodybuilder achieved.

Perhaps the most glaring aspect of this particular competitor is his rivalry with Phil heath. And most bodybuilding fans who have already made posts about this possible comeback have talked about the huge missed opportunity it could be. While they are excited to see Kai back on stage in full force, they really would like to see him back at it against Phil. They want it to go back to 2014 when NBC was going to air the Olympia and these two were elbowing it out on stage. Unlike Pumping Iron and ’80s vhs tapes and ’90s dvds, this was a real fight. It was not staged. Both men pushed themselves to the limit and only one would emerge victorious time and time again. The frustration that Kai had was undeniable. He felt it with his entire being. He wanted to reach that pinnacle of success and he just could not make it happen. Kai was able to win the Arnold Classic, he was able to win other huge titles, and he was always the recipient of top honors, but he could never clinch the biggest title in the sport. Even though his fanfare was almost unparalleled – it just didn’t ever amount to a big win. He has gone down in history as one of the celebrated uncrowned Mr Olympia’s. And there is certain respect and credibility with regards to that. He’s joined by guys like Victor Martinez, Gustavo Badell, and others. He has the respect of his fellow competitors as well and he has the respect of millions of fans all around the world. But what he does not have, is a Sandow on his mantle. His arch nemesis has seven of them, he doesn’t have one. Nonetheless, though, I don’t see it the way that these fans do.

I am not under the impression that Kai can come back and win a major title. At least not the Arnold or Olympia. Although he does not have any major injuries – he is 49 years of age and has not competed in many years. It’s one thing to look good for the cameras but it’s quite another to get on stage. Plus, we have never actually seen him fully dialed in recent past. He’s always wearing a form-fitting t-shirt or maybe a tank top. Sometimes he might go around shirtless but we don’t know what his wheels look like.

And why on Earth would anybody at that size want to be stage ripped? What would the point of that be? The reality of the matter is that he has always maintained a good shape and he has never really downsized. A lot of commentators have often made points about that because of the fact that it’s just not an everyday occurrence. Most guys once they have stopped competing for good will come down in size dramatically within the first 6 months to a year. Again it costs a lot of money to keep that amount of size. You have to eat like a monster, train like a monster, and let’s be honest you have to take a lot of performance enhancing drugs. Whether you want to call them sarms, anabolics, whatever. Food alone cannot account for that amount of muscularity and especially not without the hardcore training. And to be able to bounce back workout after workout at nearly 50 years of age without the assistance of drugs is just not realistic.

I mean if this was a different publication I could talk to you about the power of faith, I could talk to you about the love of the sport, I could talk to you about the discipline that comes with having millions of fans looking up to you. But that’s not the kind of journalism that we are all about here at Iron Magazine. We are not about writing articles that insult your intelligence. If you’re reading an article here it’s because you know about bodybuilding and it’s because you know about everything that it encompasses. You know about peak week, you know about the tricks guys will do to look better – from the pumping oils that are used to enlarge muscles to the exotic drugs that no one’s ever heard of. Bodybuilding in a very real way is like NASCAR. In NASCAR they test out car parts that the everyday consumer will never see. And in bodybuilding a lot of the competitors run cycles and test out products that are so obscure that even doctors haven’t heard of them. And if they work well for them, then they just have this way of becoming used by everyone that has a gym membership.

But Kai comes from a different era. In his era people didn’t talk about gear. They didn’t even admit to it. I will never forget an interview with Ronnie Coleman where he has asked if he took PED’s and not only did he deny it, but the crowd wanted to all but rush the guy who asked the question. They seemed to want to stone him outside. They very, very upset that somebody would have the disrespect to ask Ronnie Coleman who weighed all of 300 pounds chalked full of muscle, if he actually took gear or not. Nowadays, Ronnie’s response would get laughed at. But back then, his sense of being offended was very much echoed by his fans.

Nonetheless, it doesn’t really matter what area you’re in, if you are an elite-level athlete as Kai is, you’re going to do well. And I don’t know that he has any major injuries. In fact, I would be hard-pressed to talk about any injuries, even minor ones. Kai is an individual that always relied on sensible training and did not go the Ronnie Coleman route. He wasn’t interested in being the strongest bodybuilder, he was more interested in being the most complete one. His physique was spectacular. From the back he was very hard to be. His wheels were on par, his arms were on par, his midsection and his chest were on par. I mean this guy was an absolute monster with a tremendous amount of artistic creativity and a passion for entertainment.

This is why the fans loved him so much and continue to love him today. But I have to agree with Nick Miller, he is 49 years of age, and if he is truly coming back to win a Sandow after so many years off the stage, then I think he will really have his work cut out for him. To suggest that the sport has hit the pause button from 2014 or 2015 or even 2016 until today is absolutely ludicrous. What the judges are looking for is different today than it was then. I don’t know that it’s for the better today though.

We have often heard the argument made that guys in the 90s looked better than they do today. And I would argue that guys 10 years ago also look better than they do today. But that’s neither here nor there. You can’t get into a time machine and take the sport with you. So honestly, I don’t know how competitive Kai would be in the current climate. That is not even the major question though. And whether or not he competed against Phil is also not the issue because Phil is pretty much retired at this point. So what are we talking about?

Well what we are talking about is the fact that Kai has developed a reputation of teasing the fans with comebacks. It’s almost as if every other year or two, he’s doing it. Only for some reason this time around it seems more real. It’s never seemed real in the past. I have always seen it as nothing more than a publicity stunt. But this year is different. This time it seems like he may actually have some sort of a comeback in mind. Again I don’t know exactly what his plans are, only he knows that, but more and more fans are getting the impression that he is in fact going to be doing something.

So as much as it pains me to tell you this, I’m leaving you with the same giant question that I have in my mind as it relates to this potential comeback. I have spoken to people all around who say they have seen Kai training and they have seen Kai looking really good in the gym, but that could be any time. This guy has never gotten fat or out of shape. So all he needs to do is suggest he’s coming back to be taken seriously. And maybe that’s why the myth of a Kai comeback has been able to live on for so many years. In fact, it’s living now with a generation that never even saw Greene compete to begin with. I guess only time will tell – as usual. That said, I appreciate you reading my article, here, at Iron Magazine. I look forward to reading your feedback in the comments.