Is Nick Walker Smoking Crack? – IronMag Bodybuilding & Fitness Blog

by Christian Duque

So I think that Nick Walker understands how bodybuilding works and understands the value of marketing. I think having ambition is a great thing, especially when you’re trying to be the best at anything and in Walker’s case he wants to be the best bodybuilder on the planet. He needs to give snacks to his fan base from time to time. There’s no real harm in that.

Now I know that he would have loved to have been the first Pittsburgh Pro open bodybuilding champion, but that just was not the case. So what did he do? Well, instead of complaining or kicking up sand, he found the next best thing, the New York Pro. He went there and he won big. That’s really nothing to sneeze about because that makes him a 3x New York Pro champion. And in a world where marketing is so important, having a title like that three times is no small achievement. Plus the New York Pro is the third largest bodybuilding show in the world, followed only by the Olympia and Arnold Classic. Plus, New York has always been a focal point for the sport. In fact I would argue that the tri-state area is one of the most fertile areas for the sport in the world. Between New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, you have a lion’s share of the American bodybuilding fanbase all within close proximity. It only makes sense that Nick wanted to go there and want to cement his position as a top contender, but he’s not the #1 contender.

Derek Lunsford, a former Mr Olympia, won the Arnold Classic, the second biggest bodybuilding show, and won the first-ever Pittsburgh Pro, both in 2025.. If anyone has a claim to being the number one contender it would be Derek first, then Nick. But you also have Hadi Choopan, who took runner up at the Olympia last year. By virtue of that placing, he should be the number one contender. Then you have other people like Martin Fitzwater knocking on the door. I would say he’s in the running as well. Plus, there is pretty credible talk of Big Ramy making a comeback. Ramy is a 2x Mr O. Then you have Brandon doing the Masters O in 2025 and he’s also a past Mr O. I’d say all of these guys are higher up the pecking order than Nick and all of these guys have a stronger contender-status than The Mutant.

But that’s not going to stop Walker from running his mouth. He knows that his mouth will get him attention, not his shape. He has an ugly physique with very bad aesthetics, practically no flow, and virtually nonexistent symmetry. He’s essentially a mass monster that has been able to win some some pretty important titles, but nobody is going to race towards him to be the face of their product. Not unless their product is some trash bulking product that is supposed to add 20 pounds of some kind of mass on users. He lacks the artistic, aesthetic physique that most companies want in their ads. If you were to poll most people and ask them who they would rather look like, C-Bum or Nick Walker, I think most people would say Bumstead. I don’t think anyone would say Nick. He looks like a cartoon character and I don’t mean that in a flattering kind of way. But that being said it’s his mouth that gets clicks. In an industry driven by website traffic and website retention, that mouth has a value to it. Plus he’s a freak. He is a mass monster and he’s a freak; he likes to run his mouth and he doesn’t care if he’s politically correct or if he burns bridges. For all of those factors, he is going to get a lot of media attention. And as a result of getting a lot of media attention, he’s going to get a lot of buzz. A lot of handicappers are going to feel almost obligated to include him in their Top 6. I don’t want to suggest that he can’t make it into the Top 6, but I also don’t want to make it seem like it’s a foregone conclusion because it’s not.

When Nick Walker tells the world that he knows and allegedly the whole world knows, that he beat Derek Lunsford in Pittsburgh, to me that’s trash talk. Because I would consider myself to be a bodybuilding fan and I think that by virtue of my nearly 2,000 articles in the sport that I could call myself a bodybuilding journalist. I’ve covered the sport in pretty much half the states of the country and in various countries around the world. I don’t think Nick Walker beat Derek in Pittsburgh and I don’t think that Nick Walker can automatically defeat the top three contenders if they simply do not come in at 100%. I think that Samson can beat Nick at 90%, I think Derek can beat Nick at probably 85%, I think Hadi can destroy Nick – maybe 80%. And I understand that this may sound insulting to the New York Pro Champion, but this guy has not been on an Olympia stage in 2 years and in all honesty he just does not have the physique to take these guys out without the fight of his life.

When Nick says if they’re not at 100% he’s going to beat them, that sounds like a guy who has way too much confidence in himself and is not entirely in line with reality. Like I said, the power of marketing is critical. If an athlete does not have faith in themselves, no one is going to. This guy needs to think that he’s the best bodybuilder to ever hit the stage at the Olympia. He needs to feel like he is invincible. The problem is, it’s one thing to feel a certain kind of way and it’s quite another to actually articulate it and put that out as an opinion whether on a podcast or in an article. When a guy like Nick starts asserting this nonsense as fact, he starts to look like he’s one sandwich short of a picnic basket.

It’s a good thing for Nick that he’s competing in 2025. The old timers make a valid point. A guy with Nick Walker’s look would have been laughed off the stage in the Haney 80’s or the ultra competitive late 90’s. Even in the 2000’s, Nick would have been crushed by the likes of Ronnie, Jay, and Gustavo.
Walker has a huge, blocky look. His midsection is already a problem and he lacks the consistency to be a top contender. He did two shows in 2025. I don’t doubt he has the potential to do great things moving forward, but his ego is totally out of control. And what’s worse, when he feels disrespected, he goes into full-blown diva mode. I know, because the guy warned me to “keep it positive.” Who says that to a journalist? And of course, shortly thereafter, he blocked me. A big ego and thin skin is the kind of combination that creates a monster. If Nick places out of the Top 6, he’ll totally lose his shit. That is, if he even takes the stage at the 2025 Mr O.

How do you think Nick will do at the 2025 Mr Olympia? Do you feel he is the true #1 contender? As always, thank you for reading my article, here, at IronMag. I look forward to reading your feedback in the comments. Be sure to copy and paste a link to this article on all your social media feeds. It will drum up some lively conversation.