Ted Arcidi

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Ted Arcidi
Arcidi in 2022
Birth nameTheodore Arcidi
Born (1958-06-16) June 16, 1958 (age 65)
Buffalo, New York, U.S.A
Alma mater
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Ted Arcidi
Billed height5 ft 11 in (180 cm)[1]
Billed weight285 lb (129 kg)[1]
Billed fromBoston, Massachusetts[1]
Trained byTony Altomare
Debut1985
Retired1990

Theodore Arcidi[2] (born June 16, 1958) is an American former professional wrestler, actor and powerlifter. He is known to be the first man in history to bench press over 700 pounds in competition, establishing an official world record.[3]

Powerlifting/Bench press world record[edit]

Ted Arcidi bench pressed 705.5 pounds (320 kg) on March 3, 1985 at Gus Rethwisch's Budweiser World Record Breakers in Honolulu, Hawaii for an APF & USPF world record, to become the first man to bench 700 pounds in an officially recognized powerlifting competition.[1][2][4] Then, after being 5 1/2 years away from competition due to his wrestling career, he made a comeback. Weighing 291 pounds, Arcidi set another world record with a 718.1 lbs bench press at the APF Bench Press Invitational on September 30, 1990, in Keene, New Hampshire.[5] On September 14, 1991, at a Mr. Olympia contest, he squared off face to face with his greatest rival Anthony Clark to determine who the greatest bench presser of the world was. Arcidi defeated the much bigger Clark (5'8", 375 lbs) by pressing 725 pounds off his chest to establish yet a new, but controversial, world record.[6] The attempt was later disqualified after it was revealed that Arcidi had failed to lock out his arms due to bone spurs in his elbows which he had corrected with surgery.[5]

Arcidi's 705 pound all-time world record bench press was performed in one of the earliest bench shirts - an original prototype supportive bench press shirt, which was 50% polyester and 50% cotton and only one layer thick.[7][8] It was thus later categorized as "equipped", although it did not improve his bench by much, if anything.[7] In 1984 Arcidi had benched an official 666.9 pounds (302.5 kg) at 286.0 pounds bodyweight completely raw, without a bench shirt in Honolulu, Hawaii as well.[9] He is considered to be one of the greatest bench pressers of all time.[6]

Personal records[edit]

Done in official powerlifting full meets:

  • Raw bench press:
    • 666.9 lbs (302.5 kg) @308 lb class (286 lb bodyweight)[10] raw without wrist wraps (1984 Honolulu, Hawaii) (USPF/APF/WPC)
    • 650.4 lbs (295.0 kg) @275 lb class (275 lb bodyweight)[10] raw without wrist wraps (1983 Westminster, Maryland) (NSM)
→ current all-time raw (unequipped) bench press world records in the 308lb and 275lb classref [11] (have never been surpassed since the 1980s)

Done in official bench-only invitational meet:

  • Equipped bench press: 718.1 lbs (325.7 kg) @308 lb class (291 lb bodyweight) in an early bench shirt (1990 Keene, New Hampshire) (APF)
→ former all-time bench press world record regardless of weight class and equipment

Professional wrestling career[edit]

Arcidi lifted for several years and eventually was sought by and debuted in Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in late 1985.[1] Arcidi faced other "strongmen" such as Tony Atlas, Big John Stud, and Hercules Hernandez during his stint and made a single appearance at WrestleMania 2 in the WWF/NFL Battle Royal.[1][12] In 1986, he wrestled Big John Studd at the Boston Garden. He was the first WWF wrestler to hold the moniker of "The World’s Strongest Man".[13]

Arcidi was released by the WWF upon the return of former Olympic "strongman" Ken Patera (who was returning after a 2-year stint in prison) as Vince McMahon did not want to have issues with having two men billed as the "World's Strongest Man". Although his tenure was brief, Arcidi did have an action figure produced by LJN for their Wrestling Superstars toy line. Patera had been instrumental in Arcidi's signing with Titan Sports-WWF. His final match was against Jake Roberts on February 14, 1987 in Calgary, Alberta.[14]

After his WWF run, he went to Calgary and briefly worked for Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling.[13] After that, Arcidi moved on the World Class Championship Wrestling in Dallas, Texas, where he was known as "Mr. 705" (referring to his world record bench press). He was managed by Percival Pringle III and was part of a stable of wrestlers including Rick Rude, the Dingo Warrior and Cactus Jack Manson. Arcidi captured that organization's Texas Heavyweight Championship on August 31, 1987 and held it until he lost to Matt Borne on November 10 that same year.[15] Arcidi left the organization in 1990 to pursue other endeavors. He made several appearances in the Caribbean but never came back to national stature.

Business ventures[edit]

Arcidi has several ventures outside of his wrestling and bench press careers. Among these are his ownership of New England's largest women's gym in Manchester, New Hampshire, a supplement company called Arcidi Strength Systems, and a gym equipment company called Weightlifters Warehouse. He is also focusing on an acting career with parts in films and shows such as Law & Order and in several commercials. In the early 1980s, he was a part-time physical education teacher at Concord Middle School in Concord, MA and ran a weightlifting class in the town in the mid-1980s. He was instrumental in the initial strength coaching of both Paul "Triple H" Levesque and Joanie "Chyna" Laurer and assisted them in contacting Killer Kowalski, who trained them for wrestling.[16][17]

Championships and accomplishments[edit]

Filmography[edit]

The table below comes from IMDb.[20]

Year Title Role Type
2020 Defending Jacob (miniseries) Kingston TV mini series
2020 Ray Donovan Ricky Ronsen TV series
2019 Blue Bloods (TV series) [21] Robbie Gold TV series
2018 The Equalizer 2 [22] Big Ernie Movie
2018 The Path The Super TV series
2017 Born Guilty Larry Movie
2016 Donald Cried [23] Corey Movie
2014 The Leftovers Tow Truck Driver TV series
2013 The Family Tommy (Mobster) Movie
2013 Standing Up Mr. Falco Short
2011 The A Plate Chuck Movie
2011 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Prison Guard #1 TV series
2011 Nurse Jackie Driver Movie
2011 30 Rock Tony TV series
2010 Smark Eddie Rocket Movie
2010 The Fighter Lou Gold Movie
2010 The Town Cedar Junction C.O. Movie
2010 The Imperialists Are Still Alive! Don Movie
2009 Don McKay [24] Officer Randall Movie
2008 Lipstick Jungle Cop TV series
2005 Commitment Sully Short
2005 Losers of the Year Larry the Cop Video
2004 Heart of Spider Jimmy Short
2000 Prince of Central Park Construction Worker Movie
2000 H&G Cooking show cook Short
1999 The Good Man's Sin George Short
1998 Law & Order Landlord TV series
1998 Bobby Loves Mangos Mr. Coine Short
1987 Jake the Snake Roberts Ted Arcidi Video

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f Shields, Brian and Kevin Sullivan (2009). WWE Encyclopedia. DK/BradyGAMES. p. 299. ISBN 978-0-7566-4190-0.
  2. ^ a b Ted Arcidi Archived 2013-10-29 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Meltzer, Dave (2004). Tributes II : remembering more of the world's greatest professional wrestlers. Sports Publishing. ISBN 1-58261-817-8. OCLC 226237533.
  4. ^ Meltzer, Dave (2004). Tributes II: Remembering More of the World's Greatest Professional Wrestlers. Sports Publishing LLC. p. 102. ISBN 1-58261-817-8.
  5. ^ a b Weis, Dennis B. "Powerlifter Ted Arcidi interview". Power Bobybuilding. Archived from the original on 2007-11-12. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  6. ^ a b "World's Strongest Man of... Wrestling". PYGOD. strengthfighter.com. Archived from the original on 2012-09-18. Retrieved 2012-10-13.
  7. ^ a b "Ted Arcidi concerning Bench Press Shirts". Ted Arcidi. chrislift.com. Archived from the original on 2013-10-29. Retrieved 2012-10-07.
  8. ^ Todd, Jan; Morais, Dominic; Pollack, Ben (2015). "Shifting Gear: A Historical Analysis of the Use of Supportive Apparel in Powerlifting". Iron Game History: The Journal of Physical Culture. 13: 37–56.
  9. ^ "Powerlifter Ted Arcidi interview". Powerlifting Watch. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2012-10-14.
  10. ^ a b ALL TIME HISTORICAL MEN AND WOMEN’S POWERLIFTING WORLD RECORDS Archived 2013-06-03 at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ Vasquez, Johnny. "Men's All-time Raw World Records". powerliftingwatch.com. Archived from the original on 2012-11-20. Retrieved 2013-06-22.
  12. ^ "World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)", Encyclopedia of Children, Adolescents, and the Media, SAGE Publications, Inc., 2007, p. 351, doi:10.4135/9781412952606.n471, ISBN 9781412905305, retrieved 2023-06-13
  13. ^ a b "What Superstars hold weightlifting records?". WWE. Retrieved 2023-06-13.
  14. ^ "1987". thehistoryofwwe.com. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
  15. ^ "WCWA Texas Heavyweight Championship". Cagematch.
  16. ^ "tOa Triple H Biography". the Other arena. Archived from the original on 2008-02-10. Retrieved 2007-08-19.
  17. ^ "Triple H - a biography of WWE Superstar Triple H". About. Archived from the original on 2007-09-23. Retrieved 2007-09-26.
  18. ^ Will, Gary; Duncan, Royal (2000). "Texas: NWA Texas Heavyweight Title [Von Erich]". Wrestling Title Histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Pennsylvania: Archeus Communications. pp. 268–269. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  19. ^ "NWA Texas Heavyweight Title". Wrestling-Titles. Archived from the original on December 30, 2015. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  20. ^ "From IMDb". IMDb. Archived from the original on 2023-01-24. Retrieved 2022-08-24.
  21. ^ "Frank tries to reinstate an officer he previously fired after he questions the circumstances surrounding her firing, on a rebroadcast of "Blue Bloods", Friday, Oct. 23". Paramount Press Express. October 1, 2020.
  22. ^ admin (2018-08-24). "The Equalizer 2. Film Review". Liverpool Sound and Vision. Retrieved 2023-06-13.
  23. ^ "High school past comes back to haunt in 'Donald Cried'". The Providence Journal. Retrieved 2023-06-13.
  24. ^ "'Don McKay': A Noir Too Far, By Kurt Loder". MTV. Retrieved 2023-06-13.

External links[edit]

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