WSM Qualifying Tour: - Glimpse at early years inc the athletes and founder Colin Bryce

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In 2009, the Mohegan Sun Grand Prix became the very first GIANTS LIVE contest - taking over from the SUPER SERIES as the WSM Qualifying Tour.

There has been just two official qualifying series for the World's Strongest Man. The original series was called the Super Series and the qualifying concept was created by the then Super Series producer Colin Bryce. Bryce introduced the Tour to WSM ion 2005 after the sudden departure of IFSA, the former strongman federation that ran WSM as a contest. IFSA's withdrawal from WSM and its own ambitions of creating a new World Championships of Strongman had left the WSM contest without athletes. WSM had been serviced by IFSA for the previous decade and the athletes who competed at WSM had needed to become IFSA athletes to take part. With no IFSA there was no strongmen, and no expertise in strongman events the WSM contest of 2005 looked in serious doubt. However, a tour that had been unhappy with IFSA's decisions - the Super Series - had not also been left out by the Federation and Tour producer Colin Bryce, who wad a number of new athletes competing at the super series events then offered WSM the chance to build a new system that would be more transparent in its selection as well as build the pool of athletes the show needed to continue on., This agreement made the first open qualifying route and definitive guide as to how athletes could gain a place at WSM each year. The official Qualifying Tour was born.

The owners included Odd Haugen (former Strongman) and Ulf Bengtsson (former Bodybuilder), as well as the Series Producer and Presenter Colin Bryce who had previously been reserve athlete at WSM as well as MC at the show.,

Bryce offered up the then Super Series strongman tour and TWI accepted, and in doing so started a new and more open chapter on how athletes could make it to through the new 'Official World's Strongest Man Qualifying Tour to compete at WSM each year.

By 2009, the Super Series had had put on some impressive events including the Madison Sq Garden contest of 2008. However, a few lacklustre events lead Bryce in search of new partners to grow the the concept. In 2009, the Worlds largest live event company. - AEG Live - partnered up with Bryce to star a new Qualifying Tour. The series was called Giants Live.

Despite a successful beginning at the Mohegan Sun arena in Connecticut, AEG ended their association at the end of the 2009 tour and with several other small sports Tours they cut Giants Live. Giants Live continued on as the sole owner Colin Bryce began make a series of promotional partnerships with venues and promoters around the World. The best of these came in 2012, when Giants Live had a great. success with a new promoter Darren Sadler at Headingley Stadium. Sadler was a former WSM competitor and the pair's partnership and subsequent joint ownership of Giants Live has seen strongman events hit record attendances . In 2016, the pair filled the first direct arena with nearly 12,,000 fans, who witnessed Englishman Eddie Hall deadlift 500kg. This was a record crowd for any strength event in recorded history.

This video is an old promo that was created after Giants Live completed its 2010 season. Much has happened in strongman since but these early arena shows were then ground breaking for a sport that had failed to reach the heights it once was at in Victorian times. Strongman in the 20th century had a reputation of being a side show and more very often than not it was held in car parks or local gyms. These arena events and the resulting TV have helped change the landscape and prospects of strongman and the strongmen who do it,.