Michael Todd

Michael Todd, widely known as “Monster Michael Todd,” is an American professional armwrestler and one of the most accomplished super heavyweight competitors of the modern era. Born on June 12, 1973, in Arkansas, Todd began competing seriously in armwrestling at the age of seventeen and entered his first professional championship tournament at nineteen. Over a career spanning more than three decades, Todd has accumulated dozens of national and world-level titles. His official website credits him with 23 world titles and 36 national titles, while historical tournament records document extensive success across American national championships, professional supermatches, Arm Wars, the Ultimate Armwrestling League, the Professional Armwrestling League and the World Armwrestling League. Todd became especially prominent during the 2000s and 2010s through major professional supermatch victories against elite opponents. He recorded wins over athletes such as Tim Bresnan, Sergey Tokarev, Jerry Cadorette, Andrey Pushkar and Denis Cyplenkov. During the latter part of the 2010s, he became one of the dominant figures of the World Armwrestling League. In 2017, Todd won the WAL Super Heavyweight Championship. In 2018, he defeated Devon Larratt 3–2 in a title-versus-title match to capture the WAL Heavyweight title while retaining his Super Heavyweight status. In 2019, he defeated Dave Chaffee and later Jerry Cadorette, successfully retaining his position at the top of the WAL heavyweight division. Todd is best known technically for his use of the King’s Move, an extreme open-arm defensive position that became closely associated with his competitive style. Multiple fractures and structural changes to his right arm affected his range of motion and contributed to the development of this highly defensive approach. His ability to survive losing positions, maintain pronation, attack an opponent’s hand and transition back into offensive positions made him one of the most difficult pullers to finish during his peak years. After a difficult period between 2021 and 2023, Todd rebuilt his competitive form and returned strongly in 2024. He recorded victories over Frank Lamparelli, Kamil Jablonski and Genadi Kvikvinia, among others. In June 2026, at East vs West 24 in Little Rock, Arkansas, Todd defeated Oleg Petrenko 4–0 to win the Right-Arm Light Heavyweight World Championship at 105 kg. Todd has competed successfully with both arms during his career, although his right arm has been the primary focus of his elite professional achievements. His longevity, adaptability and success across several generations have established him as one of the most recognizable American armwrestlers of the modern era.