Armwrestling’s biggest professional platforms are entering a defining stretch, with East vs. West and King of the Table building cards around vacant championships, high-stakes supermatches, and the return of several of the sport’s most recognisable names. The immediate focus is East vs. West 27 in Budapest on October 24, where two right-arm world titles will be decided on a 12-match card.
The main event sees Russia’s Vitaly Laletin face Poland’s Kamil Jablonski for the vacant East vs. West right-arm super heavyweight title. The belt became available after Levan Saginashvili relinquished it while recovering from injury, ending a period in which the Georgian powerhouse had held the championship since taking it from Devon Larratt in April 2024. Laletin already owns the left-arm super heavyweight crown, so victory would move him closer to becoming an undisputed champion in the division.
Jablonski arrives with momentum from his title-eliminator win over Georgi Tsvetkov at East vs. West 25 in Batumi. His power and top-roll pressure make him a credible challenger, but Laletin’s combination of length, hand control, and back pressure presents a different kind of problem. The winner will not merely collect a belt; they will inherit the responsibility of defending a championship created by the absence of the sport’s most dominant super heavyweight.
The second title fight features Michael Todd against Dave Chaffee for the right-arm heavyweight interim world title. Todd’s inclusion adds star power and a familiar American storyline, while Chaffee brings the raw strength and pressing style needed to challenge for gold. An interim belt keeps the heavyweight division active while the wider title picture remains unsettled, and it gives both athletes a direct route toward an eventual unification match.
The supporting card gives the event further depth. Devon Larratt returns against Ibragim Sagov in a right-arm supermatch, while other announced bouts include Joseph Meranto versus Valen Low, Rickerd Bornman versus Filip Larsson, Rustam Babaev versus Maayan Sterengass, and Barbi Bajcseva versus Marta Volkova. These matchups matter because East vs. West has increasingly used its cards to build contenders rather than rely only on isolated headline attractions.
East vs. West 26 in Jiaxing, China, had already demonstrated the value of that approach. Oleg Cherkasov defeated Artur Makarov 4-3 in a dramatic seven-round 77 kg world title match, while Bogdan Stoica retained his 95 kg championship against Irakli Zirakashvili. Those results reshaped two divisions and showed that title defenses can be as compelling as the promotion’s biggest super heavyweight showdowns.
King of the Table remains the other major stage for one-off supermatches. Its recent cards have featured elite names such as Laletin, Todd, Ivan Matyushenko, Kamil Jablonski, Ibragim Sagov, and Artur Makarov, with results that directly influence the wider professional landscape. Laletin’s 3-0 win over Todd at King of the Table 14, for example, reinforced his status before the current East vs. West title picture opened up.
The contrast between the two promotions is part of their appeal. East vs. West tends to build sustained championship structures, with belts, eliminators, and long-term rivalries. King of the Table delivers concentrated supermatch cards, often pairing stars whose paths might otherwise take longer to cross. Together, they give armwrestling a rare mix of continuity and spectacle.
With Laletin-Jablonski and Todd-Chaffee headlining East vs. West 27, the sport now has two immediate title stories and several potential future challengers. Whether the new champions can defend successfully—and whether Saginashvili returns to reclaim his place—will shape the next major cycle in professional armwrestling.