BRIAN Shaw and Eddie Hall's friendship has come a long way.
The two former World's Strongest Man Champions have become close friends in recent years, even starring in a TV show together while also collaborating on multiple YouTube videos.
However, this friendship took time to form.
'WHO'S THIS NEW GUY?'
Shaw, 40, explained in an exclusive with The U.S. Sun that upon first meeting 35-year-old Hall, also known as The Beast, he thought the Brit was, to put it simply, "loud."
He said: "Eddie and I, our relationship has kind of grown over the years.
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"It started where - and I've told him this - the first couple years he was very kind of out there, like loud, and I was like 'alright who's this new guy?'
"Cause you assume at the beginning 'this guy's not gonna be around that long. Whatever.'''
The two first competed against one another at World's in 2012.
By this point, Shaw had already podiumed three times and was the reigning champion.
Hall, meanwhile, had just been crowned U.K.'s Strongest Man for a second straight year.
But Hall took time to find his feet on the international stage, failing to reach the finals at World's his first two years, during which time Shaw finished fourth and first once more.
HALL STEPS UP
And as Shaw noted, he could see how steadfast Hall was in his desire to improve.
He explained: "He went back and he got better and he trained really hard.
"He showed his dedication to improve and get better."
As their paths continued to cross, Shaw said they began to "walk a little bit more and then we started hanging out a little bit more."
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He said: "I think there was more of a mutual respect from a competition standpoint because I think he looked at me as like 'alright, I wanna beat Brian, I wanna knock him off whatever.'
"So it was a motivating factor where when we would talk, if there was a conversation I would always say 'Hey man, this is what I've done, I'm going to try to help you out.'
"And he really ran with that and was able to get to a really really high level."
Hall went on to finish third in 2016 before breaking the world deadlift record that same year.
With blood pouring from his tear ducts, ears, and nose, Hall managed to lift 500kg, or 1,102 pounds, - a feat he said in 2020 he believed might kill him.
Thankfully he recovered swiftly, and the following year he won the World's before announcing his retirement from the sport shortly afterward.
Shaw, meanwhile, has continued to compete and continued to dominate.
Since failing to reach the final in his rookie year, Shaw has never finished lower than sixth, reaching the podium ten times and winning the title four times.
TV COMES CALLING
Since retiring, Shaw said Hall "has calmed down a lot because he's not competing."
"We've been able to continue having fun.
"We did the Strongest Man in History TV show together, on which we spent a lot of time on the road hanging out and it's just kind of been a friendship that's grown over the years.
"And now we just love to kind of go back and forth.
"So, I get a kick out of him being around and I think it's a unique situation because you have these two massive big strong guys that'll go back and forth with each other, but we're good friends.
"So it's kind of a unique dynamic I think is what it is and I think a lot of people that enjoy the videos that we do together kind of see that kind of unique[ness] cause we're very different people.
"But also when we get together I feel like it's one of those things where opposites almost mesh well with that type of friendship and hanging out and all that type of stuff."
Shaw and Hall starred alongside fellow strongmen Nick Best and Robert Oberst in the 2019 History Channel TV show Strongest Man In History.
Across seven episodes, they traveled the world testing historic and often mythical feats of strength, something Shaw described as along the lines of Mythbusters.
'NEVER SAY NEVER'
But despite positive reviews, with the show currently averaging 8.8 on IMDb, a second season has yet to come to fruition.
Not that it couldn't in the future.
Shaw explained that "you never say never," especially given the unpredictable nature of TV.
While, at this time, "nothing has been talked about," it seemed clear he was keen to return for a second series.
He said: "It's unfortunate in a lot of ways because I really personally liked the show a lot because I enjoy strength history and it was neat to kind of go back and tell the story of some of these strength legends and what they had done and then almost do like a Mythbusters type of a thing where 'was it true? Was it not true?'
"Cause some of the stuff wasn't super well documented.
"So it was fun. I would love to do it."
Shaw also noted how he believed the show had introduced the sport of strongman to a wider audience, thanks in no small part to their ability to blend the history with their own humor.
He admitted that he knows "a lot of people were disappointed it didn't come back. I was disappointed as well."
However, Shaw was keeping the door open to a return to the format in years to come, saying: "Who knows in the future? I think it'd be fun to be able to tell some of those stories for sure."
