Ronnie Hartman, better known to pro wrestling fans as Megabyte Ronnie, is one of the best competitive eaters in the world. Last year, at the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating contest, he managed to put down twenty-five dogs on the way to take fifteenth place. An impressive amount of hot dogs, and buns, but far from the sixty-three that legendary eater Joey Chestnut was able to put down for the win. Regardless, Ronnie is undeterred and looks to continue his path in the world of professional eating.
“As weird as it sounds, I’m not very good at chewing and swallowing,” he told Haus of Wrestling in an exclusive interview. “Even when I’m eating a regular meal, I have to really chew and swallow. Sometimes, shit just gets caught in my throat. So, when I eat, I eat really violently, like, I’m torquing my body a lot just to try and get that food down. I’m just not able to do that with the back injury.”
The injury that Ronnie is referring to is a crushed disc in his back that was discovered earlier this year, sadly as a result of abuse he suffered as a child. Due to the injury, he was forced to retire from pro wrestling, and it has also, obviously, served as a setback to his eating career.
“When I retired from wrestling, I was like, ‘Alright, well, I gotta find something else to do.’ So I’m just gonna dive right into hot dog season, Fourth of July is right around the corner,” he said. “I did one hot dog practice, and I got like, I don’t know, 5 or 10 hot dogs in, and I just, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do it at the ability I needed to do it in order to qualify this year.
“So, I’m not gonna put my body through all that trying to get ready when I’m not going to be able to qualify with the shape I’m in right now. As I said before, it’s hard for me to imagine ever not wanting to be there on the Fourth of July. So, I’ll be back at it next year, for sure, but I just have to take care of this first.”
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