It looked like a wrestling match was about to break out when Men’s Fitness editorial director Dave Zinczenko shook hands with CNN’s “New Day” anchor Chris Cuomo on Tuesday night.
The two muscle-building mavens were at the Cinema Society screening of “Guardians of the Galaxy” at the Crosby Hotel, surrounded by the Disney movie’s stars: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel and Lee Pace.
A couple of years ago, after a well-lubricated dinner at Waverly Inn, Zinczenko — the author of “The Abs Diet” and “Eat This, Not That” — had an arm-wrestling match against the macho Cuomo in nearby Abingdon Square Park. And Zinczenko, who appears regularly on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” won.
“Cuomo immediately asked for a rematch, but Dave refused for a long time,” a source told me. Eventually, Cuomo did win the oft-demanded rematch, but my source said he’s never seemed to get over the initial defeat.
When the brother of Gov. Andrew Cuomo gripped Zinczenko’s hand at the screening, and pulled him in, it looked like he wanted to wrestle Zinczenko right then and there. But the only violence was on-screen.
Enjoying the movie, and the after-party at Jimmy at the James Hotel, were Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Seth Meyers, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Dan Abrams, Natasha Lyonne and Ian Ziering, whose “Sharknado 2” aired last night on the SyFy channel.
Ziering just finished six weeks performing with Chippendales in Las Vegas, prompting Kelly Bensimon to praise his “12-pack.”
“You can’t have a muffin top if you’re dancing with Chippendales,” Ziering advised.
Nick Loeb, his heart mending after four years of dating Sofía Vergara, seemed shy.
Pratt, who is charming in the movie as a Han-Solo-like space cowboy, was looking forward to going home to his child and wife, actress Anna Faris, after weeks of nonstop promotion, and was happily anticipating starring in some sequels.