It’s Not A Sandwich, It’s A . . . A Big, Disgusting Sandwich!

Unintended consequences: Carnegie Deli sandwiches proved excessive by a team of sumo wrestlers — some over 600 pounds:

At only 245 pounds, Levan Altunashvilli was the lightest of the 14 men who clambered off a minivan at the Carnegie Deli in Midtown yesterday and was served a Woody Allen.

For the record, a Woody Allen is an enormous pastrami and corned beef sandwich on rye bread that was named for someone who weighs a little more than half of what Mr. Altunashvilli weighs and who is pretty much the physical opposite of what Mr. Altunashvilli is: a sumo wrestler.

But the Woody Allen, with two pounds of meat, was too much lunch for Mr. Altunashvilli. “I eat like everybody,” he said between bites, “only I eat four or five times a day.”

With 14 sumo wrestlers together at lunch, there were biceps that jiggled and stomachs that flopped over waistbands. There was even shirt removal – Oni pa’a Imua Pa’a’aina, who is from Hawaii and weighs 450 pounds, stripped to the waist. Anything to keep from spilling ketchup on a white sweatshirt.

Yes, Virginia! Not all sumo wrestlers indulge in two pounds of cold cuts at one time:

The wrestlers said they did not mind being the center of a spectacle as they signed napkins for autograph-seekers who had never heard of them. “It’s marketing,” said Hans Borg, 324 pounds, from Norway. “It’s good for the sport.”

This was after he had pushed himself away from the table, saying, “Can’t finish. An athlete can’t eat this much pork meat.”

. . .

Ronny Allman, who weighs 286 pounds and is from Norway, had a more varied lunch in mind: “A couple of eggs, three or four slices of bread, a little meat.” He said he puts away 10,000 calories a day, in installments.

“We like food,” he said. But putting down his knife and fork and leaving about half of his Woody Allen behind, he said, “This is too much to eat at one time. You’d get sick.”