Bam Bam Bigelow
Bam Bam Bigelow (real name Scott Charles Bigelow, born September 1, 1961) was an American professional wrestler from New Jersey, commonly referred to as "The Beast From The East." While his most famous run was with the WWF (now WWE), he also made appearances for WCW and ECW in the 1990s. A big man, nearly 400 pounds, Bam Bam stood out from the other monsters in the business by being particularly agile for his size, as well as his trademark look: tights with a flame motif to match the tattoo of flames on his skull.
Bam Bam held numerous titles during his career, including the ECW World Heavyweight Championship and the WCW Hardcore Championship. He never held any titles in the WWF, but he was also part of numerous pay-per-view main events and many memorable moments in the company's history. In a famous Wrestlemania main event in 1995, he main evented against New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor. By the end of the 1990s, Bam Bam was in WCW and stayed there until the bitter end.
Some of you may remember him in his cameo appearance as a biker in the movie Major Payne. You know, the big biker dude who got his ass handed to him in two minutes.
Bigelow was found dead on January 19, 2007, in his home in Hudson, Florida. He was 45 years old. That Other Wiki has a more detailed rundown of his two-decade career.
Tropes associated with Bam Bam Bigelow include:
- Acrofatic: Weighed close to 400lbs at various stages of his career, and was still athletic enough to pull out moonsaults and cartwheel around the ring.
- Badass
- Bald of Evil: The flames tattoo gives this trope a whole new meaning.
- Bald of Awesome: As a Face and in Real Life
- The Brute: Defined this as well as anybody else in the business.
- Demoted to Extra: Bam Bam main evented Wrestlemania XI, but after a Heel Face Turn, he wound up a second banana to Diesel for the next several months.
- Executive Meddling: A victim of this at the hands of The Kliq back in the 90's, according to him and several others.
- Finishing Move: The "Wham, Bam, Thank You, Maam" (flying headbutt), "Greetings From Asbury Park" (over the shoulder piledriver), "Bam Bam Sault" (moonsault) and "Nuclear Splash".
- Heroic Fire Rescue: A Real Life case. Back in 2000, Bigelow received 2nd degree burns to 40% of his body rescuing 3 young children from a burning house near his Florida home.
- Hot-Blooded
- Mean Character, Nice Actor: Worked primarily as a Heel throughout his career, but was noted for being a very friendly Gentle Giant by his fellow wrestlers behind the scenes and fans who got to meet him.
- Only Sane Man: Survivor Series 1993, an 8-man tag team match involving a whole bunch of clowns, the Headshrinkers, Bastion Booger, water balloons, banana peels and scooters. Bam Bam stood out just by wrestling like he always does.
- Punch-Punch-Punch Uh-Oh: Defied - hell, outright mocked - in a Royal Rumble 1994 match with Tatanka, who typically started "hulking up" in his matches by doing a war dance. With clubbing forearms proving ineffective, Bam Bam shut him up by just kicking the poor bastard in the back of the head. And just to rub it in, he mocked the war dance!
- Traumatic Haircut: Cut a big chunk out of Tatanka's hair in a 1993 angle.
- Unholy Matrimony: With his "main squeeze" Luna Vachon.
- You Have Failed Me...: Ted DiBiase invoked this on Bam Bam after his Wrestlemania match with Lawrence Taylor (and after Bam Bam failed to beat Diesel in a Raw match), thus ousting him from the Million Dollar Corporation and setting up Bam Bam's Heel Face Turn.