Bam Bam Bigelow

**Scott Charles Bigelow** (September 1, 1961 – January 19, 2007) was an American professional wrestler, better known as **Bam Bam Bigelow**. He was most recognizable due to the tattoo which covered his head, and is known as one of wrestling's greatest big men to ever step foot into the ring.

Bigelow is known for his appearances with promotions New Japan Pro-Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) between 1987 and 2001. Over the course of his career, he held championships including the ECW World Heavyweight Championship, the ECW World Television Championship, the IWGP Tag Team Championship, the WAR World Six-Man Tag Team Championship, and the WCW World Tag Team Championship.

## Professional wrestling career

Bigelow was trained as a wrestler at Larry Sharpe's "Monster Factory" in Mount Laurel Township, New Jersey. He debuted in Memphis, Tennessee in 1985, and was named **Crusher Yurkov** by Fritz Von Erich so he could play the character of a Russian heel.

Upon leaving Memphis, Bigelow adopted various ring names before settling on the ring name he would use for the rest of his life and career, **Bam Bam Bigelow**.

In late 1987, he was hired by the World Wrestling Federation. The storyline upon his debut was that the various heel managers were all vying for Bigelow's services. The angle was thus dubbed "The Battle for Bam Bam". Bigelow in the end wound up a babyface when he denounced all the heel managers and announced that his manager was going to be Oliver Humperdink.

His first WWF encounters were with Nikolai Volkoff and his jilted manager Slick. Bigelow wrestled as a part of Hulk Hogan's team at the first Survivor Series in 1987, in which survived longer than even Hogan and closed out the PPV battling Andre the Giant. He wrestled in the WWF for one year before leaving to have knee surgery just after an upset loss by countout to the One Man Gang in the first round of Wrestlemania IV's World Championship tournament.

Bigelow briefly reemerged with the NWA Jim Crockett Promotions in late 1988 to challenge Barry Windham for the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship, and then to Japan to work for Antonio Inoki in New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he formed a tag team with Big Van Vader, and won the IWGP World Tag Team Championship. In 1992 he left NJPW and wrestled for several other Japanese promotions, such as WAR.

In late 1992 Bigelow returned to the WWF and defeated the Big Bossman at the 1993 Royal Rumble. Also in 1993 Bigelow made it to the finals of the 1993 King of the Ring tournament losing to Bret Hart.

Luna Vachon was brought in at this time as Bam Bam's "main squeeze" and manager. Bigelow went on to feud with Tatanka and Doink the Clown, losing to Tatanka at the 1994 Royal Rumble and teaming with Luna to defeat Doink and Dink at Wrestlemania X.

In mid-1994, he joined Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation and often teamed with fellow Corporation members Irwin R. Schyster and his former nemesis Tatanka. Bigelow also survived a high profile Survivor Series style match with Corporation member King Kong Bundy at the 1994 Survivor Series over Lex Luger's Guts and Glory team.

After Bigelow and Tatanka lost in the finals of a World Tag Team Title tournament to Bob Holly and the 1-2-3 Kid at the 1995 Royal Rumble, Bigelow was mocked at ringside by former New York Giants All-Pro Lawrence Taylor. Bam Bam fought back, shoving LT at ringside and was soon engaged in a highly-publicised feud with the famous football player.

Bigelow was defeated by Taylor in the main event at WrestleMania XI in a match for which Bigelow was paid $250,000 and Taylor $1,000,000. According to Online World of Wrestling: *"Everyone expected a fluff match with lots of shoving and perhaps a token bodyslam or two. Instead, it turns out to be one of the most impressive matches by a non pro wrestler in years. Taylor and Bigelow hold nothing back as they trade devastating and high risk moves. Taylor finally prevails and pins Bigelow after a grueling and highly entertaining 11 minutes and 42 seconds. However, Taylor pays the price with what appears to be a real injury, a dislocated shoulder."*

Shortly thereafter, Bigelow quit Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation and turned babyface. He then teamed with then WWF Champion Diesel at the 1995 King of the Ring to defeat Corporation members Tatanka and Sycho Sid.

After rumoured problems backstage with the Kliq, Bigelow left the WWF in 1995 and made a few appearances in Extreme Championship Wrestling in early 1996, feuding with Taz.

On November 17, 1996 Bigelow competed in a "U-Japan" mixed martial arts event against Kimo Leopoldo. Bigelow was dominated throughout the match, being mounted within the first 10 seconds. He lost to a rear naked choke in the first round.

He returned to ECW in 1997, where he eventually joined the reformed Triple Threat with Chris Candido and leader, Shane Douglas. He was a dominant force in ECW, carrying out feats of strength such as hurling Spike Dudley out of the ring and into the audience and slamming Taz through the ring. He held the ECW World Television Championship and the ECW World Heavyweight Championship during his stay there.

On November 16, 1998 Bigelow debuted in World Championship Wrestling. He initially feuded with WCW World Heavyweight Champion Goldberg before competing in the WCW Hardcore division along with fellow ECW alumni Raven and Hardcore Hak. He formed a stable with Diamond Dallas Page and Chris Kanyon known as the Jersey Triad in May 1999.

After the Triad disbanded, Bigelow began feuding with Mike Awesome, who defeated him in an ambulance match at StarrCade 2000.

In July 2000, Bigelow received second degree burns on 40% of his body while rescuing three children from a burning house near his home. Following the incident, Bigelow spent two months recovering in a hospital.

Bigelow remained with WCW until the company was purchased by the WWF in March 2001, then waited until his Time Warner contract expired in June 2002. Bigelow announced his retirement in November 2002 but returned to the ring, making several appearances for USA Pro Wrestling, before retiring once more on November 19, 2004. He wrestled his final match on 25 October, 2006 for the American Combat Wrestling promotion, teaming with Ralph Mosca as "The Syndicate" in a tag team match against Overkill (Homeless Fred and Twiztid).

For much of his career, Bigelow was addicted to the drug OxyContin. In his most profitable years, he earned between $750,000 and $1.2 million USD.

## Later years

In 2000, Bigelow and his wife, Dana Fisher, with whom he had several children, divorced. In 2005, Fisher sued Bigelow for non-payment of child support.

Upon his retirement, Bigelow moved to a private recreational community called The Hideout, in Lake Ariel, Pennsylvania, and opened the eponymous **Bam Bam Bigelow** restaurant, located nearby in the town of Hamlin in Salem Township along State Route 590, which later closed down. He then relocated to Florida, with even his close friend Shane Douglas unaware of his whereabouts.

In May 2004, Bigelow was charged with endangering the welfare of a child through reckless driving. He attributed the incident to a seizure he had suffered and the charges were dropped two months later. In August 2004, he was convicted of possession of cannabis.

On October 2, 2005, Bigelow was hospitalised with a broken nose and several lacerations after crashing his Harley-Davidson motorcycle in Spring Hill, Florida. His passenger at the time, Janis Remiesiewicz (Bigelow's girlfriend), suffered severe injuries and was declared to be in "critical" condition. Larry Coggins, a spokesman for the Florida Highway Patrol, stated that Bigelow would be the focus of a homicide investigation should Remiesiewicz expire, and intimated that Bigelow would likely face charges based on "the factors...that led to this crash". Remiesiewicz eventually made a complete recovery, and was still in a relationship with Bigelow up until his death.

## Death

Bigelow's girlfriend found him dead in his home in Hudson, Florida at approximately 10 a.m. EST on the morning of January 19, 2007. He was 45 years old. An autopsy found that Bigelow's death was due to multiple drugs found in his system including toxic levels of cocaine and benzodiazepine tranquilizers. His death was ruled an accident by the Pasco-Pinellas Medical Examiner.