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 about 5 seconds.
Bigelow was found dead on January 19, 2007, in his home in Hudson, Florida. He was 45 years old.
"Tropes from the East":
- 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.
- Alliterative Name: Excepting Crusher Yurkoff
- Arch-Enemy: Doink the Clown, Tatanka, Sycho Sid, Taz
- The Brute: Defined this as well as anybody else in the business working for "the Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase, with Triple Threat and the Jersey Triad.
- Captain Ersatz: Recurring in the Fire Pro Wrestling games.
- Combination Attack: In his initial WWF run with Hulk Hogan they had two. First after a leg drop Bigelow, similar to other big men of the time, would do a big splash with Hulk Hogan pushing him down for more impact. The other would see the two put an arm on the others shoulder and do a double big boot.
- 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. When Diesel and Shawn Michaels mended fences on-screen, Bam Bam was left behind and out of the company only a few months later.
- 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".
- Foreign Wrestling Heel: Early in his career as Crusher Yurkov.
- Garbage Wrestler: Briefly when WCW put him in the "hardcore division".
- Grievous Harm with a Body: He threw Little Spike Dudley into the crowd during their match at ECW As Good As It Gets, September 20, 1997.
- 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
- Jobber: Claims he is the highest paid jobber ever for his MMA fight against Kimo Leopoldo. This has been debated heavily.
- Joisey: Has a very distinct New Jersey accent.
- Lightning Bruiser: He is fast for someone his mass.
- Only Sane Man: Survivor Series 1993, an 8-man tag team match with The Bushwhackers and Men on a Mission dressed up as Doink the Clown against Bigelow, the Headshrinkers (Samu and Fatu [Rikishi]) and Bastion Booger and involving water balloons, banana peels and scooters. Bam Bam stood out just by wrestling like he always did.
- Power Stable:
- (in WWE): Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation
- (in ECW): The Triple Threat
- (in WCW): The New Blood
- 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!
- Red Baron: "The Beast from the East", "The Bammer", "The Flamed Wonder", 'The Taz Killer (self-proclaimed)", in Japan "Crusher" and "The Jumping Monster".
- In WWF the announcers tended to call him "Bammer" when he was a face.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Alleged, Depending on who you ask the reason he left WWE in his original run (aside from being utterly destroyed IRL during a match with Andre The Giant) Bigelow left the Federation either because his initial push got to his head and he started thinking he was bigger than (in name) than guys who have been there longer, or many of the guys resented Bigelow for his push being possibly the number 2 guy just under Hogan when he was just a "rookie".
- Stout Strength: While he is mostly remembered for his agility despite his size, he was capable of lifting regular sized wrestlers with ease and prolonged times, he was even able to slam other big men such as Vader, Earthquake, and Mantour.
- Tag Team:
- With Big Van Vader in New Japan Pro-Wrestling
- The Jersey Triad, with Diamond Dallas Page and Kanyon
- Traumatic Haircut: Cut a big chunk out of Tatanka's hair in a 1993 angle.
- Unholy Matrimony: With his "main squeeze" Luna Vachon.
- Would Hit a Girl: He powerbombed Francine, breaking her pelvis.
- Wrestling Monster: Early in his career he was in a series of these built up to challenge the champion of Memphis, Jerry Lawler. Not so much anywhere else though.
- 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.
