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Bam Bam Bigelow: the Legacy of the Beast From the East

Posted: Jan 19th 2007 By: CMBurnham

Bam Bam Bigelow was found dead by his girlfriend on January 19, 2007. Thus ended the life of one of the most physically gifted and unique superstars in the world of professional wrestling.

Bigelow had competed in amateur wrestling during high school, but never showed any desire to pursue the sport at a higher level. He also was a standout on the football field, showing incredble agility for a man of his size. One of his former coaches once told Dave Meltzer that he would have been a near guarantee as an early draft pick if he'd wanted to go to the professional gridiron. But Bigelow wasn't interested in competing in organised sports.

Instead, Bam Bam took up the world of bounty hunting and for 2 years in the early 1980s, he was very successful at it. But it didn't fulfill him to the level that he wanted. He was looking for something more physical, more immediate. And when he walked into Larry Sharpe's Monster Factory training school in New Jersey, Sharpe knew he had a future superstar on his hands.

Bigelow made his professional debut in 1985 in Memphis. He soon was feuding with Jerry Lawler and won his first title there, the Mid-Southern Title, which he captured in a battle royal. But not many people saw Bigelow at this stage of his career and by the time a wider audience saw him, he wasn't wrestling under his usual name.

Bigelow moved to Texas in 1986 and was given the name Crusher Yurkof by Fritz Von Erich, who wanted to push him as a Russian monster. While Yurkof's size and agility made him stand out, along with the fireball tattoo that engulfed his head, Yurkof just didn't seem to have that magic "it" factor and Bigelow appeared uncomfortable in the role. He did capture the WCCW TV Title from Mark Youngblood and would hold that for a little over 2 months before losing it via DQ to Tony Atlas. Bigelow was gone from the territory soon after.

In 1987, Bigelow arrived in the WWF and was announced as the biggest free agent in the federation's history. All the managers in the WWF competed for his services, but, in a move similar to the one Randy Savage had pulled just a couple of years earlier, Bigelow shunned all of them and chose WWF newcomer Oliver Humperdink. With a new advisor and a more colourful appearance, Bigelow seemed poised to skyrocket to the top of the wrestling world. He was regularly teaming with Hulk Hogan and feuding with Andre the Giant. In fact, Bigelow was the last man eliminated from Hogan's team by Andre (the eventual winner) in the main event of the initial Survivor Series. But Bigelow's dreams were cut short when he had to take time off for major knee surgery.

When Bigelow returned to wrestling in1988, it wasn't back to the WWF, but into the NWA, where he breifly challenged Barry Windham for the NWA U.S. Title at Starrcade. But then the international competition bug bit him and Bigelow soon found himself in Japan where he would spend most of the next 5 years. Here, Bigelow finally could be what he wanted to be: a huge, agile monster that just ran through everyone. And he took a young aspiring monster by the name of Vader under his wing, teaching his fellow big man all the tricks of agility and speed that Bigelow knew. This pair would dominate the tag team division in Japan, eventually capturing the IWGP Tag Team Titles at the beginning of March in 1992. They would hold those titles for almost 4 months before losing them to 2 fellow Americans: The Steiner Brothers.

Bigelow returned to the WWF in 1992 and began the most successful portion of his career, as far as fame went. Although he wasn't part of a major programme for most of his second time in the WWF, that all changed at the Royal Rumble in 1995. Bigelow and Tatanka, members of Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation, had just lost the finals of a tournament for the vacant WWF World Tag Team Titles to the 1-2-3 Kid & Bob Holly. Bigelow felt humiliated at this point and, when he passed NFL superstar Lawrence Taylor who was seated at ringside for the event, Taylor laughed and Bigelow shoved him. It was an incident that was picked up by all the major sports and entertainment media and Bigelow soon found himself having to challenge Taylor to a match to preserve his self-respect. That match was the main event at Wrestlemania XI, the biggest match in Bigelow's career. Bigelow had the Million Dollar Corporation at ringside with him. Taylor brought several fellow NFL superstars, including future pro wrestler Steve McMichael. All that backup helped seemed to help LT more than Bigelow, as the match ended when Taylor caught Bigelow with a shoulder tackle from the 2nd rope and pinned him in the middle of the ring.

While this may have been Bigelow's biggest claim to glory, it was very fleeting. He soon found himself cast out by the Million Dollar Corporation and a short lived tag team with Diesel accomplished nothing. Plus, Bigelow was secretly fuming for having only been paid 1/4 of what Lawrence Taylor earned for that match. He was gone from the WWF before the end of 1995.

Bigelow next surfaced in ECW, where he had competed on a few occassions earlier, including a match against fellow "Bamm Bamm", Terry Gordy. This time, Bigelow was part of the reformed Triple Threat, with Chris Candido and Shane Douglas. Or at least that's what Douglas thought. In reality, Bigelow used the Triple Threat to get close to the "Franchise" and gain a shot at the top gold in the company. And on October 16, 1997, Bigelow pinned Shane Douglas, earning the only World Heavyweight Title of his career; the ECW World Title. His reign wouldn't be long. Approximately a month-and-a-half later, Douglas would reclaim the belt. But it didn't matter, as Bigelow joined an elite class of wrestlers who could say that had been a World Champion.

Bigelow also won the ECW Television Title in a match that contained one of the most famous moments in ECW history. Bigelow was challenging ECW TV Champion Taz and, as the match drew to a close, Taz jumped on Bigelow's back attempting to lock in the "Tazmission". Bigelow backed into a corner, executed a fall-away slam, and he & Taz plummeted through the ring! The crowd looked on in amazement, chanting "ECW!!" as Bigelow pulled first himself and then Taz back up from the hole, then pinned the TV Champion for the title. Like the World Title reign, this championship would also not stay with Bigelow long, as about 1 month later he would lose it to the longest reigning ECW TV Champion of all time: Rob Van Dam.

Bigelow's collapse through the ring (a feat which ECW attempted to recreate on the rampway at afuture Pay Per View) was one of the moments involving Bigelow that made it into the highlight reel at the beginning of ECW TV each week. Another is just as famous, as Bigelow once picked up Spike Dudley in a military press, then threw him from inside the ring into the 2nd & 3rd row of the crowd! Spike was then body-surfed around the crowd until he got back to the ringside area.

The last stage of Bigelow's career began when he left ECW in 1998 and went to WCW. He would stay with WCW until it was purchased by WWF in 2001. There, Bigelow joined with Dallas Page & Kanyon to form the Jersey Triad. They captured the WCW World Tag Team Titles from Raven & Perry Saturn at the end of May in 1999. They would drop them to Saturn & Chris Benoit about 2 weeks later, then recapture them soon after that. During both of these reigns, the Triad convinced WCW management to allow any 2 of the 3 members to defend the titles, much like the old "Freebird rule".

Bigelow's last appearance in Oklahoma was also the sight of the last major title he won in his career: the WCW World Hardcore Title. On November 7, 2000 in Tulsa, Bigelow defeated Brian Knobbs for the Hardcore Title. He would hold this title for almost 4 months, longer than any other major title he had held, dropping it back to Knobbs in February, 2001.

One of Bigelow's greatest achievements during his time in WCW didn't come in the ring. In the Summer of 2000, Bigelow was burned over a large portion of his body when he rescued 2 children from a burning house. This act of heroism earned him civic awards from the community and the last bit of mainstream recognition he received.

At this point, Bigelow's career was almost over. He would make appearances on the independent circuit to stay active, but physical injuries were taking their toll. Bigelow was hampered by a bad back and had developed an addiction to Oxcycontin, which he took for most of his career. On November 19, 2004, he defeated Johnny Candido, brother of former Triple Threat compatriot Chris Candido, in his last match. Bigelow then retired. He opened a hamburger joint which bore his name and hoped to settle into retirement from the sport. But things didn't turn out peacfully. In 2005, Bigelow was involved in an accident which critically injured his girlfriend. She spent weeks in intensive care and there was suspicion of alcohol being a factor in the accident. Bigelow was informed that if she died, he could be charged with murder. But she eventually made a full recovery.

When Bigelow's body was found on the morning of January 19, he had been missing for several days, according to reports. An autopsy was planned and results will be released within the next couple of weeks.

Oklafan would like to send out it's condolences to the family and friends of Bam Bam Bigelow. There will never be another competitor quite like the Beast from the East.