Dark Side of the Ring S04E08 Bam Bam Bigelow: The Beast from the East

Full Movies 4 U

#darksideofthering #docuseries #truestories #documentary    Related Keywords:  Dark Side of the Ring: Season 4, Episode 8  Bam Bam Bigelow: The Beast from the East  Dark side of the ring season 4 episode 8 watch online free  Dark side of the ring season 4 episode 8 full episode  Dark side of the ring season 4 episode 8 watch online  Dark side of the ring season 4 episode 8 dailymotion  Dark side of the ring season 4 episode 8 download  Watch Dark Side of the Ring Season 4  Dark Side of the Ring Season 4 Archive  Dark Side of the Ring dailymotion  Bam Bam Bigelow cause of death  Bam Bam Bigelow VICE  Bam Bam Bigelow last photo  Bam Bam Bigelow daughter  Bam Bam Bigelow Grave  Bam Bam Bigelow WrestleMania  Bam Bam Bigelow net worth  Bam Bam Bigelow fire  Dark Side of the Ring Season 4  Dark Side of the Ring dailymotion  Bam Bam Bigelow cause of death  Watch Dark Side of the Ring Season 4  Dark Side of the Ring Season 4 dailymotion Episode 8  Dark Side of the Ring Season 4 Archive  Dark Side of the Ring dailymotion Season 4  Bam Bam Bigelow VICE  dark side of the ring episode list  wwe documentaries  dark side of the ring montreal screwjob  sherri martel  wrestling documentaries  jim cornette  ultimate warrior  where can i watch dark side of the ring  dark side of the ring season 3 episode 8  dark side of the ring collision in korea  dark side of the ring ric flair  dark side of the ring online free  dark side of the ring brian pillman  dark side of the ring jimmy snuka  dark side of the ring chris benoit  dark side of the ring documentary  dark side of the ring earthquake  dark side of the ring confidential  dark side of the ring nick gage  dark side of the ring macho man  dark side of the ring season 1 episode 1  dark side of the ring full episodes  dark side of the ring new season  bam bam bigelow  dark side of the ring season 3 episode 3  dark side of the ring season 1  marty jannetty  dark side of the ring ultimate warrior  dark side of the ring episodes  wcw bash at the beach 2000  bam bam bigelow costume  luna vachon  bam bam bigelow wiki  bam bam bigelow major payne  goldberg  was luke combs bam bam bigelow  luke combs bam bam Bigelow  bam bam bigelow net worth  bam bam bigelow wife  luke combs bam bam  luke combs  bam bam bigelow height

Transcript

00:00Look at this man. I'm telling you ladies, send your kids out of the room, because I want you to take a look at Bam Bam Bigelow.

00:07There's no one who doesn't know Bam Bam Bigelow, and if they don't know his name, if they see the face and the head, they know it.

00:15His entire head was aflame, so he started doing the flames on his suits and his boots, and you'd look out into the audience and there's flame everywhere.

00:22Bam! Oh, wow!

00:24He was just massive, but so athletic.

00:31So quick. Bammer did it almost like a ballet dancer.

00:35Bigelow can move for a big man, and he knows what he's doing in there.

00:38Look at this 400-pound man doing flips, cartwheels, and going through the ring. This is crazy.

00:44In his time, in the 80s, nobody was like him. Like, this isn't right. It wasn't just Rookie of the Year, it was Phenomenon of the Year.

00:52Bam Bam Bigelow!

00:55Arriving out of nature, Bam Bam Bigelow catapulted to the top of the wrestling world and never looked back.

01:01You need a little excitement?

01:03When you've been on top in WWE, and then you're on tippity-top-top in ECW, you know, they beat the f*** out of each other.

01:12Wrestling rewarded Bam Bam's talents with money and fame, but those rewards came with a heavy price.

01:19Hold the wear and tear, and you're not going to feel it right away.

01:23And that's when it changed, and everything spiraled out of control.

01:28You're selling your body, you're selling your health to have fame, fortune, and everything that goes with it.

01:34People had mouths to feed, so guys did what they had to do to earn their living.

01:40He was in pain, and there was a doctor involved that was willing to take that away, and things went downhill from there.

01:48But Bam Bam's addictions eventually pushed him beyond the point of redemption, everything he loved.

01:55A trusted professional gave him the thing that was his biggest demise.

02:01This doctor could have had a loaded machine gun to our family, and it would have been no different.

02:07No different.

02:19Just digging through the vast archives, you have Dad's calendar.

02:23And then if you go to November 15, 1987, he got married.

02:29And then, you know, not even taking a honeymoon, like he had a day off, and then he was in Des Moines, Iowa.

02:34This is literally the first four days of his career with the WWF in 1987.

02:39He definitely wanted kids right away.

02:41He was like, I just want to stay home and raise the kids.

02:43You could go to work, go to school, do what you want to do.

02:45And he was more excited about being a dad than he was when he got WrestleMania.

02:50Hi, I'm Dana Breckenridge.

02:52I was married to Bam Bam Bigelow.

02:54And when Richie came, I mean, that was the best thing ever.

02:59Because all he ever really wanted was a daughter.

03:01Oh yeah, he was a giant teddy bear.

03:03What fans saw in the ring was not at all what we saw at home.

03:08It was love, it was playing around.

03:10My name is Richie Bigelow, and my family...

03:16My father is Bam Bam Bigelow.

03:18He had this giant, giant bed that we would all cuddle up in and just jump around.

03:22Yeah, it was a great time.

03:24When you think of your dad, what's the first memory that comes to mind?

03:27It was the last time I saw him.

03:30We were just driving in the car, and I was two or three years old.

03:33But I remember seeing his head slowly drop to his chest and then come back up.

03:42And whenever I think back on how I went about the situation,

03:46I'm always so baffled because I was so young.

03:48But in some way, I understood that we were in some sort of danger.

03:53And as a toddler, I went into panic mode.

03:58I gotta go to the bathroom, I gotta get out, daddy, daddy, pull over, I can't.

04:01So we pulled over on the side of the road,

04:04and he looked at me and gave me this big, toothless smile.

04:08He's like, come on, do you have to go?

04:10It was just on the side of the road, and I was like, no, no, but kind of stalling.

04:14And then we just got back on the road, and it started happening again.

04:18This time we were by a diner, and we pulled into that diner.

04:22And the next thing I know, my car door was opened,

04:27and a man just scooped me up and put me in the back of this gray car.

04:33And from the back seat, I watched them take my dad in handcuffs across.

04:38That was it.

04:40My mom came and picked me up, and she was real gentle about it.

04:43And she told me, you're probably not going to be seeing daddy anymore.

04:48He needs help.

04:51And that was the last time I saw him.

04:53He wanted to be a wrestler, but he wanted to be a father more.

04:58And everything was taken away.

05:01So was wrestling what took it away?

05:04Or was Scott and all the other outside influences what took it away?

05:09Like, how did this happen?

05:13Here we go.

05:16This is dad, his sophomore year in high school.

05:20Oh, my god.

05:22Right, they were the Class A North champions, 20 and 6.

05:25That's probably the last time you'll see him with hair.

05:29Everything around Asbury Park is Bruce Springsteen.

05:31The sound of Bruce Springsteen is everywhere

05:34and in everything that we did when we grew up on the shore.

05:38Scott was a street kid from Neptune

05:40who hung out in the bars of Asbury, you know,

05:43driving the circuit in muscle cars.

05:45For our age and our crowd, he was definitely the man.

05:48You know what, he was probably the kindest, most genuine person of the group.

05:53We were friends, and it was just a progression.

05:56And then it was a whirlwind.

05:58We were street kids.

05:59Nobody thought about where they were going.

06:01I didn't go to college. My friends didn't go to college.

06:04He didn't go to college.

06:05God, the Jersey Shore was, like, the party place to be.

06:11I was running a club called Club Xanadu in Asbury Park, New Jersey.

06:16The club is actually one block from the Stone Pony.

06:19And in the middle was this place called Quack Quack.

06:22It's DDP, Diamond Dallas Page.

06:25And I know Bam Bam because I'm from the Jersey Shore.

06:31I roll into the Quack Quack, and I see this mammoth kid.

06:36And at some point, you know, we're doing shots,

06:38and we just kind of clicked, you know.

06:40But I think he was 17 at the time.

06:43But no one cared, because he looked like a full-grown man.

06:46He was, you know, 300-plus pounds.

06:48And he could obviously be very menacing,

06:51but he also had that fun side to him.

06:54And they were calling him the Beast from the East back then.

06:58He was a football player, and he was ranked in the state for wrestling.

07:02I mean, he was feared on the mat and on the football field.

07:05This was the time when the heavyweight in high school wrestling was unlimited.

07:10So you're talking about a 320-pound teenager

07:13who can bench 500 pounds walking onto a mat.

07:16I'm Shane Bigelow, and my father's Bam Bam Bigelow.

07:20I heard a story from a high school wrestling coach

07:22that my father rolled his ankle real bad, and he couldn't wrestle.

07:25But his coach was just like,

07:27Scotty, I need you to just go up there and just look me.

07:30So he gets up, he steps on the scale,

07:32he turns to the kid, and he just gives him this big flex.

07:34He's just like, I'm coming for you.

07:36Lo and behold, this kid is shitting his pants.

07:39So he tells his coach, I'm not wrestling this guy.

07:41He's going to rip my head off.

07:42All my father had to do, he hopped out on one leg,

07:45got his hand raised, and took the win.

07:48There was a group of the boys, and they were rough drinking,

07:51tattooed, like old sailors, but not sailors, they were roofers.

07:55And they were very infamous around town.

07:59Him and his brothers used to jump off of billboards

08:02onto mattresses on the side of the road

08:04when my grandmother would drive past.

08:06She'd be like, oh, look at those kids.

08:08And then she'd realize that it was her 3 boys

08:10jumping onto like 5 mattresses piled high.

08:12Scott was very quiet.

08:14You know, he was the baby of the bunch.

08:16They usually only called him in when they needed the extra muscle.

08:20It hurt. He got in on a fight, and he bit some kid's ear off.

08:23It's like, what?

08:25But it's part of the legend that went with the Beast from the East.

08:29Tough dude, ran with rugged people.

08:31He was all that and a bag of chips, man.

08:33He was a bad apple when he wanted to be.

08:36I am Taz, former ECW World Heavyweight Champion

08:39and former opponent of Bam Bam Big Low.

08:43Bam Bam Big Low all over Taz.

08:46I've heard all the stories about Big Low, and I believe them all.

08:49There's a whole separate legend

08:51before the legend Bam Bam Big Low ever became the legend.

08:56My name is Scott Colton Big Low, and Bam Bam Big Low is my father.

09:00I know that he was a bounty hunter for a short stint.

09:04I don't know much about the back story of it.

09:08I guess I was about 18, 19 years old.

09:11You see an ad for bounty hunter,

09:13and basically just picked up bail jumpers, beat up a lot of people,

09:17and then wind up going to Mexico to get a little girl that was kidnapped.

09:21He was supposedly commissioned to go and bring back

09:26a young girl who was taken out of the country.

09:29In the whole mayday and craziness of the thing,

09:32his bounty hunting partner ends up getting shot in the neck and killed,

09:36and that's when my dad spent 6 months in a Mexican prison.

09:40I heard he ended up in jail, you know, Mexico.

09:43So you just hear little bits and pieces, but Scotty, they could be exaggerated.

09:47The story is he befriended the judge

09:49because he used to run through the walls that were made out of the terracotta clay.

09:53He used to just break through the cells of the walls so they couldn't keep him in.

09:57So the judge one day apparently goes to him and asks him,

10:00he goes, I need security from all these cartel, mob, whatever guys.

10:05So you stand in front of me and you stop these maniacs

10:08lunging at me and trying to kill me, and I'll knock your sentence down.

10:11So the story is that a judge took pity on my father

10:14because my father saved him from a bunch of guys trying to jump over and stab him,

10:18and he ended up letting him loose early.

10:20He's basically a New Jersey legend.

10:22There's a story that one night, house is on fire,

10:27he's driving by, runs in and saves some kids.

10:29He pulled over, ran in the house and saved the kids.

10:32That sounds like a TV movie.

10:34It doesn't sound like stuff that really happens, you know,

10:37but there were a lot of stories like that just out there floating around.

10:41I'm Shane Douglas, and I had the pleasure of being partners

10:44in the triple threat with Bam Bam Bigelow.

10:46Who's the f***ing world champion?

10:50You know, I'd heard that he got arrested, I guess, in Mexico.

10:53You know, that sounds implausible.

10:55Then, like, over years, you'd hear other people repeating these stories

10:58and it just elevated that legend that was Bam Bam.

11:01You know, getting out of the joint, there's no jobs, you know.

11:05I was bouncing, partying, hanging out with the boys.

11:08Here comes Bam Bam in the club.

11:11This is, like, 81-ish.

11:14And it's packed, and my club was nice.

11:16And I see Bam rolling with, like, three of his biker buddies.

11:19And I come rolling up behind him, put my arm around his back.

11:22I'm like, yo, Bam, no trouble in here tonight, right, bro?

11:27Oh, come on, Paige, I wouldn't do that to you.

11:30And at some point, we're at the bar.

11:32Got the guys a shot, and wrestling comes up.

11:35And, you know, I said, you know, I tried that.

11:38In 79, he goes, you tried wrestling?

11:41I said, but I had three matches.

11:43My third match, I hurt my knee.

11:45And I kind of got swept away by the booze, the broads, and the party.

11:48But talking to him about it, I'm like, dude, you're a natural.

11:51He goes, that would be a pie-in-the-sky dream for me.

11:55I just got to the point where, well, where's my life going to go?

11:59You know, I don't have a college education.

12:01My gift was being athletically inclined.

12:04And so I went to a wrestling school,

12:06which was Larry Sharp's school in Monster Factory at the time.

12:09The rest is history.

12:11Larry Sharp was a former amateur wrestler

12:13who opened up the Monster Factory.

12:15My name's Dave Meltzer.

12:16I'm the editor of the Wrestling Observer newsletter.

12:18I've been covering pro wrestling since 1971.

12:20And one day, I guess Bam Bam walked in the door,

12:24and Larry saw, like everyone did, Bunny.

12:27And he became Scott's manager.

12:30I set him up on a couch, threw him in the ring, and trained him.

12:34I wound up staying out there at the Monster Factory, living out there,

12:37basically eating it, living it, sleeping it for a year.

12:41I saw footage of him coming out of the Monster Factory.

12:44You could tell, like, his aptitude to learn how to do this

12:47and get better at this, his athleticism.

12:50It jumped out to me right away.

12:52I mean, seeing a guy like that, you know, a guy that big,

12:55you know, do a cartwheel, I was like, wow, he's super impressive.

12:59Scott, professional wrestling, it's like a double-edged sword.

13:02It gave him life, and it took his life.

13:04That's the ultimate double-edge, isn't it?

13:11In 1985, Scott Bigelow was on the brink of stardom,

13:15having made a clean break from a troubled past.

13:18When he went to the Monster Factory with Larry Sharp,

13:21Larry really developed the name Bam Bam with Scott.

13:25Bam Bam, the strong baby face.

13:27You're like Bam Bam from The Flintstones.

13:29So he became Bam Bam Bigelow.

13:31Probably the most handsome wrestler on the face of the earth.

13:35The massive head of Bam Bam and that big flame ball on that head,

13:39that tattoo, who gets ink on their head? It's got to be crazy.

13:42Nevertheless, their whole head, for those that never got a tattoo,

13:45they hurt as much as they think, OK?

13:47This guy got his skull tattooed.

13:49Just imagine how much pain and how many hours that took to do.

13:53This was the branding of Bam Bam Bigelow.

13:56See, people love to hate, and as long as they want to hate me,

13:59I know I'm doing my job.

14:01And it kind of just sent that message to the fans and to other wrestlers.

14:06That's a bad dude right there.

14:07Bam Bam, do you have anything to say about all this?

14:09I'm hungry.

14:10Despite being a rookie to the wrestling scene,

14:13those with an eye for the business see Bam Bam's incredible potential,

14:17especially soon-to-be industry pioneer Paul Heyman.

14:21Paul was doing wrestling magazines at the time.

14:24This was before he was actually running around the business as a manager.

14:27And in his magazines, he was always promoting Bam Bam Bigelow

14:30like this phenomenon.

14:32And the guy never even had a match.

14:34Paul worked at Studio 54. He was doing publicity at the time.

14:37And he got this gig, Bam Bam Bigelow's first match.

14:42And I looked at it, and I was just like,

14:44Oh, my God, this guy's like 380 pounds,

14:47and he's coming off the top rope?

14:49At that point, I'm going like, this guy's going to be like it.

14:54In wrestling, like, he's going to be the biggest thing.

14:56I was like 19 when we started dating,

14:58and I was with his brother and a couple other friends,

15:01and we went to his show.

15:03And he got up there and he wrestled,

15:05and they were just in awe of what it all was.

15:07I just was like, Oh, you know, he's at work.

15:10I didn't really know too much about it until the WWF came knocking.

15:14At some point, I'm running another really big club in the 86-ish.

15:19And I'm just looking at channels, and all of a sudden,

15:21I'm seeing wrestling.

15:23And I'm like, Oh, my God, that's Bigelow.

15:26Take a good look, because we're bringing him

15:28from one end of the world to the other.

15:31Next thing I know, he's with Hulk Hogan, he's in the WWF.

15:34And I'm like, Oh, my God.

15:37From Asbury Park, New Jersey.

15:40He made it.

15:42Bam Bam Bigelow.

15:45Not only is Bam Bam headed to the WWF,

15:48but he's coming in with the full support of company owner Vince McMahon.

15:52WWF brought him in, and they tried to make him into the next big thing.

15:57They did the thing where all the managers were bidding on him

16:00to make him extra special.

16:02I'm here to introduce Bam Bam Bigelow.

16:06Vince loved big guys, and now you've got the most agile,

16:09380-pound guy that anyone has ever seen.

16:13I mean, they brought him in to be Hulk Hogan's tag team partner,

16:16to be right there with Hogan, and he was going to main event there,

16:19and he was going to work with the top guys.

16:21In the beginning, Hulk Hogan was the one that really took me and said,

16:25Okay, this is the business, this is how we do it, this is serious.

16:29He signed the WWE contract, and we got married November 15, 1987,

16:34and he went on the road November 16, 1987.

16:38How did he propose to you?

16:40We were watching TV, and he was like...

16:44Want to get married?

16:46And I was like, okay.

16:48And that was basically it. There was no fanfare.

16:50I saw him 10 times a year. I don't even know.

16:54Maybe that's why the marriage lasted so long.

16:56Maybe that's why I don't have anything bad to say.

16:58He was on the road and hit the ground running, and it was on from there.

17:03Back in the early days with WWF, we were working 60 days in a row.

17:07The main event in front of a sold-out crowd every night,

17:11and on the weekends, we would do two shows.

17:13Life in New Fancy.

17:15When he was home, you know, he did regular things.

17:19So he remained very humble.

17:21Scott was who he was around here.

17:23But, you know, it was cool to see him on TV.

17:26He was in the first Nintendo game.

17:28Like I said, he was just breaking into the business, and he worked, and he provided.

17:33He knew to take advantage of that situation

17:36and take advantage of everything that was given to him.

17:39What a monster!

17:41Everybody that gets a pair of boots and tights wants to be the world champion, right?

17:44And they think they're ready for it yesterday.

17:46For me, it was 11 years before I saw a world title.

17:49So when I did get that belt, I understood the responsibility that went with it.

17:54So I would think that Bam Bam being thrown that quickly into main events

17:58with, you know, Hulk Hogan or one of these massive names,

18:01it would have been intimidating.

18:03He never had to crawl his way up.

18:05There's always going to be jealousy, especially when you've been in the business 15 years,

18:08and he's been in the business for two or one, and he's on the top of the card.

18:12He was young, and these guys were big,

18:14and it was Georgie Animal Steel and King Kong Bundy,

18:17and it was just people that he always saw on TV,

18:20and all of a sudden he's standing in the middle of the ring in the Survivor Series,

18:23and the older guys were like, you know what, you need to step in line.

18:27The Eighth Wonder up!

18:29I remember there was an Andre match.

18:31Of course, Andre the Giant was the biggest man you'll ever see.

18:34Andre got him in the ring up against the ropes,

18:37and wrapped the rope around his neck.

18:40Scott was like, he's on top of him, and he was pounding on him.

18:43I mean, hard.

18:45It was a bad night at the office for Bam Bam Bigalow.

18:47And Andre said something to him like,

18:49young boy, you know, you're a little green for us.

18:52Like, this is how it works. Like, you're going to learn.

18:55And Andre really just stuck it to him,

18:58but, you know, they were just letting him know he had to pay his dues.

19:02He was green, and you need to wait your turn,

19:04because it's not right now.

19:07After only a year in the big leagues,

19:09Bam Bam Bigalow's match with Andre the Giant

19:12marks his exit from the WWF.

19:16He'd gotten such a big push,

19:18but at a certain point, they did sour on him.

19:21Bam Bam Bigalow paid the price here.

19:23And it may have been ego-wise, the other guys not liking him.

19:26My father just knowing when things get a little too thick,

19:30and it's not his time, he moved on.

19:32Now on his own, Bam Bam travels the country

19:35working for various U.S. promotions

19:37before receiving a lucrative offer to wrestle in Japan.

19:42I don't even know what years these are, but judging by the suit,

19:45probably early 90s.

19:47This is one of his original Japanese suits.

19:50There was more money for him to be had overseas.

19:53They offered me a lot of money to go work in Japan.

19:56I was working with Antonio Inoki.

19:58There was a lot of talent there.

20:00When he went to Japan, he was on for two weeks,

20:02and then home for two weeks.

20:04So he had longer stretches of time home.

20:07What sparked his return to WWF?

20:09The contract, and it was time for him to come back to the States.

20:12I guess in his meeting with Vince, they worked a deal

20:16that he felt comfortable, and he was a little bit more mature,

20:19and he was ready to come back.

20:21All right, man.

20:23So what do you got here?

20:25So this is his coming out to the ring attire

20:29when he was in his second run in the WWF.

20:33He would have pyrotechnics underneath here,

20:35and they would shoot, like, fireworks out.

20:42I don't fill it out as much as he did.

20:48He said he used to look like a tulip in it.

20:52In 1992, as the WWF struggles with declining popularity,

20:57Vince McMahon brings Bam Bam back to the roster,

21:01once again proving to be a top-level star.

21:04Bam Bam gets thrust into the main event of WrestleMania XI...

21:08WrestleMania XI!

21:10...when McMahon books him against one of the NFL's most celebrated players.

21:15Lawrence Taylor.

21:17Probably the most media-frenzied time of my father's career.

21:22That was Scott's idol, like, LT and the Giants.

21:26Like, now I'm gonna wrestle him. You know, I'm gonna wrestle with him.

21:29That build-up and that whole pomp and circumstance

21:34of being the main event at WrestleMania...

21:37Lawrence Taylor, just me and you!

21:39This was a match not for wrestling fans.

21:42The media hype around this match has been absolutely huge.

21:45This was a match for the general public,

21:47and the idea was, is by being in the match,

21:50all the exposure from the football press and the mainstream press

21:54would then make Bam Bam's name bigger,

21:56so then he could be the big star that they wanted him to be.

22:01That means I'm here. I did it.

22:03I am the 1%.

22:05Every little boy wants to be a WWE wrestler.

22:10Almost every little boy. And he was main event.

22:13It was a paycheck bigger than a lot of people make in one year.

22:17I see a lot of videos online.

22:19People all, it's the worst WrestleMania.

22:21You know what?

22:23There's not another person that could have carried Lawrence Taylor

22:27to do that show.

22:29Business was down. Vince needed to hit a home run.

22:32And they picked me because I'm the only guy that could take chicken shit

22:36and turn it into chicken salad.

22:38You know, Vince trusted my father enough to be the person to pull that off.

22:42Bam Bam soon learns that when he took a toll on his body...

22:46I mean, every time he sits in a chair and stands up,

22:49he just squatted 400 pounds.

22:51A lot of wear and tear on your knees, your back, your neck, your shoulders.

22:57I mean, the thing that made him so great was, you know, an agile big guy.

23:02The problem with the agile big guys is that by doing that stuff,

23:05a smaller guy can take that stuff longer,

23:07and a big guy, it starts wearing down on you a lot.

23:10He definitely had some knee surgeries and an elbow surgery

23:14or a shoulder surgery.

23:16You know, his body was starting to take a little bit of a licking.

23:20That's one thing I didn't do. I didn't worry, and I didn't stress out.

23:23It was his job, and he was an entertainer, and he was an athlete.

23:27And I was too young to think about the lifelong lasting effects of wrestling

23:33and what it would have on his body and his mind.

23:36But I do know that he knew if he was out and he was injured too long,

23:40somebody was going to step up and replace him.

23:42So that was a no-no.

23:44I'm not letting an opportunity walk by me.

23:46That heavyweight championship is going to be mine.

23:49He's got multiple injuries at this point. How is he dealing with that?

23:52Probably pain pills like everybody else,

23:54but I do remember that was so commonplace among wrestlers then.

23:57It was such a part of the scene that it wasn't like a big deal,

24:02and it was a, hey, do you got any vikes?

24:04So you just gave them to your boy, you know, because he needed them right there.

24:08When you see this symbol, you can be assured of drug-free entertainment

24:12you can be proud of.

24:14Been tested for marijuana and performance-enhancing drugs,

24:18but you've got a prescription, you're good.

24:21Through that 80s and then into the 90s,

24:23there were two things that coincided running.

24:25If this is the wrestling industry, running right next to that is the pharmaceutical industry.

24:29And the pharmaceutical industry is now coming up with better, more accessible opiates,

24:33OxyContin, which I did have a problem with.

24:36I've seen it so much in my career.

24:39So many of my peers during that time just left us way too early

24:43because of addiction, especially pain pills.

24:46He was diabetic, and he had an endocrinologist, not a pain management doctor.

24:52And he would call, and I need perks, I need vikes, I need Oxy's.

24:57They need something to keep me going.

24:59If you were at the pool party and old Doc came by,

25:02well, I happened to have a refillable script of OxyContin in return for autographs

25:08or, you know, tickets to local shows here and there.

25:11It's a pretty powerful thing to have over someone.

25:14They might as well have just put heroin in a bottle and called it OxyContin.

25:19I can guarantee you, before that prescription was done, he was probably addicted.

25:29In 1995, after a three-year run with the WWF,

25:34Bam Bam Bigelow leaves the company to sign with the notorious hardcore wrestling promotion ECW,

25:40run by his old friend, Paul Heyman.

25:44I mean, the one reason he went to ECW was because he liked how it was local.

25:48Obviously, if he was in Asbury, the whole family would get together, and we'd all go.

25:52And he knew he had a commodity.

25:54You know, he didn't take his character off.

25:56It was tattooed on his head, so wherever he went, Bam Bam Bigelow was going.

26:00There is only one Bam Bam Bigelow!

26:04I think it was a little too hardcore for me, being so young.

26:10Our fans were riding with us. That was the whole gimmick.

26:14We were renegades? Well, damn it. We the fans, we're renegades, too.

26:18From fit to finish, those shows were chaos.

26:23I remember this crowd just like a mosh pit.

26:26And this dude, who is drunk as a skunk, comes barreling and just absolutely face-punches me,

26:32chucks me right into the ground.

26:34I'm like 10, 11 years old. I've never been hit by a grown man.

26:38And it's that type of like, where you're like, you can't catch your breath.

26:42So I remember going backstage, and I don't even think I told my father anything.

26:47He just like saw it, and he's like, what happened?

26:50And I'm like, I don't know, this guy punched me, like went through the crowd.

26:54He's like, fine.

26:56The gentleman who did that was escorted to the back for a conversation.

27:00I witnessed this quasi-conversation. I'll never forget it.

27:04I'll never forget it.

27:05And all you hear is, so you want to hit kids?

27:07And you know that like, this dude is just getting the life smacked out of him.

27:12I don't know how else to put it. It was very bad.

27:16I'm sure everybody's okay now.

27:18But the fans in turn are fueled by ECW's over-the-top, ultraviolet brand of extreme wrestling.

27:26In ECW, we were a bunch of wrestlers that most of the bigger promotions,

27:32they didn't want us, kind of.

27:34And we were like the land of missed victories.

27:36And incorporated a lot of new stuff into pro wrestling in a revolutionary way.

27:41I mean, you had to be tough to be in our company.

27:44And Bigelow was a very tough guy, a legitimate guy.

27:47And he really started to come into his own amongst what we were doing.

27:51The stuff that these guys were doing, jumping off the rafters, through tables,

27:56getting thrown into the stands.

27:58It's just as hardcore as hardcore can get.

28:03We weren't just trying to hurt each other. We were professionals.

28:06What happens in that ring is built on trust.

28:08So, the infamous Taz and Bigelow go through the ring in Asbury Park.

28:14So I get this phone call from Paul Heyman.

28:17And he says, you and Bigelow, he's going to beat you for the belt.

28:21And he's going to put you through the ring to do it.

28:23He goes, what do you think?

28:25And the first thing I thought is, I'm going to die.

28:27So the way a ring is constructed, it's a steel frame.

28:31And then there's these thick wood boards.

28:34And then there's kind of like a cushion. It's not as big as a mat.

28:38And then a canvas.

28:40So these wood boards were cut first.

28:42So then the boards would just be moved out of the way.

28:45Then open the trap door.

28:47And Bam Bam was concerned.

28:49What about Taz's head? Like, his head's going to hit the frame of this thing.

28:52How are we going to clear this hole?

28:54I almost feel dirty explaining this on air.

28:57I'm so old school. Like, it's like, unbelievable.

29:00So, basically, we fought, fought, fought.

29:03We were outside the ring for quite some time fighting.

29:06Until we get the signal that this door is open.

29:11He's got both champion and challenger back in the ring.

29:13So, if you watch closely.

29:15He's got it. He's got it.

29:17When I have the choker.

29:19And I'm really pulling it back this curtain all the way here, right?

29:22So, Bam Bam, he's tapping first.

29:24Then he puts his hand on the top rope.

29:27Under his hand is a little piece of white tape.

29:30That white tape was the measurement to clear my head.

29:39We hit that crash mat hard as hell.

29:43The ring engulfs us.

29:45And we heard the people.

29:49My eyes lit up. I was so happy.

29:51And the first thing he says to me.

29:53Are you okay?

29:55That's Bam Bam Big Road.

29:57And he goes, we did it.

29:59And we were laughing.

30:01Because the place was rumbling.

30:03He waited for the people to come down a teeny bit.

30:05And then once they saw him come out first.

30:07We knew the pop would be loud.

30:09But I don't know if we knew it was going to be that loud.

30:11I'll never forget it as long as I live.

30:15I got goosebumps.

30:18There's so many things that could have gone wrong.

30:20It could break your back. It could break your neck.

30:22But Scotty never ever said no to anything.

30:25It's a small miracle that Bigelow is moving.

30:28ECW was definitely extreme.

30:31I'm just surprised nobody died.

30:33I am really surprised nobody died.

30:35You would see him come out.

30:37He'd have giant gashes on his head.

30:39And he would just put some super glue on it, close it up.

30:41And then we would go have a cheesesteak.

30:43I can't tell you how many times he's been sewed up in our living room.

30:45Doctor just would come over and just sew him up in the middle of the night while he was half asleep.

30:49So the injuries were the beginning of the end.

30:53He had stenosis in the entirety of his spine.

30:57He had crushed discs.

30:59He had sections fused of his back at that time.

31:02You could run your finger down his spine.

31:04And you could feel almost like braille.

31:07The pills just allowed him to move.

31:10If you didn't go out and you didn't put on a show, you weren't getting paid.

31:15So I understand the aspect of having to take something to basically push you through that.

31:22I did see Bigelow struggling a little bit physically, but he hit it well.

31:27He wouldn't tell you if you had to go for a match,

31:30Hey dude, I'm hurting here. My shoulder hurts. My neck hurts. My back hurts.

31:33He was just, let's go.

31:35You know, let's do it. You know, whatever it was.

31:39The pain pills Bam Bam Bigelow consumes allow him to continue performing at the highest level.

31:45But they also take a toll on his life away from the ring.

31:49He was never, never, never aggressive.

31:51And he was always very respectful.

31:53And he became angry.

31:55He would at times be very coherent and at times be very incoherent.

31:59And he would be like, you're just crazy and you're making things up.

32:02I'm under a doctor's care and this is, you know, what I have to do to be in the business.

32:06It was a doctor, an MD who got paid a lot of money to treat him for one disease and gave him another whole nother one.

32:16The pill bottles from that doctor. I've never seen pill bottles that size in my life before.

32:22A hundred pills, 300 pills.

32:24This doctor was a fan and he would have done anything that Scott wanted, regardless of his license.

32:31And he did.

32:32Scott was in denial.

32:34And so was the doctor, because I would call him and say, stop writing these prescriptions.

32:39You're destroying our lives. You're ruining our family.

32:42And that doctor's response, he would call my father and say that the warden's calling me, telling me not to come over.

32:48Undermining my mother to my father in an already weakened state.

32:54Nobody's paying attention to these doctors.

32:57You're a drug dealer because he was not a pain doctor.

33:01It's a tragedy. Scott sold his soul for OxyContin.

33:07And he would have stepped over us in the street to get them.

33:10Addiction continues to get worse, fueled by an endless supply of OxyContin from his doctor.

33:16OxyContin is one of America's new wonder drugs.

33:19Since the drug came on the market, the number of annual prescriptions has risen to nearly six million.

33:25Contributing to the problem are pill mills, where doctors write prescriptions.

33:30I'm going to buy drugs off the street.

33:33He was home taking OxyContin.

33:36And then I got pregnant with Richie, and then the promises, you know,

33:44this is going to be different, we're going to get through this.

33:48I think he tried to pull himself together because he said he always wanted a daughter his whole life.

33:52It was like beyond anything to have this daughter.

33:55And when she was little, he used to put her to bed every single night,

33:58and he would get a pillow, and he would lay on the floor next to her,

34:01and he would sing her songs and hold her hands.

34:03And he was in her room on her floor every night.

34:06Wednesdays, every Wednesday, my dad would pick me up from preschool, big red truck,

34:12eat all the Doritos you can imagine, paint pictures, just normal father-daughter relationship.

34:18When he was around, he was focused on being with us and spending time with us.

34:23How you doing, boy?

34:26His body was a little hindered, and he was starting to feel the pain.

34:29But, you know, that didn't stop us from going to every opening day for fishing,

34:34every opening day for hunting.

34:36He got to be a dad.

34:38And without being on the road 300-plus days a year, those are the fondest memories.

34:43There's no pension in professional wrestling.

34:45So he needed to make as much money as he could with the body that he had

34:51because he knew it was deteriorating.

34:53He even says that he's the highest-paid loser in the world

34:56because he'll take a loss as long as that loss pays.

34:59I'm the guy who helped bring Bam Bam in to WCW.

35:03When he heard that I was wrestling, somehow he got my number.

35:11He's like, dude, you're doing it.

35:13Like, we grew up maybe seven miles from each other.

35:16These two Jersey Shore boys.

35:18But now we're tag team champions.

35:20I never felt like he was under the influence in the ring.

35:23But, you know, eventually, you know, people start to go back to their old habits.

35:26And that's why so many guys died.

35:28Overconsumption of pills.

35:31Because when you're taking five at a time, because three stopped working.

35:37I'm like, you can't remember if you took them or not, so you take five more.

35:41You know, and before you know it, you're that guy.

35:45He went on the road, and he would not show up to shows or tapings.

35:50He was in Arizona, and friends of ours were there.

35:54And he didn't make it to the show, and they called home, and I was like,

35:57what do you mean? He's there.

35:59Got to the point where he was a liability, and that's what they said.

36:04And they paid him the rest of his contract to stay home

36:06because he could not function.

36:09I saw a man broken.

36:11He's away from his family, and he's not in the best physical shape

36:16because he's in constant pain, you know, having to take a pill just to get up.

36:20And not just a pill, multiple pills.

36:22But the tradeoff of that is it completely dulls your senses.

36:26It completely just destroys your sense of person.

36:30How many pills do you think he was taking a day?

36:3215, 20 Oxycontins, easily.

36:34A day?

36:35Yeah.

36:36It was dangerous.

36:37And a situation happened with the youngest where it became very dangerous.

36:42I had wrote a paper about it when I was in 8th grade,

36:46and I went back and read it last night,

36:48understanding that what was happening is,

36:50I'm writing about my father nodding out, driving.

36:54And when I wrote that in 8th grade, I had no idea that's what was going on.

36:58And I remember the officers were asking me all these questions,

37:01like, I mean, for a 3-year-old, they're asking me my address,

37:03my phone number, my mom's phone number, like all this information.

37:06And I'm just like, I don't know, where's my dad?

37:10So when I went back last night and read it,

37:12really knowing what was going on, what was in his system,

37:15it just hits 10 times harder.

37:19As Bam Bam Bigelow's addiction sends him crashing to rock bottom,

37:23he's charged with endangering the welfare of his daughter.

37:26He was given an ultimatum.

37:28I'm like, you've either got to go get help or you have to go.

37:31He wouldn't get help.

37:33And he went. He didn't see that he had a problem the way that he did,

37:37the way that addicts do.

37:39You know, Dad's not going to be home anymore, they're getting a divorce.

37:43That's when he picked up and basically went to Florida.

37:46He was married to a drug.

37:48So to watch a man who would choose that over his children,

37:51when I knew that that was the most important thing,

37:53was just the worst thing ever.

37:55I got to talk to him on the phone,

37:57but it would be like spans of where it would be really quiet

38:00because I could hear him crying.

38:03He was struggling to form the words hi.

38:08I went down to Tampa, spring break, my senior year.

38:12I wanted to go down there to see my friends,

38:14but I really just wanted to go down there to find my dad.

38:16And his girlfriend answered the phone,

38:22said he wasn't available at the point in time.

38:25And then I got a phone call when I landed back in New Jersey

38:29from my father apologizing.

38:31And, you know, I kind of aired him out a little bit.

38:34I told him how I felt.

38:37And then he died three weeks later.

38:44I was in school teaching,

38:46and a phone call got patched to my classroom,

38:48and it was his brother, Todd.

38:50And Todd said, he's gone.

38:53I was like, what do you mean?

38:55He's like, he's gone, and he was crying hysterically.

38:57And I just hung up the phone and ran out of the building,

39:00and Shane was in college.

39:02Yeah, I got that call.

39:04I'll never forget.

39:06I'm walking back through the quad.

39:08There's kids going to class,

39:10and I got a phone call from my father's childhood friend.

39:13Your father died last night.

39:16And it's just like everybody around you is moving fast,

39:19and you're just still.

39:22I just remember being numb.

39:24It rocked me.

39:27What I heard, at that time,

39:31he was, you know, going through a tough time.

39:35I thought of his family instantly,

39:37because I know how much he loved his family and his wife.

39:39You know, I just felt for him.

39:41He died of an overdose, accidental overdose.

39:45But, you know, the word accidental and overdose

39:47should just not be in the same sentence.

39:49How do you accidentally, oops, took one too many?

39:52Took one too many for a long time.

39:57Look at this man.

39:59I'm telling you, ladies, send your kids out of the room,

40:01because I want you to take a look at Bam Bam Bigelow.

40:05There's no one who doesn't know Bam Bam Bigelow.

40:07And if they don't know his name,

40:09if they see the face and the head, they know it.

40:12His entire head was aflame.

40:14So he started doing the flames on his suits and his boots,

40:17and you'd look out into the audience, and the flame everywhere.

40:19Bam!

40:21Oh, wow!

40:23But so athletic.

40:28So quick.

40:30Bammer did it almost like a ballet dancer.

40:32Bigelow can move for a big man,

40:34and he knows what he's doing in there.

40:36Look at this 400-pound man doing flips and cartwheels

40:39and going through the ring.

40:41This is crazy.

40:43In his time, in the 80s, nobody was like him.

40:45Like, this isn't right.

40:47It wasn't just Rookie of the Year, it was Phenomenon of the Year.

40:49Bam Bam Bigelow!

40:52Arriving in the world of nature,

40:54Bam Bam Bigelow catapulted to the top of the wrestling world

40:57and never looked back.

40:59You need a little excitement!

41:01When you've been on top in WWE,

41:03and then you're on tippity-top-top in ECW,

41:06you know, they beat the f*** out of each other.

41:10Wrestling rewarded Bam Bam's talents with money and fame,

41:13but those rewards came with a heavy price.

41:16All the wear and tear, and you're not going to feel it right away.

41:20And that's when it changed,

41:22and everything spiraled out of control.

41:25You're selling your body, you're selling your health

41:28to have fame, fortune, and everything that goes with it.

41:32People had mouths to feed,

41:34so guys did what they had to do to earn their living.

41:37He was in pain, and there was a doctor involved

41:41that was willing to take that away,

41:43and things went downhill from there.

41:46But Bam Bam's addictions eventually pushed him

41:49beyond the point of redemption.

41:51Everything he loved.

41:53A trusted professional gave him the thing

41:57that was his biggest demise.

42:00This doctor could have had a loaded machine gun to our family,

42:04and it would have been no different.

42:06No different.

42:17Just digging through the vast archives,

42:19you have Dad's calendar,

42:21and then if you go to November 15, 1987,

42:25he got married, and then not even taking a honeymoon,

42:28like he had a day off, and then he was in Des Moines, Iowa.

42:31This is literally the first 4 days of his career with the WWF in 1987.

42:36He definitely wanted kids right away.

42:38He was like, I just want to stay home and raise the kids.

42:40You could go to work, go to school, do what you want to do.

42:43He was more excited about being a dad

42:45than he was when he got WrestleMania.

42:48Hi, I'm Dana Breckenridge.

42:50I was married to Bam Bam Bigelow.

42:52And when Richie came, I mean, that was the best thing ever.

42:56Because all he ever really wanted was a daughter.

42:58Oh yeah, he was a giant teddy bear.

43:01What fans saw in the ring was not at all what we saw at home.

43:06It was love, it was playing around.

43:08My name is Richie Bigelow, and my family...

43:14My father is Bam Bam Bigelow.

43:16He had this giant, giant bed that we would all cuddle up in

43:19and just jump around.

43:21Yeah, it was a great time.

43:23When you think of your dad, what's the first memory that comes to mind?

43:26It was the last time I saw him.

43:29We were just driving in the car, and I was 2 or 3 years old.

43:32But I remember seeing his head slowly drop to his chest

43:38and then come back up.

43:40And whenever I think back on how I went about the situation,

43:44I'm always so baffled because I was so young.

43:47But in some way, I understood that we were in some sort of danger.

43:52And as a toddler, I went into panic mode.

43:56I gotta go to the bathroom, I gotta get out.

43:58Daddy, daddy, pull over, I can't.

44:00So we pulled over on the side of the road,

44:02and he looked at me and gave me this big toothless smile.

44:05He's like, come on, do you have to go?

44:07It was just on the side of the road.

44:09I was like, I don't know, but kind of stalling.

44:12And then we just got back on the road, and it started happening again.

44:16This time we were by a diner, and we pulled into that diner.

44:20And the next thing I know, my car door was opened,

44:25and a man just scooped me up and put me in the back of this gray car.

44:30And from the back seat, I watched them take my dad in handcuffs across.

44:35That was it.

44:37My mom even picked me up, and she was real gentle about it.

44:40And she told me, you're probably not going to be seeing daddy anymore.

44:45He needs help.

44:48And that was the last time I saw him.

44:50He wanted to be a wrestler, but he wanted to be a father more.

44:55And everything was taken away.

44:58So was wrestling what took it away,

45:01or was Scott and all the other outside influences what took it away?

45:06How did this happen?

45:10Here we go.

45:13This is dad his sophomore year in high school.

45:16Oh, my God.

Category

Transcript

Recommended