January 27, 2007 Observer Newsletter: Bam Bam Bigelow, Yoshihiro Akiyama
Bam Bam Bigelow, who was the most agile near 400-pounder to ever come into pro wrestling when he debuted in 1986, passed away on 1/19 at his girlfriend’s home in Hudson, FL at the age of 45.
Bigelow was an international headliner for most of the next 15 years, with several stints in promotions like WWF, WCW, UWA in Mexico and New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Born Scott Charles Bigelow on September 1, 1961, he was a great natural athlete, with near sprinter speed and incredible agility while carrying 325 pounds in high school, which nobody in the 80s had. But he fell in with the wrong people and out of sports. He wound up as a bounty hunter, and then ended up as the most famous student of Larry Weil (Pretty Boy Larry Sharpe), who, largely through Bigelow’s success, his Monster Factory became the most famous pro wrestling school in the country.
But in recent years, the fall from stardom was hard. He went through a messy divorce. For a long period of time, he disappeared after a sandwich shop in Pennsylvania went bankrupt. He lost contact with his three children and ended up on terrible terms with his wife, and hadn’t paid child support in years.s
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Dave Meltzer is the founder and lead writer on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the weekly constant when it comes to news and reviews in pro wrestling and mixed martial arts for more than 40 years. Dave also co-hosts Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and had had bylines for The National, Yahoo Sports, MMA Fighting and others.