Though never achieving the super-stardom of The Undertaker, Ultimate Warrior or Hulk Hogan, Scott “Bam Bam” Bigelow represented something of superhero status for a generation of young wrestling fan; a generation of fan including myself. And as they grew up and moved away from their childhood heroes, Bam Bam, with his tattooed head and cartwheels, was never forgotten. Scott Bigelow was found dead last week in his home in Hudson, Florida, he was forty five. Though his death is far from the first amongst high profile professional wrestlers it signifies something important for myself, if not for many, many others.

He was cartoonish in the fact that his character was over the top, but he could easily represent an entire age of wrestler which I watched religiously on Saturday mornings as a child. That being said, it was shocking to revisit Bam Bam later in his career as a member of the independent company Extreme Championship Wrestling; a promotion that I became a fan of in my teens which flourished with an abundance of violence, irreverence and flaming table & barbed wire matches. His acrobatics weren’t what they once were, but nevertheless he served a key role in the company and won the hearts of many new fans. And with that – Bam Bam’s life was important to me in that it represented a piece of my personal childhood fading away. And even if only a trivial part, I’m sure these sentiments are shared by millions.

Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Nikolai Volkoff (WWF)
Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Big Van Vader (New Japan Pro Wrestling)
Bam Bam Bigelow vs. The Undertaker (WWF 1993)
Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Rob Van Dam (ECW)
Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Bill Goldberg (WCW)