Bam Bam Bigelow

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

[W2BTD]

When it comes to the big men, for me there is Vader, then Bigelow. After that, steep decline.

[Dylan Waco]

What are the great Bigelow matches?

[Matt D]

Vs. Lawler his rookie year.

 

I think he has lots of good matches though, and even more good performances. I would be very, very surprised if he made my list though.

[WingedEagle]

The Lawler match may very well be his best output. Points for making the LT match more than passable. Is it possible his hottest was the beyond brief debut in WCW where he was programmed with Goldberg before sliding down to the triad with DDP & Kanyon?

[Jimmy Redman]

His work in the first Survivor Series main event is worth looking at as far as memorable Bam Bam performances go.

[PeteF3]

I think Bam Bam has had the underachiever label for so long that he's become underrated. He was more than capable as Vader's tag partner in New Japan and had a very good, consistent run in general from 1992 until the moment the referee's hand hit 3 at WM11.

 

Not that this would be enough for me to vote for him, I don't think. As Dylan alluded to, the GREAT matches aren't there, just a lot of good ones, with the ones coming closest to great being New Japan tags with 3 other good workers. As far as big fat guys I'd put him behind the Big Boss Man, at least. I do think he was better than One Man Gang or Tenta, though.

[W2BTD]

What are the great Bigelow matches?

 

Here are some of the ones I like off the top of my head:

 

vs Bret Hart, KotR '93

vs Taz, Heatwave '98

w/Vader vs Hase & Muto, can't verify the date because they had more than one match and this is on some grimy VHS comp I own, but i'm pretty sure it's 5/1/92 (i'm sure Ditch or somebody else will instantly know the one i'm talking about)

 

As Jimmy Redman mentioned, the '87 Survivor Series match was basically a Bigelow showcase before they gave up on him. And the LT match was essentially a minor miracle.

[W2BTD]

Oh, and the Windham match from Starrcade '88 was one hell of a match, too.

[Dylan Waco]

To be fair I like Bigelow fine, but I don't see why so many automatically rate him as the number two big man to Vader. His rep took a big pounding with me when I watched all the ECW and I saw just how worthless he was on the house shows

[Timbo Slice]

It's 3/1/92, Joe. It's a good match, will agree with you there, and that's with I believe Vader working on a bad wheel.

 

He doesn't have enough high-end stuff and his great matches are far and few between. Won't make my list.

[BigBadMick]

I'm going through a Raws and PPVs from 93 and 94 at the moment. Plenty of nice solid work with Bret, Jannetty, Razor, Tatanka and the HeadShrinkers.

 

I agree that he's been torn down for so long here that he's underrated. I think that's happened with a few guys.

[Grimmas]

Recently re-watched ECW Hardcore Heaven 97 and that Bam Bam-Spike match was real fun and Bigelow was great in it.

 

I think you could argue his ECW run was the best of his career. I'm a big fan, but at this moment I think he'll be pushed off my list based on the greatness of others.

 

Comparing to other big men, I'd put: Hansen, Vader, Mark Henry all above him easily.

[goodhelmet]

I am with Dylan on this. No chance of making the list. Love the look, love the Lawler match. Too many gaps and bad performances on the resume.

[JerryvonKramer]

I think Bigelow continues to be one of the most overrated guys among ... casual hardcore fans. You know what I mean by that.

[goodhelmet]

What do you mean by that Parv?

[Shining Wiz]

I think Bigelow continues to be one of the most overrated guys among ... casual hardcore fans. You know what I mean by that.

Casual hardcore fans......this is the most hipster comment I've read here yet.

 

 

That being said, I agree Bigelow is overrated.

[Graham Crackers]

Is casual hardcore like skinnyfat?

[JerryvonKramer]

What do you mean by that Parv?

More hardcore than than your average fan, less hardcore than your sickos.

 

There's a sliding scale with your buddy from school who watched wrestling "back in the day" as the most casual fan possible with someone like Dylan at the other end.

[Ditch]

Bigelow isn't top 100 by any measure other than size. Will even 10 relevantly good Bigelow matches get mentioned? And are those 10 going to be SO GOOD as to get him in over someone with, say, 50 good matches? Or 10 actively great matches? The case is "he was pretty athletic for a 400 pounder and sometimes he tried, unlike [generic lazy fatass, e.g. Mike Shaw]." That isn't very compelling.

 

John Tenta has a superior body of work if you include his All Japan and UWFi appearances. Bigelow struggles to make a superheavyweight top 10. Vader, Henry, Blackwell, Tenta, Andre, Bossman, Hansen (at his fattest). Big Show?

 

Jerry's "casual hardcore" comment rings true to me. The sort of person who feels superior for having watched the ECW best-of DVD with Bigelow vs RVD (which was good) but doesn't know who Jerry Blackwell was or that Andre was in great matches prior to his mid-80s steep decline. "Bigelow was the second-best big man after Vader" doesn't hold up to scrutiny. PWO is allllll about scrutiny.

 

Bigelow wouldn't make a top 200 for me.

[funkdoc]

yea, i'm more with ditch on this one. super porky absolutely smokes bigelow too imo, and i doubt i would have him in a top 100 if i did this

[BigBadMick]

"Bigelow was the second-best big man after Vader" doesn't hold up to scrutiny. PWO is allllll about scrutiny.'

 

Damn right it is. My head will explode before this project is finished.....

[W2BTD]

Bigelow isn't top 100 by any measure other than size. Will even 10 relevantly good Bigelow matches get mentioned? And are those 10 going to be SO GOOD as to get him in over someone with, say, 50 good matches? Or 10 actively great matches? The case is "he was pretty athletic for a 400 pounder and sometimes he tried, unlike [generic lazy fatass, e.g. Mike Shaw]." That isn't very compelling.

 

John Tenta has a superior body of work if you include his All Japan and UWFi appearances. Bigelow struggles to make a superheavyweight top 10. Vader, Henry, Blackwell, Tenta, Andre, Bossman, Hansen (at his fattest). Big Show?

 

Jerry's "casual hardcore" comment rings true to me. The sort of person who feels superior for having watched the ECW best-of DVD with Bigelow vs RVD (which was good) but doesn't know who Jerry Blackwell was or that Andre was a in great matches prior to his mid-80s steep decline. "Bigelow was the second-best big man after Vader" doesn't hold up to scrutiny. PWO is allllll about scrutiny.

 

Bigelow wouldn't make a top 200 for me.

 

Jesus, talk about "feeling superior". This might be the most uppity, elitist post I've ever read on here. And believe me, that covers some ground.

 

John Tenta & Mark Henry would have trouble making my Top 1000. But what do I know? I'm a "casual hardcore" who has probably never heard of Jerry Blackwell.

[funkdoc]

he's definitely not talking about you. you just value totally different things from a lot of folks around here, and bigelow being high up there makes a lot of sense for you. no shame in that, and i do think ditch worded his post badly in missing that.

 

MOST people who talk up bigelow as an all-time great do fit that bill in my experience, though. i think the LT match singlehandedly made his rep with a lot of people

[W2BTD]

he's definitely not talking about you.

 

You might be right, but the idea that you can't possibly think Bigelow is great unless you haven't seen wall to wall Tenta or Blackwell just strikes me as closed minded. I don't think thinking Bigelow being better than somebody like Blackwell is some wacky offbeat opinion. One thing some of you guys have to keep in mind, is that some of these guys being mentioned here, particularly Tenta & Henry, are much higher regarded around these parts than in most other circles. And that's not because people haven't watched those guys wrestle. People just like different shit.