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WWE. com is reporting that Scott "Bam Bam" Bigelow has passed away in Florida.
Kevin Doll, Public Information Director for the Pasco County Sheriff's Office, confirmed that Bigelow was found dead early Friday morning at his home in Hudson, FL.
"We can confirm that Scott Bigelow was found in his home this morning. At this time the cause of death is unknown," Doll told WWE.com.
Doll also told WWE.com that the Pasco-Pinellas Counties medical examiner has taken the body and an autopsy will be performed.
"The Beast from the East" was 45 years years old at the time of his death. He worked as a bouncer at a bar in his home town of Asbury Park, NJ before becoming a wrestler. He held numerous titles in ECW, WWE, IWGP (Japan) and WCW.
In the summer of 2000 Bigelow rescued two children from a burning house and suffered severe burns over his body while performing this heroic act.
WrestlingClothesline.com sends it's thoughts and prayers to the family
and friends of Bam Bam Bigelow. He will truly be missed..
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Kocosports.com has the regrettable task of reporting that Scott Charles Bigelow, known to wrestling fans worldwide as Bam Bam Bigelow has passed away.
Sources close to Bigelow have informed us that the former WWE/ECW/WCW superstar had been missing for several days, and was found dead this morning in a home in Pasco County, Florida.
We are told that Police are currently treating this as a crime scene. Despite several attempts by Kocosports.com to contact them, The Pasco County Sheriff’s dept. was unavailable for comment as of 12:50PM today.
Bigelow was trained as a wrestler at Larry Sharpe's "Monster Factory" in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. He debuted in Memphis in 1985. In 1997 Bigelow began a one year stint in the World Wrestling Federation, but was sidelined due to injuries. He moved on to work for Antonio Inoki in New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he formed a tag team with Big Van Vader, and won the IWGP Tag Team Championships.
In late 1992 Bigelow returned to the WWF and engaged in a highly-publicized feud with American football player Lawrence Taylor. The two went on to headline WrestleMania.
During a run in ECW, in 1997, he joined the reformed The Triple Threat with Chris Candido and leader, Shane Douglas. He was a dominant force in ECW, carrying out feats of strength such as hurling Spike Dudley out of the ring and into the audience and slamming Taz through the ring. He held the ECW Television Championship and the ECW World Heavyweight Championship during his stay there.
On November 16, 1998 Bigelow debuted in World Championship Wrestling. He initially feuded with WCW World Heavyweight Champion Goldberg before competing in the WCW Hardcore Division
Bigelow held a total of 13 professional wrestling championships throughout his career, in promotions such as WCW, NWA, ECW, NJPW & IWGP.
On October 2, 2005, Bigelow was hospitalized with a broken nose and several lacerations after crashing his Harley-Davidson motorcycle in Spring Hill, Florida. His passenger at the time, Janis Remiesiewicz (Bigelow's girlfriend), suffered severe injuries and was declared to be in "critical" condition.
Both Remiesiewicz and her relationship with Bigelow, made a complete recovery.
Bigelow’s talent and warm personality made him a beloved figure
to fans and wrestlers alike, Kocosports.com would like to send our deepest
condolences to Miss Remiesiewicz & the rest of Bigelow’s family
and friends during their time of grief.
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Scott Bigelow, 45, wrestler 'Bam Bam'
Sunday, January 21, 2007
BY BRENDAN BERLS
Star-Ledger Staff
His name was Scott Charles Bigelow. But to the world he will al ways be "Bam Bam."
In the end, Bigelow may not have wanted it that way. Retired from professional wrestling and fac ing a tightening squeeze of money and legal problems, he confessed to a Florida reporter in November 2005 that he wished his alter ego would disappear.
"I don't know if it's hiding or disappointment or what," the Neptune native told the St. Petersburg Times. "But being Bam Bam Bigelow is a pain. ... You did this the first half of your life and now this is the second half, and now you're bruised and battered. So what the hell can you do?"
A tough question, given his ap pearance -- his 6-foot-3 frame, his 325-pound girth and especially the signature tattoo that covered his entire scalp. He was also in the news at the time: A month earlier, he was allegedly drunk when his motorcycle crashed, severely injur ing his girlfriend.
It was a question Bigelow apparently never resolved. The 45-year-old was found dead Friday morning by his girlfriend at her home in Hudson, Fla. He was awaiting trial for his role in the DWI crash, for which he was facing potential prison time.
Authorities said there were no obvious signs of foul play, but a cause of death had not been made public yesterday.
News of his death spread swiftly through the professional wrestling world.
"Bam Bam had a level of raw, unrefined talent that no one had ever seen before," Paul Heyman, a wrestling promoter and color commentator, said on the World Wres tling Entertainment Web site. "He clearly broke the mold. When else could a guy that size do picture- perfect drop kicks and do moves off the top rope?"
"I learned a lot from being in the ring with him," Peter Senerchia, the wrestler known as "Tazz," said on the WWE site. "He was one of the toughest S.O.B.'s you could ever, ever face in that ring. This is horrible news. He was too young to go."
Though he was always billed as an Asbury Park native -- his signature finishing move was a body slam he called "Greetings from Asbury Park" -- Scott Bigelow grew up in neighboring Neptune, where he was a star wrestler for Neptune High School in the 1970s.
As a senior in 1979, Bigelow was the top-seeded heavyweight in the state wrestling tournament but lost in the semifinals to Matt Lauck of Pitman. Bigelow placed third, finishing the year with a 26-1 record. A year earlier, he made it to the state quarterfinals before being pinned by Bruce Baumgartner of Manchester Regional.
Lauck went on to win the 1979 state tournament, while Baum gartner went on to win four gold medals in the 1984 and 1992 Olympics.
Bigelow went on to the Monster Factory, a professional wres tling academy in Gloucester County. Along with Bam Bam Bigelow, the school boasts wres tling names like The Big Show and King Kong Bundy among its graduates.
"We've had probably 25 superstars, but he was one of the more successful. He had a lot of talent," Ed Atlas, a Monster Factory trainer, said yesterday.
"He was 300-some pounds, but he could jump higher than most 18- or 19-year-old kids half his weight," said Atlas, who was a fel low wrestler-in-training when Bigelow was there in the early 1980s. "He was a very agile big man. That was his claim to fame."
Bigelow made his debut as "Bam Bam" -- the name taken from the hefty infant progeny of Barney and Betty Rubble of "The Flintstones" cartoon -- in 1985. He was picked up two years later by the World Wrestling Federation, which became the WWE.
Later in his career, Bigelow wrestled for World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling -- the conference in which he won the world title in 1997, defeating "Tazz" be fore a hometown crowd in Asbury Park.
But the highlight of Bigelow's career arguably came at Wrestlemania XI in 1995, when he and ex-Giants great Lawrence Taylor faced off in what was called a "grudge match" in the main event. Bigelow lost, but the match was the high water mark of his career in terms of notoriety.
After the match, Taylor -- making his pro wrestling debut -- complimented Bigelow's tenacity, and also took a jab at the notion that wrestling is all fake.
"I threw everything I had at the guy. I pulled no punches," Taylor said at the time. "And when you're lying on the canvas and he's on the top rope about to jump on you, believe me, it's real."
Funeral arrangements are incomplete.
Brendan Berls may be reached at bberls@starledger.com or (973) 539-7910
(original article)-------
As you have heard, Scott Bigelow passed away in Florida.
His remains are being flown up to NJ today and his service will be on
Friday followed by a memorial service on Saturday.
In lieu of flowers, donations will be accepted to defray the cost of the
funeral, which is being picked up by Ray Licamelli and Afa.
Scott has 3 children that he left behind.
Francioni Taylor & Lopez Funeral Home
1200 10th Street @ Atkins Avenue
Neptune, NJ
732-775-0029
Friday 2-4 PM & 7 - 9 PM
From Garden State Parkway take exit 100 East to RT 33 follow to Atkins
Ave & make a right.
Saturday morning will be a service at 10 AM @ the Shore Christian Center
- 4041 Squankum Road, Allenwood, NJ. 08720 (Wall Township)
Phone Number is 732-938-4353.
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Friends: Wrestler Scott Bigelow was a big man with a
big heart
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 01/27/07
BY STEPHEN EDELSON, STAFF WRITER
NEPTUNE — Even in death, Scott Bigelow was larger than life.
Hundreds of family, friends and fans of the massive wrestler known the world over as "Bam Bam" paid their final respects to Bigelow on Friday, a week after the 45-year-old was found dead in a home in Hudson, Fla.
"He was a gentle giant," said Anthony Mistretta of Belmar, Bigelow's cousin. "There was a compassionate side to him that people who were close to him got to see."
The Pasco County Sheriff's Office has ruled out foul play, although no cause of death has been determined. According to family members, Bigelow was a diabetic and had been battling a staph infection that had moved from his legs to an arm.
A Neptune native, Bigelow quickly developed a reputation in the ring for agility and speed that belied his 400-pound frame during a golden era for professional wrestling, beginning in the mid-1980s. He was easily identified everywhere he went by the flames tattooed on his shaved head.
"I was a huge fan of his right from the start of his career," said Robert Dennis of Asbury Park. "I loved his moves, and I loved his tattoos, especially the one on the head. He made it fun to watch."
While life had become more difficult for Bigelow over the past few years since the end of his wrestling career and a divorce, combined with legal and health problems stemming from a 2005 motorcycle accident in Florida, it was his time in the ring and the friendships he made along the way that were celebrated on this day. He reached the height of his fame in 1995, when his rivalry with former Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor ended with their meeting in the main event at WrestleMania XI.
"We'd be walking through an airport, and maybe because of the travel schedule he might not have slept for 28 hours," recalled Ray Liccachelli of Rockaway, N.Y., who was Bigelow's main adversary for several years in his role as Doink the Clown. "I was always very fortunate because people didn't recognize me. I was always under a costume. But poor Scott. It was like the circus was in town. And he always tried to be as gracious as he could. "Could I have an autograph? Sign my shirt? Sign my back, sign my leg?' He was always nice to them.
"One year I wrestled 297 days, and I know Scott did at least that or more, with 13 overseas trips thrown in there. At one point I wrestled Scott every day for seven months, in what seemed like every town across America, and the world."
A standout wrestler at Neptune High School, where he also played football, Bigelow finished among the top eight wrestlers in the state for two straight years during the late 1970s. He began training for a career in professional wrestling in the early 1980s at the Monster Factory in Bellmawr, and went on to achieve success with several different organizations.
Todd Bigelow, 46, of Springhill, Fla., would often spend time with his younger brother when he was on the road performing.
"We weren't like brothers, we were like bookends," he said. "You know how they say you can only count your friends on one hand? He had hundreds of good friends, and everybody has their own little story about how he did something for them."
"He was one of those people who would do anything for you if he was your friend," added Joseph Teresi Jr., a former Ocean Township resident who lived near Bigelow in Hudson, Fla.
In addition to his wrestling career, Bigelow appeared in three movies, including the 1995 release "Major Payne," along with guest appearances on several television shows.
"Over the last few years he wanted everyone to know he was Scott,
not just Bam Bam," said his mother, Diana Bigelow of Manchester.
"He wanted people to know who he really was, not just as the wrestler."
