All language subtitles for Dark.Side.Of.The.Ring.S04E08.1080p.WEB.h264-BAE[eztv.re]

Look at this, man.

I'm telling you, lady, send your kids
out of the room because I want you to

a look at Bam Bam Bigelow. There's no
one who doesn't know Bam Bam Bigelow.

if they don't know his name, if they see
the face and the head, they know it.

His entire head was aflame. So he
started doing the flames on his suits

boots, and you'd look out into the
audience and there's flame everywhere.

He was just massive, but so athletic, so
quick.

Bammer did it almost like a ballet
dancer.

Bigelow can move for a big man. He knows
what he's doing in there.

Look at this 400 -pound man doing flips
and cartwheels and going through the

ring. This is crazy.

In 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.

Bam! Bam!

Bigelow!

Arriving on the scene like a force of
nature, Bam Bam Bigelow catapulted to

top of the wrestling world and never
looked back. You need a little

When 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.

Wrestling rewarded Bam Bam's talents
with money and fame, but those rewards

with a heavy price.

All the wear and tear, you're not going
to feel it right away, but it's coming.

And that's when it changed and
everything spiraled out of control.

You're selling your body, you're selling
your health to have fame, fortune, and

everything that goes with it.

People had mouths to feed. So guys did
what they had to do.

To earn their living.

He was in pain, and there was a doctor
involved that was willing to take that

away, and things went downhill from
there.

But Bam Bam's addictions eventually
pushed him beyond the point of

destroying everything he loved.

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

This doctor could have had a loaded
machine gun to our family, and it would

been no different.

No different.

So just digging through the vast
archives, we have dad's calendar. And

you go to November 15, 1987, he got
married.

And then, you know, not even taking a
honeymoon, like he had a day off and

he was in Des Moines, Iowa. This is
literally the first four days of his

with the WWF in 1987.

He definitely wanted kids right away. He
was like, I just want to stay home and

raise the kids. You could go to work, go
to school, do what you want to do. And

he was more excited about being a dad
than he was when he got WrestleMania.

Hi, I'm Dana Breckinridge. I was married
to Bam Bam Bigelow.

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

Because all he ever really wanted was a
daughter.

Oh, yeah. He was a giant teddy bear.

What fans saw in the ring was...

Not at all what we saw at home. It was
love. It was playing around.

My name is Richie Bigelow, and my father
is Bam Bam Bigelow.

He had this giant, giant bed that we
would all cuddle up in and just jump

around. Yeah, it was a great time.

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

It was the last time I saw him.

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

remember seeing his head slowly drop to
his chest.

and then come back up.

And whenever I think back on how I went
about the situation, I'm always so

baffled because I was so young.

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

And as a toddler, I went into panic
mode.

I got to go to the bathroom. I got to
get out. Daddy, Daddy, pull over. I

So we pulled over on the side of the
road, and he looked at me and gave me

big, toothless smile.

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

We sit on the side of the road, and I
was like, no, no, but kind of stalling.

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

This time we were by a diner, and we
pulled into that diner, and the next

I know, my car door was opened, and a
man just scooped me up and put me

in the back of this gray car.

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

That was it.

My mom came and picked me up, and she
was real gentle about it. And she told

you're probably not going to be seeing
Daddy anymore.

He needs help.

And that was the last time I saw him.

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

And everything was taken away.

So was wrestling what took it away, or
was...

Scott and all the other outside
influences, what took it away?

Like, how did this happen?

Here we go.

This is dad, his sophomore year in high
school.

Oh, my God.

Right? They were Class A North
champions, 20 and 6. That's probably the

time you'll see him with hair.

Everything around Asbury Park is Bruce
Springsteen. The sound of Bruce

Springsteen is everywhere and in
everything that we did when we grew up

shore.

Scott was a street kid from Neptune who
hung out in the bars of Asbury, you

know, driving the circuit in muscle
cars. For our age and our crowd, he was

definitely the man.

You know what, he was probably the
kindest.

Most genuine person of the group. We
were friends and it was just a

And then it was a whirlwind. We were
street kids.

Nobody thought about where they were
going.

I didn't go to college. My friends
didn't go to college.

He didn't go to college.

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

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

The club is actually one block from the
Stone Pony.

And in the middle, was this place called
Quack Quack.

It's DDP, Diamond Dallas Page, and I
know Bam Bam because I'm from the Jersey

Shore.

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

At some point, you know, we're doing
shots, and we just kind of clicked, you

know, but I think he was 17 at the time,
but no one cared because he looked like

a full -grown man. He was, you know, 300
-plus pounds.

He could obviously be very menacing, but
he also had that fun side to him, and

they were calling him the Beast from the
East back then.

He was a football player, and he was
ranked in the state for wrestling, and

was feared on the mat and on the
football field. This was the time when

heavyweight in high school wrestling was
unlimited. So you're talking about a

320 -pound teenager who can bench 500
pounds walking onto a mat.

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

I heard a story from a high school
wrestling coach that my father rolled

ankle real bad and he couldn't wrestle,
but his coach was just like, Scotty, I

need you to just go up there and just
look me.

So he gets up, he steps on the scale, he
turns to the kid and he just gives him

this big flex and just like, I'm coming
for you.

Lo and behold, this kid is shitting his
pants. So he tells his coach, I'm not

wrestling this guy, he's going to rip
my... Head off. All my father had to do,

he hopped out on one leg, got his hand
raised, and took the win.

Yeah, there was a group of the boys, and
they were rough -drinking, tattooed,

like old sailors, but not sailors. They
were roofers.

And they were very infamous around town.

Him and his brothers used to jump off of
billboards.

onto mattresses on the side of the road
when my grandmother would drive past.

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

And then she'd realize that it was her
three boys jumping onto like five

mattresses piled high.

Scott was very quiet. You know, he was
the baby of the bunch. They usually only

called him in when they needed the extra
muscle.

I heard he got in a fight and he bit
some kid's ear off. I was like, what?

But it's part of the legend that went
with the beast from the east.

Tough dude, ran with rugged people. He
was all that and a bag of chips, man. He

was a bad apple when he wanted to be. I
am Taz, former ECW World Heavyweight

Champion and former opponent of Bam Bam
Bigelow.

Bam Bam Bigelow all over Taz! I've heard
all the stories about Bigelow, and I

believe them all. There was a whole
separate legend before the legend Bam

Bigelow ever became the legend.

My name is Scott Colton Bigelow, and Bam
Bam Bigelow is my father.

I know that he was a bounty hunter for a
short stint. I don't know much about

the backstory of it.

I guess I was about 18, 19 years old.
You see an ad for bounty hunter, and

basically just picked up ale jumpers,
beat up a lot of people, and then wind

going to Mexico to get a little girl
that was kidnapped.

bring back a young girl who was taken
out of the country. In the whole mayday

and craziness of the thing, his bounty
hunting partner ends up getting shot in

the neck and killed. And that's when my
dad spent six months in a Mexican

prison. I heard he ended up in jail, you
know, Mexico.

So you just hear little bits and pieces.
With Scotty, they could be exaggerated.

The story is he befriended the judge
because he used to run through the walls

that were made out of, like, the
terracotta clay.

He used to just break through the cells
of the walls so they couldn't keep him

in.

So the judge one day apparently goes to
him and asks him, he goes, I need

security from all these cartel, mob,
whatever guys.

So you stand in front of me and you stop
these maniacs from, like, lunging at me

and trying to kill me, and I'll knock
your sentence down.

So the story is that a judge took pity
on my father because my father saved him

from a bunch of guys trying to jump over
and stab him, and he ended up letting

them lose early.

He's basically a New Jersey legend.

There's a story that one night, house is
on fire, he's driving by, runs in and

saves some kids.

He pulled over, ran in the house and
saved the kids. That sounds like a TV

movie. It doesn't sound like something
that really happens, you know, and there

were a lot of stories like that just out
there floating around.

I'm Shane Douglas, and I had the
pleasure of being partners in the triple

with Bam Bam Bigelow.

Who's the world champion?

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

You know, that sounds implausible. Then,
like, over years, you'd hear other

people repeating these stories, and it
just elevated that legend that was Bam

Bam. You know, get out of the joint.
There are no jobs, you know. So I was

bouncing, farting, hanging out with the
boys.

Here comes Bam Bam in the club. This is
like 81 -ish. And it's packed. And

my club was nice.

And I see Bam rolling with like three of
his biker buddies.

And I come rolling up behind him with my
arm around his back. I'm like, yo, Bam,

no trouble in here tonight, right, bro?

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

And at some point we're at the bar and I
got the guys a shot and wrestling comes

up. And, you know, I said, you know, I
tried that in 79.

He goes, you tried wrestling?

I said, but I had three matches. My
third match, I hurt my knee.

And I kind of got swept away by the
boos, the broads, and the party.

But talking to him about it, I'm like,
dude, you're a natural. He goes, that

would be a pie -in -the -sky dream for
me.

I just got to the point where, well,
where's my life going to go? You know, I

don't have a college education.

My gift was being athletically inclined.

And so I went to a wrestling school,
which was Larry Sharp School in Munster

Factory at the time. The rest is
history. Larry Sharp was a former

wrestler who opened up the Monster
Factory. My name's Dave Meltzer. I'm the

editor of the Wrestling Observer
Newsletter, and I've been covering pro

wrestling since 1971.

And one day, I guess Bam Bam walked in
the door, and Larry saw, like everyone

did, money.

And he became Scott's manager.

Set him up on a couch, threw him in the
ring, and trained him.

I wind up staying out there at the
Monster Factory, living out there,

eating it, living it, sleeping it for a
year. I saw footage of him coming out of

the Monster Factory. You could tell,
like, his aptitude to learn how to do

and get better at this, his athleticism.
It jumped out to me right away. I mean,

seeing a guy like that, you know, a guy
that big, you know, do a cartwheel, I

was like, wow, he's super impressive.

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

It gave him life and it...

Took his life.

That's the ultimate double -edged, isn't
it?

In 1985, Scott Bigelow was on the brink
of stardom, having made a clean break

from a troubled path.

When he went to the Monster Factory with
Larry Sharp, Larry really developed the

name Bam Bam with Scott. Bam Bam, the
strong baby face. You're like Bam Bam

the Flintstones.

He became Bam Bam Bigelow. Probably the
most handsome wrestler on the face of

the earth. The massive head of Bam Bam
and that big flame ball on that head,

that tattoo.

Who gets ink on their head? It's got to
be crazy. Nevertheless, their whole

head, for those that never got a tattoo,
they hurt as much as they think, okay?

This guy got his skull tattooed. Just
imagine how much pain and how many hours

that took to do.

This was the branding of Bam Bam
Bigelow.

See, people love to hate, and as long as
they want to hate me, I know I'm doing

my job.

And it kind of just sent that message to
the fans and to other wrestlers. That's

a bad dude right there.

Bam Bam, do you have anything to say
about all this? I'm hungry.

Despite being a rookie to the wrestling
scene, those with an eye for the

business see Bam Bam's incredible
potential, especially soon -to -be

pioneer Paul Heyman.

Paul was doing wrestling magazines at
the time. This was before he was

running around the business as a
manager.

And in his magazines, he was always
promoting Bam Bam Bigelow like this

phenomenon. And the guy never even had a
match.

Paul worked at Studio 54. He was doing
publicity at the time. And he got this,

you know, gig, Bam Bam Bigelow's first
match.

And I looked at it, and I was just like,
oh, my God.

This guy's like 380 pounds, and he's
coming off the top rope. At that point,

know, I'm going like, this guy's going
to be like it in wrestling. Like, he's

going to be the biggest thing.

I was like 19 when we started dating and
I was with his brother and a couple

other friends and we went to a show and
he got up there and he wrestled and they

were just in awe of what it all was.

I just was like, oh, you know, he's at
work. I didn't really know too much

it until the WWF came knocking.

At some point I'm running another really
big club in the 86 -ish and I'm just

looking at channels and all of a sudden
I'm seeing wrestling and I'm like, oh my

God.

That's Bigelow. Take a good look because
we're bringing him from one end of the

world to the other.

Next thing I know, he's with Hulk Hogan.
He's in the WWF.

And I'm like, oh, my God.

From Asbury Park, New Jersey.

He made it.

Bam, bam, Bigelow.

Not only is Bam Bam headed to the WWF,
but he's coming in with the full support

of company owner Vince McMahon.

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

the thing where all the managers were
bidding on him to make him extra

I'm here to introduce Bam Bam Bigelow.

Vince loved big guys, and now you've got
the most agile 380 -pound guy that

anyone has ever seen.

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

there with Hogan, and he was going to
main event there, and he was going to

with the top guys.

In the beginning, Hulk Hogan was the one
that really took me and said, okay,

this is the business. This is how we do
it. This is serious.

He signed the WWE contract, and we got
married November 15, 1987, and he went

the road November 16, 1987.

How did he propose to you?

We were watching TV, and he was like,

want to get married?

And I was like, okay.

And that was basically it. There was no
fanfare.

I saw him ten times a year. I don't even
know.

Maybe that's why the marriage lasted so
long. Maybe that's why I don't have

anything bad to say.

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

Back in the early days with WWF, you
know, we were working 60 days in a row.

main event in front of a pulled -out
crowd every night. And on the weekends,

would do two shows. So it's life in the
fast lane.

When he was home, you know, he did
regular things.

remained very humble scott was who he
was around here but you know it was cool

to see him on tv he was in the first
nintendo game like i said he was just

breaking into the business and he worked
and he provided he knew to take

advantage of that situation and take
advantage of everything that was given

him what a monster

Everybody that gets a pair of boots and
tights wants to be the world champion,

right? And they think they're ready for
it yesterday.

For me, it was 11 years before I saw a
world title. So when I did get that

I understood the responsibility that
went with it. So I would think that Bam

being thrown that quickly into main
events with, you know, Hulk Hogan or one

these massive names, it would have been
intimidating. He never had to crawl his

way up.

There's always going to be jealousy,
especially when you've been in the

15 years and he's been in the business
for two or one and he's on the top of

card. He was young and these guys were
big and it was Georgie Animal Steel and

King Kong Bundy and it was just people
that he always saw on TV and all of a

sudden he's standing in the middle of
the ring in the Survivor Series and the

older guys were like, you know what, you
need to step in line.

I remember there was an Andre match.

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

Andre got him in the ring up against the
ropes and wrapped the rope around his

neck. Scott was like, he's... I feel
like he's going to kill me. Andre tried

kill me in Madison Square Garden. He
picked me up and he tried choking me

And I was going, oh, God, don't go out,
don't go out. Madison Square Garden made

a man sold out. He can't pass out.

Andre thought I was just a kid, thought
I was getting too cocky or whatever.

You know, he was laying him in.

So, you know, Andre, he was on top of
him and he was pounding on him.

I mean, hard.

It was a bad night at the office for Bam
Bam Bigelow.

And Andre said something to him like,
young boy, you know, you're a little

for us. Like, this is how it works.
Like, you're going to learn.

And Andre really just stuck it to him.
But, you know, they were just letting

know he had to pay his dues. He was
green.

And you need to wait your turn, because
it's not right now.

After only a year in the big leagues,
Bam Bam Bigelow's match with Andre the

Giant marks his exit from the WWF.

He'd gotten such a big push, but at a
certain point, they did sour on him.

Bam Bam Bigelow paid the price here.

And it may have been ego -wise, the
other guys not liking him. And my father

just knowing when things getting a
little too thick and it's not his time,

moved on.

Now on his own, Bam Bam travels the
country working for various U .S.

before receiving a lucrative offer to
wrestle in Japan.

I don't even know what year these are.
I'm judging by the suit, probably early

90s. This is one of his original
Japanese suits.

There was more money for him to be had
overseas.

He offered me a lot of money to go work
in Japan.

I was working with Antonio Inoki. There
was a lot of talent there.

When he went to Japan, he was on for two
weeks and then home for two weeks. So

he had longer stretches of time home.

What sparked his return to WWF?

The contract. And it was time for him to
come back to the States. I guess in his

meeting with Vince, you know, they
worked a deal that he felt comfortable

was a little bit more mature and he was
ready to come back.

All right, man.

So what do you got here?

So this is his...

Coming out to the ring attire when he
was in his second run in the WWF, he

have pyrotechnics underneath here, and
they would shoot fireworks out.

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

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

In 1992, as the WWF struggles with
declining popularity,

Vince McMahon brings Bam Bam back to the
roster.

Once again proving to be a top -level
star, Bam Bam gets thrust into the main

event of WrestleMania 11.

WrestleMania 11.

When McMahon books him against one of
the NFL's most celebrated players.

Lawrence Taylor.

Probably the most media frenzy time of
my father's career.

That was Scott's idol, like...

LT and the Giants. Like, now I'm going
to wrestle him. You know, I'm going to

wrestle with him.

That build -up and that whole pomp and
circumstance of being the main

event in WrestleMania.

Lawrence Taylor, just me and you!

This was a match not for wrestling fans.

The media hype around this match has
been absolutely huge.

This was a match for the general public.
And the idea was, is by being in the

match, all the exposure...

from the football press and the
mainstream press, would then make Bam

bigger, so then he could be the big star
that they wanted him to be. That means

I'm here. I did it. I am the 1%. Every
little boy wants to

be a WWE wrestler.

Almost every little boy. And he was main
event. It was a paycheck bigger than a

lot of people make in one year.

I see a lot of videos online.

People, oh, it's the worst WrestleMania.

You know what?

There's not another person that could
have carried Lawrence Taylor to do that

show. Business was down.

Vince needed to hit a home run. And they
picked me because I'm the only guy that

could take chicken shit and turn it into
chicken sour.

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

Bam Bam soon learns that being the
company's go -to big man comes with

sacrifice.

The only problem working for Vince
McMahon is that if you get hurt, there's

sympathy there. He wants you to work.
It's really hard to do because your body

can't take that type of punishment.

I definitely took a toll on his body.

I mean, every time he sits in a chair
and stands up, he just squatted 400

pounds. A lot of wear and tear on your
knees, your back, your neck, your

shoulders. I mean, the thing that made
him so great was.

An agile big guy, the problem with the
agile big guys is that by doing that

stuff, a smaller guy can take that stuff
longer, and a big guy starts wearing

down a lot.

He definitely had some knee surgeries
and elbow surgery or shoulder surgery.

His body was starting to take a little
bit of a licking.

That's one thing I didn't do. I didn't
worry, and I didn't stress out. It was

his job, and he was an entertainer, and
he was an athlete, and I was too young

to think about... the lifelong lasting
effects of wrestling and what it would

have on his body and his mind.

But I do know that he knew if he was out
and he was injured too long, somebody

was going to step up and replace him. So
that was a no -no.

I'm not letting an opportunity walk by
me. That heavyweight championship is

going to be mine.

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

Probably pain pills like everybody else.
But I do remember, you know, that was

so commonplace among wrestlers then.

It was such a part of the scene that it
wasn't like a big deal. And it was like,

hey, do you got any Vikes?

So you just gave them to your boy, you
know, because he needed them right

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

be proud of.

Been tested for marijuana and
performance -enhancing drugs, but you've

prescription.

You're good.

Through that 80s and then into the 90s,
there were two things that coincided.

This is the wrestling industry. Running
right next to that is the pharmaceutical

industry. And the pharmaceutical
industry is now coming up with better,

accessible opiates, OxyContin, which I
did have a problem with.

I've seen it so much in my career. So
many of my peers during that time just

left us way too early because of
addiction, especially pain pills.

He was diabetic, and he had an
endocrinologist.

Not a pain management doctor.

And he would call and, I need PERC, I
need VITE, I need Oxy. They need

to keep me going.

If you were at the pool party and a doc
came by, well, I happen to have a

refillable script of Oxycontin in return
for autographs or, you know, tickets to

local shows here and there.

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

They might as well have just put heroin
in a bottle and called it Oxycontin.

I can guarantee you before that
prescription was done, he was probably

In 1995, after a three -year run with
the WWF, Bam Bam Bigelow leaves the

company to sign with the notorious
hardcore wrestling promotion ECW, run by

old friend, Paul Heyman.

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

Obviously, if he was in Asbury, the
whole family would get together and we'd

go. And he knew he had a commodity.

You know, he didn't take his character
off. It was tattooed on his head. So

wherever he went, Bam Bam Bigelow was
going.

There is only one Bam Bam Bigelow.

I think it was a little too hardcore for
me being so young.

All fans were riding with us. That was
the whole gimmick. We were renegades?

Well, damn it. We the fans, we're
renegades too.

From fit to finish, those shows were
chaos.

I remember this crowd just like a mosh
pit.

And this dude who is drunk as a skunk
comes barreling and just absolutely face

punches me, trucks me right into the
ground. I'm like 10, 11 years old. I've

never been hit by a grown man.

And that type of like... where you're
like, you can't catch your breath. So I

remember going backstage, and I don't
even think I told my father anything. He

just like saw it, and he's like, what
happened?

And I'm like, I don't know. This guy
punched me, like went through the crowd.

He's like, fine.

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

I witnessed this quasi -conversation.
I'll never forget it. And all you hear

so you want to hit kids?

And you know that like, This dude is
getting the life smacked out of him.

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

I'm sure everybody's okay now.

But the fans in turn are fueled by ECW's
over -the -top, ultraviolet brand of

extreme wrestling.

In ECW, we were a bunch of wrestlers
that most of the bigger promotions...

They didn't want us, kind of, and we
were like the land of misfit toys and

incorporated a lot of new stuff into pro
wrestling in a revolutionary way.

I mean, you had to be tough to be in our
company, and Bigelow was a very tough

guy, a legitimate guy, and he really
started to come into his own amongst

we were doing.

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

getting thrown into the sand, it's just
as hardcore as hardcore can get.

We weren't just trying to hurt each
other. We were professionals. What

in that ring is built on trust.

So the infamous Taz and Bigelow go
through the ring in Asbury Park.

So I get this phone call from Paul
Heyman, and he says, you and Bigelow,

going to beat you for the belt, and he's
going to put you through the ring to do

it. He goes, what do you think?

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

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

And then there's these thick wood
boards.

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

And then a canvas.

So these wood boards were cut first.

So then the boards would just be moved
out of the way. Then open the trap door.

And Bam Bam was concerned.

What about Taz's head?

Like his head's going to hit the frame
of this thing. How are we going to clear

this hole?

I almost feel dirty explaining this on
air.

I'm so old school. Like it's like
unbelievable.

Basically, we fought, fought, fought. We
were outside the ring for quite some

time fighting until we get the signal
that this door is open.

So if you watch closely, when I have the
choke on, and I'm really

pulling back this curtain all the way
here, right? So Bam Bam, he's tapping

first, and then he puts his hand on the
top rope.

Under his hand is a little piece of
white tape.

That white tape was the measurement to
clear my head.

And we hit that crash mat hard as hell.

The ring engulfs us, and we heard the
people.

My eyes lit up. I was so happy. And the
first thing he says to me, are you okay?

That's Bam Bam Bigelow.

And he goes, we...

Did it.

And we were laughing because the place
was rumbling.

He waited for the people to come down a
teeny bit. And then once they saw him

come out first, we knew the pop would be
loud. But I don't know if we knew it

was going to be that loud. I mean, it
was just, I'll never forget it as long

I live.

I got goosebumps.

I mean, so many things that could have
gone wrong. You could break your back.

You could break your neck.

But Scotty never, ever said no to
anything.

It's a small miracle that Bigelow is
moving.

ACW was definitely extreme.

I'm just surprised nobody died.

I am really surprised nobody died.

You would see him come out. He'd have,
you know, giant gashes on his head, and

he would just put some superglue on it,
close it up, and then we would go have a

cheesesteak. I can't tell you how many
times he's been sewed up in our living

room. Doctors just would come over and
just sew him up in the middle of the

night while he was half asleep.

So the injuries were the beginning of
the end.

He had...

Stenosis in the entirety of his spine.
He had crushed discs. He had sections

fused of his back at that time. You
could run your finger down his spine and

could feel almost like braille. Pills
just allowed him to move.

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

So I understand the aspect of having to
take something to basically push you

through that.

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

He wouldn't tell you if you had to go
for a match, hey, dude, I'm hurting

my shoulder hurts, my neck hurts, my
back hurts. He was just, let's go, let's

it, whatever it was.

The pain pills Bam Bam Bigelow consumes
allow him to continue performing at the

highest level, but they also take a toll
on his life away from the ring.

He was never, never, never aggressive.
And he was always very respectful. And

became angry. He would at times be very
coherent and at times be very

incoherent. And he would be like, you
are just crazy and you're making things

up. I'm under a doctor's care and this
is what I have to do to be in the

business. It was a doctor, an MD, who
got paid a lot of money to treat him for

one disease and gave him a whole other
one.

The pill bottles from that doctor, I've
never seen a pill bottle that size in my

life before.

100 pills, 300 pills.

This doctor was a fan, and he would have
done anything that Scott wanted,

regardless of his license, and he did.

Scott was in denial, and so was the
doctor, because I would call him and

stop writing these prescriptions, you're
destroying our lives, you're ruining

our family.

And that doctor's response, he would
call my father and say that the warden's

calling me, telling me not to come over,
undermining my mother to my father in

an already weakened state.

Nobody's paying attention to these
doctors.

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

It's a tragedy.

Scott sold his soul for OxyContin.

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

Bam Bam Bigelow's addiction continues to
get worse, fueled by an endless supply

of OxyContin from his doctor.

OxyContin is one of America's new wonder
drugs.

Since the drug came on the market, the
number of annual prescriptions has risen

to nearly 6 million.

Contributing to the problem are pill
mills, where doctors write prescriptions

for non -medical reasons.

He wasn't going to buy drugs off the
street.

He was home taking OxyContin.

And then I got pregnant with Richie and
then the promises, you know, this is

going to be different. We're going to
get through this.

I think he tried to pull himself
together because he said he always

daughter his whole life. It was like
beyond anything to have this daughter.

And when she was little, he used to put
her to bed every single night and he

would get a pillow and he would lay on
the floor next to her and he would sing

her songs and hold her hands. And he was
in her room on her floor every night.

Wednesdays. Every Wednesday, my dad
would pick me up from, preschool, big

truck, eat all the Doritos you can
imagine, paint pictures, just normal

-daughter relationship.

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

What are you doing, boy?

His body was a little hindered and he
was starting to feel the pain, but, you

know, that didn't stop us from...

going to every opening day for fishing,
every opening day for hunting.

He got to be a dad without being on the
road 300 -plus days a year. Those are

the fondest memories.

There's no pension in professional
wrestling, so he needed to make as much

as he could with the body that he had
because he knew it was deteriorating. He

even says that he's the highest -paid
loser in the world because he'll take a

loss as long as that loss pays.

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

When he heard that I was wrestling,
somehow he got my number. He's like,

you're doing it.

Like, we grew up maybe seven miles from
each other. These two Jersey Shore boys.

But now we're tag team champions.

I never felt like he was under the
influence in the ring. But eventually,

know, people start to go back to their
old habits. And that's why so many guys

died.

Overconsumption of pills.

Because when you're taking five at a
time, because three stopped working, you

can't remember if you took them or not.
So you take five more, you know, and

before you know it, you're that guy.

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

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

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

you mean? He's there.

It got to the point where he was a
liability, and that's what they said.

And they paid him the rest of his
contract to stay home because he could

function.

I saw a man broken.

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

in constant pain, you know, having to
take a pill just to get up, and not just

pill, multiple pills. But the tradeoff
of that is it completely dulls your

senses. It completely...

Just destroys your sense of person.

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

15, 20 Oxycons, easily.

A day?

Yeah. It was dangerous.

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

I had wrote a paper about it when I was
in 8th grade. And I went back and read

it last night, understanding that what
was happening is I'm writing about my

father nodding out, driving.

And when I wrote that in 8th grade, I
had no idea that's what was...

going on. And I remember the officers
were asking me all these questions.

I mean, for a three -year -old, they're
asking me my address, my phone number,

my mom's phone number, like all this
information. And I'm just like, I don't

know. Where's my dad?

But when I went back last night and read
it, really knowing what was going on,

what was in his system, it just hits 10
times harder.

As Bam Bam Bigelow's addiction sends him
crashing to rock bottom, he's charged

with endangering the welfare of his
daughter.

He was given an ultimatum. I'm like,
you've either got to go get help or you

have to go.

He wouldn't get help.

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

that addicts do.

You know, dad's not going to be home
anymore.

They're getting a divorce.

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

He was married to a drug.

So to watch a man who would choose that
over his children, when I knew that that

was the most important thing, was just
the worst thing ever.

I got to talk to him on the phone, but
it would be like spans of where it would

be really quiet because I could hear him
crying.

He was struggling to form the words, hi.

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

I wanted to go down there to see my
friends, but I really just wanted to go

there to find my dad.

And his girlfriend answered the phone,
said he wasn't

available at the point in time.

And then I got a phone call when I
landed back in New Jersey from my father

apologizing. And, you know, I kind of
aired him out a little bit. I told him

I felt.

And then he died three weeks later.

I was in school teaching, and a phone
call got patched to my classroom, and it

was his brother, Todd, and Todd said,
he's gone.

I was like, what do you mean? He's like,
he's gone, and he was crying

hysterically, and I just hung up the
phone and ran out of the building, and

Shane was in college.

Yeah, I got that call.

I'll never forget.

I'm walking back through the quad.

There's kids going to class, and I got a
phone call from my father's childhood

friend. Your father died last night.

And it's just like everybody around you
is moving fast and you're just still.

I just remember being numb.

It rocked me.

What I heard at that time, he was, you
know, going through

a tough time.

I thought of his family instantly
because I know how much he loved his

and his wife. You know, I just felt for
him.

He died of an overdose.

Accidental overdose, but the word
accidental and overdose should just not

the same sentence.

How do you accidentally, oops, took one
too many?

Took one too many for a long time.

On January 19th, 2007.

At just 45 years of age, Bam Bam Bigelow
dies by what authorities call an

accidental overdose from a cocktail of
illicit and prescription drugs.

I didn't grieve. There was none for me.

Because I was scrambling. I had kids.
They couldn't see me break down. They

couldn't see me weak. And that's all I
became, was a provider.

I didn't have time to coddle and
nurture.

That's the hardest part on me now.

Towards the end, it was very difficult
with my mother. Just because that was my

dad, that was my hero.

My mom had to make a really tough
decision.

You know, for a while I never understood
why we couldn't just go see dad.

And when you don't understand, you just
think it's selfish.

But then when you do, you become
appreciative that you weren't exposed to

something that would have been just so
heartbreaking.

As a father, I think it just digs into
you that when you think if there was no

compunction for Bamber to reach out for
some kind of help, that he must have

thought that he had it under control.

He must have figured this is not really
a problem because of how much he talked

about his kids.

It's been just honoring the legacy of
Bam Bam. I never really got to

stop and acknowledge my own pain.

You always think about if you had one
last chance.

what you would say.

I think there's more ask, which is why.

His kids lost their dad at a young age.
It's sad, you know, because Bigelow,

like so many of us wrestlers during that
time, was on the road a lot. You know,

you're not around. You're making a
living for your family.

If God was here, what would you say to
him?

Your mother.

But through years of therapy, I know you
had no control.

It's not your fault. I don't blame you.

You know, nobody wakes up in the morning
and says, I'm going to be a drug addict

today. You wake up every morning and
you're like, today's going to be a

But I would call him a mother******
first.

Just because he would expect that.

I can't fault him for what happened.

You had to keep going. That's how you
put the bread on the table.

I signed all the rights over to the
kids, so they got all the royalty

So he and his death still supported
them.

As far as being a big man, who's better
than Bam Bam?

Nobody. There's nobody.

The best big man in the business. The
guy that was doing cartwheels, moonsaws,

job kicks, and things that they never,
ever seen another big man do before.

That's what I want to be remembered as.
When I think of pro wrestling, I think

of power. I think of size. I think of my
father.

He was

a great person in how he lived.

And all the wonderful things that he did
for people and the great father that he

was should be what is remembered.

Not how he died, because that's a
terrible story.

But he left such a legacy.

He was at 1%.