The Beast From the East was one of the most intimidating wrestlers in the history of the WWE and his mix of athleticism and power made him a firm favourite with fans, even during periods when he was a heel. Bigelow was a heel for much of the first year of Raw, wrestling regularly and quickly linking up with Luna Vachon. He later became embroiled in an execrable feud with Doink the Clown following Doinks face turn and it could be argued that WWE never really made full use of the big mans talents during his tenure. Unfortunately wrestling took its toll on Bigelow and he fell into drug use. His death in 2007 at the age of 45 was caused by an overdose that included multiple drugs, with large amounts of cocaine determined to have been present. He had been suffering from back problems at the time and issues relating to burns on more than 40% of his body that had been the result of his heroic rescue of three orphans in 2000.