10 Unexpected Origins Of Wrestling Characters
8. Bam Bam Bigelow: The First Big Thing
In the first illustration of his industry-defining genius, Paul Heyman, years and years before he reimagined and to incredible critical success booked Eastern Championship Wrestling, saw something in Bam Bam Bigelow - and by that, he saw everything in him.
He happened upon Bigelow training at the Monster Factory in the mid 1980s, when he was taking pictures there, and was stunned at Bam Bam's prodigious ability. He told WWE.com that "there can’t possibly be more than a handful of people that have ever inhabited this planet that were more naturally inclined to become a professional wrestler than Bam Bam Bigelow."
Heyman was barely a wrestling promoter at the time, but in booking Bigelow to tear through four sacks of meat at Studio 54, in what was billed as the grand debut of a game-changing performer, he practically drafted his creative template with the push.
Ever a renegade, Heyman broke fiction's first rule of tell, not show. With what would become his signature device, he told the story with unprecedented, hysterical conviction, but trusted in the ability of his talents to justify the hype. Bigelow had one of the most striking looks in the history of the business, and was incredible at locking in your first, curious glance with his almost impossible agility. Indirectly, Bigelow set the template for the Brock Lesnar character.
Heyman marketed him as the "the next big thing" of professional wrestling, and his push was patterned after Bam Bam's, right down to the multiple killing spree of a debut.