Bam Bam Bigelow Ran Into a Fire to Save Three Children — And Paid a Terrible Price

Scott “Bam Bam” Bigelow spent much of his professional life surrounded by fire.

It was part of his image.

The massive wrestler became famous for the flames tattooed across his shaved head, the imposing presence that earned him the nickname “The Beast from the East,” and a wrestling style that made his size seem almost impossible to reconcile with his athleticism.

He performed in some of professional wrestling's biggest organizations, including WWF, WCW and ECW. He wrestled some of the most recognizable names of his era and headlined major events, including WrestleMania XI against former NFL star Lawrence Taylor. His career was built around spectacle, physicality and danger.

But in July 2000, Bigelow encountered a kind of danger that had nothing to do with professional wrestling.

There was no referee.

No opponent.

No predetermined ending.

And no guarantee that he would walk away unharmed.

According to contemporary wrestling reports, Bigelow suffered second-degree burns over more than 40 percent of his body after rushing to help children threatened by a brush fire near his home in New Jersey.

Later accounts based on Bigelow's own recollection provide a more detailed version of what happened. He described returning home in the early morning, seeing a fire and hearing children crying. He said he entered the burning structure, fought his way toward the upstairs area and helped get three children out.

Whatever the precise circumstances of the fire, the central fact is remarkably consistent across the surviving accounts:

Bigelow put himself in serious danger to help children escape a fire, and he was badly burned in the process.

The man whose wrestling persona was covered in flames had suddenly found himself facing the real thing.

And this time, there was nothing scripted about it.

The Man Behind the Flames

To understand why the story has endured, it helps to understand who Bam Bam Bigelow was.

Born Scott Charles Bigelow in Asbury Park, New Jersey, in 1961, Bigelow became one of professional wrestling's most recognizable large athletes.

His size was immediately striking.

Bigelow was billed at roughly 390 pounds during portions of his career, yet he was capable of performing movements that audiences did not necessarily expect from a wrestler of his build.

He could move quickly.

He could climb the ropes.

And, most famously, he could perform a top-rope moonsault — an aerial maneuver that required an enormous amount of coordination and athletic ability.

His appearance was equally distinctive.

Rather than simply presenting himself as another giant wrestler, Bigelow developed an unmistakable visual identity. His shaved head carried large flame tattoos, making it look as though his skull itself were on fire.

The flames became inseparable from his public image.

His nickname, “The Beast from the East,” reinforced the character.

But behind that intimidating presentation was a performer who had spent years building a career in one of the world's most physically demanding forms of entertainment.

He wrestled in the WWF, WCW and ECW and became a major figure during the wrestling boom of the 1990s.

His career included matches against stars such as Hulk Hogan, André the Giant and Lawrence Taylor. He also became a major attraction in ECW, where his size and athletic ability helped make him stand out even in a promotion known for its unusually physical style.

For wrestling fans, Bigelow's image was almost synonymous with controlled chaos.

Then came the night when the chaos was real.

July 4, 2000

The incident occurred on July 4, 2000.

Contemporary reports circulated within the wrestling world that Bigelow had been injured while rescuing children from a brush fire near his home.

A July 2000 wrestling column reported that WCW had learned Bigelow suffered second-degree burns on more than 40 percent of his body after rescuing several children who were in danger from the fire.

WCW television also acknowledged the incident shortly afterward.

A contemporary transcript of WCW Monday Nitro records commentator Tony Schiavone discussing Bigelow's rescue of children from a brush fire and his hospitalization with second-degree burns covering more than 40 percent of his body.

Those contemporary references are important because they establish that the basic incident was being reported at the time, rather than appearing years later as an internet legend.

The details became more vivid in later retellings.

According to an interview Bigelow gave to Electric City in 2007, as later reproduced by wrestling-history publications, he was returning home around 3:30 in the morning when he noticed the fire.

Then he heard children crying.

He went toward the building.

In his recollection, the upstairs area was already engulfed in fire. He described forcing his way through a wall in order to reach another route toward the stairs.

The description is difficult to imagine.

A man who had spent his career pretending to be fearless was suddenly confronted with a situation where fear could have been completely rational.

A burning structure is not a wrestling ring.

There are no predictable movements.

There are no ropes to grab.

There is no controlled environment.

Fire changes from second to second.

Smoke can destroy visibility.

Heat can make an ordinary doorway impossible to cross.

And structures can become unstable without warning.

Yet Bigelow went inside.

Three Children Were Trapped

The most important part of the story was not Bigelow's injuries.

It was the children.

Later accounts consistently identify three children as the people he rescued.

That detail changes the meaning of the incident.

Bigelow was not responding to an abstract emergency.

He was confronted with the sound of children in danger.

For a parent or bystander, the instinct to help can be incredibly powerful.

But there is also a reason firefighters train extensively before entering burning structures.

A fire can overwhelm even physically strong people.

Muscles do not make a person immune to smoke inhalation.

Being nearly 400 pounds does not make someone resistant to extreme heat.

Professional wrestling experience does not teach someone how to safely navigate a collapsing house.

Bigelow had no protective equipment.

He did not have a breathing apparatus.

He did not have a firefighter's protective clothing.

He was simply a large man who had decided that waiting outside was not an acceptable option while children were trapped.

And getting them out meant exposing himself to the same danger.

The Fire Left Him Seriously Burned

The consequences were severe.

Contemporary reports said Bigelow suffered second-degree burns covering more than 40 percent of his body.

Retrospective accounts similarly describe burns across roughly 40 percent of his body, including his arms, legs and much of the left side of his body.

That is an extraordinary amount of injury.

Second-degree burns, medically known as partial-thickness burns, damage the outer layer of skin and portions of the layer beneath it. Depending on their depth and extent, they can require significant medical treatment and can carry risks including infection, fluid loss and scarring.

Burn injuries covering a large percentage of the body can become life-threatening.

For Bigelow, the incident therefore represented far more than a temporary interruption to his wrestling career.

It was a major medical emergency.

He was hospitalized following the rescue, and commonly cited biographies state that he spent about 10 days in the hospital.

Some later accounts give a longer recovery period, so the exact duration of his overall medical recovery is less consistently documented than the initial hospitalization.

What is clear is that the injuries were serious enough to keep him away from wrestling while he recovered.

A Wrestler Suddenly Became a Patient

There is an interesting contrast between Bigelow's profession and what happened after the fire.

In wrestling, pain is often part of the performance.

A wrestler falls from the ropes.

Another wrestler lands on him.

A body crashes into the mat.

The audience reacts.

Then the performer gets up.

Real injuries, of course, happen in professional wrestling, and the physical demands of the profession can be considerable. But the fundamental environment remains controlled in ways that an actual fire is not.

After the July 2000 incident, there was no performance to return to immediately.

There was rehabilitation.

There were medical treatments.

There was the reality of damaged skin and a body that needed time to heal.

Contemporary wrestling coverage reported that Bigelow was hospitalized and away from wrestling following the rescue.

For someone whose career depended on physical performance, that could have been devastating.

Yet the circumstances were unusual even by the standards of Bigelow's life.

He had not been injured during a match.

He had not been injured while performing a stunt.