Toy Review: WWE Elite Then Now Forever Bam Bam Bigelow (Mattel) [Figure #147]

When I was a kid growing up I watched Bam Bam Bigelow in the old WWF.   He eventually would part ways with them and show up in my new favorite promotion- ECW.   I don't ever recall seeing Bam Bam Bigelow fight in person while under the WWE banner but I feel like I must have, though I do remember seeing him more often than not while he was in ECW.    I had the old Hasbro figure of Bam Bam Bigelow at one point, as well as his Jakks Classic Superstars action figure and this new figure by Mattel is obviously just so much better than anything you've ever seen or thought of before.    And, yes, Bam Bam Bigelow was another one of the reasons why I watched WCW back during the Monday Night Wars-- he was one of those ECW guys who jumped ship.

Perhaps the thing which I like most about this Bam Bam Bigelow figure is that he comes in an attire which when I do a search for it on Google images I find him as part of a tag team with Vader in New Japan, which is just amazing since I already have Vader in my collection as well.   Granted, I will still remember Bam Bam Bigelow as having a decent feud with Tatanka and then throwing Spike Dudley in ECW, but this whole NJPW aspect of this attire makes it that much better for me as well.

We came upon this figure the same way we did IRS, as we found it at Walmart one day and I asked Quentin if he wanted to get him and Quentin said yes.    This wasn't our first time seeing Bam Bam Bigelow in this series though, it was just our first time seeing him with the proper head tattoo as some of the figures (Which were most all of the ones we saw before this one) shorten the tattoo on the right side of his head.  

Aside from making a tag team with Vader, this Bam Bam Bigelow figure will have to spend a lot of time with his older friends in WWF (Which, oddly enough, includes IRS) as his rivals in ECW such as Spike Dudley are not in the Mattel line yet and even The Triad from WCW featuring Shane Douglas and Chris Kanyon don't have figures either (In ECW, Kanyon was originally Chris Candido but Bam Bam was originally Brian Lee, so whatever)   The upcoming Tatanka figure should serve as a good foe for him though and, really, as a wrestler I just enjoy the in ring work of Bam Bam Bigelow, a legitimate bad ass-- he was just one of those heels you never wanted to meet in the wrong place and at the wrong time.

On the back of the box, since this is a TNF series, it compares Bam Bam Bigelow (of the past) with the present WWE superstar Kevin Owens.    While that does look like a fun match on paper, based upon what our collection of WWE action figures looks like right now, I'm actually interested in putting Bam Bam Bigelow against Brock Lesnar, Samoa Joe, Finn Balor, Bray Wyatt, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins.   Though, one day, when I finally get his action figure, I'd love to also see Bam Bam Bigelow vs. AJ Styles.   I just feel like if Bam Bam Bigelow was alive now and in his prime now-- doing the work now that he did in ECW-- he'd be just such a huge asset to professional wrestling and I miss him every day.