Biggest Fan: Joe Reardon "Headlined Wrestlemania 11. Extremely agile for a big man. A great name and a great look. His lack of title history is probably his biggest downfall."
Real Name (I.R.S.): Lawrence Michael Rotunda
Biggest Fan: Jon Baltos
This is the last spot on the list shared by two wrestlers. Finally, no more joint blog entries where the author struggles to find some common theme to associate two superstars who just happen to be tied in total votes from our experts. That said, the common thread between Irwin R. Schyster and Bam Bam Bigelow is pretty easy to find. Both of these superstars were prominent members of Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation.
Mike Rotunda began his career tagging up with his brother-in-law, Barry Windham. Together they were known as the U.S. Express, and between 1984 and 1986 they would capture the WWF Tag Team Championship on two occasions. There was also a brief period where Windham was replaced by Waylon Mercy (then called Dan Spivey), but that version of the U.S. Express found little success in the WWF.
Bam Bam Bigelow's career started in much the same way. Bigelow joined the WWF very early on, departed for WCW in the late-1980s, only to return to the WWF in the early-1990s. Bigelow didn't hold any titles during that first run in the WWF, but he was chosen to compete in WrestleMania IV's Heavyweight Championship Tournament. He also outlasted his team captain, Hulk Hogan, at the inaugural Survivor Series, impressively eliminating King Kong Bundy and the One Man Gang before Andre the Giant pinned him to win the match.
After the aforementioned stint in WCW, Rotunda came back to the WWF as Irwin R. Schyster, an appropriate name to go along with his tax collector character. Benefiting from the insta-heat that you'd expect anyone associated with the I.R.S. to get, Schyster had no problem getting over as a heel. Clad in suspenders, dress pants and a tie, Schyster would berate fans for cheating on their taxes. Of course, moments later he would be illegally using the ring ropes for extra leverage on an abdominal stretch. Classic wrestling villain tactics. As exciting as I.R.S. was as a singles competitor, he eventually joined forces with The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase to form an even more exciting tag team duo called Money Inc.
Meanwhile, Bam Bam was returning to the WWF as well. He had a taste of championship gold while he was away, tagging up with Big Van Vader to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship in New Japan Pro Wrestling. Bam Bam feuded with Tatanka and Doink the Clown upon returning, defeating the latter (and Dink the Clown) at WrestleMania X in a mixed tag team match (his partner was Luna Vachon). Bam Bam then spent much of 1994 teaming up with Irwin R. Schyster or Tatanka, as all three were now members of The Million Dollar Corporation and managed by Ted DiBiase (who had retired from the ring).
The 1995 Royal Rumble was monumental for both of these superstars. Irwin R. Schyster battled The Undertaker at the pay-per-view, losing the match but stealing the "dead man's" urn. Bam Bam and his partner, Tatanka, also lost their match that day, but after the bout Bigelow took exception with something NFL Legend Lawrence Taylor said and shoved the former linebacker (who was sitting ringside for the Rumble) to the ground. This act led the two men to a confrontation in the main event of WrestleMania XI. Bam Bam lost to Lawrence Taylor in the match, but the spectacle surrounding the event solidifies that night as the peak of Bigelow's career.
These two superstars had outstanding careers in the WWF and beyond. They were well-decorated (I.R.S. a 5-time WWF Tag Team Champion, with reigns totaling 548 days; Bam Bam a former ECW Heavyweight Champion), both competed in high-profile matches at WrestleManias, they both were talented in-ring performers and they both were awesome enough to be characters in Sega Genesis wrestling games. Indeed, these superstars had stellar careers. Sadly, Bam Bam Bigelow died at the age of 45, yet another superstar gone too soon.
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