Pop Star Katy Perry, by all accounts, had an outstanding performance at during the halftime show of Super Bowl XLIX , which saw rapper Missy Elliott make a surprise appearance and rocker Lenny Kravitz backing Perry on guitar and with vocals. Chris Chase, of USA Today , said that Perry emerged on stage wearing a giant animatronic lion and appeared to sing most of her lyrics, although Perry had admitted earlier in the week that, just out of sheer necessity, some parts would be accompanied by a backing track. The super show featured tightly choreographed dancers and vibrant flames, including the ones on Perry’s outfit at the beginning of the performance prior to Perry’s costume change.
Certainly Perry, Twitter’s biggest celebrity and the unmitigated star of the halftime show of America’s biggest football broadcast, would have trended all over the world online in any case. However, it was that dress of flames that would draw the attention of the internet, proving the pop sensation Perry to be one of the globe’s hottest attractions — in more ways than one.
Wrestlezone ‘s Mark Killam reports that Perry’s inflamed ensemble trended on Twitter for being reminiscent of the trademark ring attire for 80s professional wrestling icon, Bam Bam Bigelow.
Bigelow, who passed away in 2007, was an impossibly agile near-400-pound athlete known for his shaved head that was tattooed with flames, and his full body ring attire that was black and featured flames all around, in much the same way Perry’s were designed. Perry later changed into an outfit that sportswriter Larry Brown described as looking like a “hot dog on a stick uniform,” but by that time, Perry was already trending.
Bam Bam Bigelow was a wrestling star in Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Federation during the mid to late 80s and early 90s, and wrestled alongside a pantheon of professional wrestling’s legendary Hall of Famers, such as Hulk Hogan, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, Andre the Giant, and more. Following his tenure in the WWF, Bigelow extended his career by reinventing himself in the hardcore cult favorite Extreme Championship Wrestling, before ultimately signing with World Championship Wrestling during the fabled “Monday Night Wars” that saw WCW go head to head with the WWF, now WWE, in a battle for cable ratings supremacy. Bigelow also made sporadic acting appearances, most notably in the 1995 comedy Major Payne. Bigelow died of a drug overdose at 45 years of age.