After nine games in the Hammers hotseat, a relieved Alan Pardew finally broke his duck as rampant West Ham sprinted to victory over nine-man Athletic.
"In the first half we were terrific and Wigan struggled to cope with our power. When we flex our muscles, we've got something no-one else in this division possesses," said Pardew.
"But I'm not going to get ecstatic, because we also got sloppy at times and clearly there's still a lot of work to do." Having drawn seven of their previous eight games, West Ham had desperately needed a victory to get their promotion challenge back on track.
With a three-pronged attack of David Connolly, Brian Deane and new-boy Marlon Harewood, they could not have got off to a better start.
After just four minutes Hayden Mullins released Deane, whose low cross into the six-yard box was swept home by Kevin Horlock, who claimed his first goal for the club.
Wigan were clearly rattled. First, a stray ball was blased into the face of the grounded Harewood, before Lee McCulloch chopped Tomas Repka at the expense of a booking.
Remaining calm, the Hammers continued to press and when Harewood skipped down the right on 17 minutes, Jason Jarrett could only deflect the subsequent low cross over his own goal line to double the home lead.
Still, passions continued to bubble as Repka predictably collected an eighth booking of the season, for a foul on Nathan Ellington.
But the real fireworks came two minutes before the break when Matt Jackson was red carded for a crude two-footed lunge on Mullins.
Just four minutes into the second half, Wigan's already mountainous task took on Everest-like proportions as McCulloch's second foul on Repka earned him a deserved second booking.
And when Harewood dusted himself down to slam home a 55th minute penalty after being tripped in the box, Paul Jewell's men might as well have packed up there and then.
West Ham may have eased up but there was still time for Mullins to release Harewood, who outpaced Ian Breckin before coolly flipping the ball over the advancing John Filan to mark his home debut with a deserved double.
"With nine men it's all about damage limitation," said dejected Latics boss Jewell.
"All their goals were very disappointing but I think a few of our younger lads were a bit overawed at having to play in front of a full house at Upton Park in the first place."