The self destruction of Scott Hall

“Well that Scott Hall piece was pretty damn sad. I really hope life picks up for him and his family.” – Shane Helms.

At a time when the WWF launched its flagship show, Monday Night RAW, a lot of fresh faces were emerging in the Organization. It was also the time when another organization, WCW, had started its journey to compete with the WWF, and become one of the top two major promotions in the World. It was at this time that both the organizations had started pushing on the gas, trying to gain momentum as they headed into the new era. The WWF was seeing the emergence of Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart as the faces of the new generation, while WCW was on its way to gaining superstars from the WWF, as the likes of Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Randy Savage etc jumped ships to sign more lucrative contracts with Ted Turner’s organization.

In ’92, at a time when the WWF was rapidly gaining momentum in the ‘Sports Entertainment’ world, a lot of things changed. Vince had chased out the territorial system, making the WWF global leader in the Pro Wrestling industry, while Ted Turner’s organization was crawling to gain main stream attention. It was at this time that a series of vignettes were aired about a new guy coming to the WWF; a Cuban who proclaimed to be ‘better’ than the others. His character reeked of Tony Montana’s from Scarface, as this character drove in expensive rides, his hair oozing with gel and a bad attitude. Razor Ramon was coming to the WWF.

Since his debut, Hall gained a lot of attention and a huge fan base. With a shady character inspired by a character from Scarface, Scott Hall, now called ‘Razor Ramon’, started receiving rave reviews from the fans, and his catchphrases stuck on. You have this big, chiselled character coming out with a tooth pick, and a bad attitude (not to forget his reinvention of ‘sexiness’ in the WWF), Razor’s career took off and he never looked back in the WWF. Oozing with ‘machismo’, Ramon was destined for great things in the company.

Scott started his career in the NWA, and then toured the territories by going to AWA and WWC. NWA signed him back and sent him to WCW, only to release him again soon, and WWF snatched him. Upon his arrival, he was given a huge push, and was sent into the main event scene in a relatively short time. With his finisher (now called the ‘Razor’s Edge’), Ramon was destined to become the WWF Champion soon. Within the next year, he would be involved in feuds with the WWF Champions Savage, and later Bret Hart. After spending a year going toe to toe with the big guns, Ramon won the second most important title in the company, the Intercontinental championship, and would face Michaels for the IC title at WM 10, which has been considered by many as the greatest ladder matches of all time.

“Just saw the Scott Hall E-60 piece. My heart goes out to his family and I hope that was a wake-up call for him. This could be his last chance” – Chris Jericho

After this, Ramon would win the IC title on a couple more occasions, but never won the ‘big one’. And perhaps the first indication of his drug use came into light when he was suspended by the WWF, and was soon released. This led to Hall returning to WCW along with his partner Kevin Nash, thus starting perhaps the best storyline (And faction) in wrestling history. The biggest hero in the wrestling industry, Hulk Hogan, turned his back on the fans to join forces with the ‘Outsiders’, now known as the New World Order (nWo).

Scott Hall’s tale is a sad one. A man who should have been a multiple time World champion ended up being a huge mess. His condition became so unstable that WCW tried to capitalize on it, by turning his character into reality, starting an angle on air where Scott was an addict, which received a backlash from the fans to no one’s surprise. Although he and Nash reformed nWo on multiple occasions, people started to realize that Scott had a problem, his alcohol abuse got worse. After WCW was taken over by Vince, Hall made his return to the organization for a short stint, leaving the company soon after, and joining the new company on the rise, the one started by Jeff Jarrett and his father, known as TNA.

Soon, Hall’s demons got the better of him, and he was released from TNA as well. This started his downward spiral, as he was admitted into a hospital soon after, with his closest friends claiming that ‘The end may be near’ for Hall, after he appeared for a promotion he was booked for, intoxicated and incapacitated. Luckily for Hall, he survived the scares, but his condition only got worse.

“I watched the ESPN E60 on Scott Hall. I was such a huge fan of his. I helped him many times & would continue to do so. Sobriety is #1 4 all” - Tommy Dreamer

One can only wonder how a guy who was loved universally and adored by all the fans continued to go down this path. His friend Kevin Nash (who is an arrogant, self absorbed person) kept on taunting Scott. Very recently, Scott was rumoured to be shifting into DDP’s house along with another legend who is getting better, Jake Roberts, to practice DDP’s yoga, and Kevin had the following to say:

“Scott told everyone 2 months ago he was going to DDP’s, going to be there that weekend. Show me the tape when he walks in the door.”

One can only pray for Scott, as he was not only a charismatic, tremendous talent, but a father, and a good friend to many. As I write this article, I sincerely hope he takes up the DDP yoga and gets himself back into shape, and stays clean.