Remembering Scott Hall...
The Two Time WWE Hall of Famer Passed Away Monday at the Age of 63
Whether or not you are a wrestling fan, chances are good that you have heard of the name Scott Hall. The co-founder of the nWo was a massive influence on many of today’s wrestlers. Scroll through various WWE and AEW Superstars’ Twitter accounts over the past few days and you will see the tributes and moments of “The Bad Guy’s” career. From his time in the AWA, his run as a five-time WWF Intercontinental Champion, or a leader of one of the most controversial stables in wrestling history, Hall was one of the faces of wrestling in the 1990s, and I wanted to take the time to go over the career of the late great Scott Hall.
Scott started out in the AWA, teaming with Curt Hennig. Despite both men finding success as heels in their careers, they were a babyface tag team. It’s easy to see why they were pushed this way, though. Verne Gagne saw both Hennig and Hall as two tall, muscular, attractive young men. The men appreciated their wrestling talent, while the ladies appreciated the good looks of the pair. They would go on to win AWA Tag Team Championship gold, and apparently, Gagne had big plans for Hall. However, he decided to leave the AWA, and Hall was soon bound for WCW.
By 1991, Hall was now known as The Diamond Studd, and got his first true taste of working as a heel. Studd was managed by future World Champion, Diamond Dallas Page, as part of the Diamond Mine stable. Other members included Scotty Flamingo (the future Raven) and Vinnie Vegas (the future Kevin Nash. More on him later). Despite the potential, his first run in WCW was short lived, and Hall was on his way to the WWF.
He reinvented himself again, becoming Razor Ramon. Based on Tony Montana’s character in Scarface, Ramon was wildly popular with fans, despite his status as “The Bad Guy”. His finisher, the Razor’s Edge, has become a wrestling normality since Hall started using it in WCW. He was pushed rather quickly, and had a criminally underrated match with Bret Hart at the 1993 Royal Rumble for the WWF Championship. After several months as a midcard heel, Ramon’s career in the WWF would change forever following a match on the May 17, 1993 episode of RAW.
Ramon suffered an upset loss to a young Sean Waltman, but instead of complaining about the loss, Ramon began a slow face turn. Now more popular than ever, Ramon was breaking out into his own, becoming a four-time Intercontinental Champion, a then WWF record. He had several great matches during this time, including a pair of ladder matches with Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania X and Summerslam 1995. After fights against the likes of Goldust, Jeff Jarrett, Owen Hart, and Dean Douglas, Ramon departed the WWF, and headed back to the land where the big boys play.
Perhaps Scott Hall is most known for his second run in WCW. Along with former ally Kevin Nash, Hall returned to the promotion in 1996 as an “outsider”. The duo teased the arrival of a third man that would join them whose identity was still unknown. The man revealed himself at Bash at the Beach, when Hulk Hogan turned on his partners, Randy Savage and Lex Luger. The trio, collectively known as the New World Order, would soon be the talk of the wrestling world. Although mainly known for his tag team work around this time (he would win six WCW World Tag Team Championships with Nash and one with The Giant), Hall would also carve his name out as a singles star.
In late 1997, Hall won arguably the biggest match of his career, the 60-man World War 3 match for a future WCW World Heavyweight Championship opportunity. Sadly, Hall could not win the title from Sting at Uncensored 1998. Nash would come back to WCW to team with his longtime partner, but Hall would turn on him, beginning a long feud. The duo reunited at the end of the year, after Hall helped Nash end Goldberg’s undefeated streak at that year’s Starrcade.
During the latter part of his WCW career, Hall would win singles gold, at one point holding both the WCW United States and World Television Championships. He would leave in early 2000, just as WCW was starting to fold. In 2002, Hall would return to the WWF, as a member of the nWo. He would go on to face Stone Cold Steve Austin at Wrestlemania X8, ultimately coming up short. Hall did, however, come out victorious in a match against Bradshaw at Backlash, his only PPV win during his return to the WWF. During this time, Hall was on the receiving end of multiple Stone Cold Stunners from Austin, and he sold them better than arguably any other wrestler during this time.
Hall would be fired from the now renamed WWE in May of 2002, following the infamous Plane Ride from Hell. He would go on to make several appearances in the early days of TNA, feuding and aligning with Jeff Jarrett several times. He would win the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship in Mexico in 2007 before returning to TNA in 2010, alongside Nash, X-Pac, Hogan, and Eric Bischoff. Hall would win one more championship, the TNA Tag Team Championship, with Hall and Eric Young before leaving later that year. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2014 as Razor Ramon and again in 2020 as a member of the nWo.
Although his legal troubles have been well documented, Scott Hall is remembered fondly by those in the wrestling industry and wrestling fans. On RAW this past Monday, several wrestlers paid tribute to The Bad Guy in one way or another. Watch a WWF Raw episode from the mid 1990s and you are sure to see foam golden razor blades and signs in the stands.
Scott Hall leaves behind a son, Cody, who is also a wrestler, as well as a daughter, Cassidy. Many have tried to replicate his work, and his ability in the ring left many speechless. There will never be another like Scott Hall. I’ll wrap up with Hall’s quote from his Hall of Fame speech in 2014:
“In my lifetime I have learned that hard work pays off, dreams come true. Bad times don’t last, but bad guys do.”