Scott Hall, whose 20-year career transformed pro wrestling in the 1990s, died on Monday following complications from surgery.
According to Hall’s longtime friend and tag team partner Kevin Nash, Hall had suffered three cardiac arrests while having hip surgery, due to complications from blood clots. Hall, who was 63 years old, was on life support and survived for several hours after it was removed. He died later in the day.
Hall’s career experienced meteoric highs and crushing lows due to issues with addiction, alcohol, and pain killers. Despite addiction issues that hampered his career during the Monday Night Wars, he was noted as a brilliant mind, someone who could spot young talent and wrestle a versatile and athletic style as a large wrestler.
Hall’s life spiraled after he retired from wrestling, but he was able to get back into physical shape and recover from many of his issues thanks to help from Jake “The Snake” Roberts and Diamond Dallas Page. Hall’s recovery and efforts to turn his life around were shown side-by-side with Roberts in the Resurrection of Jake the Snake documentary.
Hall had worked several years as Razor Ramon in the World Wrestling Federation through the early and mid 1990s. The character was based off the Diamond Studd character Hall began using in WCW while in the mid-card. He debuted with the WWF after a series of vignette’s promoting his character as a Tony Montana Cuban tough guy.
Hall’s WWF peak was his win in the first prominent WWF ladder match against Shawn Michaels. The match was considered on par with the great matches in company history. The win propelled Hall to a successful WWF Intercontinental Title run.
Hall’s most important work was during his return to WCW. Hall debuted in the spring of 1996 on WCW Monday Nitro speaking with his Cuban accent and talking down Gene Okerlund and Randy Savage using language from a series of WWF skits.
“You people. You know who I am, but you don’t know why I am here,” Hall said. “You want a war? You’re going to get one.”
Hall’s WCW debut was transformative for multiple reasons. He entered from the crowd, as an invader, which was meant to lead fans to believe he was there on behalf of the WWF in an invasion. Adding to the reality of the situation was Hall interrupting a match on Nitro, only for the competitors to stop and walk of like it was a security situation.
Hall’s WCW debut was one of the three major events that started the late 1990s wrestling boom, along with Hulk Hogan’s heel turn and the formation of the NWO and the debut of WCW Nitro on TNT. The moment is still copied and paid tribute to. When Jon Moxley debuted for All-Elite Wrestling at its first Double or Nothing PPV, Moxley entered the ring wearing a denim vest like Hall wore during his WCW debut 25 years earlier and came down to the ring opposite of the hard cam through the fans.
Hogan’s heel turn at Bash of the Beach 1996 happened during a match between Hall and Nash against Sting, Randy Savage and Lex Luger. Luger was injured and taken out of the match early. Hulk Hogan appeared to save the day, but attacked Savage, leading fans to throw garbage and drinks into the ring. Hogan’s heel turn was a massive money driver, but much of Hogan’s credibility as a heel came from the cool factor of Nash, Hall and Sean Waltman, who were younger and dropped pop culture references across their promos and re-invented the cool heel.
Hall was noted by many for his creative mind and his ability to spot talent. He was also noted for his sense of timing. Lex Luger’s memorable win over Hulk Hogan for the WCW World Title was an idea broached by Hall to Nash and then later to Eric Bischoff. Hogan was in the middle of a long title reign en route to a Starrcade match with Sting, but Luger was a hot babyface with rousing fan support. His upset win over Hogan was one of the most memorable moments in the history of the show.
When Sting began his character transformation, it was Hall who suggested he go with the look of The Crow, the comic book anti-hero who had been played memorably by the late Brandon Lee in a popular movie. The character was a massive hit and became a favorite of kids everywhere. Sting’s look remained a popular Halloween costume for years. Through 1996 and 1997 Sting was the most popular babyface in wrestling based on the look.
Hall’s penchant for noticing young wrestlers led him to putting over Sean Waltman in the WWF in the early 1990s when Waltman upset Hall as Razor Ramon. The loss led to Ramon’s face turn. Hall, on a whim, jobbed to Chris Jericho on WCW live TV when Jericho was on his epic heel run in WCW. He also put over Hiroshi Tanahashi in 2001 in the New Japan G1, commenting that Tanahashi was “money” nearly a decade before Tanahashi became the biggest star in Japan and rescued Japanese wrestling.
Addiction issues kept Hall from becoming a bigger part of the creative teams in wrestling companies. Nash was eventually made booker for WCW, a job that would have likely gone to Hall if his health had been better.
A military kid, Hall once said the pro wrestling life wasn’t much different than his youth, when he moved regularly. He started his wrestling career in Florida with Dusty Rhodes. His first breakout was with the American Wrestling Association when he held the AWA tag team titles with Curt Hennig. Hall was extremely green at the time, but was already showing effusive charisma while Hennig was beginning to come into his own as a talent. Hall once said his time with Hennig in the AWA was why he made it in the business.
Hall had several start-stop programs in WCW and elsewhere. He debuted as the Diamond Studd as part of a stable with Diamond Dallas Page. The character was a dramatic turn for Hall, who was often given a Cowboy or Magnum TA style gimmick because of his look. He wrestled in the WCW mid-card for a period before being signed by the WWF.
Hall returned to the WWF in 2001 after the failure of the WCW Invasion angle. Nash, Hall and Hogan immediately became lightning rods in the WWF. The WWF’s version of the NWO was watered down and lacked little of the creativity spontaneity that made the angle so memorable and impactful in WCW. Hall’s peak during that brief run was working Steve Austin at Wrestlemania in a very solid match that was one of the best he had in the later stages of his career.
Rest in Peace.
