Remembering Scott Hall

Hey yo! Chico, say hello to the Bad Guy! These are words which are instantly familiar to millions of wrestling fans around the world.

Scott Hall was one of the most memorable characters in wrestling during his stint as Razor Ramon in the WWF in the 1990s. When he debuted, he was a heel, and during an era where the WWF had wrestlers who were goodies or baddies, it was fun to see him literally refer to himself as a bad guy.

What was even more fun, is that he remained the “Bad Guy” even when he became a good guy. And  this was something that had never really been done in wrestling before. He was the innovator of the cool heel, or the heelish good guy. Even as a face he would still slick back his hair arrogantly and disrespectfully throw a toothpick in the face of his opponents, or at the camera towards the fans at home.

Razor Ramon was one of the most exciting wrestlers to watch in the WWF at the time. Whether he was roughing up jobbers, or having classics with the likes of Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, or the 123 Kid, Razor would always deliver.

He was the heel when he took on the Lightning Kid. The Kid was scrawny, and almost didn’t look like he should be a wrestler, but had some flashy high flying moves. To the shock of the audience, the Kid upset Razor, and it was a star making moment for The Kid who would go on to be known as the 123 Kid, Syxx and X-Pac.

Razor made the 123 Kid look a million dollars and this was one of the first times a bigger wrestler put over a cruiserweight. The formula of a big guy having great matches with a small guy would characterise much of Hall’s WWF career.

Great matches with Bret Hart and Jeff Jarrett allowed Hall to be the powerhouse, but he was also athletic enough to hang with the smaller wrestlers and do their style of matches. The days of Hogan or Sid smashing a smaller wrestler to look dominant and nothing else were over.

This was best summed up in his two revolutionary ladder matches with Shawn Michaels. Bret Hart had brought the idea of the ladder match to the WWF, but it was Shawn and Razor who would be the pair to debut it to a large scale audience. Shawn’s ability to fly around matches perfectly with Razor’s ability to be the powerhouse to throw Shawn and the ladder about.

Images from their WrestleMania ladder match are some of the most iconic in WrestleMania history.

Looking back on Hall’s career, he stands along side great company of the likes of Owen Hart, Jake Roberts, Roddy Piper, The Million Dollar Man and Mr Perfect as wrestlers who everyone agrees should have been a World Champion, but never was. All of them have their brilliant matches and outstanding characters in common, but although they weren’t World Champions in major promotions like WWF, or WCW, they all legendary wrestlers, who will always be remembered as main event and Hall of Fame talent despite never wearing the World Title.

And in the case of Scott Hall, he perhaps would have been a World Champion, except a change in his career path in the mid 1990s would see him truly revolutionise the business forever.

The cool heel persona he created in the WWF would carry over in a much bigger way to his (re)debut in WCW in 1996. Coming out the crowd he interfered in a match and then declared war on WCW. Heavily implying that he was an invader from the WWF to come and thrash the WCW roster.

After weeks of run ins on Nitro, he was joined by Kevin Nash, and the pair would go in to face Sting, Lex Luger and Randy Savage at the 1996 Bash at the Beach PPV. Announced as having a mystery third man as their tag team partner, it was revealed to be Hulk Hogan, who was turning heel for the first time in decades. This was the start of the nWo. And this was one of the most important days in professional wrestling history that would arguably be the start of the Attitude era.

Without Scott Hall jumping to WCW and having the personality that lent itself to the cool heel faction, the Attitude era simply wouldn’t have happened.

Scott Hall was brilliant in a faction and in a team. Whether it was part of the now, or just with Kevin Nash as the Outsiders, Hall was awesome in a team.

I remember when triple threat tag team matches first became a thing in the mid 1990s and when the scenario came up that both wrestlers tagged in were from the same team. The WWF would go the old Demolition in the Royal Rumble route of making tag team partners fight each other like they had no choice but to beat each other up. Not Scott Hall. It was brilliant in a triple threat tag match in WCW when the Outsiders were forced to face one another in the ring and instantly just went for the pin. By facing each other they could instantly win. It was so funny and showed Hall and Nash’s personality perfectly. They were about getting the win at any cost and taking a pin didn’t matter as long as the nWo still had the win.

The black and white nWo vignettes with Hall, Nash and Hogan were unlike anything that had been seen in wrestling before, and the beat downs and spray painting of opponents made the nWo a force unlike anything seen in the sport.

The cool heels who you loved to hate and later just loved were what would lead to fellow Cliq members Shawn Michaels and Triple H starting DX in the WWF.

The Cliq were perhaps the most important faction in wrestling that never appeared on TV. The backstage friends of Razor, Diesel, 123 Kid, HBK and Triple H would dominate the wrestling industry across both WWF and WCW and the infamous ‘Curtain Call’ moment where Hall, Nash, Michaels and Helmsley embraced in the ring after a house show match which marked the end of Hall and Nash’s WWF runs is a legendary public glimpse for this brotherhood who had each other’s backs to make sure that both booking and money were taken care of.

Scott Hall famously had a Hollywood style agent to negotiate his WCW contract, and this started the era of wrestlers having guaranteed money and huge contracts. His favoured nations agreement would mean that outside of Hulk Hogan, if anyone else got a pay increase or big money offer from WCW, then both Hall and Nash would get an equal raise to be atop the pay scale for Ted Turner’s WCW.

Scott Hall was someone who publicly had many demons with his battles with drugs and alcohol, and this would cut his WCW career short. Despite being off TV, fans continued to chant that they wanted Hall whenever Nash was in the ring, although it wouldn’t be until the nWo debut in the WWE in 2002 at the No Way Out PPV that Hall would be reunited with with Cliq brothers.

Alongside Hogan and Nash, it was Hall who started things off with the classic “Hey yo” to the fans delight. A smile broke across his face as it must have felt so good to be back. The WWE nWo run was short and Hall’s time in this run was shorter, but he still would have a classic match with Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania that year.

It perhaps wasn’t seen as either man’s best match, but was a fun watch, and is perhaps most notable for Hall’s hilarious oversell of the Stone Cold Stunner. Just as Shawn would oversell Hogan at SummerSlam a few years later, this was the Cliq’s message to the big dogs in the yard who may not want to put the Cliq over. If you won’t put me over, I’ll sell your moves as if they’re so devastating that it will defy physics!

Hall’s personal life would halt his second WWE run, but he would go on to have multiple runs in TNA/Impact Wrestling as an active wrestler. One of his greatest victories would come when he sought the help of his friend Diamond Dallas Page, and alongside Jake the Snake Roberts would take steps to address personal demons and turn his life around for the better. The brotherhood in wrestling helped both Roberts and Hall find peace and rejuvenated health and for the last years of Hall’s life he was in a much better place.

He would go on to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, not once, but twice. Firstly as Razor Ramon, and secondly as part of the now in 2021 as part of the 2020 HOF class.

It was great to see Hall alongside Nash and Hogan coming to the aid of Sting as Triple H and DX had the upper hand on the Stinger at WrestleMania a few years ago. For any fans that grew up watching the Attitude era, this was the dream moment where we finally got to see not only DX vs the nWo but the line up of the WWF vs WCW that we’d always dreamed about. And looking at that ring, none of it would have been possible if Scott Hall hadn’t jumped ship to WCW and made the Attitude era possible.

The Bad Guy had a storied career which won over millions of fans around the world, and so many of his matches are available either through the WWE Network or Impact Wrestling’s streaming service.

From his earliest days as a wrestler in the AWA, or as the Diamond Studd in WCW, through to his runs as Razor Ramon and with the nWo and the Cliq there are tons of great memories of Scott Hall we’ll be able to look back on for years to come.

Many people have looked back at this quote from Scott Hall’s Hall of Fame speech since his passing, but it’s power can’t be understated, so let’s end this look back at Scott Hall with his own words:

“Hard work pays off.

Dreams come true.

Bad times don’t last.

But Bad Guys do.”

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