Scott Hall
Scott Oliver Hall was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his tenures with World Championship Wrestling under his real name and with the World Wrestling Federation under the ring name Razor Ramon.
Born in St. Mary's County, Maryland, Hall began his career in 1984. He rose to prominence after signing with the WWF in May 1992, assuming the name Razor Ramon. While within the company, he won the WWF Intercontinental Championship four times. He departed the company in May 1996, and subsequently signed with rival promotion WCW, where he became a founding member of the New World Order faction, along with Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash. In the company, he became a two-time WCW United States Heavyweight Champion, a one-time WCW World Television Champion, and a seven-time WCW World Tag Team Champion. He left WCW in February 2000, returning to the WWF for a brief stint in 2002.
He spent the rest of his career wrestling for various promotions, such as Extreme Championship Wrestling, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where he held the TNA World Tag Team Championship once, with Kevin Nash and Eric Young. He wrestled his final match in June 2016. Although he never won a world championship in a major promotion, Hall held the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship once for the Puerto Rico–based promotion World Wrestling Council. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as a singles competitor in 2014, and as a member of the nWo in 2020. Hall struggled with alcoholism and substance abuse for much of his career and later life, and died in March 2022, at the age of 63.
Early life
Hall was born in St. Mary's County, Maryland, on October 20, 1958. He grew up as a military brat, attending high school in Munich and moving once every year before he was 15.Professional wrestling career
Early career (1984–1985)
Hall began his career in 1984 in the National Wrestling Alliance's Florida territory Championship Wrestling from Florida and soon began a feud with Dusty Rhodes. He and Dan Spivey trained together in Florida. When it was time for the two to debut as a tag team, Rhodes sent them to work in Jim Crockett Jr.'s Charlotte, North Carolina–based territory. They debuted as American Starship, Hall under the ring name Starship Coyote and Spivey under the ring name Starship Eagle.At first, American Starship were booked to wrestle infrequently, so much so that the two were given ground crew jobs for the Charlotte Orioles. When they did get in the ring, it was with little success. The highlight of their stay in Crockett's Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling was a losing challenge to Arn and Ole Anderson for the NWA National Tag Team Championship. After leaving Crockett, the duo joined Bob Geigel's NWA Central States territory in 1985.
They received a shot at NWA Central States Tag Team Champions Marty Jannetty and "Bulldog" Bob Brown, but lost the match. Dan Spivey's stay in the Central States territory was brief. He returned to the Carolinas and Crockett, jobbing in the freshly rebranded Jim Crockett Promotions as "American Starship" Eagle. Hall, meanwhile, stayed in Central States.
American Wrestling Association (1985–1989)
Hall joined the American Wrestling Association in 1985, where he wrestled as "Magnum" Scott Hall and, later, "Big" Scott Hall. He wrestled as a babyface wrestler. Verne Gagne, the owner and promoter of the AWA, had wanted to push Hall to the same heights as he had Hulk Hogan, following Hogan's departure for Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation. Gagne had Hall use mannerisms and moves similar to Hogan. Hall also traveled to Japan, where he wrestled several matches for New Japan Pro-Wrestling between 1987 and 1990.Hall formed a tag team with his more experienced friend Curt Hennig, whom he later would credit for cultivating his early professional wrestling career. The team defeated Jimmy Garvin and Steve Regal for the AWA World Tag Team Championship on January 18, 1986, in a 58-minute match in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The champions defended against such challengers as Buddy Rose and Doug Somers, Nord the Barbarian and Boris Zhukov, and Bill and Scott Irwin. They lost the belts to Rose and Somers by countout on May 17, after interference by Colonel DeBeers. After losing the title, Hall and Hennig soon parted ways. Hall then received shots at the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, against Stan Hansen and Rick Martel. Although Gagne wanted to put the belt on Hall, Hall hated the cold weather in the territory, recognized the AWA as a "sinking ship", and left for the NWA in 1989.
World Wrestling Federation Tryouts (1987, 1990)
Hall received a tryout at a house show in August 1987 teaming with Jerry Allen losing to Iron Mike Sharpe and Barry Horowitz. On January 23, 1990, Hall received another tryout at a WWF Wrestling Challenge taping in Fort Myers, Florida. At the event, Hall was defeated by Paul Roma, and was not signed by the company.World Championship Wrestling (1989)
Hall was brought into the NWA's World Championship Wrestling territory by Jim Ross in 1989, as part of the NWA's initiative to develop new, young stars. He made his debut on the June 3 edition of World Championship Wrestling in a vignette that showed Scott "Gator" Hall swimming and playing volleyball at a beach, riding boats, fishing, and scaring alligators. His in-ring debut came on June 16 on a house show in Cleveland, OH, where he teamed with Randy Rose in a losing effort against WCW World Tag-Team Champions The Freebirds. While waiting for his first television match, he continued to wrestle on the road and was winless in tag-team and singles action, facing Norman, The Freebirds, and former tag partner, Dan Spivey. Hall finally gained his first victory on June 29 when he pinned Rip Morgan in Salisbury, MD, and then entered a successful house show series with Bill Irwin.His television debut finally came on the July 9 edition of World Championship Wrestling where he was pinned by The Great Muta. On the July 9 edition of WCW Pro he faced Terry Funk and was defeated. His PPV debut came at The Great American Bash: The Glory Days, where he participated in a King of the Hill battle royal. He then began jobbing regularly, losing to The Great Muta, Mike Rotunda, Sid Vicious, Ron Simmons, and Butch Reed. His final match came on November 7 when he was defeated by Butch Reed at a house show in Chicago, IL. After this, he went on hiatus.
International promotions (1990–1991)
Shortly afterwards Hall joined New Japan Pro-Wrestling, teaming with Larry Cameron and defeating Hiroshi Hase & Kuniaki Kobayashi March 2, 1990, at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. He wrestled numerous times for the company, facing a diverse group of opponents including Bam Bam Bigelow, Koji Kitao, Nord the Barbarian, and Shinya Hashimoto.Scott Hall, as Texas Scott, competed for the Catch Wrestling Association at the "Catch Cup '90" tournament on December 22, 1990, in Bremen, Germany before 6,000 fans. Hall was defeated by the Soul Taker in the tournament final.
From 1990 to 1991, Hall had a stint in the Puerto Rican promotion World Wrestling Council. On March 3, he defeated Miguel Pérez, Jr. for the WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Championship. He lost it to Super Medic III on April 20.
Return to WCW (1991–1992)
After wrestling a dark match on April 29, 1991, in Atlanta, GA at a taping of World Championship Wrestling, Hall made his official return to WCW and was renamed "The Diamond Studd", a gimmick similar to Rick Rude's. He was managed by Diamond Dallas Page, and made his first appearance on May 19 at SuperBrawl 1. In his debut match, he squashed Tommy Rich on the June 14 episode of Clash of the Champions XV: Knocksville USA. He defeated Tom Zenk at The Great American Bash. It was during his time as "The Diamond Studd" that he also began sporting his trademark toothpicks and also debuted his trademark toothpick fling at television cameras; Page has publicly stated that he got the idea for Hall's on-screen toothpick after the two used toothpicks at a Waffle House and that he was originally supposed to flick toothpicks at cameras with Hall, but couldn't because one fell out of his mouth before the first toothpick promo. At Clash of the Champions XVI: Fall Brawl on September 2, The Diamond Studd lost to Ron Simmons. At Halloween Havoc 1991, the team of Studd, Abdullah the Butcher, Cactus Jack, and Big Van Vader lost to Sting, El Gigante, and The Steiner Brothers in a "Chamber of Horrors Match". On the November 19 episode of Clash of the Champions XVII, Studd lost to Zenk in a rematch from The Great American Bash.After an injury sidelined him for Starrcade in December 1991, Studd entered 1992 forming short-lived tag teams with Vinnie Vegas and Scotty Flamingo, as well as with members of Paul E. Dangerously's Dangerous Alliance. Studd began a feud with Dustin Rhodes in April 1992 when he interfered in two televised matches Rhodes had with Bobby Eaton. The idea of adding him to the Dangerous Alliance was contemplated, but fell through, and Hall left WCW shortly after a final televised match against Rob Campbell on May 8.
World Wrestling Federation (1992–1996)
Debut and various feuds (1992–1993)
Hall joined the World Wrestling Federation later that month, as "Razor Ramon", a shady and stylish Cuban American bully from Miami. The character was modeled after the characters Tony Montana and Manny Ribera from the 1983 film Scarface. Ramon's nickname and catchphrase derived from Montana's quotes: "Say hello to my little friend" and "Say goodnight to the bad guy". However, Inside The Ropes journalist Adam Morrison noted in March 2022 that Hall's Razor Ramon character also maintained "cocky and cool" aspects which were similar to his WCW "Diamond Studd" character. Morrison also stated that Hall's Diamond Studd character "laid the very foundations upon which he would create ‘The Bad Guy’ under Vince McMahon's empire."He made his first appearance as Razor Ramon in a dark match on a Wrestling Challenge taping against Chris Hahn on May 18, 1992. Later in his career, Hall claimed he pitched the idea of a Scarface-like character during a meeting with Vince McMahon and Pat Patterson, as a joke. Hall quoted lines from the movie with a Cuban accent and gave ideas for vignettes that would recreate several of the movie’s scenes, such as driving around South Florida in a convertible with a leopard-skin interior. Although taken right from the movie, Hall claims McMahon and Patterson were nevertheless floored by the ideas and called him a "genius". Hall later learned that McMahon and Patterson had neither seen nor heard of the movie, and believed that Hall was coming up with the ideas himself. Patterson and McMahon came up with the name "Razor", but agreed with Hall's suggestion that it should be a nickname, and that the character should have a proper given name. Hall later asked Tito Santana for a Latino-sounding name that started with "R". Santana suggested "Ramon", Hall brought it back to McMahon and the name stuck. The Razor Ramon logo and costume were designed by Tom Fleming.
After weeks of introductory vignettes, Razor Ramon made his in-ring debut on the August 8, 1992, episode of Superstars, defeating local jobber Paul Van Dale with his finishing move, The Razor's Edge. Early on, Ramon wore large gold chain necklaces to the ring. While handing them to an attendant at ringside he would threaten "Something happens to this, something gonna happen to you", and then flick his toothpick at the hapless attendant.
Razor's first major angle began on the September 14 episode of Prime Time Wrestling, when he interfered in a WWF Championship match between champion Randy Savage and Ric Flair, attacking Savage on the floor and enabling Flair to win the title. As a result, Razor and Savage started a feud, which later involved The Ultimate Warrior, after Warrior saved Savage from a post-match beating by Razor. Razor and Flair were scheduled to face The Ultimate Maniacs at Survivor Series. Warrior was fired from the WWF prior to the event and replaced by Flair's "executive consultant", Mr. Perfect. Razor and Flair lost to Savage and Perfect via disqualification, for constantly double-teaming them.
WWF Champion Bret Hart was scheduled to defend his title against The Ultimate Warrior at the Royal Rumble, but Razor Ramon replaced Warrior after the latter left the company. During the feud, Razor verbally disrespected Hart and the Hart wrestling family. Razor lost to Hart at the Royal Rumble, submitting to the Sharpshooter. Razor made his WrestleMania debut at WrestleMania IX, pinning former WWF Champion Bob Backlund with a roll-up.
On the May 17 episode of Monday Night Raw he suffered an upset loss to jobber "The Kid", beginning a feud between the two. It carried into the King of the Ring tournament and triggered a slow fan favorite turn for Razor, as he gained respect for The 1–2–3 Kid and support from the crowd. Ted DiBiase showed no respect for Razor, making fun of him for losing to such a small jobber. Ramon helped The 1–2–3 Kid defeat DiBiase, solidifying his face turn. The feud culminated at SummerSlam, where Ramon defeated DiBiase in DiBiase's final WWF match.