Wrestling / Scott Hall

"Hard work pays off. Dreams come true.
Bad times don't last, but bad guys do!"

Hey, yo!

Scott Oliver Hall (October 20, 1958 - March 14, 2022) was an American professional wrestler best known in the WWF as Razor Ramon and (more famously) in WCW under his real name as one of "The Outsiders" (alongside real-life friends Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash), which formed the basis for the wrestling supergroup the New World Order in 1996. After WCW's demise, he had brief runs in both WWE (as part of the reborn nWo) and TNA (with fellow Kliq members Nash and Sean "X-Pac" Waltman).

A performer of no small skill, Hall remains over with fans today who remember him as a lovably douchey heel. But those pops come with a price tag. Hall was infamous for no-showing events, his rap sheet was bigger than his arm, and most of his career was spent drying out instead of working, to the point where WWE (which foots the bill for any current or former contracted employees who enter rehab) has spent more on Hall's detox than any other performer. These off-screen issues — which were notoriously turned into an angle during Hall's last lap in WCW — reduced one of the industry's most promising talents into one of its biggest cautionary tales.

Things looked up for Hall, though — in February 2013, he sought help from Diamond Dallas Page, who previously worked miracles for the likes of Jake Roberts, and mostly remained sober for the rest of his life (though occasionally relapsing). Thanks to Indiegogo, he underwent hip surgery in April 2013 and was well on the way to getting a new lease on life.

Among his in-ring achievements, he was a former AWA World Tag Team Champion w/Curt Hennig, a former 4x WWE Intercontinental Champion (as Razor Ramon), a former 4x WCW World Tag Team Champion, holding the belts 3x w/Nash as the Outsiders and 1x w/the Giant (Big Show), a former 2x WCW United States Heavyweight Champion, a former WCW World Television Champion and a WWC Universal Champion. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 5, 2014.

On March 13, 2022, Hall was placed on life support following three heart attacks due to a loose blood clot as a result of a hip surgery he had a week prior. Hall's life support was turned off once his family gathered to pay their respects the following day.

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"Hey yo, check out the Bad Guy's tropes, chico!"

• The Aggressive Drug Dealer: Razor Ramon was derived from the 1983 Scarface movie, and the character was clearly supposed to be one of the criminals released from Cuba's jails and dumped on Miami's shores in the Mariel boatlift.
• Alliterative Name: As Razor Ramon.
• The Alcoholic: In spite of his love for the character and the wrestling business, he couldn't come within three feet of alcohol without risking a relapse. WCW even made it part of his character as "Last Call" Scott Hall; nobody was amused and his ex-wife even wrote a letter to WCW complaining about it. WWE did not set up a match for Kevin Nash for WrestleMania X-8 as a precaution, since in the event that Hall somehow screwed up and wasn't able to compete, they would just be able to plug Nash into Hall's place as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's opponent. (Note: Hall DID eventually screw up and get fired, but it was a month later, in the Plane Ride From Hell.) He even missed Shawn Michaels's Hall of Fame Induction because it wasn't a dry party, and he still fell off the wagon that weekend when he worked an independent show in Boston. Since 2012, however, DDP has been helping Hall and Jake "The Snake" Roberts to the point where they were able to get completely clean. For the rest of his life, despite the occasional relapse, Hall managed to keep himself under control.
• Almighty Janitor: Despite being one of the most popular wrestlers in both the WWF and WCW, he never was, nor wanted to be the World Champion. He was content at being in a mid-card spot, while commanding a main event level salary.
• Anti-Hero: In an era of squeaky clean do-gooder babyfaces, Ramon stood out because he was still kind of a dick, but a dick who fought on the side of angels. That's probably a big reason why he was so popular.
• Arch-Enemy:
  • (as Razor Ramon): Shawn Michaels, Jeff Jarrett, Goldust.
  • Everyone in WCW as part of the nWo, given that he was a founding member.
• Bash Brothers: With Kevin Nash, for something going on two decades. They came to WCW as a Tag Team known as "The Outsiders", and the two would later become founding members of the nWo. Even when Kevin Nash broke away from Hogan and Bischoff's nWo Hollywood to form the nWo Wolfpac, he still showed a degree of concern for Hall's well-being despite Scott staying with nWo Hollywood.
• Berserk Button: Do not make jokes about Owen Hart's death when he's in the room. He doesn't care if cameras are rolling.
• Big Brother Mentor: To the 1-2-3 Kid, who he treated like a younger brother.
• Blasphemous Boast: "I'm like Adam in the Garden of Eden; I'm the only real mang."
• Captain Ersatz
  • Of himself. Early in his WCW run as one half of the Outsiders, he could not use the Razor Ramon gimmick for trademark reasons, so he simply used his real name and continued to talk, act, and even dress like Razor Ramon. So much so that he was named personally as one of the several reasons that the WWE threatened legal action during the early days of the nWo storyline.
  • nWo's presence in Japan of course led to him having one in Fire Pro Wrestling.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Who pushes a little kid into a fountain? The Bad Guy, that's who.
• Catchphrase: "Hey Yo!", and his survey.
• Carpet of Virility: One of the few modern examples of a wrestler with one.
• Celebrity Resemblance: To Tom Selleck of Magnum, P.I. in the 1980s, which led to him being billed for a time as "Magnum" Scott Hall.
• Cool Car: Razor's "Custom Made" (read: zebra prints and fuzzy dice) Cadillacs.
• Cool Old Guy: Settled into this role with the younger talent at NXT, imparting wisdom and advice.
• The Creon: Turned down a run with the AWA Championship, and later the WWF Championship, because he was content at being in an upper-midcard spot and not having to carry the weight of the company on his shoulders. It was one of the reasons he was such a successful Intercontinental Champion.
• Defeat Means Friendship: After losing to the 1-2-3 Kid on Raw, Razor turned face shortly after and became a mentor to The Kid.
• Drives Like Crazy: According to Hall, he must have flipped five or more Caddies in his WCW days, including two in the same day.
• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • His run in the American Wrestling Association, years before achieving fame in the WWF. He sported a curly mullet, a large mustache, and bulked up to 300 pounds (which he attributed to steroids). In fact, pretty much anything he did before he developed the look he had as the Diamond Studd in 1991 would qualify. He was a blond in the two-ring battle royal at NWA The Great American Bash 89.
  • His early house show appearances as Razor Ramon had him as a Badass Biker.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: By 2013, Hall managed to regain control of his life. He spent the last nine years of his life rebuilding his familial relationships, ultimately succeeding. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame twice (once as himself, once as part of the nWo), and although he died at the relatively young age of 63, it was of natural causes (heart failure due to a blood clot dislodged during hip replacement surgery), with friends and family at his bedside, not from his history of substance abuse as so many feared would be the case.
  • His speech at his induction into the WWE Hall of Fame:
    Bad times don't last. Bad Guys do!
• Even the Guys Want Him: One storyline with Goldust had the Bizarre one lusting after Ramon. To say that Razor was displeased by this kind of affection is an understatement.
• Expy:
  • An impression of Al Pacino as Tony Montana in Scarface, complete with a bad Cuban accent, by way of Dana Carvey (though for some reason, Razor Ramon looked and acted more like Manny than Tony Montana). The funniest part is that he showed up for his (then) WWF audition and was explicitly doing a Scarface impression to show that he can "do characters". Vince McMahon, having literally never seen or been fully aware of the movie, thought that Scott was doing an original concept and that it was brilliant. A bit of tweaking and name-brainstorming, and Razor Ramon was born.
  • Razor Ramon derisively called Carlito Colón "mini razor". While it is true that he was basically a smaller Razor Ramon when he first debuted in WWE, he had became a little more by the time they met. Also a little ironic when you consider that Razor used to encourage people to be more like him.
  • His "'Big' Scott Hall" gimmick in the AWA was a desperate attempt to fill the void left by the departure of Hulk Hogan.
• Finishing Move: The Razor's Edge/Outsider's Edge, a crucifix powerbomb. As the Diamond Studd, he called it the Diamond Death Drop. Earlier, he used a top rope bulldog called the "Hallbuster".
• Gratuitous Spanish: Tended towards this as Razor Ramon.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Kevin Nash, for something going on two decades.
• Hopeless with Tech: In 2013, Hall got a hip replacement. One of the nurses at the hospital was a wrestling fan who told Hall that he followed him on Twitter. In fact, the "Scott Hall" that the nurse followed was an impostor, because at that time, Hall had no idea what Facebook or Twitter were, and had never used the internet or even touched a computer in his entire life. This was averted in his later years, when he maintained an online presence including YouTube videos and Xbox Live.
• I Have Many Names: His own, Starship Coyote, the Diamond Studd, and Razor Ramon.
• I Was Quite a Looker: Compare the image for this page with the one linked to in the caption. Fifteen years makes a difference, but for most people it doesn't make that much of one. His various addictions had a hand in this.
  • Fortunately inverted when he got clean. He lost most of his excess weight, got his tan (not to mention his old swagger) back, and aside from his hair being a distinguished silver, he looked much like the Razor of old.
• Idiot Hair: That spit curl.
• Incoming Ham: The next thing out of his mouth when he first grabs the mic and raises his chest is sure to be a loud "Hey, yo!"
• It Runs in the Family: In his own words, he came from a "long line of hard drinking rednecks", in that both his parents and grandparents were all alcoholics. This obviously continued with him but, thankfully, neither of his children have become drinkers, much to Scott's relief.
• Jerkass: As a member of The Kliq, he's a natural.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He retained much of the same mannerisms that he had as a heel long into his face turn. It's probably the reason that his face turn was so successful, despite anti-heroes being very rare in pre-Attitude Era WWF.
• Latin Lover: Chicas are for fun, mang! Razor scars their hearts and does not care!
• Lost in Character: He had a real life Oral Fixation to toothpicks until DDP cured him of the habit. That tells you everything you need to know. Hall was as addicted to the high of being "Razor Ramon" as he was to alcohol. That's an unfortunate side effect of the old territory system, when wrestlers never dropped character and occasionally got lost in kayfabe. Scott ended up stronger than Razor, though not without a major struggle.
• Malaproper: Occasionally as Razor Ramon.
• Master-Apprentice Chain: His son Cody was trained by Scott's student, Chasyn Rance.
• My God, What Have I Done?: In 1983 he shot and killed a man outside a nightclub and was prosecuted for second-degree murder. He was released due to lack of evidence, but, as he admitted in an ESPN documentary interview decades later, the incident haunted him his entire life.
• Non-Indicative Name: As Razor, captained the team the Bad Guys (Razor/The 1-2-3 Kid/Davey Boy Smith/the Headshrinkers (Fatu [Rikishi] and Sionne [The Barbarian])) at Survivor Series 94, who were actually the faces.
• Oral Fixation: Used to chew on a toothpick during his promos. Sadly, his alcoholism could have been a part of his oral fixation.
• Parts Unknown (as The Diamond Studd): "The Diamond Mine".
• Perma-Stubble: He always managed to maintain the same facial hair.
• Poirot Speak: Spoke accented English as Razor Ramon, but with a few Spanish words sprinkled in.
• Power Stable:
  • (in WCW): The Diamond Exchange (as The Diamond Studd), and the New World Order.
  • (in TNA): The Kings of Wrestling, with Nash and Jeff Jarrett; and The Band, a recycling of the nWo concept with Nash, Sean Waltman, and Eric Young.
  • (in New Japan Pro-Wrestling): Team 2000.
  • (in Juggalo Championship Wrestling): the jWo.
• Punny Name: He's Diamond's Stud. Voilà. Diamond Studd.
• Red Baron: "Da Bad Guy", for Razor Ramon.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Ultimately, the reason he kept pulling a check was because his old Kliq buddies were running WCW (and later TNA, if we're being honest). That aside, he's said to be the least malicious member of the group: He actually claimed in interviews that he declined from holding the World Title in both major companies during the Monday Night War, and Kevin Nash has cited that whenever Scott worked with Jeff Hardy during Jeff's jobber days he always gave Jeff little bits of offense^note something that was virtually unheard of in those days because he felt Jeff was a special talent.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Downplayed as Razor Ramon was a very successful wrestler and one of the bright spots of the WWE New Generation Era, but nobody could predict that an upper-midcarder like Hall would be the one to kickstart the second wrestling boom.
• Sore Loser: Known to attack the victor of any match he was in to spitefully retaliate for any upsetting and unexpected loss he suffers.
• Spiteful Spit: Liked to spit the toothpick in his opponent's face just to provoke them.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute:
  • On the June 18, 1998 episode of Thunder, The Giant was billed as "Big Tobacco", basically Hall with a cigarette instead of a toothpick. Yes, that happened.
  • His spot in The Band was eventually filled by Jeff Jarrett after Hall no-showed Turning Point '07. His initial replacement? Eric Young of all people (though to be fair, it was more Joe replacing Nash's buddy with his own).
  • Sean Waltman tagged with Nash at TNA Genesis after Hall got cold feet.
• Tag Team:
  • With Curt Hennig in the AWA.
  • American Starship, as Coyote with Eagle (Dan Spivey)
  • The Outsiders, with Kevin Nash.
• Tall, Dark, and Snarky
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: A real life example. His first alliance in the WWF was with Ric Flair, and the two didn't get along in real life.
• Third-Person Person: If your name was Razor, you would refer to yourself as The Razor too, mang.
• Those Wily Coyotes: He was known as Starship Coyote.
• Ultimate Job Security: Goof off, get arrested, come in loaded and not get fired. Nice work if you can get it.
• Underwear of Power: In both the WWF and WCW, Scott would wear an underwear bearing his name or the name of the group he was a member of as part of his wrestling attire.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Made a comment about how good-looking luchadors such as Rey Mysterio Jr. and Juventud Guerrera were when he saw them unmasked. Word got to management, which led to angles where the luchadors would end up being unmasked. He would feel guilty about it afterwards.
• Verbal Tic: As Razor Ramon, and sometimes during WCW, he tended to end most of his sentences with either "chico" or "mang". This carried over for a few months when he moved to WCW and used his own (decidedly non-Latino) name. Just check out this promo for an example.
• Wacky Fratboy Hijinx: Hall, as part of the Outsiders with Kevin Nash, and in the nWo, was one of the pioneers of this in wrestling.
• Wham Line: "You know who I am, but you don't know why I'm here... You want a war? You're gonna get one."
• Wham Shot: An idle Monday Nitro on May 27, 1996 has a match between Steve Doll and the Mauler, with not too much to get excited about. So why is the crowd suddenly at their feet? Because Razor Ramon just walked through the crowd and down to the arena floor, and then proceeds to say the line above.
• Wrestling Family: He mentored his son Cody to become a wrestler. Recently, Cody spent some time as a member of the Bullet Club in New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
• Wild Take: Scott Hall's reactions to upset losses.
• You Are Fat: He taunted Shinya Hashimoto in Fighting Opera HUSTLE by asking him if he was a sumo wrestler.

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