Remembering Scott Hall's Pro Wrestling Career
After nearly three days of fighting for his life, WWE has announced that Hall of Famer Scott Hall has passed away.
Longtime friend Kevin Nash revealed via Instagram in a heartfelt post that Hall’s family was going to take him off life support.
Working as “Razor Ramon” for much of his run in the promotion, Hall was the quintessential heel thanks to how he presented himself on the mic and in the ring.
Upon debuting in Vince McMahon’s company in 1992, the Razor Ramon character was a caricature of the main characters of the now-iconic 1983 film Scarface, Tony Montana and Manny Ribera, with his catchphrase “say hello to the bad guy” being a reference to the film.
Hall’s character was one of the first cases in the lovingly called “golden era of pro wrestling” where an antagonist was being cheered, specifically when he got a roll-up pin on fellow Hall of Famer Bob Backlund at WrestleMania 9.
At the time, cheering for a heel was unheard of, but Hall did such a great job at being a heel that the fans could not help but root for him.
The most remembered match of Hall’s career would happen a year later at WrestleMania X where he faced off against Shawn Michaels for the undisputed Intercontinental Championship in their critically-acclaimed ladder match.
Wrestlers Jake 'The Snake' Roberts (L) and Scott Hall (R) attend the Music Lodge Hosts MTV Interview Studio on January 24, 2015 in Park City, Utah. Photo: Clayton Chase/Getty Images for Music Lodge
Hall would later form a backstage friendship with Nash, Michaels, X-Pac and Triple H that became known as “The Kliq,” the same group that was involved in the now-famous kayfabe-breaking “Curtain Call” at Madison Square Garden.
With WCW, Ramon would find a new lease on life as one-half of “The Outsiders” with Nash who wreaked havoc on-screen before forming industry-changing stable “The New World Order” (stylized as nWo) with Hulk Hogan at WCW Bash at the Beach 1996.
Six years since he left WWE and after McMahon had purchased WCW, Hall and the repackaged nWo was reintroduced to the public at No Way Out 2002.
His WWE Hall of Fame induction speech remains one of the best in the company’s history as he uttered the phrase “hard work pays off, dreams come true. Bad times don’t last, but bad guys do” to close out his speech.
Hall held multiple titles throughout his WWE and WCW runs including a then-record setting four Intercontinental Championship reigns, WCW World Television Championship (once), WCW United States Heavyweight Championship (twice), and WCW World Tag Team Championship (seven times).