Scott Hall WWE’s Hall of Famer Dies At 63

Scott Hall WWE’s Hall of Famer Dies At 63

Scott Hall, one of the most significant individuals in the history of professional wrestling, died on Monday, according to WWE. He was 63 years old at the time.

Hall, a two-time WWE Hall of Fame inductee, injured his hip last month and had serious health issues during surgery to repair it over the weekend, according to PW Torch.

According to close friend Sean Waltman, Hall’s longtime best buddy and former tag-team partner Kevin Nash tweeted Sunday on Instagram that Hall was on life support, which he was later removed from Monday.

“He’s gone,” Waltman wrote Monday night on Twitter.

Hall, dubbed “The Bad Guy,” is best known for being a founder member of the New World Order, a professional wrestling organization (nWo). In 1996, he left the then-WWF, where he was known as “Razor Ramon,” to sign with WCW as a free agent. During one of the hottest moments in pro wrestling, it was a significant contract that sparked a series of lucrative free-agent agreements between WWF and WCW.

Once Hall joined the business, the storyline was that he was an invading force, possibly working for the WWF and attempting to take over WCW.

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Nash, who was known as “Diesel” in the WWF, would also join WCW and form “The Outsiders” with Hall. Hulk Hogan, a longstanding wholesome “good guy” and hugely popular figure, teamed Hall and Nash to form the evil nWo in July 1996, kicking off one of the greatest organizations and storylines in pro wrestling history.

“A short while ago, a good friend of mine just passed away — Scott Hall,” Hogan said during an appearance Monday night. “He took care of me when I was down and out and when everyone thought Hulkamania was dead. Scott Hall resurrected me. He put me back on the map. … I love him so much I can’t even explain it to you.

“Bad times don’t last but bad guys do … So for the original bad guy who took Hulk Hogan and taught ‘Hollywood’ [Hogan] how to be a bad guy, I’ve gotten nothing but love.”

Hall, a Maryland native who moved about a lot as a kid due to his father’s military employment, began his pro wrestling career in 1984 with Championship Wrestling of Florida. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he worked for the AWA, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, WWC in Puerto Rico, and WCW before joining the WWF in 1992. He played “Razor Ramon,” a Miami-Cuban figure modeled on Scarface, in that film.

Hall won the WWF Intercontinental title four times and competed in a historic ladder battle with Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania X.

Hall won the tag team titles seven times in WCW (six with Nash as “The Outsiders”), the US Heavyweight Championship twice, and the World Television Championship once. The nWo was a breakthrough concept in pro wrestling because it broke down the fourth wall like never before. The WWF eventually sued WCW, alleging that the latter was plagiarizing its intellectual property and that Hall and Nash were portraying the same identities they had in the WWF while ostensibly still working for the latter.

WCW trounced WWF in head-to-head cable television ratings for 83 weeks in a row, a feat that would have been unthinkable just a year before, thanks to the nWo’s buzz.

“Scott was one of the greatest performers I ever saw,” former WCW wrestler and head of creative Kevin Sullivan said on his podcast in 2020.

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Despite the fact that Hall and Nash were positioned as villains, fans welcomed them because of their captivating charm that radiated off the screen. With long, dark, slicked-back hair and a single curl on his forehead, the toothpick-chewing Hall had an iconic image. “Hey, yo” and “survey says” were two of his renowned catchphrases. The “Razor’s Edge” was his finishing move, a smash while holding up his opponent with both arms outstretched.

“There was nobody cooler than Scott Hall,” former WCW and current AEW broadcaster Tony Schiavone told ESPN last summer. “Kevin Nash was cool, too, but freakin’ Scott Hall was ahead of his time.”

Hall’s and the nWo’s influence on pop culture is still felt today. Last year, NBA star Kevin Durant wore an nWo jacket to a Brooklyn Nets  game. In recent years, comedian Aziz Ansari and model Kendall Jenner have both been seen sporting nWo tees. Drake was photographed sporting a “Razor Ramon” shirt in 2018. As a duo, Westside Gunn and his brother Conway the Machine go by the moniker “Hall n Nash.”

“I didn’t wanna be Jordan I wanted to be SCOTT,” Westside Gunn tweeted Monday.

Hall returned to the now-WWE with Nash and Hogan to reconstitute the nWo after WCW went out of business and was bought by the WWF in 2001. Hall was released by WWE in 2002 because to substance abuse difficulties. Hall sought treatment subsequently and was said to have become sober in recent years.

During the 2000s, Hall had many runs in Total Nonstop Action (TNA). He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2014 as “Razor Ramon,” his particular persona from the WWF. In 2020, a second induction will take place. Hall joined the nWo alongside Nash, Hogan, and Sean “X-Pac” Waltman.

“We were the ‘Outsiders’ but we had each other,” Nash wrote on Instagram. “Scott always felt he wasn’t worthy of the afterlife. Well God please have some gold-plated toothpicks for my brother. My life was enriched with his take on life. He wasn’t perfect but as he always said, ‘The last perfect person to walk the planet they nailed to a cross.'”

Hall capped his 2014 Hall of Fame speech with a line that has been shared all over social media in the past few days.

“Hard work pays off,” Hall said. “Dreams come true. Bad times don’t last. But bad guys do.”