WWE Hall of Famer Scott Hall Passes Away

WWE has announced that two-time Hall of Famer Scott Hall has passed away. The company posted to Twitter on Monday night that Hall, who was taken off life support earlier today after suffering multiple heart attacks following hip replacement surgery last week, had passed. Sean Waltman confirmed the news on Twitter as well. Hall was 63 years old.

WWE is saddened to learn that two-time WWE Hall of Famer Scott Hall has passed away.

WWE extends its condolences to Hall’s family, friends and fans. pic.twitter.com/jgqL3WizOS

— WWE (@WWE) March 15, 2022

He's gone. 😔

— Sean Waltman (@TheRealXPac) March 15, 2022

Hall is best known for his time in WWE and WCW, the former of which saw him play an integral role in the pre-Attitude Era of 1992 to 1996. He would be one of the key signings by WCW that would bring on the arrival of the New World Order and the Attitude Era. He is considered by many to have been one of the best North American wrestlers to never win a World Championship.

Hall began his career in 1984, debuting in Championship Wrestling from Florida. Trained under Dusty Rhodes as well as Mike Rotunda and Barry Windham, he began teaming with Dan Spivey as American Starship, working under the name Starship Coyote in Jim Crockett’s Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling and then NWA Central States.

Spivey went back to JCP while Hall stayed in Central States until he moved to the AWA in 1985. There, Hall worked as “Magnum” Scott Hall and was pushed by Verne Gagne, who wanted a big babyface following Hulk Hogan’s departure to the WWF. Hall teamed with Curt Hennig and won the AWA World Tag Team Championship in January of 1986, holding it until May. He would go on to get shots at the AWA Heavyweight Champion and while Gagne is said to have wanted to put the title on him, Hall decided to move on and went to the NWA in 1989.

Hall had a brief run in the NWA/WCW before he went in hiatus and had short runs or appearances in the WWF, NJPW, and the ECW. He returned to WCW in 1991 as “The Diamond Studd” and was managed by Diamond Dallas Page. Hall would team there with Kevin Nash and Scotty Flamingo (aka Raven) in short-lived teams, and had a short feud with Dusty Rhodes, but when creative ideas fell through he left WCW and moved onto WWE.

Hall’s 1992 debut in WWE as Razor Ramon saw him shoot into a new level of prominence in the industry. Ramon became a mainstay of WWE television as “The Bad Guy,” with his character modeled on Tony Montana from Scarface. He was involved in multiple famous feuds at the time with the likes of Randy Savage, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, and more. His famous upset loss to Sean Waltman in May of 1993 on Raw put Waltman on the map as the 1-2-3 Kid and led to a feud between them.

Hall’s time in WWE saw him become a four-time WWE Intercontinental Champion and become part of the backstage power group known as “The Kliq” along with Michaels, Triple H, Nash, and Waltman. The Kliq was one of the more infamous backstage power groups in WWE history and when Hall and Nash left WWE for WCW, they famously broke kayfabe at a Madison Square Garden house show in an event known as “The Curtain Call,” celebrating together after a match despite being enemies in storyline.

That exit from WWE came in 1996 after WCW offered him a hefty contract to leave, with Nash jumping ship along with him. They debuted in WCW in May of that year as The Outsiders, kickstarting the nWo and it’s “invasion” of WCW. That storyline tipped the balance of power between WWE and WCW and helped kicked off the Attitude Era, which targeted a young adult audience with more risque and edgy content. Hall and Nash won the WCW World Tag Team Championships six times (Hall won them once more with The Giant); Hall would also hold the TV Championship once and the US Championship two times.

During this era, Hall began to have serious issues with drug abuse that led to, in an unfortunate choice, those issues being used for an on-screen storyline. Hall exited WCW in 2000 and worked a couple of matches for ECW, then returned to NJPW for a run in 2001.

Hall came back to North American television with his return to WWE as part of the nWo storyline that saw Vince McMahon bring the group in to “kill” WWE so that he would no longer have to (on-screen) share it with Ric Flair. Hall lost to Steve Austin at WrestleMania 18 and was released shortly after when he was accused of sexual misconduct under the effects of alcohol on the “Plane Ride From Hell.”

Following his WWE release, Hall worked for the then-nascent TNA in the first of multiple stints with the company, as well as the World Wrestling Council and JCW. He returned to TNA in 2010 and worked there until May, when he was released because of legal problems related to his addictions. He would make sporadic appearances after but had largely retired at that point.

Hall would eventually get sober with help from Diamond Dallas Page, though it was something he had to recommit himself to several times over the years. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2014 as Razor Ramon and then again as part of the nWo last year are part of the belated class of 2020.

On behalf of 411, our condolences to the family, fans, and the world of fans of Mr. Hall. The wrestling world would, in many ways, not be the same without him and he will be missed.