Jim Ross Discusses Scott Hall’s Failed Drug Test in 1996 & Conspiracy Theory That Surrounds It

– During the latest Grilling JR, Jim Ross discussed Scott Hall’s failed drug test in February 1996 which came as Scott Hall was preparing to leave WWE for WCW. Hall was suspended six weeks for the failed test, and the timing of the suspension — including that it was from a six-week old test — just as he was looking to jump ship has led some to be suspicious of the whole thing. Highlights from Ross’ comments are below:

On the timing of the whole thing with Scott Hall: “Well, he flunked the test. And I’m not so sure of how long — this is not like an episode of Law & Order: SVU. We don’t get the results back before commercial break on some of that stuff. Processes and procedures to get your results were not quite as advanced as they are now. So I don’t really know if that six weeks [timeframe] is normal. It seems like it was a lot more normal than people perceive it to be. Obviously a lot of folks would rather write about a conspiracy and talk about that. And I can understand why, it is very coincidental in that regard. Is it too coincidental? I don’t know, maybe. But I do know that medically and officially, he flunked a test. And then when the results came back, that’s when the announcement was made. It coincided with him giving his notice. Some people, you’ll never convince some people that there were two different issues. I think a lot of people are gonna always think, ‘You know, we screwed Scott Hall.’ And I certainly didn’t perceive that to be the case. But obviously when you flunk a test, there’s gotta be some penalty for it. And that’s how it went down. In six weeks, I don’t think six weeks was, the suspicion was unyielding. I think that was kind of the normal deal. So I just don’t think it was conspiracy. But again, it certainly has a lot of the components of one.”

On Vince McMahon saying that people who don’t test positive don’t have to worry about it: “That pretty well takes care of business right there. He’s right about that … now again, you go back to ‘Was he telling the truth?’ I am of the impression, all I remember is that it was failed drug test. And I believe it was for marijuana, but I can’t remember that far back. I can’t imagine it being for anything else … But I think that it was unfortunate how it worked out, but it certainly loaded the wagon on Scott and made the company look bad. And all I can tell you from my experience is that there was a flunked drug test. And as protocol would have it, procedures would have it, generally the six-week penalty is normal [at the time] and as soon as you can get them off the road, and start their [suspension, the reason for that was, you want to start the suspension early, so you get them back earlier. You wait several weeks and you have more time to add on or sit ’em at home. It’s not a good thing. I don’t believe it was a conspiracy, but I’m not going make an argument or argue with anybody that does. Because there are a lot of elements there that would cause one to raise an eyebrow.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Grilling JR with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.