Leighty’s Retro Review: Living on a Razor’s Edge: The Scott Hall Story

-News has spread all day about the health issues of WWE Hall of Famer, Scott Hall. I watched this documentary years ago when it dropped on the WWE Network and wanted to go back after seeing all the prayers and well wishes towards Scott flood Twitter. My prayers and well wishes for The Bad Guy! Let’s get to it!

-Run Time: 53:04

-Intro talks about a life alternating event in Hall’s life where he killed a man. Then it jumps to his personal demons. Nash: “In his mind, he goes to Hell.” This is Living on a Razor’s Edge: The Scott Hall Story.

-Hall says he was an insecure kid that was looking for something and that was wrestling as he could be a fake guy. He calls wrestling the most intoxicating thing he has ever found and he would know. He has known since he was 8 years old what he has wanted to do with his life. He loved Dusty Rhodes and wanted to be him. He wanted to be over in Florida and meet girls.

-At the age of 17, he moves to Florida with a friend and would go to wrestling shows every weekend. His friend told him that he was bigger than most of the wrestlers. He wanted that wrestling, rock-star lifestyle.

-He took a job as a bouncer when someone didn’t show up and his friend needed a hand. He enjoyed it as it was an easy job and he could get paid and meet girls. The big money in Orlando was working in strip clubs and he had a rule he would never date one of the girls. He broke that rule though and the girl had a man and he pulled a semi-automatic on Hall. They wrestled over the gun and Hall was just going to pistol whip the guy with it, but ended up blowing off the back of the guy’s head. Hall: “It was brutal.” They show crime scene photos while Hall talks about it. Hall: “I know in my heart I wasn’t trying to kill him, but he’s still dead.” Hall was arrested for second degree murder.

-Hall says he learned after lots of therapy the worst thing he could have done was just think everything was okay. He was found innocent on all charges, but the events of that day affected his life going forward.

-He wasn’t thrilled with the guy he was and that is why he embraced wrestling. He could be someone else. He started getting into weight training at gyms and realized he was working out with Kevin Sullivan. He told Sulivan that he wanted to do what he was doing, but didn’t know that Sullivan was an office guy as well as being a wrestler. Soon, Hall was off to Charlotte to become a wrestler.

-We jump a bit as Hall is working territories and looks like a jacked Tom Selleck with a sweet mustache. Dusty Rhodes says that Hall had a real drive and mind for the business. Hall was blown away being in the same business and locker room with Dusty.

-The AWA: DDP says that is where he met Hall and they became good friends. Hall also crossed paths with Curt Hennig and they hit it off. Curt taught him how to talk to the people in the office and how to have fun. Shawn Michaels then showed up and Hall helped him get set up. It was Hall, Michaels and Curt in a crew that would go out partying at the clubs. Hall admits a lot of pills were being passed around in bars and you just trusted the guys giving you things.

-Hall wanted to get to WWE and had no luck, so he gave up on that dream. He had a commitment in Europe and was done, but his wife was 6 months pregnant and he needed money. He made a call to DDP in WCW and pitched The Diamond Studd and that was his in. He credits DDP for the look including the famous toothpick.

-Kevin Nash first met Scott in WCW when they were both guys working early matches. They put them together in a tag team. Bischoff says that Hall wasn’t positioned to be a star, but he also doesn’t think Scott pushed himself to be a top star. Hall: “If I’m destined to be a JOB guy then I want it to be in the WWE.” He tells us that he called Pat Patterson once a week for a year. It made him feel like a jabron.

-Then he asked Curt if he had a way to get him any kind of shot and what do you know, Pat Patterson left a message for him. Patterson asked Hall if he signed a contract with “those SOBs” yet. Hall told him he just came back from signing it and had to wait an entire year. “Boom. One year later, Razor Ramon was born.”

-We get some cool footage of Hall as Razor testing out the character in dark matches before it ever made TV. Just some wild stuff! It was a dark match at Louisville and JJ Dillon told him they were impressed and offered him a spot. Vince McMahon pops up and says Hall was a really good wrestler, but they didn’t have any sense of who he was and how to relate to him. They had a conversation and Hall mentioned his favorite movie is Scarface. Vince had never seen it, so Hall dropped “Say hello to the bad guy” on him, and that was it.

-Early Razor vignettes and they are just awesome. This man was a star from the moment these aired. Hall mentions his first match at MSG was against Randy Savage. His music hit and Vince told him to wait as he was teaching Razor about how to command attention. So when Vince finally gave Razor the nod, he shot back that he was going to make Vince wait now. Nice! Hall credits Vince as a good coach and owner. He would pitch ideas to Vince and he would accept it or tweek it and it was so satisfying. Vince: “When that music hit, he was on.” Hall: “Scott Hall may be having personal problems, but for Razor life is great and better that yours.”

-The Kliq: Nash says Razor was getting over and talks about it being taboo for heels and faces to be in the same car. X-Pac says they were so close and would jam into a mini-van and one hotel room. They would talk business on all those roads trips and put matches together. They realized quick that Hall had a great mind for the business. Nash says that Hall is one of those guys that will tell you “If you don’t want the truth then don’t ask me questions.” He had no problem telling someone their match sucked if they asked him.

-WrestleMania X: The Ladder Match: Vince calls it magic and he isn’t kidding! Hall: “Me and Shawn rocked it.” Vince talks about the drama in the match and the timing both men had. Amazing and revolutionary match as we all know. Vince can only say that it was amazing. Hall says some guys got hot at them and mentions Savage congratulated him on having a great match, but also told him he was selfish for going too long. “Obviously it worked as all these years later people still talk about it.”

-They talk about Hall growing into the Razor character and growing into being a WWE SuperStar. As his stock continued to rise, so did the pressure and responsibility. The members of the Kliq dealt with these issues in different wants. Syxx: “We bring a lot of baggage into this industry.” Shawn says they justified the drinking and drugs by saying they only did them while on the road and it wasn’t part of their personal life. The problem is they were on the road 250 days a year. Shawn: “When you think about it, we were doing it all the time.” Hall says that he remembers Mick Jagger saying he couldn’t understand people taking drugs to get up for a show, but can when someone is trying to come down from a show. That stuck with Hall. HHH says you hear people say there is no better place than under those lights and you are always chasing that feeling. Hall admits to falling into a destructive pattern as he had a cool life on TV, but the drop down he didn’t feel that rush from the audience so it was always “now what?”

-His personal issues were affecting his job and he also realized his pay was at a plateau. He asked Vince about it and they couldn’t come to an agreement so he gave his notice. He didn’t want to go, but wanted to do more than he was doing in WWF. Nash gave his notice a few weeks later and says he also wanted to stay and just wanted Vince to match what he was offered. Vince says he feels Hall made a mistake, but admits he made an even bigger mistake letting them walk. WCW offered guaranteed money which they couldn’t turn down and Vince didn’t pay like that at that point.

-May 1996: Hall left WWF for WCW and on my 15th birthday (May 27): “You people know who I am, but you don’t know why I am here.” It still makes me smile and gives me goosebumps to this day. The nWo era is launched and the industry is never the same. Nitro dominated RAW as the Monday Night Wars were in full force and it was an amazing time to be a pro-wrestling fan. Bischoff talks about how it got the ball rolling and a lot of the cool stuff you saw came from the mind of Scott Hall. We get video of a Hall survey which was genius.

-Hall says they had no incentive to work hard as he had a guaranteed contract. HHH says that the grass isn’t always greener and all they had was the extra money. Hall says his marriage was falling apart. He loved the father part, but the husband part wasn’t working out at all. Bischoff calls him one of the most knowledgeable minds he has ever been around on a good day and on bad days, a hammer to the head would be better Hall says his fake life was also falling apart, so he just didn’t care anymore and started self medicating at work.

-They talk the Drunk Hall angle and Bischoff says he was on board, but is not proud of it. Nash mentions the marriage went South and it snowballed things on Hall. Cody Hall (Scott’s son) pops up and says the drunk Hall on TV was convincing because it was close to what he had seen at home. That’s sad! He admits it is still a touchy subject for him. Hall admits to having self destructive thoughts for the bad things he had done as we flash back to the man he shot. HHH: “Scott is a great guy. Scott doesn’t know he is a great guy.”

-We skip ahead to Vince buying WCW in 2001 and soon Vince made the call to Hall to get him back in the company. They brought Hogan, Hall and Nash up to Stamford and pitched what they wanted to do. Bischoff says the nWo angle in WWF cratered and part of that was due to Scott’s personal problems. He was paired with Steve Austin for Mania. Hogan brings up that Hall was on pills that would cause him to get sick and vomit if he drank alcohol. It wasn’t easy for Scott as Steve’s gimmick was beer drinking and just the smell made Hall sick.

-WrestleMania X-8: Hall says the match with Austin was what it was. In his vies it was decent and the people enjoyed it but it could have been better. Vince calls Hall a shell of his former self.

-Plane Ride From Hell: JR compares it to a 9th grade field trip to the zoo. HHH remembers Michael Hayes being upset his ponytail was cut off and Syxx taking great joy in it because he is the one that cut it off. Hall says he had been taking pills to sleep on plane trips and he doesn’t want to comment on that trip. He has no memory as it as just a blur of pills and booze. Something had to change and JR was given the task of letting Hall know he was fired. Hall was pissed and asked if it was effective immediately or tomorrow. The money means less when it isn’t fun and he can sit at home and be miserable so that is the way it ended.

-Between 2002-2012 Hall was arrested numerous times on domestic disturbance, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. They show the various mug shots here. Hall says he doesn’t recommend booze and drugs, but admits they work and it sucks when you want to stop and can’t. He had people offering help, but he was defensive and didn’t want to accept the help. Nash mentions that substance abuse is a disease and if Hall was battling cancer for 20 years people wouldn’t give him a hard time. HHH mentions addiction is a horrible thing and it affects more than just the person with the habit.

-Nash talks about staying by Hall’s side as that is what you do. Hall tried rehab 4-5 times on his own dime and this time Nash had it set up. Hall talks about the shooting incident and how he can fool people into thinking he is a nice guy, but he’s not. Bischoff knows that the incident shaped who Hall is and what he had to carry around with him. Michaels says the same as his friends would say the right thing, but they never went below the surface talking about it. Shawn: “Why deal with the real stuff when we can sit here and make the pain go away with this stuff and live in this make believe fantasy where everyone thinks we are cool. It’s a heck of a lot better than dealing with the reality that you killed somebody.” Nash says when he heard the story from Scott he told him he gets it. He mentions Hall is religious and doesn’t think God has forgiven him and in his mind when he dies he goes to hell.

-Fall River, MA: April 8, 2011: Oh man, not this! Hall is drugged out of his mind as he makes an appearance at a small Indy show and it is just terrifying to watch. Steve Hall (Scott’s brother) talks about the terrifying side of addiction. I believe this incident was part of an ESPN story as well as they were doing a story of Hall. Nash calls it sad, really sad. HHH didn’t want to see the video and admits there was nothing to do unless Hall wanted to do it. Hall tells the crowd it was a seizure and not a relapse. Nash told Hall he bought a black suit for Hall’s funeral and Hall told him that was messed up, but Nash was just being honest with him.

-Jake “The Snake” Roberts had suffered from addiction and pain but was saved by Diamond Dallas Page. Roberts and DDP mention that Syxx reached out to them as Hall had a gun and was talking about suicide and he didn’t think it was a threat this time. We get footage from Page and Roberts calling Hall, who is just blasted from drinking Vodka. “I’m dying, I’m dying man.” Oh man, this is harder to watch now, knowing what is happening.

-They meet Hall at the airport and he is confined to a wheelchair and looks awful as he was 300lbs and bloated. Page wasn’t expecting to see him that broken. They show DDP working him slowly through DDP yoga and you can hear Hall’s hip and other joints cracking. They did some crowd funding as Hall had no insurance and they raised over $109,000. Hall had hip surgery and had to learn to walk again and build up to the various work-out routines. We see the crazy change and it is something else as he is a new man. It’s not said enough, but DDP is a saint and there should never be a bad word ever uttered about the man. He has saved lives!

-With the physical being better, Hall needs help with the mental. HHH mentions that any talent that has ever worked for the WWE has the chance to go to rehab no matter the issue. Hall took them up on the offer and they looked at the root of the problem and not the side effect (the drinking). The problem with PTSD and negative self image.

-We see Hall visit the parking lot outside the club where he killed someone. He breaks down as he isn’t sure if he can do this. He brings up this was his therapists idea to help put this in the past and Hall just tells himself that the man was trying to kill him and he may not be here if he didn’t do what he did. His feelings haven’t changed as he gets the creeps standing here. He just reminds himself he didn’t do anything wrong, but he still feels this tremendous guilt. His tells anyone experiencing tragedy to get help ASAP and don’t wait 30 years.

-HHH mentions that DDP asked him about Hall of Fame and HHH told him it was too fresh. He told Page to put a carrot out there for Hall to remain clean and they would revisit in a year. They sold Vince on it and a year later the call was made.

-Hall of Fame 2014: Hall says he was so excited he couldn’t sleep as he had so much going through his mind. He recalls getting the call and was all about it. Some great footage of him talking to Bruno and he calls him sir. That’s wonderful. He also marks out over Cesaro as he tells Cesaro that his son aspires to work like him and can’t wait to tell him they met. This is making me so happy watching this. We see Hall getting his Hall of Fame ring from Vince and HHH. Vince says Hall was always a great man with a great heart and you can see that in his eyes now. Nash gets emotional inducting Hall, err, I mean inducting Razor Ramon. Still weird, but it’s a WWE thing. I still like how Nash made sure he went I as Kevin Nash and not Diesel. Vince chokes up talking about Razor going into The Hall. “Hard work pays off. Dreams come true. Bad times don’t last, but bad guys do.” HELL YEAH! The Kliq marking out over those lines backstage is tremendous.

-Hall tells us that he feels obnoxiously happy as he is clean now and can hold up his end of the bargain when he is back with all his friends. Nash is happier with Hall’s induction than his own because he didn’t think this day would happen. Hall is happy where he ended up and he knows he is not where he needs to be, but he thanks God he isn’t where he was.

-We see footage of nWo vs DX at Mania 31 as Cody talks about how proud of his father he is. Michaels says Hall checked off every box that you want to be a great pro-wrestler. Vince says that Hall lived for those moments in the ring. Hall loves that people call him Razor still and he finds it overwhelming. “You can’t do anything to me that hasn’t already been done. What are you going to do? Knock me down? I’ll get right back up. Now what?”

-This was great and could have ran longer as they short changed the WCW run a good bit, but WWE won the war and that happens on these things. The story of Scott Hall is a tragedy and a triumph and the rebirth thanks to DDP has given Hall, his family, friends, and fans a happy ending. Now we just continue to pray that Razor gets back up one more time. Thanks for reading!