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Top 7 Scott Hall Moments

March 16, 2022 | Posted by Steve Cook
Scott Hall WCW Nitro Image Credit: WWE

The wrestling world was saddened by the passing of Scott Hall at the age of 63 on Monday. I’m old enough to remember when Razor Ramon was one of the coolest people walking the face of the Earth. I’m also old enough to remember when Hall helped form one of the most dominant & trendiest factions in wrestling history. Unfortunately, I’m also old enough to remember when Hall’s career fell apart due to personal demons, and I remember not being old enough to understand just how much power addiction can have over people. Not to go into other issues here, but I have a much different understanding of Scott Hall’s demons now than I did when WCW used them for an angle.

Fortunately, Hall was able to fight the addiction that made life a living hell for him and became a mentor figure to many of today’s professional wrestlers. Most of them looked up to him because he was one of the people that made them want to be wrestlers. Scott Hall at his best made being a pro wrestler look like a very good time.

Today, we honor the memory of Scott Hall by looking at some of his best moments. Feel free to chime in down in the comment section with some of the Scott Hall moments that you found most magnificent.

7. The Curtain Call

Razor Ramon & Diesel’s last night with the WWF ended with one of the company’s most controversial moments. It was a house show in Madison Square Garden. Razor lost to a young up & comer named Hunter Hearst Helmsley while Diesel lost the main event steel cage match to Shawn Michaels. After the main event was over, Ramon & Helmsley came down to celebrate with Michaels. Diesel joined the party after waking up.

I understand that this doesn’t sound like a big deal in 2022. Kayfabe has been dead & buried for a long time. Back in 1996, people were shocked and appalled. People knew that Ramon, Diesel & Michaels had been friends for a long time, and could have accepted their celebrating with each other on their last night. Helmsley? He’d never associated with any of these men on television. His character was a stuck up aristocrat that wouldn’t associate with uncouth folks like HBK, Razor & Diesel. What was going on here?

Of course, given that this was a house show, most people weren’t aware it happened until much later. Even fewer people would have been aware if not for the fan that brought his video camera! On his way out of the WWF, Razor Ramon made some history. He’d be making more soon.

6. “Big Scott” & “Cool Curt”

Hall bounced around Florida, Mid-Atlantic & the Central States early in his career, but the AWA was where he first started to get noticed. Verne Gagne saw big things in Hall, and hoped to make him his next star. Hall was quickly teamed with Curt Hennig, a more experienced hand that was able to teach Hall about the business inside & outside the ring. They’d win the AWA’s Tag Team Championship, giving Hall his first major wrestling title.

Hall & Hennig’s careers would intersect afterwards. Mr. Perfect & Razor Ramon faced off several times in the WWF. Hennig would stab the 4 Horsemen in the back to join Hall and many others in the NWO. I’m not sure how many people watching WCW in those days knew about Hall & Hennig’s AWA days, but I’d wager that Eric Bischoff did.

5. Winning World War 3

Hall spent most of his time in WCW in the tag team division. He won the Tag Team Championship seven times, six with Kevin Nash & one with The Giant. There was some singles success for Hall, as he was a two-time United States Champion & a one-time Television Champion. However, Hall’s top singles accomplishment in WCW had to be his victory in the 1997 edition of World War 3.

In case you don’t remember World War 3, or have tried to block it out of your mind up until now, it was a three-ring battle royal with sixty entrants. WCW had an absolutely immense roster at this point, so it was easy to find sixty people to participate. The winner would receive a shot at the WCW World Championship at SuperBrawl, after Hollywood Hogan & Sting’s match at Starrcade. Hall ended up winning the match with assistance from Kevin Nash, who dressed up as Sting to attack the Giant and scare Hogan out of the ring. Just what you’d expect from Hall’s closest associate. Hogan didn’t seem too bothered by this, as he joined Hall & Nash in beating up DDP to end the evening.

As it turned out, Hall didn’t receive his title shot until Uncensored, as the Hogan/Sting match at Starrcade had a little bit of controversy that needed to be resolved at SuperBrawl. Hall would lose to Sting at Uncensored.

4. The Introduction of Razor Ramon

You knew that somebody was going to be a big deal in the WWF when they got promos building up their arrival. Some went better than others, and one of the best series of vignettes involved the introduction of Razor Ramon. Scott Hall said years later that he pitched the idea of doing a gimmick inspired by the movie Scarface as a joke, but Vince McMahon & Pat Patterson hadn’t seen the movie, so they loved the idea. They did various vignettes inspired by the movie that more discerning fans might have seen as knock-offs.

Turned out that they got over. Who knew? Razor quickly established himself on the upper tier of WWF Superstars, starting a feud with Randy Savage not long after his arrival and challenging Bret Hart for the WWF Championship. Razor Ramon was presented as a big deal from the start, and fans accepted him as one.

3. Lightning Strikes

May 17, 1993 featured an episode of Monday Night Raw that still might be one of the best Raws ever produced. Certainly one of my personal favorites. There were two classic moments on this show that stood out for the time period. One was Marty Jannetty making a shocking return after an absence of several months. He beat Shawn Michaels to win the Intercontinental Championship, which was great news to me since I wasn’t an HBK fan in 1993. Dude was a jerk!

Speaking of jerks, Razor Ramon was a pretty big one at this point. It seemed like he had an easy night in store against a young fella that had been losing fairly regularly on WWF television. Those fans that knew him as the Lightning Kid in the GWF probably knew something was up, but I wasn’t one of them. So I was shocked as anybody when the Kid evaded Ramon in the corner, hit a moonsault and got the 1-2-3. Clean as a whistle too, not one of those distraction finishes or other chicanery we see these days whenever an upset happens. It automatically put the 1-2-3 Kid on the map.

It’s no wonder that Scott Hall & Sean Waltman became such great friends. Waltman was a young kid that needed a break, and Hall was willing to give him one.

2. The Ladder Match

It wasn’t the first ladder match. The gimmick had been done in independent promotions over a decade prior. It wasn’t even the first WWF ladder match, as Bret Hart & Shawn Michaels competed in one back in 1992 that appeared on a number of video releases. However, it was the first ladder match to take place on an event that was publicized across the world, and was the first ladder match that the majority of wrestling fans around in that era saw. It set the standard that hundreds, if not thousands of wrestlers would later try to follow.

OK, probably thousands. In the eyes of this writer, the ladder match has been played out beyond belief in 2022. WWE went through a time period not too long ago where it seemed like they were having televised ladder matches at least once a week. The Money in the Bank ladder match spawned its own PPV event that mamy people see on the same level as the original four (WrestleMania, Survivor Series, SummerSlam, Royal Rumble). Every other major wrestling promotion has put its own spin on the ladder match. ECW had a Stairway to Hell, AEW has a Face of the Revolution, ROH had their Ladder Wars. None of these things ever happen if Razor Ramon & Shawn Michaels don’t go out there and steal the show at WrestleMania X. Which is saying something considering the quality & importance of Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart earlier that evening.

Later ladder matches would take the creativity to another level. Many would have more people doing crazier things. With all of that being said, the match still holds up as of the last time I watched it, which would have been within the last couple of years. Another observation I remember having: Even though some people want to tell you that Shawn Michaels carried the work, and maybe Scott would have been one of them, I thought Razor Ramon more than held up his end. It took two to tango, and the Bad Guy was quite the dancer.

Honorable Mention: His WWE Hall of Fame Speech

Admittedly, I haven’t seen a lot of the WWE Hall of Fame speeches in recent years. Hall’s from 2014 is one that stands out from the pack, and ends with a quote that has become one of Hall’s most identifiable:

“Hard work pays off, dreams come true. Bad times don’t last, but BAD GUYS do!”

Indeed.

1. An Outsider Emerges

May 27, 1996. An easy date for me to remember as it coincided with my 12th birthday, but something far more important than that happened. Something that would change the course of wrestling history and propel WCW ahead of the WWF for nearly two years. That’s right…Steve Doll took on the Mauler!

No, actually, that wasn’t it. Doll did take on Mauler, who had the legendary Col. Robert Parker in his corner, but that wasn’t the main story. That was Scott Hall emerging from the crowd & taking everybody by surprise. We knew who he was, but we didn’t know why he was there. Even people that knew that Hall & Kevin Nash were going to WCW didn’t know what they were going to do. For all they knew, Hall & Nash would be reprising their Diamond Studd & Vinnie Vegas gimmicks.

Instead, Hall was the first member of what would become one of the most dominating factions in wrestling history. The New World Order was the thing in wrestling for quite some time, and Scott Hall had a lot to do with it.

Thanks for reading. Until next time, make it one more…FOR THE GOOD GUYS!

article topics :

Scott Hall, Steve Cook