The Fall of "The Bad Guy"

Disclaimer: This is a post for wrestling nerds. If anyone here has a problem with wrestling or old school wrestling, then leave. If you think everyone who watches wrestling or used to is a retard, then leave. Second if you think any of the above, go fuck yourself you self-righteous prick.


On August Eigth, 1992 Scott Hall made his WWF wrestling debut under the gimmick of "Razor Ramon". With his signature toothpick in his mouth and his Miami drug-pin personna a-la Scarface, Scott Hall brought a different, seedier dynamic to the wrestling world and more importantly the mainstream media of the WWF/E. With his open declaration of being a Miami drug lord who came from nothing to the top, Scott Hall was able to transform himself into an anti-hero that just by being himself, was able to win over crowds, despite the fact that he was obviously supposed to be a reviled heel. His vignettes included clips of him driving down in South Beach with his convertable and the leopard skin interior. He would come to the ring with cold chains all around his neck. The kicker was his toothpick, which he would mockingly throw in the face of his opponent, humiliating them and demeaning their talents. With his signature catch phrase, "say hello to the bad guy" Scott Hall made an immediate impression on me and all other WWF fans.

I remember being drawn to Scott and his Razor Ramon personna. I also remember not liking the fact that I was drawn to this character because this person was a drug dealer and a "bad guy". He was obviously supposed to be a heel, yet I thought he was the coolest, most awesome sleazy guy I had ever seen. In truth, I kind of wanted to be Razor Ramon. Everything from his drug money to his in ring ability. Razor's finishing move, "The Razor's Edge" was this amazing drop powerbomb that if done incorrectly could have seriously broken someone's neck. It was one of the best finishers and to this day remains one of my favorite along with the jackknife. But there was just something about his drug addled appearance that appealed to me. It was something that spoke out and said, "Chris there is a little of this guy in you". I was only like fucking five years old at the time but I can clearly recall having a moment of relation when I saw Scott screaming about his past troubles and his addictions to get to where he is. And I was only five. I guess people should have probably seen that coming.

I say this now because we all know the tragic tale of Scott Hall. He to me, along with the Jake the Snake, Eddie, and the Hart Family, remains one of wrestling's biggest tragedies. Recently I've been watching some old AWA programs on ESPN classic. And it surprises me the number of wasted talents and tragedies that were in this federation. Curt Henning. Road Warrior Hawk. Hulk Hogan. Two of those three are dead and the other is clearly in his sixties and not happy. But when I saw Scott Hall, it was a huge surprise to me. Not to see him in action or wrestling, but just at his appearance. He was built as this monolitic figure that was unflappable in the face of danger. Dubbed "Big" Scott Hall, he was seen as this huge southern dude that would pummel you into submission. And man, was Scott fucking ripped. He was in better shape than Hogan was at the time and it was completely astonishing to me to see the Scott Hall from back then, bulky, with a handle-bar mustache, compared to the 90's Scott Halls where he looks tall, lanky, emaciated and like he's just about had enough of life. And now well, he's barely even recognizable.

Old Hall...


New Hall (Two Fallen Stars)

Scott Hall's troubles began in WWF where he was constantly cited from substance abuse problems. His infedility to his wife was a huge problem as well and you wouldn't think that knowing the wrestler's lifestyle. Many wrestlers cheat on their spouses and have no regrets whatsoever. The women don't say anything because they life comfortably and it's just kind of an unspoken rule. But apparently Scott really loved his wife and the fact that he cheated on her tore him up inside every time he did it. It was one of those masochistic things, where the pain you live every day becomes the feeling you sustain upon. The drugs, the pills the morally illicit sex, they just became part of that sorrow he needed to just get by through the day without offing himself.

As he worked his way up the ladder (figuratively and literally) Scott became one of the biggest faces in WWF. His ladder match with Shawn Michaels in Wrestlemania Ten was one of best wrestling matches in the history of the game and my favorite wrestlemania match. He invented the ladder match and subsequently invented many other aspects of the genre you see today. If not for Scott or "Razor" I doubt half of the losers you see today would even be trying some of the shit they pretend is original.

When Scott left for WCW along with Kevin Nash (see MSG incident), his personal problems started to grow as his popularity did. Him and Nash formed an unstoppable tag team known as "The Outsiders" and then formed the NWO along with Hulk Hogan which was one of the greatest stables in the history of wrestling. For a while. Hall, Nash and Hogan were on top of the wrestling world and along with these accolades came more personal problems for Scott. His dependence on pills and alcohol became more and more evident as he would show up to tapings drunk and in many instances you can tell the moments where he drunk on the air. He would slur his words, dry heave in the middle of the ring and just stumble about potentially causing harm to himself and to other wrestlers.

When you open yourself up to pain of that nature, the only thing you can do is supplement that pain with more and more violent and intolerable pain. And the way to sustain this pain tolerance is through vicious emotional and mental pain. The only thing that hurts more than broken ribs, is a broken heart and while Scott's heart was the size of the state of Texas, it's fracture was twice the size with wounds twice as deep. I began to feel sorry for him as he was taken advantage of in front of millions of people each week. Public jokes on the air about his condition and contant redicule from GM Eric Bischoff and the on-air commentators only worsened his condition and led to more and more incidents of unprofressionalism. The pinnacle of this sad display came when that piece of shit Bischoff used his real life problems as part of a storyline where he was considered a "weak link" in the NWO. He would vomit on Eric Bischoff or be throwing up in the toilet. He'd be drunk at a bar crying and be confronted by Nash, who by this point wasn't playing along but actually asking Scott, "what the hell is wrong with you". If there is any footage of these incidents they show a glimpse into a world that is supposed to be all shits and giggles, all fake and laughs, but at times can be as serious and as depressing as life really is. When Nash was asking, "what happened to my best friend?" He really meant what happened to my best friend?

The Golden Era of Nash and Hall

After the pinnacle of Scott's "success" where he won numerous titles and was cited numerous times, he began to appear less and less frequently in WCW. Scott's ex-wife, whom he still loved immensely, Diana wrote an open letter to Eric Bischoff pleading with him to stop these deplorable angles as they were enabling him and encouraging his self-destructive behavior. But I guess letters from a woman who you still love deeply but are failing miserably, just make things worse. And that's what it did. Scott continued down that road and appeared sporadically until WCW's demise. While he had accumulated all these accomplishments, he was still in the gutter--sustaining on that pain and sorrow that he needed so sorely just to get through the fucking day.

Scott wrestled here and there in the WWE. His last big match was at Wrestlemania 18 against Stone Cold Steve Austin, a match which led to Austin's retirement out of anger from the company. Even then, despite all his accomplishments, wrestling Scott Hall was the equivelent of wrestling a joke--not because of his abilities which were inumerable but because of his personal life and that dependence on tragedy. Since then he has been back and forth through TNA, often times teaming with Nash. He appeared as recent as last December but then no-showed for a bunch of events. In the wrestling promotion in Puerto Rico he had won the championship, which was a big deal, but then proceeded to burn that bridge to the fucking ground as well by no-showing due to severe family issues which still eat at him to this very day.

I think the reason I was so drawn to Scott Hall was my knowledge some where inside of my fragile little boy's mind that this dude was fucked up. And in my little psyche, I knew that I was kind of like this guy this "bad" guy. Everything I have written in this little rant, in some way or another, relates to me and depsite the fact that the man has about thirty years on me, I still feel as if I have a bond with Scott in some personal way. Addicts and failures have a way of sticking together and realizing true personal pain when they see it. They strive to protect each other and something in me wanted to get up and kill everyone in WCW, especially Bischoff for encouraging Scott to destroy himself and his career for the sake of a few laughs and money. But I guess that's that wrestling is all about.

I love Scott. Even though I have never met him, I can honestly say that I have true love in my heart for anyone who cares that much about the world to let theirs fall apart. If I ever met him, I get the feeling I would give him a huge hug and let him know that he's not alone even though he's "the lone wolf". I would let the bad guy know that even though he's gone it alone, he's an inspiration to every other lone wolf that's braved the cold by themselves. I can tell he has a big heart. I can tell he loves his family. But I can also tell he's in an intense amount of pain. Whenever you see him and Nash together it's like his days are brighter and there seems to be some sort of glimmer of hope. But most of those gleams end up being flashes in the pan of constant depression. While there seems to be no hope, I can honestly look back and say some of the best matches I have ever seen were with Scott Hall. Any other wrestler who has wrestled with him will tell you the same thing. He could have been the greatest in my opinion. And in my opinion he's the greatest that never was. God bless you Scott, wherever you are.



Score one for the good guys.