00:00 As the world says goodbye to Scott Hall, they say goodbye to a WWE Hall of Famer, a father,
00:06 and a friend.
00:07 Fans, family, and friends of Scott Hall will have known him through different lenses, some
00:11 more difficult than others, but overall leaving a legacy behind that is worth remembering.
00:16 As is often best to do in times of mourning, we would like to take this chance to celebrate
00:20 the life of Scott Hall, rather than focus on the details of his passing.
00:24 Scott was an incredible figure in wrestling, one of the very biggest and most influential
00:28 of his era, and while his career may not have had a storybook ending, he provided more than
00:32 his fair share of industry-shifting plot twists.
00:40 Born October 20th, 1958, Scott Hall was destined to change the wrestling business in a way
00:45 no one could have expected at the time.
00:47 For those old enough to remember, fans could see a jacked physique and incredible mustache
00:51 emerging from a swimming pool alongside Kurt Hennig in the AWA in 1985, when many saw Scott
00:57 Hall on television for the first time.
00:58 Looking back on it now, it's hard to believe Vince McMahon didn't sign him just on this
01:02 vignette alone.
01:03 Hall was big, handsome, athletic, all the things you would want in a good guy.
01:08 But as Hall was set to join the WWF in 1992, wrestling was instead introduced to the bad
01:14 guy.
01:15 Hall told the story many times regarding his pitch meeting with Vince McMahon.
01:19 McMahon pitched the idea of an army character to Hall, who came from a military family,
01:22 and Hall informed McMahon that if he wanted to be G.I.
01:25 Joe, Hall would be the best G.I.
01:27 Joe he could be.
01:28 But instead, Hall had come prepared and asked the wrestling mogul if he'd ever seen a little
01:32 movie called Scarface.
01:34 A few lines of improvised dialogue later, and you had Scott Hall pulling up on the streets
01:38 of Miami, introducing himself as Razor Ramon, one of the coolest stars the WWE had ever
01:44 seen.
01:45 The man embodied his character, oozing machismo and quickly becoming one of the most popular
01:49 WWE stars of that or any other era.
01:52 Oddly enough, Razor Ramon had added several iconic mannerisms to his act, and even today,
01:56 if you ask a diehard Razor fan to show you the cha-cha, the surfer walk, or the spooky
02:00 fingers, they will know exactly what you're talking about.
02:03 And that goes beyond the catchphrases that would become synonymous with the Razor character.
02:07 Razor would win the WWE Intercontinental Championship, becoming the first man to hold the title four
02:11 times, and cemented his legacy with a true history-making performance at WrestleMania
02:16 X.
02:17 His famous ladder match with Shawn Michaels was undoubtedly the most iconic match of his
02:21 WWE career, and how fitting is it that such a performance came from not just anybody,
02:26 but one of the men who Scott Hall would drive the roads and make the towns with.
02:30 Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Shawn Michaels, Shawn Waltman, and Triple H would form a bond unlike
02:35 many others in pro wrestling, traveling the world and discussing how the wrestling business
02:39 would make the most sense in their eyes.
02:42 For hardcore fans who crave a more exciting look behind the scenes, stories from The Click
02:46 just hit better than just about any others when it comes to the 90s, the top stars of
02:50 an era, all in one van.
02:52 While many of these stories have been retold on countless shoot interviews, there likely
02:56 aren't many diehard fans who wouldn't want to be a fly on the wall while The Click made
02:59 the towns just to hear the stories first hand.
03:02 In a business built on the back of colorful characters, Scott Hall was one of the most
03:05 colorful in and out of the ring.
03:08 Hall knew his role in the WWF was to be the upper middle babyface, that generation's
03:12 version of Tito Santana.
03:14 If you went through Scott Hall, you would work with Kevin Nash or Shawn Michaels.
03:17 But while his role was clearly defined, Scott Hall began to take issue with his pay.
03:22 Conveniently for him, this was right at the start of the Monday Night War.
03:26 Hall had stated in interviews that he didn't want to leave the WWF at the time and went
03:30 to Vince McMahon with ideas for a new contract.
03:33 Hall pitched Vince on changing his cut of his merchandise sales and pitched the idea
03:36 of touring Japan to earn a little bit of extra money, only for each idea to be shot down.
03:41 Hall wanted a guarantee, which Vince McMahon was not willing to offer at the time.
03:45 This meant for better or worse, Scott Hall was going to be headed down south to appear
03:49 for WCW, but he still had one more controversial evening left in the WWF.
03:54 In his famous last WWF appearance until he rejoined the company in 2002, Scott Hall took
03:59 on Triple H at a sold out Madison Square Garden house show in 1996.
04:03 Triple H managed to get the win in what Hall described as one of his best matches ever,
04:07 and as Hall stood in the ring after the match, the babyface was showered with chants of "You
04:12 sold out."
04:13 What would truly make the night memorable, however, would come later, as Hall, Nash,
04:17 Shawn Michaels and Triple H all embraced following the main event.
04:20 K-Fabe be damned, these four friends gave Hall and Nash a legendary send off, a send
04:25 off that would be recorded by fans and shown on Raw for years to come.
04:29 Following this particularly controversial departure, Scott Hall walked through the crowd
04:33 on WCW Nitro.
04:35 During a time when the business was changing and the lines distinguishing fiction from
04:39 reality were starting to be blurred, WWF star Razor Ramon stood on WCW television and said
04:45 "You know who he is, but you don't know why he's here."
04:49 What followed was the most successful period in the history of WCW, as Hall was joined
04:53 by fellow WWF star Diesel and wrestling icon Hulk Hogan to form the NWO at Bash in the
04:59 Beach in 1996.
05:00 WCW wouldn't get many things right during their run atop the wrestling business, but
05:04 the NWO's invasion of WCW remains one of the greatest wrestling angles ever and Scott
05:09 Hall's WCW debut was the catalyst for just that.
05:13 While the NWO's impact was being felt in the ring, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash continued
05:17 to change the business behind the curtain as well.
05:19 Hall and Nash would both tell you how much fun they had spending Ted Turner's money
05:23 while working for WCW, and WCW sure spent a great deal of it, but the Outsiders' contracts
05:28 would make them and many other stars on the WCW roster very rich in the late 90s.
05:33 Hall and Nash had a First Nations clause added to their contracts, which meant every time
05:37 a new wrestler would be made the highest paid star in WCW, the company had to match that
05:41 number with Hall and Nash.
05:43 They may not have been buddy-buddy with everyone backstage, but when the likes of a Bret Hart
05:46 showed up at WCW, you had better believe that Hall and Nash were trying to make sure Bret
05:50 was coming in on the biggest deal possible.
05:53 People often say that in wrestling you can either make friends or you can make money,
05:56 well the clique managed to do both.
05:59 They may have been unpopular with other people in the locker room, but for a group of friends
06:02 to last until the end in the wrestling business, that would have to mean that friendship is
06:06 pretty legendary.
06:08 Away from the ring however, Scott Hall's life was spiraling.
06:11 For the better part of the next two decades, drugs and alcohol kept Scott from being his
06:15 best.
06:16 He departed WCW in 2000, and would only make a short comeback in WWE in 2002 before being
06:21 released.
06:22 From there it would be a difficult journey for Scott.
06:24 He would go to 12 rehab programs, and for a long time it didn't seem as though his story
06:28 would have a happy ending.
06:30 But that was before Diamond Dallas Page got involved.
06:33 Through the power of yoga, friendship, and hope, DDP looked to turn around the lives
06:37 of Scott Hall and Jake Roberts, something that at one point in time seemed inconceivable.
06:43 In a perfect world, that would have been the end of Scott Hall's troubles, but addiction
06:46 is a disease and that battle never truly ends.
06:49 Scott would struggle as the years went by, but for a period of time in 2014, he was able
06:53 to be honored by his peers and fans, something that was long overdue.
06:58 After having grappled with the demons that sought to hold him down, Hall was inducted
07:02 into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2014 as Razor Ramon, giving one of the best Hall of Fame
07:07 addresses to date, and again in 2020 as part of the NWO.
07:11 Hall was finally able to be celebrated for his contributions to the business, contributions
07:16 that too often go unnoticed.
07:17 Yes, there would always be the WrestleMania X ladder match, or the formation of the NWO,
07:22 but Hall's contributions to wrestling have always extended well beyond just his own most
07:26 iconic moments.
07:28 One of the best minds in the business, Hall could be seen at the WWE Performance Center
07:32 continuing to pass on his wisdom to the next generation of WWE stars.
07:36 It was that same wisdom that he would impart on his friends during his career as well.
07:40 Kevin Nash often recalled the time that Scott reminded him not to make his body his gimmick
07:44 as your physique is the first thing to go, while Scott also informed Sting about a little
07:48 cult classic movie called The Crow, which he could look to take inspiration from.
07:53 Scott would also often put people over if he thought they deserved it, whether it be
07:56 letting a young Jeff Hardy miss a moonsault during a squash match, letting a young Sean
08:01 Waltman beat him on Raw and making his whole career, or doing the same thing with a young,
08:05 unknown Japanese wrestler back in 2001 who Hall thought was money.
08:09 That young star would turn out to be Hiroshi Tanahashi.
08:12 So with Scott Hall's story now complete, we can now take a moment to reflect on the
08:16 legacy that Hall now leaves behind.
08:18 He leaves behind a legacy as someone who helped to revolutionize the business.
08:22 A legacy as one of the greatest wrestlers to never be world champion.
08:25 A legacy as one of the coolest characters of his generation.
08:29 And a legacy as someone who proved that you don't have to be defined by your demons.
08:32 [MUSIC]
08:42 [MUSIC]
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