Scott Hall Passes Away At Age 63
After being taken off life support earlier today, family of Scott Hall has confirmed that the wrestling legend and long time WCW and WWE star has passed away at the age of 63. Scott Hall was put on life support on Sunday following complications from a recent hip surgery that led to him suffering several heart attacks due to a blood clot.
Born on October 20, 1958, Scott Hall entered the wrestling business in 1984 after training with Japanese wrestler Hiro Matsuda. Initially brought into Championship Wrestling from Florida as an opponent for Dusty Rhodes, Hall later joined Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association (AWA) in 1985, where he worked for the next four years. Despite never winning the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, Hall was a top star during AWA's latter days, and had one reign as AWA World Tag Team Champions with AWA top star Curt Hennig.
After leaving AWA, Scott Hall briefly worked for WCW in 1989 before leaving the same year. He would work several promotions over the next few years, notably New Japan Pro Wrestling (where he also worked during his stay in AWA) and Puerto Rico's World Wrestling Council before rejoining WCW in 1991 as the Diamond Studd. Managed by Diamond Dallas Page, Hall's run as Diamond Studd largely kept him in the midcard until he left the promotion again in early 1992.
It was soon after that Scott Hall's career took off when he joined WWE later that year, finally reaching the promotion after two failed tryouts in 1987 and 1990. Creating a character modeled after Tony Montana and Manny Ribera from Brian DePalma's film Scarface, Hall became Razor Ramon and quickly became one of WWE's top stars over the next four years, winning the WWE Intercontinental Championship four times. His WWE run is best remembered for his feud with close friend 1-2-3 Kid (Sean Waltman), which served as Waltman's big break, his ladder match with Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania X in 1994 and the formation of the backstage group The Kliq, consisting of Hall, Waltman, Michaels, Triple H and Kevin Nash.
Arguably however, Scott Hall's biggest contribution to wrestling was when he and Nash left WWE for WCW in 1996. Appearing first on the May 26 edition of WCW Monday Nitro, Hall, seemingly representing WWE, called out WCW in his famous "you want a war? You're gonna get one" speech. The speech would kickstart an angle that would lead to the formation of the New World Order (nWo) at Bash at the Beach 1996, when Hulk Hogan betrayed WCW to join Hall and Nash, dubbed The Outsiders. The group would go on to become one of the greatest and most influential groups in wrestling history.
Scott Hall remained a key member of the nWo throughout the rest of his WCW tenure, winning the WCW World Tag Team Championships 6 times with Nash and 1 time with The Giant (AEW's Paul Wight). He would also win the WCW United States Championship 2 times and the WCW Television Championship 1 time.
Scott Hall is also said to have been the one that suggested Sting take on his legendary Crow persona, and notably played a role in Bill Goldberg both winning and losing the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Goldberg was forced to defeat Hall on the July 6 episode of WCW Monday Nitro in order to face Hollywood Hogan later that night, and Hall later cost Goldberg the title at Starrcade 1998 when stunning the then WCW Champion with a taser, allowing Nash to defeat Goldberg and end the streak.
After leaving WCW in 2000, Scott Hall briefly worked two nontelevised ECW events and wrestled for New Japan once more in 2001, where he wrestled and put over future top star Hiroshi Tanahashi. Hall was brought back to WWE in 2002 when WWE brought in the nWo, but he was released shortly after following his role in the infamous Plane Ride From Hell incident.
Scott Hall would continue to work sporadically for the next several years, appearing in TNA, WWC and even one AAA show in 2007. He and Nash would win their final tag team championship together, the TNA World Tag Team Championships, in 2010, along with Eric Young. Shortly after Hall would leave the promotion and retire from in ring competition; his last match was on May 19, 2010, where he and Young defeated Matt Morgan in a handicap match.
Throughout his career, Scott Hall dealt with alcohol and drug addiction that affected his career; at one point, his issues were even incorporated into a widely panned WCW angle in the fall of 1998. The effects of substance abuse eventually led to Hall being diagnosed with epilepsy, and he also dealt with numerous heart issues.
Long time friend Nash later attributed Hall's substance abuse issues to posttraumatic stress disorder, relating to an incident in 1983 where Hall killed a man in an altercation outside an Orlando night club. 2nd degree murder chargers were later dropped against Hall, who always claimed self defense, but the event had a profound effect on him. Hall would discuss the incident, along with his career, family and substance abuse issues, in great detail during an ESPN E:60 documentary released in October of 2011.
In 2013, Scott Hall would move into the home of former manager Diamond Dallas Page, along with wrestling legend Jake Roberts, in an attempt to get sober. The move had a profound affect on Hall, and he would soon be welcomed back into WWE, making several appearances between 2014 and 2021. Hall would go on to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame twice, first as Razor Ramon in 2014 and again as part of the nWo in 2021. Hall also appeared on the 9th episode of AEW's Road to Double or Nothing series in 2019, talking about Conrad Thompson's Starrcast convention.
Scott Hall is survived by his friends and family, including ex-wives Dana and Jessica, daughter Cassidy Lee Hall and son Cody Taylor Hall. Cody Hall is also a wrestler who trained with his father and would go on to work for New Japan, Pro Wrestling NOAH, DDT, Ring of Honor, Revolution Pro Wrestling and AAA. He has not wrestled a match since 2020.
Wrestling Inc. would like to offer their condolences to Scott Hall and his family at this time.