TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Two time World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Famer Scott Hall has passed away after being taken off life support.
Hall, who rose to popularity in the 90s as character “Razor Ramon,” was put on life support after suffering multiple heart attacks after hip replacement surgery on Sunday.
Hall’s best friend and fellow professional wrestler Kevin Nash posted on Instagram early Monday morning that life support would be discontinued when Hall’s family was in place.
“I’m going to lose the one person on this planet I’ve spent more of my life with than anyone else.,” Nash said in the post. “My heart is broken and I’m so very f****** sad. I love Scott with all my heart but now I have to prepare my life without him in the present.”
Hall was a 2-time inductee to WWE’s Hall of Fame for his work as “The Bad Guy” Razor Ramon and as a member of the nWo faction that included Waltman, Kevin Nash, and Hulk Hogan. Over his 20-year career, Hall is likely best known for his time with the nWo. The group, along with WWE’s “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, helped propel professional wrestling to television rating heights that likely won’t be seen again. Additionally, Hall helped change the way wrestlers were paid by making guaranteed money for performers a normal business practice.
Hall’s wrestling career started in the mid 1980s. In the early 90s, he assumed the Razor Ramon character in WWE and won multiple championships. His ladder match with Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania X at Madison Square Garden is highly regarded as a trendsetting match and one of the best in WrestleMania history.
When he jumped to WCW in 1996, the wrestling industry was largely viewed as a monopoly. While other promotions existed, few people believed anyone could match the success of Vince McMahon’s WWE. However, Hall and the nWo helped lead WCW’s shows to record ratings, eventually defeating WWE for 83 straight weeks.
In addition to being one of wrestling top in-ring performers, Hall was one of its best talkers. He had the ability to make thousands of people erupt by delivering just two words: “hey yo.”
In the later part of his career, Hall began to struggle with addiction and alcoholism. In numerous interviews, Hall was quoted as saying he had been to rehab 12 times. In 2013, fellow wrestlers Diamond Dallas Page and Jake “The Snake” Roberts called Hall and encouraged him to move in with them at Page’s home in Georgia and get sober. Though Hall would continue to struggle with sobriety, he largely turned his life around which led to his first induction into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2014.
During a tearful speech, Hall thanked fellow wrestlers and fans for sticking with him through the good and the tough times.
“Hard work pays off, dreams come true. Bad times don’t last, but bad guys do,” Hall said.
After multiple runs with many professional wrestling companies across the globe, Hall was officially inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2014. He was once again inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2020 as a member of the “New World Order” stable alongside Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash and “X-Pac” Sean Waltman.
In the years that followed, Hall would make sporadic appearances on television often sharing his sobriety story or helping younger wrestlers learn the business. He last appeared on WWE television at WrestleMania 37 in Tampa.
