56. SCOTT HALL
Aliases – The Bad Guy; The Lone Wolf; Last Call; Starship Coyote; The Diamond Studd; Razor Ramon
Hometown – Chuluota, Florida
Debuted – October 1984
Titles Held – AWA World Tag Team (1); USWA Unified World Heavyweight (1); WWC Caribbean Heavyweight (1); WWC Universal Heavyweight (1); WCW United States (2); WCW World Tag Team (7); WCW World Television (1); WWF Intercontinental (4)
Other Accomplishments – winner of World War 3 – 97; member of backstage gang the ‘Clique’ in mid-90s WWF; founding member of the nWo
Hey Yo!
Those two simple words could get more of a response from the crowds during Nitro’s heyday than any cruiserweight high spot. And it’s all because of the charisma and presence of one Scott Hall.
The man I personally believe to be the best to never hold a World Championship was one of the instrumental architects in perhaps the greatest pro wrestling angle in history – the new World order. His inclusion in the start of that angle is enough alone to include him in this list, but as a performer in the ring his talent and accomplishments just add to his wrestling pedigree.
Scott Hall started in wrestling 1984. His first national exposure was Starship Coyote, one half of the American Starship with Danny Spivey. Bu it was in the late ’80s when Hall got his first real notoriety, teaming with Curt Hennig in the AWA. The duo was wildly successful and won the company’s tag championship.
By 1991 he showed up in WCW as The Diamond Studd, the centerpiece for Diamond Dallas Page’s Diamond Exchange stable. His push soon fizzled by the summer of 1992 Hall was in the World Wrestling Federation as his most iconic character – Razor Ramon.
Ramon got an early push, competing in main event matches with and against men like Randy Savage, Ric Flair and Bret Hart. In the fall of ’93, Hall won the first of his four Intercontinental Championships, which in turn led to arguably the greatest match of the 1990s – the iconic ladder match at WrestleMania X with Shawn Michaels. It was also during this time period that Hall, Michaels, Kevin Nash, Triple H and Sean Waltman formed the infamous backstage “Clique†in the WWF.
In early 1996, Hall got the call to join World Championship Wrestling for a large sum of money, along with Nash. On Hall and Nash’s last night in the WWF they performed the now-legendary curtain call in Madison Square Garden with Triple H and Michaels that saw HHH’s career derailed for over a year. (But in the end I think Helmsley’s career rebounded nicely.)
Hall made wrestling history on the Memorial Day 1996 edition of WCW Monday Nitro when he interrupted a match between “Mauler” Mike Enos and Steve Doll (there’s an answer for a trivia question for you) and declared, “We’re taking over.” He was soon joined by Kevin Nash as “The Outsiders” and then eventually by Hulk Hogan to form the groundbreaking new World order. The trio led the nWo to astronomical heights through ’96 and ’97 before the faction soon split into various different forms. As the ’90s wore on, Hall became more sporadic on WCW television, between injuries and stints in and out of rehab. He and Nash feuded through late ’98 over Hall’s drinking problems, including scenes of Hall showing up on Nitro acting drunk and out of sorts. The pair ultimately reunited in 1999 after the “fingerpoke of doom” incident. Hall soon disappeared again and resurfaced in late ’99 in another nWo faction, this time with Nash, Bret Hart and Jeff Jarrett as nWo 2000. Hall’s last appearance in WCW was in February 2000, losing in a three way dance at the main event of SuperBrawl against Jeff Jarrett and Sid Vicious.
After a brief stop in ECW and a run in Japan, the original nWo trio of Hall, Nash and Hogan arrived in the WWF in February 2002. Unfortunately Hall’s problems caught up with him again and he was out of the promotion by May of 2002 after a run with Steve Austin and a brief feud with Bradshaw.
Hall then made sporadic appearances in the early days of NWA-TNA and by the fall of 2004 he and Nash were in TNA full-time. They formed the Kings of Wrestling stable with Jeff Jarrett, but by early 2005 Hall had disappeared again.
He had been out of the limelight since then, but in July 2007 Hall resurfaced in Puerto Rico competing as Razor Ramon, and is currently the reigning WWC Universal Heavyweight Champion.
The entire Top 100 Wrestlers feature can be found here.
