Interesting Facts about Scott "Razor Ramon" Hall

Interesting Facts about Scott "Razor Ramon" Hall

March 18, 2022

By Ryan Porzl

On March 14, 2022, the wrestling world was devastated when what was almost once considered unthinkable happened when wrestling legend Scott Hall a.k.a. Razor Ramon passed away. After battling and keeping demons at bay for years and near death experiences, The Bad Guy would succumb to complications regarding hip replacement surgery. To me, Hall will go down as one of my all-time favorites as had the whole package as a wrestling superstar from talent in the ring and on the mic to great mind that could be considered a wrestling genius to oozing charisma and was someone that could be considered the embodiment of cool. If "cool" took the form of a human, it probably be Scott Hall. His story was also fascinating including battling demons for decades but unlike many of his colleagues of his generation, Hall would get redemption and for the most part, overcome his demons though he had his setbacks especially towards the end. While he didn't have the happiest story or life, his final chapters had their share of great moments and memories all the while it no doubt allowed him to prolong his life. In the days since his passing, many wrestlers, fans, and news sites have paid tribute to him. However, many of the stories feel like the same thing as most bring up the usual achievements like him being a co-founder of the nWo to his Wrestlemania X ladder match against Shawn Michaels but there's so much more to remember. I wanted to pay tribute to one of my favorites and what better way than to bring up interesting facts that could also be celebrated as achievements or moments in Hall's career.

Note: I don't own any of these pictures and found them on google. Credit to WWE or whomever owns them.

Was The Final Rival And Opponent For Ted Dibiase In The WWF- No, I don't count Dibiase's appearance in the RAW 15th Anniversary in 2007 as a match since he didn't do anything. When you talk about the greatest heels or gimmicks or wrestlers of the 1980s to early 1990s, it's almost impossible not for Ted Dibiase to be brought up. Though a top star in the business since the 1970s, Dibiase perhaps reached his peak during his 1987-1993 run as The Million Dollar Man in the WWF. Along with enjoying three reigns as World Tag Team Champions and being a Wrestlemania main eventer, Dibiase was also involved in memorable feuds with some of the biggest names of the time including Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Jake Roberts, Big Boss Man, Dusty Rhodes, The Road Warriors, and The Steiner Brothers. However, the final opponent and rival in his Hall of Fame run would be none other than Scott Hall. The rivalry began in the summer of 1993 when Dibiase began mocking Razor Ramon following his famous loss to the 1-2-3 Kid on the May 17, 1993 edition of Monday Night RAW. This resulted in Hall costing "the Rich Mang" a match against the Kid on the August 1, 1993 edition of Wrestling Challenge which eventually began to see Hall going from bullying heel to beloved and cool babyface. Eventually, this culminated in the opening match on Summerslam 1993 on August 30, 1993 when Hall defeated Dibiase with his razor's edge and scored one of his earliest big wins of his WWF career and send the Million Dollar Man briefly packing from the World Wrestling Federation. The match would prove to be the end of Dibiase in the WWF as a wrestler and this would be his last match for the company. Due to the partying road life of the WWF and Dibiase being unfaithful to his wife, he decided to leave the promotion and get off the road following the Hall loss. Dibiase would briefly settle for an easier schedule by returning to All Japan Pro Wrestling in Japan while doing indie dates in America on the side before suffering a career ending neck injury in November 1993.

Was The Third And Final Wrestler To Have Held The NWA/WCW World Television Championship And NWA/WCW United States Championship Simultaneously While Being The Only One In The WCW Era- For decades, two prestigious championships in wrestling were the NWA/WCW World Television Championship and the NWA/WCW United States Championship. From the 1970s to the early 2000s, both championships were held by a who's who in the business. While many legends held just one, many have also held both including Ric Flair, Greg Valentine, Ricky Steamboat, Booker T, Steve Austin, Barry Windham, Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff, Konnan, Sting, both Steiner Brothers, and Lex Luger to name some. However, those men only held one of the titles at a time and as impressive of resumes that those legends have, they never were able to do what Hall was able to do and that's hold both simultaneously. Hall would first achieve this feat by winning his second United States Championship on the November 8, 1999 edition of WCW Monday Nitro when he won a four way ladder match against champion Bret Hart and former champions Goldberg and Sid Vicious. From there, Hall was then booked to face WCW World Television Champion Rick Steiner for the WCW Mayhem 1999 PPV on November 21st in a title vs. title match but the match never happened as Steiner went down with an injury and Hall made history in an uneventful way when he was given the championship by forfeit though he did retain it against Booker T at the show. Hall would hold both championships for eight days until the November 29th edition of Nitro when Hall and Nash would use the television championship during a game of basketball with Nash dunking the championship in a trash can thus abandoning the championship. With that, the 25 year history of the NWA/WCW World Television Championship was over outside of a brief revival from February to April 2000 when "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan held it but he only defended it on C-show WCW Saturday Night. Despite holding both briefly, Hall still made history few have as he became only the third wrestler to achieve the feat with "Number One" Paul Jones and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper being the other two but they achieved it during the Jim Crockett Promotions years thus making Hall the only one to do it during the WCW years.

Was The Longest WCW World Tag Team Champion In History- The WCW World Tag Team Championships go all the way back to 1975 with the Jim Crockett version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship and while several teams like the Minnesota Wrecking Crew and Doom have had longer runs than the Outsiders, that was during the NWA years for the most part. Under the WCW name, the championships have been held by a who's who of tag teams including the Steiner Brothers, Harlem Heat, The Nasty Boys, The Miracle Violence Connection, The Hollywood Blondes, The Hardy Boyz, and The Dudley Boyz have held the gold but none had a longer reign than The Outsiders which featured Hall. After losing the tag team championship for the second time at SuperBrawl VII on February 23, 1997 to The Giant and Lex Luger, WCW Vice President and nWo member Eric Bischoff reversed the decision due to Luger not being medically cleared and awarded the belts back to the Outsiders. After getting the gold back, Hall and Nash along with Sean "Syxx" Waltman (who helped defend the titles via Freebird Rule or Wolfpac Rule) would hold on to the belts for a record 231 days fending off challenges from The Steiner Brothers, Ric Flair & Roddy Piper, and Lex Luger & The Giant to name some until Hall and Waltman (subbing for an injured Nash) lost the titles to The Steiners on the October 13, 1997 edition of WCW Monday Nitro.

Was The First Major Name To Lose To Hiroshi Tanahashi- When people think of Scott Hall and upsets, they always go back to his upset loss to Sean "1-2-3 Kid" Waltman back in May 1993. However, it wasn't the last time Hall was upset by a young up and coming star. In 2022, Hiroshi Tanahashi is a man known by wrestling fans around the world and has been considered one of the greatest to ever compete in a squared circle. Though before he became the Ace of the Universe, the record 8 time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, and the man who led New Japan back to glory after it's near destruction due to the Inokism philosophy, he was like many New Japan wrestlers: a young lion. In 2001, Tanahashi was a young lion who had all the potential in the world but still paying his dues and gaining experience as he was only two years in the business. Like many young lions, Tanahashi mostly only saw victory either teaming with a bigger name or when he was defeating other young, inexperienced talent. Meanwhile, Scott Hall returned to New Japan after a near four year hiatus in March 2001 and became a member of Masahiro Chono's Team 2000 stable in an attempt to rebuild his career following his firing from WCW. On September 9, 2001, Hall would face the young future ace in a match just about every fan that saw it thought Tanahashi would give that fighting spirit you expect from young lions but eventually go out on his sword and shield. At the four minute mark, the match was going as expected with Hall nailing Tanahashi with the outsider's edge but instead of going for the pin, he would grab the mic and call out Keiji "The Great Muta" Mutoh which allowed Tanahashi to school boy Hall and get the shocking upset in only 4:20. The win marked the first major win of Tanahashi's career and it would be onward and upward from there as Tanahashi would participate his first major tournament two months later in the 2001 G1 Tag League followed by his first G1 Climax the following August which is a tournament he later won three times in his legendary career. By 2003, he won his first championships in New Japan and the rest, as they say, is history.

His First Ladder Match Was NOT At Wrestlemania X- Hall's ladder match at Wrestlemania X has been celebrated since it took place back on March 20, 1994 and it's been something many have brought up since his passing. The thing is many people, myself included, probably thought that the WMX ladder match was Hall's first and the second ever in WWF history after the July 1992 one with Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. It turns out that was not the case. Far from it. In actuality. Hall did many ladder matches leading up to Wrestlemania X mostly during January 1994 where he mostly faced Michaels while he took on IRS in one. The first ladder match Hall ever had was at a WWF live event on January 9, 1994 in Landover, Maryland where Hall retained the Intercontinental Championship against Michaels. This trend continued during most of January as Hall continued to fend off Michaels in ladder match after ladder match which would culminate with Hall famously holding both his and Michaels' IC belts on top of a ladder in Madison Square Garden that March at the showcase of the immortals.

Razor Ramon Entered A Royal Rumble, But Not Scott Hall. Hall Would Also Outlive His Imposter- Scott Hall achieved much in his nearly 30 year career as many of matches have received positive reception to critical acclaim, he had quite the trophy case, and as many articles like this have shown, he's had many achievements and stats he could brag about. However, despite his many accomplishments and despite appearing in almost every match imaginable from ladder matches to street fights to battle royals to WarGames matches, one match eluded Mr. Hall during his career. That being one of the most popular in wrestling history: The Royal Rumble. Since 1988, the WWF has run the Royal Rumble event and battle royal and has now become one of the most fun and anticipated matches of the year as it usually consists of 30 people attempting to win a guaranteed title shot at Wrestlemania. Unfortunately, whenever the Rumble rolled around, Hall was usually busy with something else and his time was a time when the WWF usually avoided having wrestlers pull double duty at a Rumble event. In 1993, The Bad Guy received his only WWF Championship shot when he challenged Bret Hart. From 1994-1996, Hall would then be busy defending the Intercontinental Championship to mixed success. It wouldn't be until 1997 when WWF fans got to see Razor Ramon finally enter a Royal Rumble. Unfortunately, Scott Hall was in WCW at that time which meant that this was the infamous "fake" Razor Ramon played by Canadian wrestler Rick Bogner in what is now considered one of the worst ideas Vince McMahon had (during this time he also infamously put Glenn "Kane" Jacobs as Kevin Nash's replacement as Diesel). As if that wasn't disappointing enough for longtime WWF fans who maybe were curious to see The Bad Guy in a Royal Rumble environment, Razor would only last 17 seconds before getting tossed out by Ahmed Johnson, thus making him the first elimination of that year.

Sadly, Scott Hall isn't the only Razor Ramon who has left us as he actually outlived his imposter by two and a half years as Bogner passed away of a heart attack on September 20, 2019 at only 49 years old. So, I suppose if there's any comfort for Hall fans, just remember that while people are only saying he was "only" 63 years old, at least Hall made it to his 50s, 60s, and passed away at middle age. Bogner didn't.

He Actually Had Several WWF Tryout Matches Years Before Signing- This is one I wasn't familiar with until I did some research for this article. As many fans know, we were first treated to "The Bad Guy" Razor Ramon in the summer of 1992. However, just because Razor debuted then, that didn't mean Scott Hall did. It actually turns out Hall had a few tryout matches over the years but was usually turned down before finally getting his big break. His first match with the WWF would actually take place on August 23, 1987 at a WWF House Show in Springfield, Massachusetts where he teamed with a wrestler named Jerry Allen and lost a tag match to the miracle jobber combination of Barry Horowitz and "Iron" Mike Sharpe (talk about starting at the bottom). His second and last pre-Razor Ramon match would be on January 23, 1990 during a dark match on a WWF Wrestling Challenge taping at Fort Myers, Florida. This time, Hall would make his singles debut but his luck was no better as he lost to Paul Roma.

Is Credited For Convincing Shawn Michaels To Use The Superkick As His Finisher- Along with proposing the "Crow" stuff to Sting, this is another famous and great contribution Hall had to the business that most people know these days. Though nowadays, it's hard to think of HBK doing anything but sweet chin music as his finisher but for the first two years of his singles run, that was the case. For those who don't know, Michaels originally used a side suplex, unofficially called the "teardrop suplex", as his finisher but as the story goes, Hall convinced Michaels to switch to the superkick since that's the move he pulls off best and by 1994, the rest is history.

His Final Championship Was The DDT Ironman HeavyMetalWeight Championship And He Lost It In Memorable Style- To many fans, Scott Hall's in-ring career was over following his last stint in TNA (now Impact Wrestling) back in 2010 and prior to that run ending, Hall would capture the TNA World Tag Team Championship with Kevin Nash and Eric Young. They would be correct that this was it for Hall as a wrestler but it wouldn't be the last time he was a champion. On June 17, 2016, at a wrestling show in Des Moine, Iowa, Hall would actually go on to capture the last championship of his illustrious career when he took on Chuck Taylor and Colt Cabana in a three way for the DDT Ironman HeavyMetalWeight Championship. DDT is a Japanese wrestling promotion that specializes in both serious and comedic wrestling. The Ironman HeavyMetalWeight Championship is basically their version of the WWE 24/7 Championship as it's a comedy belt defended 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The main difference is DDT's belt is FAR more sillier and WAY more creative with champions and title switches with Hall's win and loss being no different. With Hall nearly 58 years old and too beat up to have an actual wrestling match, he instead won the championship after winning a game of rock, paper, scissors against champion Taylor which resulted in Taylor laying down and Hall covering for the win and the championship. Unfortunately, Hall, like many who held the championship, wouldn't enjoy it for long as shortly after the win, Cabana would give him a piece of paper which said "I give up" on it and tricked Hall into reading it out loud thus Hall lost the title to Cabana (see what I mean about this belt being sillier and more creative?). For a man who held gold in major promotions like WWF, WCW, AWA, WWC, and TNA while also challenging for other prestigious titles in those as well as New Japan and All Japan (more on that in a minute), his last time as a champion was holding a goofy belt that he won in a silly manner and lost in a silly manner. Not to sound morbid but I suppose it's like his passing in that he seemed to survive everything short of the apocalypse only for a medical complication from out of left field is what he finally succumbed to. It's poetic in a way.

Was Actually A Two Time World Champion- It's been said many times over the decades but more so in the days since his passing that Scott Hall was one of the greatest wrestlers to never have been a world champion but this is technically incorrect. While it is true Hall never won a major world title like the WWF or WCW ones during his travels, he did hold two regional world titles which has to count for something. The first world championship Hall would hold was the USWA Unified World Championship from the Memphis based United States Wrestling Association promotion which had a working relationship with the WWF at the time. Hall would defeat Memphis legend "Superstar" Bill Dundee for it on April 3, 1995 and would hold the championship for around a month before losing it to another Memphis legend Jerry Lawler on May 1st. Hall's second world championship would be the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship which is the top prize for the Puerto Rican based World Wrestling Council. On July 14, 2007, Hall (under his Razor Ramon name) would defeat Puerto Rican wrestler Apolo and former WWE wrestler Carlito in a three way match for the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship. Hall would hold the championship for five months and successfully defend against future WWE stars Eddie Colon (Primo) and Orlando Colon (Epico) before losing the championship to Biggie Size on December 14th by forfeit after he no-showed.

He always lost in King of the Ring tournaments to a Hart Brother with both going on to win the tournament- During the 1990s and early 2000s, few tournaments were more prestigious than WWF's King of the Ring tournament. The tournament would usually be held in the month of June where wrestlers first had to win qualifying matches before entering and then usually had to win a tournament no fewer than eight participants. The big thing about the tournament was what a starmaker it was during it's glory period of 1993-2002 where many names including Owen Hart, Steve Austin, Triple H, Kurt Angle, Edge, and Brock Lesnar saw their careers skyrocket upon winning. During the first two KOTRs of the PPV era, Hall would attempt to enhance his career and wear the crown as he entered the tournament but the outcome would feel like deja vu in a way. Hall first entered the 1993 KOTR by qualifying following a win over Tito Santana. Unfortunately, at the King of the Ring event on June 13, 1993, Hall would lose to Bret Hart in the first round and to further bruise his ego, it not only was the second PPV of 1993 Hart got the better of Hall but Hart went on to win the tournament as he defeated Mr. Perfect in the semifinals and Bam Bam Bigelow in the finals. Hall would try again the following year and once again qualified by defeated Kwang to enter the tournament. Hall would fare better at the 1994 edition which was held on June 19, 1994 as he made it all the way to the finals by defeating Bam Bam Bigelow in the opening round and former rival IRS in the semifinals but once again ran into a Hart brother, this time Owen, and once again, he came up short with the Hart brother once again defeating him and going on to be King of the Ring though to be fair, Hall's loss was partially contributed to the interference of the returning Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart. Hall would make a third attempt at the crown and hope third times the charm. Once again, he qualified for the tournament, this time beating Jacob Blu but his KOTR hopes were dashed again as he would suffer a rib injury weeks before the tournament which forced him out. In the end, Savio Vega would replace him after qualifying over IRS and make it to the finals before losing to Mabel.

Around half of his matches on the "big five" WWF Pay-Per-View involved the WWF Intercontinental Championship or him as champion- In case you don't know, the big five are Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, King of the Ring, Summerslam, and Survivor Series. When you think of Intercontinental Champions, Scott Hall is someone that just about all longtime wrestling fans think about and it's not surprising why. Scott Hall was wherever the IC belt was from 1993-1996 as he seemingly was always the defending champion or a challenger nipping at the heels of the champion. In fact, when you look at the big five PPVs, most of the time Hall was involved with the IC Championship. From 1993-1996, Hall appeared in four Royal Rumble events and three of them or 75% of them saw him as the defending Intercontinental Champion as he successfully defended against IRS in 1994 while losing it to Jeff Jarrett and Goldust in 1995 and 1996, respectively. Hall would participate in four Wrestlemanias during his career and two or 50% saw him competing for the Intercontinental Championship as he successfully defended against Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania X in 1994 and then challenged Jeff Jarrett at Wrestlemania XI in 1995. However, one of his Wrestlemania appearances was X8 in 2002 so, if you only count his prime as Razor Ramon, he actually was involved with the IC Title 2/3rds of the time between 1993-1995 of 66.6%. That number would also be the same for Summerslams as he won the championship from Diesel in 1994 and failed to win it from Shawn Michaels in 1995 so 66.6% of the time at Summerslam, Hall was involved with the Intercontinental Championship. Even though he never defended it at Survivor Series, Hall still wasn't far away from the championship as three of his four Survivor Series appearances or 75% of them featured him as the reigning champion (1993-1995). The King of the Ring events were the only times Hall was not champion or competing for the championship.

Never Lost Any Of His Three Singles Championships In WCW In The Ring- Shawn Michaels wasn't the only Kliq member who has vacated belts but too be fair, Hall had legit reasons. As mentioned earlier, Hall was a former World Television Champion and United States Champion. Specifically, he held the former once and the latter belt twice and all in the year 1999. However, despite holding singles gold three times, Hall would never actually lose them because he was looking up at the lights for three seconds or tapping the mat due to a painful submission hold. Hall's first won the United States Championship from Roddy Piper at Superbrawl IX on February 21st only to be stripped of it on March 18th due to a foot injury and took several months off. Hall then regained the championship on the November 8th Nitro in a ladder match against Bret Hart, Sid Vicious, and Goldberg but then forfeited the championship to Chris Benoit at Starrcade 1999 on December 19th after suffering a knee injury. He won the Television Championship by forfeit from an injured Rick Steiner at Mayhem 1999 on November 21st but eight days later, along with Kevin Nash, would dump the championship in the trash can on the November 29th Nitro, thus abandoning the belt.

Challenged For All Japan's Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship.....At A New Japan show Which Was A First- 2001 was an interesting year in the wrestling business to say the least, specifically two men: Scott Hall and Keiji "The Great Muta" Mutoh. Hall's story is well documented as he finally achieved superstardom during the 1990s but by 2000, was seeing his career derail due to his personal problems and he was fired from WCW. By 2001, WCW and ECW were gone and the WWF didn't seem interesting in bringing Hall back so The Bad Guy made the trip to Japan and returned to New Japan Pro Wrestling in March 2001 after having competed there early on in his career. For the most part, Hall would have a solid 2001 as he put in the work and there were no incidents. He even placed 3rd runner up in Pro Wrestling Illustrated's Comeback of the Year. Like Hall, Mutoh was another who achieved superstardom during the 1990s as one of the biggest names in Japan but by the late 90s began to fall apart due to knee issues and by 2000, was coming off a lackluster run in WCW. Just when it looked like Mutoh was down for the count, he reinvented himself upon his return in December 2000 and arguably had the biggest comeback in the business for 2001 as he came off reborn. On June 8, 2001, Mutoh would venture to All Japan where he defeated Genichiro Tenryu for All Japan's top championship: the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship. When the time came for Mutoh to make his first title defense it would be against Hall which brought the two together. On September 23rd, Hall would challenge Mutoh for the Triple Crown but if that wasn't big enough, the match proved historic as it took place at a New Japan show during their G1 World Tour which made it the first time All Japan Pro Wrestling's top championship was defended not only in New Japan Pro Wrestling but outside of All Japan period. In the end, Hall gave it his best but came up short as he fell to Mutoh's shining wizard maneuver in 15:14. The match would also serve as Hall's last match ever for New Japan as he left afterwards and while he didn't leave with the gold, he still got to cap off his last New Japan run on a historic note.

Was The First Ever Three Time And Four Time WWF Intercontinental Champion As Well As Had The Record For Most Reigns From 1995-1999- In 2022, it's usually not considered historic to hold a certain championship three or four times. A big example is the WWE Intercontinental Championship as we now live in a time where guys like The Miz, Chris Jericho, Dolph Ziggler, Jeff Jarrett, and Rob Van Dam to name some who have held that championship six to nine times. However, you have to start somewhere and before it was common for someone to win the championship half a dozen times, Scott Hall was making history with it and made several firsts as he became the first man to hold it three and then four times and for several years afterwards, held the record for most reigns. After winning the IC Title two times, Hall would make history on May 19, 1995 during a WWF tour of Canada when he regained the championship for the third time from "Double J" Jeff Jarrett in a ladder match at a WWF Live Event. Unfortunately, Hall wouldn't enjoy his victory for long as he dropped the title back to Jarrett two days later on May 21st at another WWF Live Event which resulted in Jarrett now tying for three reigns. After Jarrett and then Shawn Michaels made it to three reigns, Hall wouldn't be done yet as on October 22nd at In Your House IV, Hall would defeat Dean Douglas (Shane Douglas) in an impromptu match to capture his record setting fourth Intercontinental Championship. With these wins, Hall officially held the record for most Intercontinental Championship reigns in history and would hold that honor for over four years until Jeff Jarrett broke it with his fifth championship victory on July 25, 1999 at Fully Loaded 1999. There's many reasons why Hall is considered one of the greatest Intercontinental Champions of all time and one was the fact that no one was able to claim it and reclaim it as much as he did in his time.