Scott Hall: Drugs, Alcohol, and Murder

Scott Hall (born October 20, 1958) is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenure with the World Wrestling Federation in the early and mid 1990s under the ring name Razor Ramon, as well as for his period in the mid 1990s and early 2000s with World Championship Wrestling under his real name. Since the late 2000s, Hall has become most well known for his much publicized battles with alcoholism and drug addiction, which he initially struggled with in the late 1990s during his time in World Championship Wrestling.

In 1983, Hall was charged with second degree murder when he shot a man with his own gun in an altercation outside a nightclub, after wrestling it away from him. However, charges against him for this crime were later dropped due to lack of evidence. In a 2011 documentary done by ESPN, Hall admits to killing the man, stating that he is unable to forget the incident.

On October 7, 1998, Dana wrote an open letter "to anyone who cares". In the letter, she admonished World Championship Wrestling and Eric Bischoff for not only failing to rehabilitate him but coming to the point where they were exploiting, humiliating, and even enabling him to continue his self-destructive behavior. She accused WCW of allowing Hall to perform while under the influence, and taking advantage of his real addictions to drugs and alcohol for profit and ratings. She called the angle "deplorable, disgusting, and inexcusable". She pleaded with WCW to discontinue the controversial angle for the sake of Hall's two children, whom she said he had no relationship with. She ended the letter by making a desperate plea to everyone to help Scott see his problems and "put himself in God's hands". She said Hall remained a very sick man and his addictions had destroyed his marriage, his future, and his children's future.

On October 10, 2008, Hall was arrested during a roast of the Iron Sheik held at a Crowne Plaza hotel in New Jersey, in which a comedian joked, "After The Sheik and Hacksaw Jim [Duggan] got caught snorting coke in the parking lot, his career fell faster than Owen Hart." An enraged Hall charged at the performer and knocked down a podium, then grabbed the microphone from him and yelled about how he was disrespecting Hart. The comedian described the incident on his MySpace page, adding that he loved Hart as a wrestler and a man and believed Hart would have laughed at the joke. He also claimed that Hall was drunk at the time of the attack.

Hall was arrested on May 14, 2010, and charged with disorderly conduct and resisting a police officer, according to The Orlando Sentinel. Authorities were called to the Hitching Post Bar in Chuluota after Hall, who had been "drinking heavily" according to a police report, "became aggressive". When authorities arrived, they found Hall yelling and cursing at the amateur wrestling personalities Marc Grabowsky, Kevin "Showtime" Van Camp, Tony "ODB" Griffin, Shawn Shiever The Beaver Retreiver, and Mark E. Nelson and other staff of the bar. Hall was told he was not allowed to return to the establishment. On his police report, Hall listed himself as an "unemployed" professional wrestler, despite having a job with TNA Wrestling, who would release Hall a month after the arrest. After his release from TNA, Hall checked into a WWE sponsored rehab. Hall checked out of the rehab facility in early October 2010. Weeks after he checked into rehab, Hall had both a defibrillator and a pacemaker implanted into his heart. He was also hospitalized twice in 2010 for double pneumonia, which affected both lungs.

The Kliq

Hall was the only member of The Kliq not on hand to see longtime friend, Shawn Michaels inducted to the WWE Hall Of Fame and decided to not attend any of the Wrestlemania XXVII festivities due to concerns of remaining sober in that type of atmosphere. Hall posted on his Twitter page during the Wrestlemania event, "Taker wins!" which was in reference to The Undertaker winning his match over Triple H, one of Hall's closest friends in the business.

On April 7, 2011, Hall was reportedly taken to the hospital due to drug overdose, though Hall's representative quickly responded that the info was untrue and fabricated saying that Hall was at home and doing fine that day. Hall's rep said that he was however in the hospital for low blood pressure and a change to his blood pressure medication. His rep said that Scott visits his doctor on a regular basis and is still recovering from his double pneumonia and being treated for his heart.

Hall gave an interview on April 7 discussing an appearance at an independent wrestling show for the following day, and went on to say that the fans who bought tickets would get their money's worth. He discussed his problems with his vices by saying "while alcohol and drugs are fun, when you want to quit you can't, and it hurts everyone that is close to you". Hall stated that he has been to rehab 19 times and attended thousands of AA and NA meetings, but that this time he was making an honest attempt to stay sober. Hall credited close friends such as Kevin Nash, Sean Waltman, and Shawn Michaels with helping him through his battles.

On April 8, 2011, one day after his rumored overdose, Hall showed up clearly intoxicated to his appearance at a Top Rope Promotions wrestling show in Massachusetts. Hall, who was still wearing a hospital bracelet, was in such poor condition that he had to be helped into the ring by two men because he was unable to walk on his own. Hall proceeded to cut a promo and was confronted by a local wrestler named Gorgeous Gino Giovanni, who was trying to begin a match with Justin Credible. Most of the fans were confused by his behavior, while some understood what was happening and proceeded to heckle Hall to the point where he yelled back at the crowd. Unfortunately, Scott was apparently so impaired that he thought he was in England instead of New England, and called the crowd a bunch of Wankers, which is a British insult. After the match between Giovanni and Credible ended, Hall, who was still slurring, tried to goad Giovanni to come back into the ring. Former wrestler, Scotty 2 Hotty was at the show and said seeing Hall in that condition was one of the saddest, most embarrassing things he has ever witnessed, and asked how many people have to die before they learn. After the event, Hall was on hand for autograph signings and was clearly still intoxicated.

Beer-Gut

TMZ reported on April 9, 2011, that Hall was taken to the hospital following his appearance at an indy wrestling show in Massachusetts a day earlier. Hall was treated for cardiac issues and remained in the hospital for three days. Hall was reported to be on ten different medications, which TMZ reports led to his overdose on April 7, although his agent quickly denied that report.

Top Rope Promotions released a statement on April 11, 2011 regarding Hall's behavior and performance at their April 8 show. 31 year old owner Steve Ricard said that Hall arrived the day before the event in a wheelchair with 3 bottles of prescription pills in his possession though the following day he showed in the state he was in demanding appearance fee although he was already paid. Hall made many threats to the staff and made many demands about money and when he would perform. According to Ricard, Hall was threatening to "kill [him] if [he] 'screwed' [Hall] over."

Mug Shot

Longtime friend, Kevin Nash commented on Hall's recent problems saying that he will always be there for Hall. Nash also claimed that Hall is not a drug addict but rather that he suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and that Hall has been using drugs and alcohol as a crutch. Eric Bischoff, another one of Hall's close friends and former boss said he wished he knew how to help him saying he was an amazing talent and deep down a great person but his demons were killing him.

On May 8 another incident took place following a conversation with his ex-wife Dana. After a call where he reportedly came to terms with the fact he doesn't have long to live the call ended abruptly. Dana alerted the authorities and Hall allegedly got into a physical altercation with them when they arrived. Following this Dana cut off all remaining ties with Hall. Kevin Nash made a statement later that day reiterating his support for Hall.

I should begin by saying that Scott Hall / Razor Ramon was my favourite wrestler when I was a kid. Most pictures of me as a kid I am wearing his black and yellow t-shirt. Growing up as a wrestling fan you are forced to see your childhood heroes fall far from the pedestal you once placed them on, but I think in the case of my childhood hero Razor Ramon it is the most tragic fall from grace I have ever heard. People say that the movie "The Wrestler" was based on Jake The Snake Roberts, and it might be, his life has been one of the most tragic and saddest stories I have ever heard. But I can't help but think that Scott Hall's is even worse.  

Lets see: He has been in rehab somewhere between 10 and 19 times. The WWE has spent six figures on his rehab costs according to Stephanie McMahon. He murdered a man at a strip club when he was 25, before he even became a wrestler. And when its all said and done, he was never even the World Champion in either of the major promotions. His greatest accomplishment was winning the Intercontinental Championship in his greatest match, which was the Ladder Match with Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 10. 

Its hard to believe 20 years later people are still talking about that match and remembering him. Clearly he had the ability to do so much more!

I might be biased because I was there but I think Wrestlemania 18 was his greatest moment. He made his WWE return, main-evented another Wrestlemania, and got to wrestle Stone Cold Steve Austin! 

Just think about this... the Ladder Match with Shawn Michaels was at Wrestlemania 10, and the comeback match with Stone Cold Steve Austin was at Wrestlemania 18. His two greatest matches were 8 years apart, and its been 10 years since the last one... Imagine how much more he could have done!