Scott Hall could put on a show. He’s best known for his professional wrestling role as Razor Ramon in the World Wrestling Federation (now the WWE). He was an entertainer inside the ring, but his struggles with drugs and alcohol outside the ring are well documented. Despite his struggles away from wrestling, Hall was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as Razor Ramon in 2014 and has another HOF induction ceremony on the horizon.

Razor Ramon highlighted Scott Hall’s wrestling career

Scott Hall began his professional wrestling career in 1984 with a brief stint in the National Wrestling Alliance. He then spent the next five years with the American Wrestling Association before it folded in 1990. Hall’s career really took off when he joined the WWF as Razor Ramon and became a four-time WWF Intercontinental champion.

In 1993, Razor Ramon got his first big opportunity in the WWF when he faced off against Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart for the gold at the ’93 Royal Rumble. He didn’t win, but he was becoming a fan favorite despite being considered a heel. Hall eventually became a two-time world champion and a nine-time world tag-team champ.

Hall, along with Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash were all founding members of the New World Order (nWo). The nWo was a wrestling stable that originated in World Championship Wrestling with a group of unsanctioned wrestlers appearing as a street gang who attempted to take over the WCW. The group later appeared in the WWF. It became very popular and eventually became the driving force behind WCW competing with WWF in the Monday Night Wars.

Hall’s troubles outside the ring

Scott Hall’s troubles with drugs and alcohol were made public in the 1990s and they certainly took a toll on him. At a 2008 roasting of The Iron Sheik, comedian Jimmy Graham made a joke involving the late wrestler Owen Hart that set a drunken Hall into a frenzy. Graham quipped, “After The Sheik and Hacksaw Jim Duggan got caught snorting coke in the parking lot, his career fell faster than Owen Hart.” Hart died tragically falling from the rafters while making an entrance to one of his wrestling matches.

Hall charged at Graham, knocking down the podium. Graham later said Hall had been drinking heavily. Hall has been arrested numerous times. In 2010, Hall was arrested on charges of disorderly intoxication and resisting an officer at a Florida bar, according to The Baltimore Sun. In 2012, TMZ reported, Hall was arrested for choking his girlfriend in a drunken rage. Back in 2016, TMZ also reported Hall was kicked out of a T.G.I. Friday’s for more drunken behavior.

ESPN ran a documentary on Hall in 2011 which highlighted his substance abuse problems. Hall seemed to be honest about his situation. “I tell my kids this, ‘I can’t tell you not to drink and do drugs, they are fun. It’s fun. They work,'” Hall said. “But what sucks is when you want to quit and you can’t, and pretty soon you alienate or you hurt everyone around you. It’s a family disease and then you can’t keep a promise to anybody. What sucks the most is when you can’t even keep a promise to yourself.”

Hall about to be inducted into the Hall of Fame again

Despite all of his troubles outside the ring, Scott Hall knows he’s lucky. In his ESPN documentary, he said he’s surprised he’s still alive. “There’s got to be some reason that I’m still here,” Hall said. “I should have been dead 100 times. I should have been dead 100 times.”

The WWE tried desperately to help Hall by paying for his rehab. Stephanie McMahon, who was WWE’s executive vice president of creative development and operations, said WWE spent up to six figures on trying to help him. “It’s the most amount of money we’ve spent on anyone,” she said. “I just want Scott to get help and to decide for himself that he needs help. It makes me sad. I don’t want anybody to pass away prematurely or otherwise really.”

 Even with all the outside troubles, Hall was inducted into the WWE Hall in 2014 as Razor Ramon. Hall is scheduled to be inducted into the WWE Class of 2020 Hall of Fame as a member of the nWo. Along with Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Sean Waltman, Hall will become a two-time WWE Hall of Fame inductee. The induction ceremony has been delayed due to the pandemic.