R.I.P. Scott Hall, WWE Hall Of Fame professional wrestler

Scott Hall, perhaps just as well known as the toothpick-tossing, machismo-oozing professional wrestler Razor Ramon, has died, confirms World Wrestling Entertainment. Per TMZ, the WWE Hall Of Famer was taken off life support by his family following complications from a recent surgery. He was 63.

Earlier this month, Hall was placed on life support after suffering three heart attacks due to a loose blood clot that emerged during hip surgery.

To say that Hall was among the most iconic and popular professional wrestlers of the last 30 years would be an understatement. He was a four-time WWE Intercontinental Champion and a two-time WWE Hall Of Famer. Along with friend and tag-team partner Kevin “Diesel” Nash, he reshaped the pro wrestling landscape in the mid-90s, being among the first WWE Superstars to jump to WCW, where he and Nash founded the New World Order (NWO) faction.

Hours before Hall’s death, Nash posted a tribute to his friend on Instagram.

“I’m going to lose the one person on this planet I’ve spent more of my life with than anyone else,” Nash wrote. “I love Scott with all my heart, but now I have to prepare my life without him in the present. I’ve been blessed to have a friend that took me at face value and I him. When we jumped to WCW we didn’t care who liked or hated us.”

“God, please, have some gold plated toothpicks for my brother.”

Hall made his pro-wrestling debut in October 1984 as part of the tag team American Starship. Hall would eke it different wrestling promotions and under various names over the next decade. First as “Starship Coyote,” then, in the American Wrestling Association, “Mangum” Scott Hall and “Big” Scott Hall. He adopted the moniker “Diamond Studd” during his first stint at WCW, where he partnered with Hall Of Famer Diamond Dallas Page.

But it was in the WWF that Hall made his name. Based on Al Pacino’s Scarface character, Tony Montana, Hall created the Cuban-American persona Razor Ramon and made his debut on the August 8, 1992 installment of WWF Superstars.

With his greased hair, gold chains, and signature toothpick, Ramon would become one of the promotion’s most successful stars, winning numerous Intercontinental Championships and participating in what many consider the greatest ladder match of all time against Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania X.

In 1996, one week after their infamous kayfabe breaking “Curtain Call,” Hall and Nash shocked the wrestling world by cutting an unannounced promo on the flagship television show of the WWE’s main competitor, WCW Monday Nitro.

Hall and Nash’s time in WCW jumpstarted the promotion’s edgier, reality-based rebrand. Teaming up with fellow WWE expat, Hulk Hogan, they founded the NWO, which helped move wrestling into a more adult-oriented era and acted as a precursor to the WWF’s influential “Attitude Era.” It also helped WCW beat the WWF in the “Monday Night Wars.” Thanks to the NWO, WCW Nitro won the top spot in the ratings for 84 consecutive weeks.

In 2001, WWE owner Vince McMahon purchased WCW, and Hall returned the following year. Though he made occasional in-ring appearances, substance abuse issues plagued him for the next decade. However, Hall would sober up after a year in rehab in 2010. Though he suffered numerous health issues after finding sobriety, he did return to the WWE for several events, including two inductions into the WWE Hall Of Fame, in 2014 for Razor Ramon, and in 2020 for the NWO.

At 6’7, the “Bad Guy” remained one of the most physically imposing and naturally charismatic wrestlers to step in the squared circle. Hall helped define the modern wrestling heel and the anti-hero, whether in the ring or on the mic.

“I learned that, when I stepped through that curtain, I could have a relationship as a performer with an audience, and it was a powerful thing to me, whether I was the hated villain or the beloved hero,” Hall said during his 2014 Hall Of Fame induction. “That was something that I always treasured.”

“In my lifetime, I learned hard work pays off. Dreams come true. Bad time don’t last, but bad guys do.”