Scott Hall

The Diamond Studd

Hall joined the American Wrestling Association (AWA) in 1985, where he wrestled as "Magnum" Scott Hall and, later, "Big" Scott Hall. He wrestled as a babyface wrestler.

Hall soon formed a tag team with Curt Hennig. The team defeated Jimmy Garvin and Steve Regal for the AWA World Tag Team Championship on January 18, 1986, in a 58-minute match in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The champions defended against such challengers as Buddy Rose and Doug Somers, Nord the Barbarian and Boris Zhukov, and Bill and Scott Irwin. They lost the belts to Rose and Somers by countout on May 17, after interference by Colonel DeBeers. After losing the title, Hall and Hennig soon parted ways. Hall then received shots at the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, against Stan Hansen and Rick Martel. Hall left for World Championship Wrestling in 1989. The AWA folded the following year.

While in WCW, his first and only pay-per-view appearance was at The Great American Bash: The Glory Days, where he participated in a King of the Hill battle royal. He then began jobbing regularly, then went on hiatus.

Hall returned to WCW in 1991, and was renamed **The Diamond Studd**. He was managed by Diamond Dallas Page. In his debut match, he squashed Tommy Rich on the June 14 episode of *Clash of the Champions XV: Knocksville USA*. He defeated Tom Zenk at The Great American Bash. At *Clash of the Champions XVI: Fall Brawl* on September 2, The Diamond Studd lost to Ron Simmons. At Halloween Havoc 1991, the team of Studd, Abdullah the Butcher, Cactus Jack, and Big Van Vader lost to Sting, El Gigante, and The Steiner Brothers in a "Chamber of Horrors Match". On the November 19 episode of *Clash of the Champions XVII*, Studd lost to Zenk in a rematch from The Great American Bash.

After an injury sidelined him for Starrcade in December 1991, Hall entered 1992 forming short-lived tag teams with Vinnie Vegas and Scotty Flamingo (as part of The Diamond Mine stable), as well as with members of Paul E. Dangerously's Dangerous Alliance. Hall began a feud with Dustin Rhodes in April 1992 when he interfered in two televised matches Rhodes had with Bobby Eaton. The idea of adding him to the Dangerous Alliance was contemplated, but fell through, and Hall left WCW shortly after a final televised match against Ron Campbell on May 8.

Hall joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) later that month, as **Razor Ramon**, a shady and stylish Cuban American bully from Miami. He made his first appearance in a dark match on a *Wrestling Challenge* taping against Chris Hahn on May 18, 1992.

After weeks of introductory vignettes, Razor Ramon made his ring debut on the August 8, 1992 episode of *Superstars*, defeating local jobber Paul Van Dow with his finishing move, The Razor's Edge. Early on, Ramon wore large gold chain necklaces to the ring. While handing them to an attendant at ringside he would threaten "Something happens to this, something gonna happen to you", and then flick his toothpick at the helpless attendant.

Razor's first major angle began on the September 14 episode of *Prime Time Wrestling*, when he interfered in a WWF Championship match between champion Randy Savage and Ric Flair, attacking Savage on the floor and enabling Flair to win the title. As a result, Razor and Savage started a feud, which later involved The Ultimate Warrior, after Warrior saved Savage from a post-match beating by Razor. Razor and Flair were scheduled to face The Ultimate Maniacs (Savage and Warrior) at Survivor Series. However, Warrior was fired from the WWF prior to the event and replaced by Flair's "executive consultant", Mr. Perfect. Razor and Flair lost to Savage and Perfect via disqualification, for constantly double-teaming them.

WWF Champion Bret Hart was scheduled to defend his title against The Ultimate Warrior at the Royal Rumble, but Razor Ramon replaced Warrior after he left the company. During the feud, Razor verbally disrespected Hart and the Hart wrestling family. Razor lost to Hart at the Royal Rumble, submitting to the Sharpshooter. Razor made his WrestleMania debut at WrestleMania IX, pinning former WWF Champion Bob Backlund with a roll-up.

On the May 17 episode of *Monday Night Raw* he suffered an upset loss to jobber "The Kid" (who consequently became known as "The 1–2–3 Kid"), beginning feud between the two. It carried into the King of the Ring tournament and triggered a slow fan favorite turn for Razor, as he gained respect for The 1–2–3 Kid and support from the crowd. Ted DiBiase, however, did not show respect for Razor, making fun of him for losing to such a small jobber. Ramon helped The 1–2–3 Kid defeat DiBiase, solidifying his face turn. The feud culminated at SummerSlam, where Ramon defeated DiBiase in DiBiase's final WWF match.

On the October 4, 1993 episode of *Monday Night Raw*, a 20-man battle royal was held; the last two participants would face each other the next week for the vacant WWF Intercontinental Championship. Razor and Rick Martel were those final two. The next week on *Raw*, Razor pinned Martel after a Razor's Edge to win the Intercontinental Championship.

Ramon began a feud with Shawn Michaels over which man had the stronger claim to the Intercontinental Championship. Michaels had been stripped of the title months before due to "inactivity" (he was actually suspended during that time). He returned to television with his own version of the belt, claiming he was still the champion, since he hadn't been beaten for it. The matter was settled when Ramon defeated Michaels in a ladder match at WrestleMania X, becoming the undisputed Intercontinental Champion after retrieving both belts.

Razor continued to feud with Michaels and his bodyguard Diesel. On the April 30 episode of *Superstars*, he lost the Intercontinental Title to Diesel, after interference from Michaels. At SummerSlam, Razor (with Walter Payton in his corner) defeated Diesel to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship for a second time, after Shawn Michaels accidentally hit Diesel with Sweet Chin Music.

At Survivor Series, he captained a team called "The Bad Guys", consisting of himself, The 1–2–3 Kid, Davey Boy Smith, and The Headshrinkers (Fatu and Sione). They faced The Teamsters (Shawn Michaels, Diesel, Owen Hart, Jim Neidhart, and Jeff Jarrett). Ramon ended up the sole survivor of the match. This began a feud with Jeff Jarrett, which led into the next year. At the 1995 Royal Rumble, Razor lost the Intercontinental Championship to Jarrett, in controversial fashion; Jarrett had originally won the match by count-out, but demanded that the match be restarted so he could win the title. It was, and Jarrett pinned Razor with a small package. Razor faced Jarrett in a rematch for the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania XI, winning by disqualification when Jarrett's assistant The Roadie interfered. Jarrett retained the title, as a title cannot change hands by countout or disqualification. Razor defeated Jarrett and The Roadie at In Your House 1, in a handicap match.

Razor defeated Jarrett in a ladder match at a May 19, 1995 house show to win his third WWF Intercontinental Championship. Razor Ramon was the first man to win the Intercontinental Title three times. On May 22, he re-lost the title to Jarrett. On June 9, Razor suffered a rib injury during a ladder match rematch against Jarrett. Around this time, he had formed a team with Savio Vega, and Vega replaced Razor to defeat Irwin R. Schyster in the Free for All tournament match before the King of the Ring pay-per-view. Razor managed Vega throughout the tournament. He lost to Mabel in the final match. Razor and Vega lost to Men on a Mission (Mabel and Mo) at In Your House 2: The Lumberjacks, and lost a WWF Tag Team Championship match to Owen Hart and Yokozuna on the August 7 episode of *Raw*.

Razor had an Intercontinental Championship ladder match (a rematch from WrestleMania X) against the new champion Shawn Michaels at SummerSlam, but lost. He then began a feud with Dean Douglas. Razor defeated Douglas at In Your House 4 to win the Intercontinental Championship, after Michaels had just forfeited the title to Douglas. This win made him the first four-time Intercontinental Champion in WWF history.

In early 1996, Razor feuded with newcomer Goldust, leading to an Intercontinental Championship match at the Royal Rumble. Razor lost the title to Goldust after Razor's former partner The 1–2–3 Kid attacked him. Ramon was originally scheduled to face Goldust in a rematch for the title at WrestleMania XII in a Miami Street Fight, but Hall was suspended for six weeks by the WWF. He returned to WWF television at April's In Your House 7, where he lost to Vader.

He became associated with the group known as The Kliq (also consisting of Diesel, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Shawn Michaels, and The 1–2–3 Kid). Hall was involved in an incident dubbed the "Curtain Call" at an MSG show. Because Hall and fellow Kliq member Diesel were departing for WCW, the pair (along with Michaels and Helmsley) broke kayfabe by celebrating and embracing in the ring together, though the characters they portrayed were supposed to be enemies.

Hall returned to WCW for a second time after leaving the WWF with an unannounced promo on May 27, 1996, in which he appeared from the crowd in street clothes and claimed to be "an outsider." On June 10, he was joined by Kevin Nash. They stated they were undertaking a hostile takeover of WCW, then slammed interviewer Eric Bischoff through the commentator's table. At Bash at the Beach, Nash and Hall (now known as The Outsiders) challenged Sting, Lex Luger, and Randy Savage to a six-man tag team match, saying they had a mystery partner. That partner turned out to be Hulk Hogan, and the three formed the New World Order (nWo). The stable stormed WCW, recruiting such stars as Syxx and The Giant.

The Outsiders closed out 1996 with a victory over Sting and Lex Luger at Hog Wild, and a WarGames match win at Fall Brawl. They defeated Harlem Heat at Halloween Havoc for their first WCW World Tag Team Championship. They successfully defended the title against The Nasty Boys and The Faces of Fear in a three-way match at World War 3, and then again defeated The Faces of Fear at Starrcade. They lost the title to The Steiner Brothers at Souled Out, but two days later Eric Bischoff returned the title due to the fact that the referee was not the official referee for the match. The Outsiders held the World Tag Team Championship from February 24, 1997 to October 13, 1997, often facing The Steiner Brothers, Lex Luger and The Giant, and combinations of The Four Horsemen.

Since Eric Bischoff (the Executive Vice President of WCW) was a member of the nWo, he used his power to return the title to The Outsiders on a technicality whenever they lost it. The Outsiders would also use the Freebird Rule to defend their title. With Nash and Syxx out with injuries, Hall mostly wrestled singles matches in the last quarter of 1997, and in one of them he submitted to Lex Luger in a grudge match at Halloween Havoc, with Larry Zbyszko as the guest referee. Hall won the 60-man battle royal at World War 3 in November 1997 to earn a shot at the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.

On the January 12, 1998 episode of *Nitro*, The Outsiders defeated The Steiner Brothers to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship for a fourth time. Hall wrestled Larry Zbyszko at Souled Out and lost by disqualification. The Outsiders lost the title back to The Steiner Brothers on the February 9 episode of *Nitro*. At SuperBrawl VIII, The Outsiders won the WCW World Tag Team Championship for a fifth time, again by defeating The Steiner Brothers. At Uncensored, Hall got his WCW World Heavyweight Championship shot against Sting, losing the match despite interference on his behalf from Dusty Rhodes. Hall was taken off television for a short while afterwards. While Hall was absent, the nWo split into two feuding factions. At Slamboree, Hall returned to team with Kevin Nash, for a tag team title defense against Sting and The Giant. Hall turned on Nash, costing them the title, and switched sides to align himself with Hulk Hogan and his splinter faction, nWo Hollywood.

On the July 6 episode of *Nitro*, Hall was handpicked by Hogan to wrestle United States Heavyweight Champion Bill Goldberg. Hall lost the match, giving Goldberg a shot at Hogan's World Heavyweight Championship later that night (which Goldberg won). Hogan publicly blamed Hall for the loss, and Hall was treated as a "weak link" by the rest of the nWo, especially Scott Steiner. On July 13, Hogan challenged Hall to a match on *Nitro*, during which Kevin Nash (leader of the nWo "Wolfpac" faction) interfered, but as he was apparently about to Jacknife Powerbomb Hogan and regain Hall as his friend, Hall viciously attacked him, proving his allegiance to Hogan and nWo Hollywood. In the following weeks, Hall mocked Nash, calling himself "Medium Sexy (later "Super Sexy"), the Nash Killer". On the July 20 episode of *Nitro*, Hall (with The Giant) won the WCW World Tag Team Championship for a sixth time, defeating Sting and Nash after outside interference from Bret Hart (who was feuding with Sting at the time). This reign ended at Halloween Havoc, when Rick Steiner defeated The Giant and Scott Steiner (who replaced Hall) to win the title, even after Rick's partner Buff Bagwell had turned on him. Hall and Nash faced each other on October 25 at Halloween Havoc. After hitting Hall with two Jacknife Powerbombs, Nash left the ring and lost the match by countout, in what was described by the commentators as an act of mercy.

Hall was ejected from nWo Hollywood in late 1998, after Scott Steiner took control of the group in Hogan's absence, and then referred to himself as "The Lone Wolf". On November 30, 1998, Hall needed a tag team partner to face Steiner and Horace Hogan. Initially, Hall said he would do it alone, but Kevin Nash came to the entrance and offered his help. The team (no longer billed as The Outsiders) won the match. At Starrcade, Hall, disguised as a security guard, used a stun gun on WCW World Heavyweight Champion Goldberg during his title defense against Kevin Nash. Not having seen the interference, Nash powerbombed and covered Goldberg to become the WCW World Heavyweight Champion, and break Goldberg's 173 match winning streak.

Hall and Nash were allied again and, in January 1999, the two nWo factions rejoined. Hall feuded with Goldberg and faced him in a ladder taser match on January 19 at Souled Out. He lost the match when Goldberg used the taser gun on him.

At SuperBrawl IX, Hall defeated Roddy Piper for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship. Shortly after, he suffered a foot injury which forced him to forfeit the title. Hall was not seen again until October 1999, when he and Kevin Nash began sitting at ringside during WCW television, proclaiming "the band was getting back together."

On the November 8 episode of *Nitro*, Hall defeated Goldberg, Bret Hart, and Sid Vicious in a Texas tornado ladder match to regain the United States Heavyweight Championship. Two weeks later, at Mayhem, he defeated Rick Steiner by forfeit to also win the WCW World Television Championship. He successfully defended both titles against Booker T later that night. Eight days later, on *Nitro*, Hall vacated the Television title by throwing it into a trash can. He was soon stripped of his United States Title, after being sidelined with a knee injury.

Hall and Nash teamed up to defeat Bret Hart and Goldberg on the December 13 episode of *Nitro*, winning the WCW World Tag Team Championship for the sixth time together. Soon afterwards, Hall was injured again and the tag team title was vacated.

After the nWo returned in December 1999, Hall joined Kevin Nash, Bret Hart, Jeff Jarrett, and Scott Steiner in what was coined "nWo 2000." Hall feuded with WCW World Heavyweight Champion Sid Vicious, and nWo teammate Jeff Jarrett, over the World Title. Sid pinned Hall in a match also involving Jarrett at SuperBrawl on February 20. This was Scott Hall's last appearance in WCW.

After departing WCW, Hall wrestled two non-televised matches in Extreme Championship Wrestling in November 2000, first in a loss to Big Sal on November 10, then in a tag match with Jerry Lynn against Justin Credible and Rhino on November 11 in a successful victory.

On the January 24, 2002 episode of *SmackDown!*, WWF co-owner Vince McMahon stated that his company had a "cancer", and that he would inject the WWF with a "lethal dose of poison", so he would no longer have to share ownership of the WWF with Ric Flair. He then revealed the "poison" to be the nWo, who would help McMahon destroy his own company, before it could be ruined by anyone else. Six years after defecting from the promotion, Hall returned to the WWF on February 17 at the No Way Out pay-per-view, and was reunited with Kevin Nash and Hollywood Hogan in a repackaged nWo. Later on in the night, the nWo attacked Stone Cold Steve Austin. On the March 4 episode of *Raw*, Hall wrestled his first WWF match since May 1996, defeating Spike Dudley.

At WrestleMania X8, Hall lost to Austin, his first loss at a WrestleMania. Later in the night, after Hollywood Hogan had lost to the Rock, Hogan proceeded to shake the Rock's hand out of respect, thus turning his back on the nWo. Hall and Nash then attempted to attack Hogan and Rock, but were promptly dispatched by the duo. Hall and Nash later recruited X-Pac into the nWo on the following episode of *SmackDown!*. On the March 25 episode of *Raw*, Hall was drafted to the *Raw* brand with the rest of the nWo, as a result of the WWF draft lottery. Hall faced Bradshaw in a match at Backlash, which he won with help from X-Pac. On the next night on *Raw*, Hall and X-Pac took on Austin and Big Show. Late in the match Big Show chokeslammed Austin and joined the nWo.

Hall's last appearance was in a six-man tag match with Big Show and X-Pac against Austin, Bradshaw and Ric Flair on the May 6 episode of *Raw*, which ended in a no contest. Hall was released from the promotion the following day.

On March 24, 2014, Razor Ramon was announced as the seventh and final inductee into that year's class of the WWE Hall of Fame. He was inducted in New Orleans on April 5, the night before WrestleMania XXX. Shawn Michaels, Triple H, X-Pac and Kevin Nash joined Hall onstage after his speech, reuniting The Kliq. At WrestleMania XXX, Hall, as Razor Ramon, appeared onstage with the other Hall of Fame inductees. Hall appeared on the August 11, 2014 episode of *Raw* for the first time since 2002 to reunite the nWo with Nash and Hulk Hogan to celebrate Hogan's birthday.

On the January 19, 2015 episode of *Raw*, Hall appeared with X-Pac and Nash to reunite the nWo, and along with the APA and The New Age Outlaws, they beat down The Ascension, who had been insulting legends from past weeks. At WrestleMania 31, Hall, along with Nash and Hogan, reunited as the nWo to help Sting in his match against Triple H, who had D-Generation X helping on his behalf.

In 2016, Razor Ramon was backstage at WrestleMania 32 celebrating with the new Intercontinental Champion Zack Ryder. The following night on *Raw*, he asked The Miz to give Ryder a rematch for the Intercontinental Championship.

WWE revealed that Scott Hall would make an appearance on Raw 25 Years that took place on January 22, 2018. Under the Razor Ramon gimmick, Hall returned in a segment featuring D-Generation X, The Balor Club, and The Revival. Hall also returned to WWE for the *Raw Reunion* show on July 22, 2019.

On December 9, 2019, it was announced that Hall would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame a second time (this time under his real name instead of as Razor Ramon), as a member of the New World Order, together with fellow former nWo stablemates Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and X-Pac. The induction of the 2020 honorees took place in April 2021.

On March 14, 2022, Hall passed away.