In a wrestling landscape filled with outsized personalities, Scott Hall was the coolest guy in the room.
Hall, who made his presence known in the then-WWF as Razor Ramon and then under his given name as a founding member of WCW’s nWo, passed away Monday at the age of 63. He leaves behind a complicated legacy of success, addiction, and redemption — and an indelible image as one of the most memorable and complex characters in a world once ruled by simple tropes.
Hall made his first major impact in Vince McMahon’s promotion as Ramon, an Intercontinental Champion who began as a dead-on ripoff of Al Pacino’s Scarface but grew into something more. That breakthrough came after eight years in the business, slogging through the NWA and regional territories as “Big” Scott Hall, “Magnum” Scott Hall, Scott “Gator” Hall, and Starship Coyote. His mainstream breakthrough should have been a tired, one-note spectacle with a limited shelf life. Instead, he turned it into one of wrestling’s most memorable characters.
