What kind of world champion Scott Hall could have been?

[CM Steel]

Scott Hall has been wrestling for over 25 years in the business. From his time in the indies to his time in AWA to working in the WWF to going down south to WCW. Out of all the members of Scott Hall's clique he is the only member not to have won a world championship. Over the years while still in his prime Scott Hall has had his share of addicts in his life as well as in his career. He was suspended while in both the WWF & WCW because of them. And had a brief stint in ECW feuding with his friend Justin Credible.

But during his time in the limelight as one of the WWF's bigger players at the time as Razor Ramon. Scott Hall was apart of the WWF's biggest moments and history! Like his ladder match against Shawn Michaels for the IC title at Wrestlemania 10. But had not been for Hall's demons & addictions. What kind of world champion could Scott Hall have been? It would be nice to see him in this years WWE hall of fame.

 

[No Count Pup]

Razor Ramon was well-positioned for a world title run in much the same way Bret Hart was. Hart had two stellar pay-per-view matches in 1992, against Piper at WrestleMania and against the Bulldog at SummerSlam. A short time later, after proving his meddle as a singles title holder, Hart became WWE Champion. Ramon stole the show with HBK at WrestleMania X, put on three solid matches at the King of the Ring, and got the loudest pop at SummerSlam 1994. Razor was in the IC Title mix for an entire year, and proved that he could elevate the value of a title. But WWE, in search of a new main eventer (not unlike 1992), stood at a crossroads. They went with Diesel.

Some rumors have suggested that WWE was considering giving Tito Santana a world title run in 1992 but opted in the end for the Hitman. Hart was cool, he connected with the audience, and was a workrate horse. Santana was a gifted legend, but represented the past not unlike Piper and Jake Roberts. WWE had its chance in 1994 to give Razor, WWE's most relevant character, the Bret Hart push. But they decided to give a seven footer with a power game a one year reign. Razor would have represented a forward looking approach by WWE, rather than the tired over reliance on large framed grapplers. Razor and Michaels could have headlined WrestleMania 11 and put on an instant classic. Instead we got Razor versus Double J and the David vs. Goliath Diesel vs. HBK. What could have been.

Razor would have handled his title reign better than Shawn Michaels. HBK was paranoid, temperamental, and insecure. He put way too much pressure on himself. Razor was all business, a man who worked for money. He would drop the title as quickly as he won it, as long as he was the highest paid guy in the locker room. Sometimes the person who can shrug his shoulders and collect the paycheck is preferable to a champion who's a mark for himself.

The NWO angle would have lacked sizzle without Scott Hall. I firmly believe a WWE Title run for Scott Hall would have changed wrestling history as we know it. That assumes, of course, that McMahon would have paid Hall enough money to keep him in the McMahon empire.

 

[thebarber]

I dont recall Sean Waltman being a World Champion?????
Scott Hall would have made an average World Champion. I think he was a solid main event talent, very good in-ring, his mic skills are unquestionably excellent. I just dont think he had the ability to carry a company, I dont see him selling out arenas as the Mian event, in my opinion. I think Hall's place as the number 2 guy was perfect for him.

 

[enviousdominous]

Scott Hall seemed to be groomed for world championship status during his early days in the AWA. In every promo I saw him in, they would recognize him as "The big man". Compared to the AWA roster at the time, I can see why they were so invested in him. He was freaking huge. I don't know exactly why he went to WCW, but looking at how AWA turned out I really don't blame him.

WCW didn't seem to want to do anything relevant with Scott Hall. He was The Diamond Studd and ran around with DDP. From what I could tell, they pushed him to the moon with wins over former NWA champions until they just stopped caring and turned him into another mid-card jobber. I don't blame him for leaving WCW either, whatever the reason might have been.

I think making Scott Hall into a Tony Montana clone was a mistake. Those in the know recognize that Scott Hall was the one who came up with "The Bad Guy" gimmick, I don't think Scott had the idea of being gussied up in 1980s douche clothes and to imitate a Cuban accent. I think being "The Bad Guy" Scott Hall would have worked a lot better than being The Diamond Studd with a Caribbean Hispanic accent. I don't hate the Razor Ramon character, I'm just saying that it was a camp interpretation of a gimmick that I think would have worked a lot better.

I don't know for certain that drugs and alcohol were the only cause of his downfall, they obviously over-shadowed everything else that was going on with him. I think if he was CM Punk levels of clean through his run, and didn't have the Razor Ramon gimmick, he would have been a world champion mainstay.

In WCW, he was screwed regardless of his physical health. He was an amazing entertainer, but he had to entertain while riding the coattails of Hogan. If he hadn't been taken off tv for getting wasted before shows, I think he would have floundered back and forth from the mid-card to an occasional world title match.

As a world champion of any of those companies, I think Scott Hall would have benefited from coming clean with the fans about his past. As a performer he was better than decent, I think he would have earned a place in our hearts as a great world champion if he opened up to the fans about his demons.

The man truly had all the potential to be a future world champion when he was at his prime, when he started slipping he never recovered until it was too late. I feel bad for him, but then it's a good sign that in spite of everything the fans still love him. I'm sure a lot of people on here were part of the crowd-funding that paid for Scott's hip surgery.

 

[Blade]

Out of all the members of Scott Hall's clique he is the only member not to have won a world championship.

It's kind of fitting for Sean Waltman's career that you completely forgot about him.

But Hall would've been a good world champion, surely most people think that. The guy was so naturally gifted. Very solid in the ring, good on the microphone and the look of someone who could be a champion. He was also over enough for most of his career to be a World Champion contender.

Would he have drawn? It's hard to say. The Kliq guys in general were never big draws. But he would've made for a strong heel champion. But as so many people have said, sometimes you just can't quite escape your personal problems enough.

 

[PLANETstasiak]

A Scott Hall vs Curt Hennig World Title match would have been great either in WWF or WCW they could have put on one of the greatest matches of all time probably not a Wrestlemania / Starcade main event but one of the other PPVs absolutely I think Hall should have had a run with the belt in WCW when he won World War 3 I want to say in 1997 he was so over with his "Hey Yo" promos it was the perfect time for him

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

Not much to say on this one other than Hall's just one of a lot of guys who if they hadn't had their demons or had been able to maneuver the political scene a bit more could've been huge. Hall was one of the best big men of his time. I used to think his flying bulldog was one of the best moves on the planet. Combined with his natural charisma, if the guy had stayed clean, there's no doubt that he would've been the focal point of either WWF or WCW.

 

[CM Steel]

I dont recall Sean Waltman being a World Champion?????
Scott Hall would have made an average World Champion. I think he was a solid main event talent, very good in-ring, his mic skills are unquestionably excellent. I just dont think he had the ability to carry a company, I dont see him selling out arenas as the Mian event, in my opinion. I think Hall's place as the number 2 guy was perfect for him.

Your right my fault, Sean Waltman was never a world champion little alone a former IC or U.S. champion. I guess it just slipped my mind. It's kinda hard to keep up with a guy's career when he's been called "the kid" for over 20 years. But I just so happened to remember Justin Credible's reign as a world champion in ECW. So once again my bad and no disrespect to Sean Waltman.

 

[$Mr. 100%]

Hall woulda made a great champion. Even feuding 4 it w/nash and hbk woulda been epic and May even changed pro wrestling history as maybe they never jump 2 wcw. Once hogan joined nwo hall woulda never been champion as hogan and nash played politics w/da best of em. His personal addictions definitely never helped but n ring ability he was head and shoulders above nash and only 2nd 2 hbk n da clique. Hell he was da best wrestler n da nwo or a close 2nd 2 henning who wasnt even given anything useful after nwo were done feuding w/flair

 

[ECPirate37]

Growing up watching Razon Ramon, I always wanted him to win the championship. I thought he was the coolest wrestler ever. Whatever the LJN (or maybe Acclaim) wrestling game that was on SNES, Razor was my goto.

I noticed one of the other commenters mentioned how campy it was, but to me as a kid, I didn't realize it was campy. To me, it was real. And I thought Razor was the coolest. I even wanted the razor chain necklace, but my parents said no.

Now that I'm older, and I watch his old matches (I just watched his old AWA stuff a few years ago); there isn't really a reason he shouldn't have won the belt at some point, other than his personal issues.

 

[RicSpade]

It depends on the year we are talking about and if Hall was a clean and Sober Scott Hall... If this was when hogan was on top in WCW then no, if it was when Nash took the belt from Goldberg I think a Heel Scott hall would have been a good champion until he went up against a Goldberg again. I think Hall would've made the best champion if Sober though when WCW was in disarray. If Hall would've been one of the guys in the mix other than the Jarretts, Bookers, Steiners, I could see a very different outcome in WCW, not saying it wasn't going to die, but I think its rating would've been shifted better because a sober Hall as champion could've made good ratings in my opinion, would it have beaten WWF at the time? No but I think it would've made more good out of the shithole WCW was becoming at the time.

 

[Ubermensch]

Hall is not the really the face of the company guy. He is a great upper mid card wrestler, but despite good ring and charisma, he was at best just good, and I don't see him being the one you put alot of eggs in the basket for.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Part of the problem they had was the "Razor" gimmick itself, the rather stupid and clearly fake accent would have been torn to pieces by the mainstream media who the champion has to court. Hall could have been the World Champ in 1994/95 but NOT under the Razor gimmick and that was not something WWE was willing to go with.

Much is made of whether Scott was sober or not being an issue... no one was in the WWF then, Shawn certainly not so that's not so much an issue...

There is one other reason Vince may not have "pulled the trigger"... cos Scott did once...

Hall admitted killing someone on 60 minutes... a brave move but clearly something that would DESTROY the WWF if it came out their Champion had done that self defense or not. Especially with Snuka's issue still barely 10 years old at the time. It could be as simple as Vince asking Scott if there were any skeletons in his closet, him being honest and Vince deciding the risk wasn't worth it.

 

[LODemolition]

Scott Hall was #2 on my list of top 5 wrestlers to never win the WWE Championship, behind only Curt Hennig. I never understood why they didn't push him into the main event scene to feud with Shawn or Diesel, even if they were both face at the time. Why they got their opportunities, but Hall didn't is beyond me. Then in WCW, again Nash went over as the champ, but Hall never was really in the picture. Nash was a booker, so it's easy to understand why he became champ, but you would think he would've been able to pull some strings for Scott.

I would've been all for a Hall heel turn anytime during Nash's year-long reign from '94 to '95 and seen them feud for the WWE Title. Would've been much better than most of the contenders they threw at Nash (Mabel, Sid, Bulldog). At KOTR '95 would've been the perfect time to start something between them. You're telling me the fans would've rather seen Diesel & Bigelow vs. Sid & Tatanka? For some reason, Hall could never break through the mid-card ceiling. The only 2 times I recall him receiving a WWE Championship shot were at the '93 Rumble (which he was obviously not going to win) against Bret Hart and once on Raw during Yokozuna's reign. They should've absolutely put the title on Hall, even if for only a little while as a transitional champ. He was completely over, had a great look, and was good in the ring. Name me another guy who won the IC Title 4 times or more and didn't eventurally get pushed to the main event. I can't think of any other than Jeff Jarrett, but I would laugh at anyone that would put the 2 of them in the same class. WWE handled him pretty poorly at times, in my opinion.

 

[Rhodes2TheFuture3313]

Now that you mention it a Razor & HBK re-match, but this time for the WWE title would have been epic at WM 11. Diesel could have faced Jarrett and won the IC title. I would have had Razor enter being the champ and lose to Shawn through cheating methods. It would have been better than the rest of the WM card. I mean Bret vs Backlund?? C'mon Vince what were you smoking? Or Diesel could have faced the Undertaker at WM 11. Leading to WM 12 being HBK vs. Bret in the Iron Man match. Diesel vs Undertaker. Razor vs. The Ring Master w/Ted Dibiase. Or you could flip Razor & Diesel for WM 12. So if Shawn beats Razor by cheating at WM 11 you have the story be of Shawn trying to prove to the world that his first championship is no fluke. Insert Bret Hart the quintessential Champion. It's still a good story. So I'm agreeing that Razor Ramon should have beat Bob Backlund in 1994. Razor keeps the title til WM 11 where he is cheated out of the title by HBK. Later that year, Diesel turns on HBK and takes the title from him. Diesel holds the belt most of the year and loses to Bret at Survivor Series or shortly thereafter. The Rumble comes down to HBK, Razor, Diesel, and Ring Master. Ring Master eliminates Razor. Diesel eliminates RM. He laughs and turns getting superkicked by HBK. WM 11 & 12 are both improved cards because of this.