News

WWE Hall of Famer Scott Hall Discusses Sting, Wrestlemania 10, Next Career Goal

TJR Wrestling

WWE Hall of Famer Scott Hall spoke with SI.com recently on their Wrestling Week In Review section. More specifically he was interviewed for the Five Questions with….. section. He spoke about his famous Wrestlemania 10 ladder match and his next goal career-wise among other topics. Below are some highlights.

On what he remembers most bout the Wrestlemania 10 ladder match:
“We didn’t have a backup ladder. People don’t realize that but the match was so new to wrestling, so there wasn’t even a backup. If we’d have bent the ladder and it broke, we’d still be standing in Madison Square Garden trying to get the belt back.”

On Sting in the WWE Hall of Fame and his Wrestlemania 31 match with Triple H:
“I was there and obviously involved in his match at Wrestlemania last year. We’re rehearsing the match in Cali last year at Levi Stadium, and it’s the Kliq and the New Age Outlaws out there, and we all know each other. And then there’s Sting, who doesn’t know anybody. He’s an outsider. I just think he never felt comfortable there. Being hurt was answered prayer for him–just let it end.

“You need to remember that Vince is never going to go with something he didn’t create. But we didn’t get anything done at the rehearsal the night before, so Wrestlemania day, there were tents in the parking lot set up with rings for rehearsal. So we’re all in there again, and I’m next to Hulk on the ring apron and Triple H is going over the match and then he goes, ‘OK, he’ll break the sledgehammer, then I’ll hit him with the sledgehammer, and cover him, 1-2-3.’ I looked at Hulk, and Hulk looked at me, and I was thinking, ‘Sting, what kind of lawyer do you have, bro? You’re coming in the door doing a job? You weren’t even guaranteed to go over?’ That’s Vince just reminding you who won, even if he’s going to make money the other way.”

On Roman Reigns winning the WWE World Heavyweight Title:
“He’s getting a big push, but I just wish his work supported it. I don’t know, but I saw him commit to it and really go old-school and earn it in the fans’ eyes. The building that he won the Rumble in last year in Philly was the same building where he won the title and was cheered. In a year’s time, that’s pretty good.”

On the next goal in his career:
“Career-wise, I’d love to be working with the young guys at NXT. But I’m not going to sweat that–if it’s meant to happen, it’s meant to happen. I’ve been invited to go down there twice, but I wouldn’t mind a full time gig there.”

Ski’s Take – Yes, I admit it. I am a total Scott Hall/Razor Ramon mark. As a performer the guy just had IT. You know, that quality, the certain “X Factor” that Simon Cowell has been talking about for far too many years. Scott had the look, could work with the best of them and could connect to the crowd as either a babyface or heel instantly.

My first memory of him was in a Razor Ramon vignette before he debuted in the WWE. I had not long watched the film Scarface with my father, maybe a few weeks before I saw the vignette. The moment he rolled into shot inside his car, slicked back hair, Cuban accent, I was hooked. He was the coolest thing I had seen in wrestling since the Ultimate Warrior. Razor had my attention more than any other wrestler at that time.

His fall from grace has been well documented so I won’t get into that here, but what I will say is that it warms my heart to hear him say he wants to teach at the Performance Center. That after all these years of abuse, he still loves the business and wants to give back.

I heard him on a recent Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast recently and he was saying that he was invited down there by Triple H for a few days and how he wants to help out more. Obviously he wants to do more than help out, he wants a job there. And all I can say to that, in the words of Shia LeBeouf…….”DO IT!