Posted on by bdamage1
Griffin Kaye
Scott Hall or Razor Ramon is right up there on many fans’ list of the greatest wrestlers to never hold a world title. A stalwart of the Intercontinental title scene in the WWF and NWO megastar in WCW, what is lesser known were his run-ins with Paul Heyman’s promotion Extreme Championship Wrestling.
In 2000, Hall would wrestle a few matches for the organisation just two years on from a tense meeting between Hall and ECW’s Shane Douglas, Bam Bam Bigelow, and Chris Candido.
The Kliq
Prior to the ECW confrontation, Scott Hall had been a member of the WWE backstage politicking force The Kliq. Comprised of Hall, Kevin Nash, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and Sean Waltman (aka The 1-2-3 Kid/X-Pac), they worked behind-the-scenes to assert power, simultaneously derailing the careers of many performers viewed unfavourable to the group.
Vader, Jean-Pierre LaFitte (Quebecer Oullette/PCO), and Mabel are just some of the names that The Kliq worked to diminish the careers of.
Bret Hart, one of the company’s top stars, espoused: “The Kliq were a cancer in the dressing room, all of them. It was a cancerous environment in the dressing room with those guys, and they certainly did more negative than positive to the business.”
Three careers also ruined included Bam Bam Bigelow, Chris Candido, and – more famously – Shane Douglas, who later formed ECW’s top faction The Triple Threat.
Scott Hall vs Shane Douglas
A former ECW world champion, Douglas joined the WWF in 1995 and soon bumped into The Kliq. Feeling he had been overhyped, the group set about ruining his run.
The issues between Hall and Ramon worsened after In Your House 3 where Douglas accused his opponent of sandbagging him to make him look bad.
At the next In Your House event, Douglas was gifted the Intercontinental championship after it was held up by Shawn Michaels. Having been beaten up by several marines in the infamous Syracuse incident, Michaels could not compete, even though Douglas later questioned the validity of the beatdown, claiming the damage to “The Heartbreak Kid”’s face was the work of prosthetics and make-up artists.
Not willing to relinquish the IC belt, The Kliq’s stranglehold on the company continued as he was subsequently immediately defeated by Razmon within minutes after being awarded the title. The teacher’s sub-15-minute reign is the shortest in the history of the storied championship’s history.
On TV, Douglas was later buried by Shawn Michaels, who stated that he was disappointed to lose the belt to a competitor who was “overrated and undeserving.”
Douglas was out of the WWE by 1996 after what he described as “the worst six months of his career.”
Scott Hall vs Candido & Bigelow
The Kliq too had heat with Chris Candido.
In 1990, Candido married childhood sweetheart Tammy Sytch, better known as Sunny. However, despite the love Candido had for her, by the mid-1990s, she found herself sleeping with Shawn Michaels thus earning her the nickname “The Kliq Chick.”
Candido dare not stand up for himself as it would have adversely affected his career. However, not standing up to his public knowledge cucking led him to lose respect amongst the boys in the locker-room.
The situation led the former Skip to a low point in life. Bam Bam Bigelow lamented: “The depression was because of the Kliq – and they loved it, they were thriving on it.”
Bigelow himself too was on the wrong side of The Kliq.
“The Beast From The East” recalled how the group “toyed with people’s emotions and livelihoods,” noting the toxicity of their backstage hegemony.
Locking Horns With The Locker Room
A heated confrontation ensued when Scott Hall visited the ECW locker-room in 1998.
Taking place shortly before January 1999’s Guilty as Charged Pay-Per-View (PPV), Scott Hall was brought backstage by friend Justin Credible. The incident occurred in Florida although there is some dispute as to where; Credible states it occurred in Orlando whilst Shane Douglas recalls it taking place in Kissimmee. Witness Francine recalls Hall brought his kid with him.
Hall was met with a frosty reception, to say the least.
“The Bad Guy” was met by ECW’s top faction The Triple Threat.
The former Razor Ramon first ran into Douglas, who interrogated Hall’s motives. After rejected by “The Franchise”, Hall allegedly appealed to Candido and Bigelow but to no avail. According to Bigelow on a Titlematch shoot video a week later, he remarks they told him: “You’re fucked up. You’re high on drugs right now, I can see you’re stoned. We don’t need you here.”
Justin Credible reflected: “Scott came to the show with me cause I was staying at Scott’s house. Shane [Douglas], Bam Bam and [Chris] Candido confronted him and told him he wasn’t welcome there. So Scott just got in a cab and left. I can understand why. It kind of was a sh***y idea on my part to bring Scott there but I didn’t think that any of that was going to go down but I guess you reap what you sow. Scott certainly had it coming because he was really mean and kind of d***ish to Shane the entire time in the WWF and I guess it was a bit of a receipt, right?”
After being told he was not welcome, Douglas tried to provoke Hall into punching him to give him the excuse to batter Hall. On one occasion, he asked what it was like to suck Vince McMahon’s dick and called him a “pussy.” A disheartened Scott then turned around and walked out.
Hall then reportedly took a 45-minute taxi home.
Getting Into The Ring
In spite of the events of 1998, Hall was able to get a few gigs in ECW.
By 2000, all three Triple Threat members were in WCW, allowing Hall to slip into the promotion for a brief and forgettable time.
Hall wrestled on November 10th and 11th at ECW house shows in New York. As ECW had lost its TNN television deal a month earlier, the faux Tony Montana never made it to TV.
His theme music was the popular Fugees hit “Ready or Not”.
He would wrestle three matches in all. On November 10th, he teamed with Jerry Lynn to beat Rhino and friend Justin Credible. The next night, he would again beat Credible, with the former ECW world champion later claiming Hall refused to be paid for the matches he worked.
Hall also worked the first match of the 11th November card in Poughkeepsie. He would face the 6’9, 500+-pound Full Blooded Italian (FBI) henchman Sal E. Graziano.
Prior to this, Graziano’s biggest match was against Balls Mahoney at Heatwave 2000. His low-level status had been cemented by a series of quick squash losses to “The Giant Killer” Spike Dudley.
In a shock result, Graziano would defeat Scott Hall, pinned after FBI interference allowed Graziano to hit a bonzai drop.
It was Scott’s idea to lose as he knew he could not lift his hefty opponent for the Razor’s Edge. Graziano stated that working with Hall was “super cool, he was so chill with me.”
Hall was also advertised for Guilty As Charged 2001 but that never came to fruition.
Within six months of his last match, ECW’s doors would close for the last time…well, until the WWE’s revival but best not to talk about that!