Scott Hall and ESPN E:60 episode
The ongoing tragedy that is Scott Hall’s health and addiction problems has garnered the attention of one of the world’s top sports media outlets. ESPN’s E:60 series – which has covered athletes and personalities from a number of sports and sports entertainment franchises including Brock Lesnar, Kimbo Slice, Lee Murray, Dana White and Vince McMahon – looks at the rise and fall of one of professional wrestling’s biggest talents that never quite made it to that superstar level because of personal demons.
In the accompanying article at ESPN.com it’s claimed by WWE’s Executive Vice President of Creative Development and Operations, Stephanie McMahon, that more money has been spent on trying to rehabilitate Hall than anyone else the WWE has tried to help for similar addictions. ESPN writer Ben Houser touches on the various drug and lifestyle problems that seem to have plagued the top end of professional wrestling, especially since Vince McMahon hit it big in the 1980′s with WrestleMania breaking ground for the industry.
Seeing footage again of the Scott Hall of today having to be helped by two human crutches to get to the ring only to have him lay there almost motionless is harrowing, especially when contrasted with the giant physical prowess he exhibited in his peak as Razor Ramon in the then WWF.
In the sample clip from ESPN we see part of an interview with Eric Bischoff who makes the statement that pro wrestling isn’t killing Scott Hall – Scott Hall is killing Scott Hall. There will probably be interviews with friends and associates of Hall, such as Hulk Hogan, and ESPN have shown to deliver the goods on previous episodes of E:60 so make sure you tune in for this must see television.
Scott Hall.
The senior producer behind the E:60 documentary on Scott Hall, which airs Wednesday night on ESPN, believes that Hall’s sad fall from grace and battles with addiction makes for powerful television.
“At the height of professional wrestling in the 90’s, Scott Hall was adored by millions, his name chanted by loyal fans. Today, he has hit rock bottom. E:60 follows his descent from superstar to a broken man battling alcoholism and drug addiction, but still trying to hold onto the glory he once found in the ring” – reads the publicity for the segment.
Ben Houser, a seven-time National Sports Emmy award winner, is the man who brought it to air on ESPN. “I think in Scott Hall’s case, with the character that he played, Razor Ramon, and later being part of the NWO, he just lit up the screen. He has tons and tons and tons of fans. While pro wrestling is obviously marketed as entertainment and not real, Scott Hall has a very real life story that I think is compelling to sports viewers” – said Houser.
There is a natural bias at a sports station about professional wrestling – he admitted.
“I’m sure some will question why we’re doing this story. Professional wrestlers, they are entertainers, and they are not necessarily actually hitting each other. But there’s also no question that they have to be athletes in tip-top shape to go through what they go through in the wrestling ring on a daily or weekly basis.”
Darren Aronosfky’s 2009 movie, The Wrestler, helped their pitch for the story – said Houser. “When you see that movie, and then you see a real-life example of that movie, there are parallels in Scott Hall and Mickey Rourke’s character in The Wrestler.”
The only previous E:60 wrestling episode was celebrating 25 years of WrestleMania, which had the cooperation of Vince McMahon and World Wrestling Entertainment, telling how a small company in the northeast grew to the multimedia giant it is today. “That specific segment on professional wrestling definitely resonated with our viewers, which is really the 18-34 male demographic in this country” – said Houser.
Former WCW/WWF superstar Scott Hall wants to set the record straight, and that’s why he accepted ESPN’s E:60’s invitation.
Hall’s descent from superstar to broken man (battling health issues, alcoholism and drug addiction) will be profiled on ESPN’s E:60 at 8 p.m. EST Wednesday, October 19.
Award winning producer Ben Houser discussed the segment, which will be edited to about 17 minutes on television.
“Seventeen minutes on primetime on ESPN is a lot of real estate to one story” – Houser said, “but Scott’s story warrants it.”
And for good reason.
“People we’ve spoken to are fearful for his life” – Houser said. “Sean Waltman [Lightning Kid, Syxx, X-Pac] actually said in our interview that he personally has been preparing for Scott’s death for the last year and a half. In multiple conversations with Kevin Nash, he also gave us that sentiment; that at times it has been very dire.”
Do you think Scott Hall cares?
“I think he does” – Houser said. “The biggest thing with Scott — which on a human level is quite sad — is that he’s an addict. Because of many of his addictions, they’ve clearly caused many of his problems.
“It’s kind of hard to break some of those walls, but he did give us some very, very compelling — at times chilling — interviews that I think will be fascinating to all sports viewers, not just wrestling viewers. I think anybody who enjoys sports, whether it’s stick & ball, boxing or MMA, will find this story fascinating.”
How did this story evolve?
“At the end of April, on a very late night, doing editing on another story, the Dada 5000 [Backyard Brawling] story” – Houser said. “As you can imagine, we work a lot of late hours, burning the candle, beating the sun on edits. So very late in edits one night on the Dada 5000 story, there was another producer, John Minton, in the room with me and a reporter who actually worked on the Dada 5000 story.
“We started batting out some story ideas, and it was only a few weeks before, I think April 8, that Scott Hall had wrestled in Fall River, Massachusetts. John said to me: ‘Have you seen this video of Scott Hall?’ It just kind of went from there. In the footage that was posted on YouTube from someone’s cell phone video, it was shocking.
“It immediately brought several questions to all our minds, trying to figure out what happened. How did Scott Hall, once this character Razor Ramon, end up on that small independent wrestling show at 52-years-old? Clearly in the video, it looked like something was wrong with him, and it just began there.”