Video: Scott Hall on ESPN's E:60
by Geno Mrosko on Oct 19, 2011 11:34 PM EDT
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Watching this was very difficult as a lifelong wrestling fan that knows the pitfalls of the business. It exposes the seedy underbelly of the world of professional wrestling, which is full of scumbag promoters who have no problem using a pilled up, beaten old man just to make a dime.
That said, ESPN was fair in presenting both sides of the argument. They don't use this piece as a way to blast pro wrestling for exploiting a man throughout his slow descent into madness but rather, they paint a picture of a deeply troubled soul who fell prey to far too many vices.
Life in the spotlight combined with living on the road and working in an industry that taxes the body on a nightly basis led Scott Hall to a life that has ultimately resulted in his taking up to 11 different medications a day just to get by.
An unfortunate moment in the piece is when an ESPN producer proclaims that today's wrestlers biggest addiction is playstation instead of drugs and alcohol like it was during Hall's heyday. This couldn't be any farther from the truth. Are things different today then they were in the late 80s and 90s? Yes but the statement was extreme in a way that avoids the central drug issue that still plagues the industry.
The full video of ESPN's E:60 piece on Scott Hall is posted after the jump. It's a very powerful short documentary that I couldn't recommend more.
Scott Hall on ESPN's E:60:
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Thanks for posting the video
I get home late from classes on Wednesday, so I didn’t get to see it.
"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!" Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.
AA Gamethread Embiggening Record Holder- 458 posts (08/24/11)
3rd Place- 2011 AAOP Contest
by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Oct 19, 2011 11:36 PM EDT reply actions
It's a must watch, man.
Pretty rough, though.
Forget it Donny, you're out of your element.
by Geno Mrosko on Oct 19, 2011 11:39 PM EDT up reply actions
Finished watching
The first half wasn’t so bad, so I didn’t think the rest would be. From hanging around here, I know all about Hall’s alcohol and drug problems and stuff. At around 10:00 though, looking at all those pills he’s on, hearing all those suicide 911 calls…The context of that show he did, it’s worse now. If he was drugged up, drunk out of his mind, fine. He’s a night out of the hospital, drugged up drunk out of his mind, on all those pills (legit and otherwise), at age 52. And his kids…My dad was an alcoholic (is?) and when I was a little kid, my dad was big into cocaine. Luckily, he went into rehab for that, and has been clean for fifteen-twenty years now, so I never had to grow up with that kind of stress that his kids are going through.
"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!" Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.
AA Gamethread Embiggening Record Holder- 458 posts (08/24/11)
3rd Place- 2011 AAOP Contest
by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Oct 20, 2011 12:12 AM EDT up reply actions
wow just sad
thanks for posting the video, I work nights and missed this. I knew any kind of promoter that would let a guy go out and (attempt to) perform like that would be a giant douche and the video confirmed it for me.
Maslow's theory of higher needs does not apply to Patrick Willis. He only has two needs: tackling people and finding people to tackle.
As bad as I thought it would be
I watched this twice and I just hope training his son leads to a better frame of mind and life for Hall. Gene I do not see where Stephanie says that wrestlers are addicted to playstation. In the beginning it is said by the author of the story but I don’t see where Stephanie said that.
Freedom is a road seldom traveled by the multitudes...
Technically this is correct, but the source of the author’s comments were the likes of Stephanie McMahon and Hulk Hogan:
In addition, McMahon and others said, the culture of wrestling is changing. Today, top-level professional wrestling has gone corporate, and there’s a greater influence on health.
“The superstars of today — they’re businessmen,” she said. “They realize the healthier they maintain their bodies, the better they are going to perform, the more money they’re going to make. They’re more about playing with their iPads and gaming devices than they are about going out and hanging out at the bars.”
Terry Bollea, better known as Hulk Hogan, said the “mindset has changed.” He said the culture has shifted from bigger is better to healthier is best.
“Wrestlers have been more educated, more up to speed,” said Hogan, an executive with TNA IMPACT wrestling. “I mean before, back in the day, you’d have the match at Madison Square Garden, the Boston Garden, all the wrestlers would see each other down at the Marriott bar. Nowadays, all the guys go up and they go to the room and play video games, or go on their computer.”
by Keith Harris on Oct 20, 2011 12:40 PM EDT up reply actions
"The superstars of today — they’re businessmen," she said. "They realize the healthier they maintain their bodies, the better they are going to perform, the more money they’re going to make. They’re more about playing with their iPads and gaming devices than they are about going out and hanging out at the bars."
This statement is by and large true. Wrestlers today are more likely to spend a night on facebook or twitter than hitting the clubs and bars looking to get wasted. The omission of the abuse of prescription drugs and steriods is glaring but I don’t find her statement to be a lie. Actually, I find Hogan’s comments more offensive than Stephanie’s when TNA has drug abuse going on out in the open and live in PPV main events. Hell, RVD had a video on youtube complaining about WWE testing and fining for weed and how happy he is now in TNA
because he doesn’t have to worry about that anymore.
Stephanie and Hogan’s comments are being taken as the both of them downplaying the current drug abuse culture in wrestling. Outside of the Hardy’s and a couple wellness suspensions(after a while of no suspensions, they are suddenly new ones every month), it’s really hard to tell if guys are on the killer coctail these days. We know pain killers are pervasive and steriods are around here and there but what about coke? alchohol? soma’s? weed? hgh? meth? heroin?
For me WWE has one step left to do. Mandatory time off. 8 months on 4 months off, WWE is a monopoly, they can employ hundreds of wrestlers if they wanted to. There is no reason for anyone other than a super hot top babyface to wrestle more than 150 times in a year. Madatory time off lessens perscription/pain killer abuse simple as that.
Freedom is a road seldom traveled by the multitudes...
Dave Meltzer on his radio show said that with some wrestlers in the WWE locker room, Tuesday night after the Smackdown tapings was known as coke night, because they knew that they wouldn’t be tested for another six days. Look at all the DUIs involving WWE performers, that tells you drinking to excess is still widespread. Synthetic weed substitutes were very popular until they got banned earlier this year. HGH is probably taken by every top star that can afford it. Yes, things are better, but it’s hard to tell if they’re good enough.
Agreed on the point about mandatory time off though.
by Keith Harris on Oct 20, 2011 9:55 PM EDT up reply actions
Ah, you're right
it was the producer, not Steph. Fixing now.
Forget it Donny, you're out of your element.
Wow...that was very well done and very sad...these ESPN E 60 programs have all been pretty good..
Yeah, I think it was the ESPN dude that made the remark about PlayStation at the very beginning…
There is no A in OFFENSE!!
That whole scene with him being allowed to go to the ring at that Indy show was appalling. I’m not absolving Scott of any blame here but ultimately it is the promoters call and he should be ashamed of himself
He's stuck between a rock and a hard place, I understand
But, yeah, it’s not as if the people who were at the show are not going to feel gyped after seeing Hall “perform” like he did.
"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!" Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.
AA Gamethread Embiggening Record Holder- 458 posts (08/24/11)
3rd Place- 2011 AAOP Contest
by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Oct 20, 2011 2:08 PM EDT up reply actions
It was dismissed
due to insufficient evidence. He never killed a man… in the eyes of the law…
Well I went on trial for almost beating a dude to death and was aquitted, I still did it.
by SilverNBlackZach! on Oct 20, 2011 7:31 PM EDT up reply actions
Top Rope Promotions may just win PWI's Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic for shoving Scott Hall out into the ring
Players who should be in the Hall of Fame: Pat TIllman, Dwight White, Donnie Shell, L.C. Greenwood, Ray Guy, Steve Tasker, Jack Butler, Greg Lloyd, Andy Russell, Cris Carter, Kevin Greene, Curtis Martin, Willie Roaf, Andre Reed and Jerry Kramer
CM PUNK IS MY HERO
Canal Chronicles resident Steelers Fan
see..that was my 1st reaction too but then I imagined what would have happened if the promoter was Paul Heyman
Heyman probably would have got in front of the crowd with a mic and explained to the crow the shit Hall just pulled and called him on all his shit. Like Samoa Joe did years ago in TNA. And he’d deserve it.
That promoter may be a scumbag for not babying a guy who was screwing him but let’s not weep for Scott Hall. He’s always lacked accountability and his excuses ring false.
by Patrick Eakin on Oct 20, 2011 8:37 PM EDT up reply actions
He chose to go out there. He also chose to show up. I could certainly excuse a no-show for having a seizure.
BTW: Still no love for Steve Atwater on your HOF list?
No one can force anyone to go to the ring…if he knew he couldn’t perform, why did he ask for the money up front? People have no clue what it’s like having to deal with “superstars” like this…if PJ Polaco was so upset, why didn’t he simply tell his friend to stay in the back? Scott Hall has major problems, and if he can’t step up and recognize when he is incapable of performing, stop taking bookings!
Scott Hall is apparently #4 on current trends for twitter in the USA.
This wasn't as bad as I thought it was, though its still sad.
It looks like Chico is at least off the drugs and that’s a huge step in the right direction. Good luck, bad guy.
We'll the bloom off the rose already...I really can't take much more from Hall
http://www.tmz.com/2011/10/20/wrestling-legend-scott-hall-son-cody-reunion-espn-documentary/#.TqCYsRwephc
Freedom is a road seldom traveled by the multitudes...
I'm sorry but I've been waiting for Hall to be dead for so long that nothing in this story was new or touched me
Frankly th entire fading glory of Ric Flair is more depressing. Hall is like a Keith Richards story that should have been over years ago and its lost its ability to move me
Watched it. That discus punch was the saddest in history.
There’s no reason for this guy to not take his life in his own hands. CM Punk was the product of an alcoholic father, too. He just chose to not go that direction.
Shawn Assael (the guy who did the segment) is the one who wrote the book “Sex, Lies, and Headlocks.” FYI.
Very sad.
He was one of the best and it`s very sad to see him how he is now. I`d like to see him get well.
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