In an update on my Scott Hall story from yesterday, Scott's ex-wife Dana has allowed Mike Mooneyham to publish an open letter, 13 years after the one she wrote aimed at criticising WCW for enabling and exploiting for storyline purposes her ex-husband's drink and drug problems, calling on all independent wrestling promoters to stop booking Scott, who is physically wrecked from all the years of abuse. It's a lot more eloquent and dignified than her impulsive posts on Twitter, which might not have helped her cause:
To Whomever still cares,
I never wanted to have to write a letter like this again, and it definitely deeply saddens me to do so.
This is not a letter to bash Scott, nor wrestling. This is only the sad truth of them both.
So if you can’t handle it, or don’t want to hear it, then please don’t read this. Denial doesn’t help anyone, and will certainly not help Scott Hall at a time like this.
Nothing has changed since my letter of 13 years ago, except things have gotten worse. Scott is no longer famous; he is infamous.
The only difference is now instead of the big wrestling companies enabling Scott, it is the little independent promoters, a whole lot of wannabe wrestlers, marks and other unsavory people in which he has chosen to surround himself with in his sickness. He has so many wrong people in his life, there is no room for the right ones any longer, most importantly his children and family.
You all know who you are, and whom has been a part of dragging him out like a piece of meat to embarrass himself further. You people are only helping him kill himself, and he is doing a bang-up job of it on his own, he needs no more ‘help!’
Scott was in no shape physically, mentally or emotionally after his heart failure and pacemaker last year. He was not sober for any length of time, nor in recovery. Every door should have been closed to him at that time. It should have been over then, because look where we are right now. Anyone who gives a sick man a job who is not capable of being 100 percent sober, responsible or reliable must be a fool, or worse. I vote for worse.
Anyone with half a brain in his head could see he was not well and he should have been seeking help or his family, not engaging in this profession which only fuels the fire of his addictions. It always has.
Scott is hanging by a very thin thread at best.
Our children, myself and Scott’s family have suffered many, many years of ongoing hurt, pain, disappointment, frustration and embarrassment due to his addictions and the consequences which have followed. Scott has chosen to continue drinking, drugging and to self-destruct. Every attempt at rehabilitation, sobriety and recovery has failed. You can’t help someone who doesn’t want to help himself, and when you do, you are just an enabler and part of the problem.
I am praying anyone still enabling this man will stop now. Anyone telling him what he wants to hear, and not the brutal truth, is not his friend. Anyone aiding in, or giving him an open door/opportunity or participating in any type of wrestling-related event, appearance, video, etc. with him are going to be the last nails in his coffin, and God help you.
He cannot be a part of wrestling at all anymore, and live.
I know the fans love him despite his issues and all of the bad. I know they don’t want to hear this, but I am begging you no matter what you think of me, for the sake of our kids, ‘please let him go.’ Before you have to let him go for good. Our kids need a dad for once, and not a dead wrestler. Let them have what is left of him, in the time he has left.
I pray his true friends will get him to a safe place where he can’t hurt himself anymore. I pray he will get away from the last of the enablers clinging to him. I pray he will devote every second to making amends to his children and making them a priority in this life while he is still here. That is all that matters. My prayer is that Scott would finally realize this before it’s too late. We love you Scott. We do care, we are here, but something’s gotta give, or it is your last call for real.
— Dana Hall
In a separate interview with Mooneyham, Dana called the wrestling business Scott Hall's biggest enabler:
I blame wrestling for making it worse. He had these addictions before, but his fame, the money and the major enabling fueled it and escalated it to the out-of-control disaster his life has become. Scott is as addicted to wrestling and his alter-ego as he is to the drugs and alcohol....
What is it like being married to one of these guys? It isn't all wonderful. We sit home and we take all of this. We do all the work and we get kicked in the butt in the end. My life is just a mess because I was part of that. I don't want to trash him or anyone else. But the truth is the truth. He's been taken over by wrestling, and he doesn't even know right from wrong anymore. He doesn't even know who he is anymore or how to be a normal person. It steals your whole identity. It steals your life....
He doesn't want it, or he would have done it by now, and the fact that every time he has even tried, he can't get over himself enough to be ‘real' and do the work. He lives his gimmick 24/7 and has become his alter ego ... he doesn't even know who he is anymore. He still thinks he is Razor, and conducts himself as so all the time. He has a wrestling tape stuck in his head that never shuts off.
This is at odds with Kevin Nash's thoughts on the matter, who had already pre-emptively absolved wrestling of all blame in Scott's lengthy downward spiral, as it was all due to him having "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder" you see:
The media will want to blame wrestling when Scott passes. Scott was broken way before he broke into the ring for the first time.