Wrestling star Scott Hall has died, WWE has said, after suffering complications from surgery at the age of 63.
Hall, who wrestled as Razor Ramon, was a two-time inductee into the company’s Hall of Fame.
Known as the “Bad Guy” of the ring, he helped revolutionise the industry as a founding member of the New World Order faction alongside Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash in the 1990s.
Hogan and Nash are among those paying tribute, alongside Hollywood star and former wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who described Hall as a “legend”.
WWE announced his death on Monday evening and aired a tribute video on its flagship Raw programme, calling him a “hugely influential superstar”.
His longtime friend and fellow NWO member Nash wrote on social media that Hall was being taken off life support after complications from hip replacement surgery.
Hall was part of a 1990s revolution when he and other famous performers, including Hogan, jumped from what was the World Wrestling Federation – now World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) – to Ted Turner’s World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
Even though the WCW eventually collapsed and was taken over by WWE, the moves by Hall and others are still considered huge moments in building individual brands for wrestling performers.
Tributes from Hulk Hogan, The Rock and Kevin Nash
Hogan posted a video on Instagram that showed him addressing a bar crowd after learning of Hall’s death. “Bad times don’t last but Bad Guys do,” he said in the clip, referencing a 2014 speech by Hall. Hogan added that Hall “taught Hollywood how to be a Bad Guy”.
Hall made his name in WWE as Razor Ramon. Pic: AP
Nash said his heart was “broken” in his tribute on Instagram. “I love Scott with all my heart but now I have to prepare my life without him in the present,” he wrote. “I’ve been blessed to have a friend that took me at face value and I him. When we jumped to WCW we didn’t care who liked or hated us. We had each other…”
He finished his post with the words: “See ya down the road Scott. I couldn’t love a human being any more than I do you.”
Johnson shared a video of a match against Hall on Instagram, saying “pro wrestling just lost a legend in Scott Hall”.
He wrote: “Scott came from an era of pro wrestling where wrestlers were the biggest and toughest men on the planet.
“Scott was a big man who was athletically gifted. Tough as hell. And inside that ring he was an extraordinarily talented and intense athlete.”
Hall had struggled with alcohol abuse and chronicled his substance issues in an ESPN documentary in 2011, in which he said “I should have been dead 100 times”.
Before his death, Hall had suffered three heart attacks after surgery complications, according to WWE IC Wrestling Champion Marc Mero.
Hall had been scheduled to make an appearance in Dallas during WrestleMania this week.