Scott Hall never wrestled in the WWE Royal Rumble. This comes as a huge shock to most, as Hall is one of the biggest WWE stars of all time. Famous both under his real name and as the former Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon, he was a constant fixture in wrestling for nearly two decades and recognised as one of the most important wrestlers of all time,
He debuted in the WWE as a Scarfacr knock-off gimmick, named Razor Ramon. Razor talked a lot about Machismo and was a stereotypical macho gimmick, whilst incorporating parts of Al Pacino’s portrayal as Tony Montana. He spoke with a Latin American accent, but mixed great character work with fantastic in-ring ability.
Razor Ramon even took part in the first five-star match, as rated by Dave Meltzer, in the history of WWE. His match with Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania X, which was the first televised ladder match in WWE history, earned the coveted five-star rating from the Wrestling Observer and remained the key point for future ladder matches to follow on from.
Even after leaving WWE, he became an even bigger star. Hopping over to WCW in 1996, he debuted on a whirlwind episode of WCW Monday Nitro to turn the wrestling world on it’s head. He walked in through the crowd to the shock of everyone and made fans think that the WWF was invading the show. The next week he was joined by Kevin Nash and the duo would soon join forces with Hulk Hogan as part of the New World Order.
The NWO became the biggest faction in wrestling history and turned the tide in the war against the WWE. As the founding member of the group, he became one of the biggest stars in wrestling history and even returned to the WWE once WCW went under – wrestling “Stone Cold” Steve Austin at Wrestlemania 18 in a marquee matchup, although it was slightly outshone by the legendary Hulk Hogan vs The Rock match.
Despite all this glory and innovation, Scott Hall never wrestled in the Royal Rumble match.
Why Didn’t Scott Hall Wrestle In The Royal Rumble?
There are some main reasons why Scott Hall never wrestled in the Royal Rumble. He joined the company in 1992, but missed out on the chance to enter the 1992 Rumble (which was won by Ric Flair) In 1993, he was already booked on the show on the second biggest match on the card. At the Royal Rumble 1993, Razor Ramon wrestled against Bret Hart for the WWE Championship. Despite being a big star in the WWE, he never tasted world championship gold in either WWE or WCW, always being happy with his spot without the belt.
At the 1994 event, Razor was already the WWE Intercontinental Champion. While it is not uncommon for a champion to enter the match for a shot at the world title, the belt was so prestigious at the time that he had no need to try to win the WWE Championship. He defended the championship against IRS, winning the match in impressive fashion.
He had the belt again the following year, although his defence was much less impressive. He was once again in the title match before the titular Royal Rumble match, losing the belt to Jeff Jarrett in an undercard match. These title defences were a key part of why he was not in the Royal Rumble match – it gave more prestige to the title belt itself by not trying to trade it off for a better on.
He made it a streak of four-in-a-row in 1996, his final Royal Rumble evet before his switch to WCW. He once again walked into the event with the belt and defended it against one of his most legendary rivals – Goldust. Sadly for Scott Hall, he lost the belt for the second year running to the Bizarre One, ending a streak of four Intercontinental Championship matches in a row at he Royal Rumble, winning two and losing two.
He left the WWE later in 1996 to join WCW, where he wold stay in 2001. Because of him signing the exclusive deal with World Championship Wrestling (on some of the biggest money wrestling had ever seen) he could no longer make an appearance at WWE events. This precluded Scott Hall from appearing at the Royal Rumble. This is why Scott Hall did not wrestle in the Royal Rumble between 1997 and 2001.
He re-joined the WWE in 2002 as part of the “lethal dose of poison” injected into the WWE, when Vince McMahon signed the NWO (Hogan, Nash and Hall) to WWE deals. Sadly, he made his second WWE debut at No Way Out 2002, the pay per view following the 2002 Royal Rumble, meaning he missed out again on wrestling in the legendary match type.
Sadly, he run would not last until the next January. He was released in September 2001 due to ongoing issues stemming from his substance abuse. He was also surprisingly never brought back as a surprise entrant in the Royal Rumble, something which almost every legend to step foot through the ropes has done before and since.
However, even though Scott Hall didn’t, Razor Ramon did wrestle in the Royal Rumble. WWE bestowed the gimmick of Razor Ramon and Diesel onto new wrestlers after Hall and Nash signed for WCW, hoping to keep the characters going after their actors had left. “Fake Diesel” was portrayed by the man who would later become WWE Hall of Famer Kane, while “Fake Razor Ramon” was portrayed by Rick Bognar. Fake Razor Ramon appeared in the 1997 Royal Rumble match, something the real Scott Hall never managed.
Scott Hall sadly passed away in 2022, meaning that he will never have a Royal Rumble appearance on his record.
