The Skate and Surf Festival 2015, a weekend event held in Asbury Park, New Jersey, was headlined by some promising matches. On top of that, some former ECW legends in Sandman and Tommy Dreamer were set to make an appearance, as well as former WCW/WWE legends Sean “X-Pac” Waltman and Scott Hall.
Unfortunately for Jersey Championship Wrestling promoter Ricky Otazu, he got an unexpected twist to his show.
Late last night, gossip tabloid TMZ posted a video of Scott Hall, allegedly drunk at the festival, calling out one of the wrestlers for “tacking smack” about his son, who was not on hand at the event. Hall eventually would leave the ringside, signalling a few crotch chops to the wrestler and limping back. The video cut several times, showing Hall speaking with event staff and eventually being escorted off the premises.
It was difficult to tell whether Scott was indeed intoxicated from the video alone, but Otazu spoke with the media afterwards, suggesting Hall was under the influence and that the promotion would no longer be doing business with him until he got his life in check.
As wrestling fans are aware, Scott Hall has had an up-and-down battle with alcoholism. In 2010, the former Wolfpac member was sentenced to 10 days in jail for a DUI charge. Two years later, he was arrested for allegedly choking his girlfriend while heavily intoxicated. Hall’s demons can be attributed to the 1983 incident that saw Scott take the life of another man, in self-defense, during an altercation outside of a nightclub. Hall has spoken on the subject, saying it’s an event in his life he’s never been able to shake off.
In 1998, Hall was arrested for groping a 56-year-old woman, and later went through a divorce with his then-wife Dana Burgio, due to the struggles of everyday life with Hall and his addictions.
In 2008, Hall took offense to a Jimmy Graham joke during the Iron Sheik roast, when he suggested that the careers of Sheik and Hacksaw Jim Duggan fell faster than Owen Hart after they were caught with narcotics. Hall charged Jimmy on stage, grabbing a microphone and yelling at him about how disrespectful that comment was towards Hart. Graham later suggested that Hall was under the influence during the event.
It was in 2013 that Diamond Dallas Page opened up his home, and his arms, to welcome Scott Hall and help him change his life. After successfully helping Jake “The Snake” Roberts overcome his problems, DDP’s mansion and his yoga regimen was bound to work for Scott and his demons. Things looked up from then on, apart from a May 2014 incident in which Hall refused to get out of bed to get to an event he was scheduled to be at.
Hall appeared at WrestleMania 31, along with Kevin Nash and Hulk Hogan, as part of the New World Order, in an attempt to back Sting during his match against Triple H. Hall looked fantastic at the time, in good shape and the healthiest we’ve seen him appear in years. Scott even took a back body drop spot on the outside, showing he was physically capable of taking a big bump.
Just two months later, it’s heart-wrenching to see this news come out and to hear that Scott Hall has fallen off the wagon once again. As a long-time fan, I didn’t want to buy it, believing this was TMZ being their typical selves, finding a story and embellishing every last detail. Unfortunately, my doubts were soon erased after speaking with event promoter Ricky Otazu.
“He passed out two times and then pissed himself,” Otazu re-called. “We let him sleep for three hours. When he woke up, he went to the bar again. Then, we threw him out.”
Waltman, who was also on hand at the event over the weekend, tweeted out his thoughts on Hall.
If we don’t give up on @SCOTTHALLNWO, he won’t give up. You fall & you pick yourself up w/friends like @RealDDP. Time to kick out Bad Guy!
— Sean Waltman (@TheRealXPac) May 19, 2015
However, the problem Hall is going through is that he has more than one demon to fight against. The 1983 incident is the starting point, an event in his life that he has not been able to come to terms with. His battle with being a father to his son, while struggling with alcohol, has been another difficult task to overcome. Then there’s dependency issues, spanning through nearly three decades of substance abuse. DDP, his yoga regimen, and his mansion have done wonders for many lives, but for Scott Hall, it may take a lot more.
Maybe it isn’t tough love that is needed in this situation, although one can certainly understand the effect that method can have. For someone who has been dealing with this all their life, spanning from an incident at a nightclub that can change any one man’s life for the rest of their existence, kicking him to the curb to teach him a lesson could end up doing more harm than good.
It’s interesting to note that Scott Hall signed with Jeff Jarrett’s promotion, Global Force Wrestling, on May 13th, 2015. Whether this news will affect his inclusion with the promotion has yet to be seen.
We here at Last Word On Sports wish nothing more than for Scott Hall to seek the help he needs and to finally put these demons to rest.
