Scott Hall On Why Triple H Didn't Contact Him During Recovery, WCW Substance Abuse Angle, Road Dogg
On episode 60 of Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast, Scott Hall talked about his long road to recovery. Specifically, Hall discussed his substance abuse storyline in WCW, Triple H not contacting him during his recovery process, and Road Dogg's enviable position with WWE.
On WCW's storyline about Hall's substance abuse problems, Hall said that he told Eric Bischoff that the angle was in bad taste and it was abruptly called off when a Turner Broadcasting executive complained about it.
"Eric came to me and said, 'now, I've got this [idea]' because he was really big into all the mark stuff, all the dirt sheets that were online now and he's going, 'we'll do this [substance abuse storyline] because the word's out' and I said, 'Eric, I'll do whatever you want because I still need them big checks rolling in.' I said, 'I personally I think it's in bad taste, but you're the boss'. I said, 'I'll do it and I'll do it as good as I can even if I think it's wrong', so we went that way." Hall continued, "they went with it until it came down from the higher ups at Turner, like, 'hey, that's not funny' because everybody, unfortunately, knows someone who suffers from mental illness or addiction, so, obviously, one of those big shots in Turner had somebody in his family [struggling with such issues] and went, 'that's not funny. Stop now.'"
According to Hall, Triple H was told not to contact him during his recovery process.
"When [Triple H] contacted me about the [WWE] Hall of Fame [induction], he called me and said, 'hey, how are you doing? I wanted to reach out to you for years,' he said, 'but all the experts were saying 'no. No, let him focus on just him getting himself together, not worrying about wrestling or being somewhere or doing this. Let him focus on getting well.' So he said, 'man, I wanted to reach out to you for so long,' because one time, he did call and apparently, he said, 'oh, I just talked to Scott' and they went, 'oh, don't do that!', so then I didn't hear from him for a long time."
When asked about his involvement with talent in the WWE Performance Center, Hall suggested that Road Dogg is a great example of someone who has struggled with personal demons who has a big role in the company now. Hall explained that Road Dogg was running Smackdown tapings while Tough Enough was being shot.
"Well, the one thing that I'm happy about is like Road Dogg. And Road Dogg didn't miss many parties either and now he's like Hunter's righthand man. He's there. He was running Smackdown when the Tough Enough show was on because Vince [McMahon] and Hunter and Stephanie [McMahon], they would all go to the live Tough Enough broadcast and Road Dogg was basically calling the shots at Smackdown, which they tape on Tuesday and air Thursday, so he's running the show and he said, the last time I saw him, 'yeah, and the ratings actually went up a little bit.' He said, 'Vince pulled me aside and said, 'maybe I don't need to make Tuesdays.' I'm just saying that Road Dogg, at one time, was right there in the same category maybe as me and now he's doing great and he has a great mind!"
In addition to these topics, Hall talked about getting in trouble for putting Chris Jericho over in WCW, the fake Razor Ramon, and much more. To listen to the whole interview, click here. If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast