Scott Hall On Triple H Taking Over WWE From Vince McMahon, RAW Being Too Long, Road Dogg - HHH, More
Recently, WWE Hall Of Famer Razor Ramon, also known as Scott Hall, was a guest on The CCW Podcast. Among many other things, Hall talked about Road Dogg's success behind-the-scenes with WWE, so-called 'panicked' booking by WWE, what makes NXT the hottest pro wrestling show, whether Triple H is the right person to succeed Vince McMahon as WWE Chairman, and whether any promotion can challenge WWE like WCW did during the Monday Night Wars.
According to Hall, Road Dogg is Triple H's righthand man and doing very well for someone who has battled his own share of so-called personal demons.
"Road Dogg [has] done great and he [has] been down too. He [has] turned his life around in a big way. He's like Triple H's righthand guy because those Armstrong guys, his brother Scotty works there too, they tell it like it is. They grew up in wrestling, so they're not B.S.ers. They tell it like it is."
In Hall's view, WWE's booking is "panicky" at times and "change stuff at the last minute." With that said, Hall described NXT as "the hottest show" right now, largely because of its one-hour runtime. 'The Bad Guy' professed that WWE Monday Night RAW is too long at three hours per episode.
"Well, he runs NXT completely, Triple H. And to me, it's the hottest show out there and I think a big factor is? it is? I think a big factor is because it's one hour and SmackDown [Live] gets better ratings because it's two hours. I mean, three hours of RAW is hard to watch and I love pro wrestling." Hall continued, "when business is red-hot and stuff, that's great, but you're giving away a pay-per-view every week and coming up with three hours of good TV starts to get hard. And, like, now the position that WWE is in is that because it's a publicly traded company and it's not a family business and they sell commercial time even if the show's not that good, you're still generating revenue off of those commercials, so they can't [go back to a two-hour RAW]. I think if it was up to Paul [Levesque], he would go back to one-hour TV because it leaves you wanting more. But, I mean, things are what they are."?
While Hall believes that Triple H is the right person to take over WWE, Hall quickly pointed out that 'The Game' used to be The Kliq's lackey, carrying bags and acting as the collective's designated driver.
"Don't get me wrong, I respect Paul, I respect Triple H, and he [has] done some things. He's the right guy for the job. He doesn't sleep. He's just like Vince. He's a cyborg. But when I first met him, he used to carry my bag. He was kind of nobody and I was kind of a big deal. And I used to mess with him, like, do you know how you can walk behind somebody and walk right in their footsteps? Like, he would come in to TV and I was just doing it to him and he's turning around like, 'whoa.' So I said, 'I guess you've heard all the rumors about all the gay stuff here, right?' And he went, 'yeah.' I said, 'it's all true!' And the coolest thing about having him around was he was skilled. And I'm looking at him going, 'well, here's this rich boy from the country club and Razor's gimmick is from the streets.' I'm thinking, 'oh, and he can go? Man, I'd love to work with him.' And because he never drank or did a drug, still doesn't, sometimes we'd pressure him to 'drink it!' and he would drink, like, one shot of Jack Daniels. But it was perfect for guys like me, and Shawn [Michaels], and [1-2-3] Kid, and Kev [Nash] because we were drinking and taking prescription drugs only. I can prove it, doctor. But we're partying and going hard and we'd just get in the van and go, 'drive, monkey!' And we'd sit in the back and drink beer and he was totally straight, didn't do a drug."
When asked whether the wrestleverse will ever see another Monday Night Wars, Hall indicated that he does not see any real competition for WWE these days.
"I just think it would be great if there was somebody for them to compete with because it makes everybody better, but I don't see anybody [capable of challenging WWE]. TNA ain't going to be a threat. I think Ring Of Honor, Ring Of Honor may be the closest thing, but it's still kind of bush. Their TV is kind of bush. New Japan's TV is slicker, but I don't think American audiences will really get behind Japanese guys at this point, so I don't see any Monday Night Wars coming up."
Listen to the interview here. If you use any of the quotations from this article, please credit The CCW Podcast with an H/T to WrestlingINC for the transcription.
Source: The CCW Podcast