Hall, a journeyman wrestler, turned what could have been just another gimmick in the WWF into "Razor Ramon" a character based on the one that Al Pacino portrayed in the film "Scarface' and the making of a star was born.
Hall would have great matches with many as "Razor Ramon" most prominently his ladder match at Wrestlemania X with Shawn Michaels that made the ladder match a regular staple in the pro wrestling business but his star rose to another level when Hall signed with rival WCW (using his real name) and ran out of the crowd as the first step in establishing the NWO as the heel organization bent on taking WCW out of business with the inference that Hall (and shortly thereafter Kevin "Diesel" Nash) had been sent by Vince McMahon and the WWF to put WCW out of business.
WCW would go on a run for over a year that would see them surpass the WWF as the top wrestling organization in the world before the WWF would return to the top and buy WCW a few years later.
Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash deserve their share of credit for making the NWO a national craze where everywhere you looked one couldn't miss the black t-shirts with the basic white NWO logo but to wrestling fans, it was Scott Hall that was the most entertaining member of the core group.
From his catchphrases to his exaggerated bumps and for the quality of his matches, it was Scott Hall that was the name that many thought of first when you thought of the NWO.
Scott Hall may have had his demons outside the ring but inside it, Scott Hall was certainly one of the faces that come to mind when you think of what may have been the final huge mainstream run for professional wrestling and one of the most entertaining characters in the history of the business
Goodbye to Go For Gin at the age of 31.
Go For Gin was the eldest living Kentucky Derby winner as the champion of the 1994 edition of the Churchill Downs Classic.
Trained by Nick Zito, Go For Gin moved straight to the front on a sloppy racetrack under Chris McCarron, took the lead after a half-mile, and never looked back in defeating a field that included future Hall of Famer Holy Bull.
The Derby was the final race that Go For Gin would win as he would never win in his final nine races, although he would finish second in both the Preakness and Belmont Stakes to the winner of both races Tabasco Cat.
Goodbye to Ron Stander at the age of 77.
Stander was a one-time fringe heavyweight contender that owned wins over former title challengers Earnie Shavers and Thad Spencer before challenging heavyweight champion Joe Frazier in Omaha, Nebraska in May 1972.
Frazier would pound the "Bluffs Butcher" into a bloody mess before the fight was stopped after the fourth round in Stander's only challenge for the championship.
Stander would never contend again or defeat a contender although he would lose to future heavyweight champions Ken Norton and Gerrie Coetzee before retiring in 1982 after posting a record of 1-9-1 in his final eleven bouts of his career.
Goodbye to Roy Winston at the age of 81.
Winston spent his entire fifteen-season career with the Minnesota Vikings and would play for all four of the Vikings Super Bowl teams of the 1970s.
Winston would start in the first three Viking defeats and was a reserve in the final Super Bowl loss behind the excellent borderline Hall of Famer Matt Blair.
In 1964 in a game against San Francisco, Winston would intercept three passes to become the first Viking defender to accomplish that feat.
Winston is also remembered for his devastating hit on Larry Csonka in 1972 in a Vikings game against the Miami Dolphins. ( can be seen here) and was voted one of the fifty greatest Vikings of all time when the franchise celebrated its golden anniversary.
Goodbye to Ralph Terry at the age of 86.
Remembered by most as the New York Yankee pitcher that allowed the famous walk-off homer to Bill Mazeroski in game seven of the 1960 World Series, Terry won twenty-three games for the 1962 World Champion Yankees.
Terry redeemed himself in the 1962 World Series against the San Francisco Giants when he won two starts including a 1-0 game seven complete-game shutout to clinch the title and won the series MVP award.
Terry won seventeen games for the Yankees in 1963 and completed an American League-high eighteen games but would play for four teams between 1964 and 1967, winning only nineteen games before retiring to play professional golf on golf's version of a AAA tour.
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