WWE: Living on a Razor's Edge - The Scott Hall Story Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.5
Audio		2.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

WWE: Living on a Razor's Edge - The Scott Hall Story Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman July 20, 2016

The rise, the fall, and the recovery represent a classic storytelling motif, and Scott Hall -- better known to the wrestling world as "Razor Ramon" -- lived that arc. The popular wrestler lived a roller coaster that took him to tremendous highs and great depths. His life: a death at his hands, ascendancy in the ranks of wrestling, money and stardom, personal collapse, and with the help of friends near and far, a great recovery. His story: one of triumph and tragedy and triumph again. Hall's experiences in and out of the ring are the focus of WWE Home Video's Living on a Razor's Edge - The Scott Hall Story, one of the company's most powerful documentaries yet. The story is impactful and moving, compelling and complete. As always, the subject, not the style, make the film. This is a look at life in and around professional wrestling at its most personal extremes and, more important, the power of friendship and refusing to give in to hardship and give up on life.

Razor's champs.

Scott Hall, born October 20, 1958, was unsurprisingly a large baby and would mature into an imposing figure. From a young age, he was drawn to the world of professional wrestling, not the spotlight but rather the lifestyle. He admired Dusty Rhodes, but his admiration was from afar. Scott bounced around, landing in Orlando and found work bouncing at an adult night club where his life would change forever when he was involved in the shooting death of another man. He was cleared of all wrongdoing, but the moment would haunt him for decades to come. He decided to pursue his dreams in professional wrestling, hitting every local gym and hoping to find his way into the sports entertainment business. As he grew, so did his stature. He found himself at AWA, then WCW as the character known as "Diamond Studd." The film follows his transition to the WWE and the emergence of his character "Razor Ramon," his defection back to WCW, the legal trouble that followed, and his personal life collapse that, under the influence of heavy alcohol addiction, nearly took his life. He bottomed out in 2011 and, with the help of Diamond Dallas Page, was able to turns life around, rehab his body and spirit alike, and earn induction into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2014.

Though the production follows the crude life arc, the story is split almost evenly between Hall's time in professional wrestling and the wrestling with his demons and addictions and the downward spiral that followed. Hall's in-ring accomplishments along his career path are quickly overshadowed by his descent into personal tragedy, resulting in a heart wrenching run through his pains and the uplift of Diamond Dallas Page's dedication to healing his friend, inside and out alike. It's a challenging watch, one that doesn't diminish the informative story of his wrestling career but one that certainly puts it into another context. Few of the WWE productions have matched this one, thanks more to the human interest story but also the not so much unique, but certainly absorbing, tale of Hall's maturity as a wrestler. But it's his fall and recovery that make it a spacial watch. The narrative is supported by a number of interviewees, including Hall's mother and brother, Kevin Nash, Shawn Michaels, Dusty Rhodes, Black Jack Lanza, Diamond Dallas Page, Eric Bischoff, Vince McMahon, Triple H, Jerry Springer, Hulk Hogan, and X-Pac, among others.

WWE: Living on a Razor's Edge - The Scott Hall Story Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Living on a Razor's Edge - The Scott Hall Story is yet another entry into the WWE-on-Blu-ray catalogue that features a 1080i high definition transfer. The 90-minute feature proper is framed at 1.78:1, the original aspect ratio for the new HD material and the reformatted ratio for the older 4x3 material from the standard definition era. As usual, the material satisfies requirements but doesn't redefine any previously established video quality parameters. Detail is acceptable. Raw clarity is quite good in new interview footage, and detail on clothing, ball caps, and faces is adequately complex, but not to any sort of staggering, worthy-of-praise level. Colors are likewise satisfactorily full well saturated, maintaining a satisfying neutrality to every hue. The usual interferences found in WWE Blu-ray releases are present, and in about average quantities: lower light noise, background macroblocking, and scattered aliasing. On the whole, however, this is a nice looking image that lives up to the modest standards the studio has set.

WWE: Living on a Razor's Edge - The Scott Hall Story Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Living on a Razor's Edge - The Scott Hall Story features a paltry, simple, and painfully straightforward Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. Information rarely strays far from the middle, never mind the rears. Music is stuck underneath, rarely stretching or offering a full-throated effort. Clarity is decent, but it's timid in delivery and, beyond a few instances -- like Razor Ramon's face turn -- there's no sense of energy to music. There's practically nothing else to hear beyond interview dialogue, save for a couple of timid police sirens. The spoken word is focused in the front-center with proficient clarity, delivery, and prioritization. This is one of the most crude and straightforward listens on a WWE Home Video release.

WWE: Living on a Razor's Edge - The Scott Hall Story Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Living on a Razor's Edge - The Scott Hall Story contains plenty of bonus material -- moments, matches, stories -- across both Blu-ray discs.

Disc One:

Debut Vignettes (1080i, 13:57 total runtime): A collection of spots featuring the Razor Ramon character. Included are:

• From the Gutter
• El Jefe
• Chicas Are For Fun
• Taking What You Want
• Cleaning the Table
• Beach Bully
• Making a Wish
• Forget the Past
• Razor Ramon Outtakes

Stories (1080i, 8:36 total runtime): Essentially a collection of deleted scenes from the documentary. Included are:

• Just As Big As the Wrestlers: Hall talks up his size and love of wrestling in his early years.
• The Oz Mask: Kevin Nash's weird costume.
• Scott Ramon: Scott's brother and a few others try on Razor's wrestling garb.
• Let Them Be Kids: Scott's mom tells another story about Scott and her grandchildren.
• Don't Ever Leapfrog Again: Shawn Michaels remembers a moment that a drunken Scott shared good advice with Kevin Nash.
• Weekend in ECW: Hall remembers two matches in one night.
• Wake Up Call: Drinking nearly costs Scott his life.
• WrestleMania 31: Hall makes an appearance at wrestling's biggest night.

Matches/Moments (1080i, 2:30:39 total runtime):

• Career Match: American Starship vs. Inferno #1 and Inferno #2. Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling -- December 25, 1984.
• Career Match: Scott Hall vs. Michael "P.S." Hayes. ESPN Championship Wrestling -- November 19, 1985.
• Career Match: $100,000 Battle Royal. ESPN Championship Wrestling -- November 28, 1985.
• Career Moment: "In This Corner" with Scott Hall. ESPN Championship Wrestling -- December 20, 1985.
• AWA Tag Team Championship Match: Scott Hall & Curt Hennig vs. The Long Riders: WrestleRock -- April 20, 1986.
• Career Match: The Diamond Studd vs. Tommy Rich. Clash of Champions XV -- June 14, 1991.
• Career Match: The Diamond Exchange vs. Brian Lee & Chris Sullivan. World Championship Wrestling -- December 7, 1991.
• Career Match: Razor Ramon vs. Paul Van Dale. Superstars -- August 8, 1992.
• WWE Championship Match: Bret "Hit Man" Hart vs. Razor Ramon. Royal Rumble -- January 24, 1993.
• Career Match: Razor Ramon vs. The Kid. RAW -- May 17, 1993.
• Intercontinental Championship Match: Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon. Saginaw, MI -- September 1, 1993.
• Intercontinental Championship Match: Razor Ramon vs. Rick "The Model" Martel. RAW -- October 11, 1993.
• Ladder Match for the Intercontinental Championship: Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels. WrestleMania X -- March 20, 1994.

Disc Two:

Matches (1080i):

• Intercontinental Championship Match: Razor Ramon w/ Walter Payton vs. Diesel w/ Shawn Michaels. SummerSlam -- August 29, 1994.
• Intercontinental Championship Match: Razor Ramon vs. Jeff Jarrett. Royal Rumble -- January 22, 1995.
• Intercontinental Championship Match: Razor Ramon vs. Goldust. Royal Rumble -- January 21, 1996.
• Career Match: The Outsiders vs. Sting & Lex Luger. Hog Wild -- August 10, 1996.
• WCW World Tag Team Championship Match: The Outsiders vs. Harlem Heat. Halloween Havoc -- October 27, 1996.
• Career Match: Scott Hall vs. Scott Steiner. Nitro -- October 20, 1997.
• Career Match: Scott Hall vs. Chris Jericho. Nitro -- November 3, 1997.
• WCW World Heavyweight Championship Match: Scott Hall vs. Sting. Uncensored -- March 15, 1998.
• Career Match: The Outsiders vs. Goldberg & Sid Vicious. Nitro -- November 22, 1999.
• Career Match: Scott Hall vs. The Rock. SmackDown -- March 7, 2002.
• Career Match: Scott Hall vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin. WrestleMania X8 -- March 17, 2002.

Blu-ray Exclusives (1080i, 1:22:31 total runtime):

• Career Match: The Diamond Studd & Oz vs. Z-Man & Big Josh. Power Hour -- September 28, 1991.
• Non-Televised Match: Razor Ramon vs. Jim Powers. Cincinnati, OH -- May 18, 1992.
• Career Match: Razor Ramon vs. "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase. SummerSlam -- August 30, 1993.
• 2-on-1 Handicap Match: Razor Ramon vs. Jeff Jarrett & The Roadie. In Your House! -- May 14, 1995.
• Ladder Match: Scott Hall vs. Bam Bam Bigelow. Nitro -- January 25, 1999.
• Razor Ramon Hall of Fame Induction: April 5, 2014.

WWE: Living on a Razor's Edge - The Scott Hall Story Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Living on a Razor's Edge - The Scott Hall Story shares an incredible story of success, failure, and redemption. It's raw, honest, heartfelt, difficult to watch, at times, but rewarding as a real-life example of man's ability to climb from even the darkest, deepest pit. WWE Home Video's Blu-ray comes packs with bonus material. Video is typical and audio is a little shallow and crude. Recommended. Note that this release is also available in Steelbook packaging, exclusively at Best Buy.