The First Three – A tribute to Scott Hall

Living so far from all the major professional wrestling events takes a toll admittedly as you can’t help but express a lot of healthy envy when you see online friends attending them because they are all within arm’s reach of their home.

Gibraltar is of course at the entrance to the Mediterranean and has been a British Overseas Territory since 1704 but one thing that is a constant even all these years later is that professional wrestling is very popular, maybe not as much as it was in the boom of the early ‘90s and even the Attitude Era but there are still some of us still protecting and discussing it at every possible opportunity.

As we have gotten older and of course made our own money, my brother and I have travelled to the UK to attend some rasslin’ events, mostly WWE and also Rev Pro in 2017 but the first one we majorly attended abroad and not to nearby Spain was to London, England in November 2013.

I had read that Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and Sean Waltman were going to do a meet and greet / Q&A event at three major UK cities and London was one of their stops and I saw this as a once in a lifetime opportunity. Just months prior, I had very generously donated towards Scott Hall’s hip surgery so I saw this as a way of some good karma coming towards me so I could tell him in person. Just two months prior I had undergone surgery myself so this trip was one I considered a reward..

I’m not going to lie, I was a bit worried heading to the Coronet Theatre. Worried because I had read a lot of negatives about the event but not because the three now WWE Hall of Famers didn’t deliver but because its promoter from Ministry of Slam Chris Duke had tried to toy and con the legends..

Despite all this, we still went and in the line into the venue on a cold London afternoon we were fortunate enough to meet now lifelong friends in Craig Gravis, Samantha Pugh, Chris Kyrazides, Nicole Perry, Karen Gravis and many others. It is now almost thirteen years later and we remain in touch, the crazy thing is that they’ve also met some of my local friends too and all because of professional wrestling.

As the line grew shorter we were finally warm and not as cold inside the venue but then there was another line to get your picture taken with the boys. I was like a leaf and couldn’t believe I was going to finally meet some professional wrestlers and more so three whose work I have always admired and idolised..

Once it was my turn, I immediately got greeted by Mr Waltman who gave me a really big dial me up handshake and with an infectious smile, next up was Big Kev who smiled and immediately asked my brother and I where we were from and he knew of it, great start and of course then came Scott. I wish I could relive that moment that I shook his hand and upon doing so telling him that I had donated towards his hip surgery, he was overcome with joy and I told him that he was going to love what I brought for him to sign for me, something I had always wanted to be signed and something I never thought I would get the chance to.

Q&A came after and straight after that we were told to line up so we could get our autographs. I remember once I got to the front, Big Kev said Mr Gibraltar! How are you Sir? At least he still remembered my hometown. I got the three to sign my nWo The Revolution DVD but for Scott only I brought my WrestleMania X VHS. If you know me by now, you’ll know that the Ladder Match between Razor Ramon & Shawn Michaels is my all time favourite match. A year and a half later I got Mr WrestleMania to sign it too and it stands in my study as one of my biggest treasures.

Since Scott passed away in 2022 I somehow get very reflective on his birthday and consider my lucky stars that I got the opportunity to meet him.

Today just like any other day, I think of you Scott and I wish I could have seen you again after that tour but thank you for being so awesome and for being just majestic to all your fans that had the opportunity to meet you.