Dana Hall has shared some painful memories about her life with Scott Hall over the past few weeks, painting a picture of the sacrifices she made and the struggles they endured together. Not everyone who knew Hall agrees with how that story has been told, though, and one of his longtime friends is now speaking up.
Speaking on Monte & The Pharaoh, Rico Casanova, who wrestled alongside Hall in Puerto Rico and later spent time with him during his TNA run, said Dana’s recent interviews genuinely bothered him. To explain why, Rico pointed to a moment from around 2008 or 2009 when Hall was hospitalized and reached out to him after a visit from Dana and their daughter Cassidy.
“Of course. Of course, because look, I’ll give you an example. I remember, I want to say… 2008, 2009 time. Scott was in the hospital, right? And he called me crying. He called me crying, Monty, because Dana… Dana went with their daughter Cassidy to see him. And all Cassie was telling him, ‘You’re a bad dad. You’re a bad dad.'”
“Where they get that from is because, knowing her, she’s always instilled in them, you know, that, ‘Oh, Scott was such a bad dad.'”
Rico didn’t argue that Hall was a flawless father. He openly acknowledged that Scott spent most of the year traveling for wrestling, but said that was also what allowed him to provide the lifestyle his family enjoyed. According to Rico, Hall often talked about making Dana happy and never hesitated to give her whatever she wanted.
“But I tell you what, yeah, maybe he was on the road 300 days a year, right? But she enjoyed the benefits of that, you know? I mean, they had a huge house, and what Scott told me, ‘I built this house just like she wanted it.’ And he would tell me specifically, he would say, ‘Whatever you want, baby. Whatever you want,’ you know? He’ll give it to her. You know, that’s how he was.
But, uh, you know, so it’s… you got to take the good with the bad, right? If you’re not home all the time, you know, but he’s doing it to provide for you, right? And make you a comfortable life.”
He also rejected the idea that Hall’s friends or fellow wrestlers should be blamed for Scott’s addictions. Rico said Dana often accused the people around Hall of enabling him, but insisted Scott was always going to make his own decisions.
“And then, you know, it was always—she always would go back at that time, always get online or things and just talk bad about him. And always saying the wrestlers… enabled him a lot, you know. No. Scott is the kind of person, he’s going to do what he wants to do. He’s just like that. You know what I mean? So, like I tell you, I didn’t drink and I didn’t do drugs, but it was just me and him. He’s still… what am I going to do? I wasn’t him. He did it because he wanted to, you know. Scott suffered a lot, you know, with a lot of things. He was a very, very good guy.”
Rico’s comments come after Dana recently opened up about giving up physical custody of her two young sons so she could travel with Hall while he was still chasing his wrestling dream. Rico isn’t trying to argue that Scott Hall lived a perfect life.
He freely admits Hall battled serious personal demons. What he does object to is seeing one side of that story become the only one people hear. As more people close to Hall continue sharing their own memories, it’s becoming clear that his legacy—and the man behind it—is still leading to very different conversations years after his passing.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
