The Fake Diesel And Razor Ramon: A Controversial Chapter In WWE History

During the mid-1990s, the world of professional wrestling was shaken by a string of high-profile defections from the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, currently WWE). Two of the biggest losses were Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, who had played the fan-favorite characters Razor Ramon and Diesel, respectively. Their defection to competitor World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1996 created a gap in the WWF roster and resulted in one of the most infamous storylines in wrestling history: the creation of “Fake” Diesel and Razor Ramon.

The Real Razor Ramon and Diesel

Prior to exploring the controversy, it’s necessary to realize the influence of the original Razor Ramon and Diesel characters.

Scott Hall arrived at the WWF in 1992, adopting the character of Razor Ramon, a Cuban immigrant heel personality. This character brought Hall to wrestling fame after years of working for several promotions, including the American Wrestling Association (AWA) and a short stint in WCW as “The Diamond Studd”. As Razor Ramon, Hall was a fan favorite and four-time Intercontinental Champion.

Kevin Nash, however, signed with the WWF in 1993 and later took on the Diesel character. “Big Daddy Cool” Diesel soon became a top star, WWF Champion, and part of a top-rated tag team with Shawn Michaels.

Both Diesel and Razor Ramon were mainstays during the WWF’s “New Generation” period and members of The Kliq, a prominent backstage faction that also consisted of Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and X-Pac.

The Departure and Its Aftermath

Scott Hall appeared out of nowhere on WCW Monday Nitro in May 1996, and then Kevin Nash shortly after. This was the start of the nWo (New World Order) angle, which would change professional wrestling forever and ignite the “Monday Night Wars” between WWF and WCW.

Hall and Nash’s departure placed WWF in a delicate situation. Not only had they lost two of their biggest stars, but the personas of Razor Ramon and Diesel were also intimately tied to Hall and Nash. WWF owner Vince McMahon, famous for his unorthodox creative choices, opted to address this issue in an unorthodox manner.

The Release of the “Fake” Razor and Diesel

In September of 1996, mere months after Hall and Nash had left, the WWF started to tease the return of Razor Ramon and Diesel1. This caused fan speculation as well as even within the wrestling community on if Hall and Nash were indeed returning to the WWF.

On an episode of Monday Night Raw, Jim Ross, who was being positioned as a heel commentator at the time, introduced the “new” Razor Ramon and Diesel4. To the surprise and confusion of many fans, these were not Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, but rather two different wrestlers portraying the characters:

Rick Bognar as Razor Ramon: A Canadian who had gained some success in Japan as Big Titan4.

Glenn Jacobs as Diesel: More famously known to current wrestling audiences as Kane, Jacobs had already played the role of Dr. Isaac Yankem, DDS, for the WWF.

The Storyline and Fan Reaction

The WWF introduced these new versions of Razor Ramon and Diesel as the real deal, with Jim Ross assuring that they were the very same characters viewers had grown accustomed to and fond of. This was universally met with outrage by the audience.

Fans quickly recognized that these were not the original Razor Ramon and Diesel, and the reaction was overwhelmingly negative5. The WWF had underestimated the connection fans had with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, as well as the audience’s ability to distinguish between performers.

In spite of the poor reception, the WWF continued to pursue the angle. The “Fake” Razor Ramon and Diesel were used in matches and even got a tag team title shot on Owen Hart and The British Bulldog at the In Your House 12: It’s Time pay-per-view.

The Rationale Behind the Decision

The recasting of Razor Ramon and Diesel was a hotly debated move, and many reasons have been given for it over the years. Bruce Prichard, a member of the WWF creative team during that period, shed some light on the reasoning behind it:

“It was spurned over a telephone call one weekend over the fact that we owned Razor and Diesel,” Prichard explained. “We created Razor and Diesel. We could put anybody we want in there, no different than a movie and a television show.”

The WWF’s reasoning was that they retained the intellectual property rights to the characters of Razor Ramon and Diesel, and as such could proceed to use them with other performers. This was a strategy compared to casting changes in television dramas or films.

Another theory was that the WWF introduced these characters to demonstrate that the Diesel and Razor Ramon gimmicks were no longer worth the company and to disprove any suggestion that WCW was utilizing these characters without authorization.

The Impact and Aftermath

The “Fake” Razor Ramon and Diesel angle was brief. By the 1997 Royal Rumble, both characters had been removed from television storylines. The experiment was generally regarded as a failure and is commonly referred to as one of the more humiliating moments in WWE history.

But the fallout from this plotline had some fascinating ramifications:

Glenn Jacobs (Fake Diesel) was rebranded subsequently in 1997 as Kane, the story brother of The Undertaker. That character became one of the longest-running and most successful WWE characters.

Jim Ross, whose heel turn was linked to the debut of the bogus characters, soon returned to his fan-favorite commentator position and became the voice of WWE’s Attitude Era.

The WWF, recognizing the folly of this strategy, shifted its priorities to building new stars instead of attempting to replace departed ones. This change of direction would ultimately lead to the revitalization of the company in the late 1990s.

Legacy and Lessons Learned

The “Fake” Razor Ramon and Diesel saga is a warning to professional wrestling. It proved the value of legitimacy and the close bond that audiences have with certain performers, rather than characters.

This event also made it clear the difficulties wrestling promotions encounter when their biggest names leave. While the WWF’s effort to just replace Hall and Nash did not work, it prompted them to rethink their creative process and talent development.

In the years since, WWE has generally avoided trying to directly replace departed stars with lookalikes or soundalikes. Instead, they’ve focused on creating new characters and allowing performers to establish their own identities.

The Original Stars’ Reaction

Surprisingly, the arrival of the “Fake” Razor and Diesel had consequences for Scott Hall and Kevin Nash in WCW. As per Nash, they were summoned to a meeting by Eric Bischoff and Nick Ambrose when WWE started hyping the return of Diesel and Razor Ramon.

“So, we were called in and essentially told. No, Eric was like, ‘Are you unhappy?’ We’re like, ‘No.’ And we received a bump,” Nash remembered. This shows how the actions of one wrestling promotion could have unforeseen repercussions in another, particularly during the extremely competitive “Monday Night Wars” period.

Conclusion

The “Fake” Razor Ramon and Diesel angle is one of the most notorious moments in WWE history. Although it bombed both critically and financially, it’s an important lesson learned in professional wrestling.

This event highlights the fine line between a wrestling promotion’s control of characters and the fans’ identification with particular performers. It also points out the danger of attempting to directly substitute for popular stars, particularly when those stars are still active in a competing promotion.

Eventually, the breakdown of this storyline was one factor in WWE’s turn towards making new stars and concentrating on individual talent as opposed to substitutable characters. This shift in strategy would become one of the primary contributors to WWE’s ultimate success in the “Monday Night Wars” and ongoing stranglehold on the professional wrestling world.

The tale of the “Fake” Razor Ramon and Diesel is a reminder of the volatility of professional wrestling, where creative gambles can result in great success or notoriety. Here, what was meant to be a smart play on intellectual property turned into a cautionary tale, but one that eventually resulted in beneficial adjustments to WWE’s character development and storytelling.