By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

Former WWE/WCW star Scott Hall talked in-depth about his current health and past drug/alcohol battles during an interview on "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's podcast this week.

Most notably, Hall said that his daily pill consumption was drastically reduced during his time at Diamond Dallas Page's "Accountability Crib" in Atlanta.

"When I got to Atlanta, I was taking 15 meds every morning; now I take four," Hall said. "The heart's good, the hip is good, the head is getting where it needs to be; I'm happy to report I'm all good."

Hall, who had hip surgery on April 9, said that he is "happy to report that I'm healing ahead of schedule."

"The left (hip) was completely shot, while the right one was pristine," Hall said. "The doctor just decided to go total replacement; I'm bionic now, man. Between the heart surgery I had in 2010 and with the pacemaker defibrillator gimmick I got in 2010 in Houston and now with this bionic hip, I'm thinking about doing everything done; just getting everything replaced because I feel so good. I might just go totally mechanical."

Hall also detailed what led to heart disease that required doctors to install a defibrillator.

"Steve, through my poor choices and reckless lifestyle, I drunk myself into heart disease. I was able to get some surgery on Vince's dime," Hall said. "Since then, though, I wasn't doing all the right things, so my heart was suffering and I had an episode where my gimmick just started firing, bro. I was like wide awake and that thing went off several times. Ever since then, that booze does not look so good to me."

Austin followed up by asking what drove Hall to "booze and pills," specifically, whether Hall was lonely at the end of his career.

"Later, yeah," Hall said. "We're talking early '80s where a lot of business was done in bars at that time. I ventured down that path. Early on, I was a 'Coors Light out of a bottle guy' with some 'Xanies.' Xanax is my drug of choice. I never was a pain pill guy; I never really enjoyed them. I used to take them to trade them with other guys for pain pills."

Asked if he used any drugs through needles, Hall said the only needles he used were for steroids. "All my stuff was 'roids from doctors," Hall said.

Austin also asked if Hall has been diagnosed with clinical depression. Hall noted a psychiatrist in Los Angeles mentioned that to him 15 years ago and gave him medicine. "I didn't like the meds; they made me feel kind of dull," Hall said. "I've been diagnosed with that, but as I deal with more experts in the field of mental health, I've found some other issues they want me to address. I'm happy to report I'm doing good, man."

All of this came together in the "Fall River Incident," where Hall showed up to an independent show in Fall River, Mass. in April 2011 unable to perform in the ring. The incident went viral, was covered on ESPN, and drew serious concerns from friends about Hall's health. Hall talked in-depth about what happened two years ago.

"I had a real problem with seizures for a long time. They don't know if it's the multiple concussion syndrome, which I think a lot of us suffer from. Ya know, that brain injury that's becoming a real big deal in the NFL and probably should be in wrestling. So, some of that from legitimate brain damage, whether it's lifestyle of the booze and the drugs or the repeated concussions. So, I was having some brain deficit and seizures pretty regularly," Hall said.

"As I was preparing for the trip, I limped into the hospital to see the doctor about my heart. He said, 'Do you need something for pain?' And my antenna went up, 'Oh, well, okay.' (laughs) I took the pain pills, so I said, 'How about some somas?' So, I took some bites of somas and Xanax. I had been taking the Xanax, but I hadn't had any pain pills or somas in quite a while, so my stupid thinking was, 'Well, let me take those pain pills when I was pounding the road all the time.' And, brother, when I got off that plane, I didn't know what country was in."

"I came out of the ring and I vaguely remember talking to a cop," Hall continued. "At that point, Steve, I was so low, I said, 'I'm not scared to die.' But, I was talking to the guy philosophically and stuff. All of a sudden, he made this look and I went, 'I probably shouldn't have said that.' So, they were worried about me hurting myself or hurting someone else, so I had to go to the psych hospital in Providence.

"I don't mean to make light of it, but I'm all for the psych care. I feel like I've learned a few things along the way. Actually, I went there and wanted to stay longer, and they forced me out because my insurance is from Florida and I was at a facility in Rhode Island. It was one more thing where I was out of control. A positive thing that happened from that experience is a lot of people got a hold of me and said, 'Enough. Get yourself together.'"

[ AUDIO: Hall's full interview can be heard HERE at PodcastOne.com - http://bit.ly/175msYM ]

[Torch photo credit Wade Keller (c) PWTorch.com]

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