Stone Cold Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan are the two icons in the pro wrestling industry who helped this business grew up in the past. Sadly, for the wrestling fans, they’ve never locked horns inside the ring. They both spent times on the same roster that is in the WWE but yet the company heads never put them together in a match. The prime reason behind this was Stone Cold himself.
He had his reasons for not wanting to work with Hulk Hogan. Apparently, Stone Cold thought that his kind of wrestling wouldn’t match up to the style that The Hulkster possessed. While he was a revolutionary guy who entertained the fans, Hogan was a bit of an old-school guy. So the general thought was that these two can’t get along well inside that squared circle.
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During the Grilling JR podcast hosted by WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross, he discussed Stone Cold walking out of the WWE. During the conversation, Ross revealed that Austin had a different mindset about wrestling Hulk Hogan and that’s why that just couldn’t happen. He just didn’t think them two could produce a good match, together and so it never took place.
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Austin had it in his mind that Hogan’s style and Austin’s styles were oil and water. He just didn’t feel the chemistry. Austin was never about having good matches. Austin was about having great matches. He knew better than anybody else in the world with who he could work the best. Hogan wasn’t on that list. Steve could be wrong too. I’m not saying that Hogan and Austin couldn’t have a good match. Look at the match Hogan had at WrestleMania 18 with The Rock.
Steve is a stubborn guy and he just didn’t feel it. That’s what we are trying to explain in meeting with these guys is that there is a new sheriff and town and his name is Stone Cold. It is not Hulkamania anymore. But if we could use Hulkamania in a bitter way, in an angry way, maybe we could get a WrestleMania out of it. That was the idea but it never came to fruition. It didn’t happen because Steve didn’t push for it. I believe Hogan probably would have gone along with it because it would have been a great payday and he could have worked with Austin.” (courtesy ringsidenews.com)
The timing was an issue, too for this dream match. Hulk Hogan was away from WWE for a long time before Vince McMahon brought him back in particular to have the match against The Rock at WrestleMania 18 in 2002. They produced magic in the ring creating perhaps the most electrifying match in sports entertainment.
Within a year of that match, Stone Cold Steve Austin had to take early retirement from the WWE due to a neck injury. He wrestled The Rock in his final match at the 19th edition of WrestleMania in 2003 to digest a loss and thereby going into the sunset. Back in 2002 WrestleMania, Austin wrestled Hogan’s nWo buddy Scott Hall in a forgettable match which could be an added reason why Stone Cold felt that he couldn’t have a splendid match with Hulk Hogan.
