Hulk Hogan' vs. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin is arguably the greatest wrestling dream match that never happened.
Austin's rise to main event status in the Attitude Era took place while Hogan was working in the rival WCW promotion. But after Vince McMahon bought out his competition in 2001, the possibility of a Hogan-Austin dream match suddenly became very real.
Hogan, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall returned to the WWE as the New World Order in 2002. They feuded with The Rock and The Texas Rattlesnake, but the Hogan-Austin showdown never came to be.
Instead, Hogan faced The Rock at WrestleMania X8, and Austin was pitted against Hall. A year later, Austin retired from in-ring competition, thus ending any possibility of a fantasy match with Hogan.
During an appearance on the After The Bell podcast (h/t Nishant Jayaram of Sportskeeda), Hogan talked about his desire to feud with Austin, revealing that he would have been more than happy to put the WWE Hall of Famer over.
"My whole goal was to have that run with The Rock and then focus on Stone Cold," Hogan explained. "Because, as a heel, I could've put him over everywhere. If they could've put the belt back on me, he could've chased me - and like Stone Cold says, 'If there's money to be made, let's make it, brother.' That was my goal. It was to get him in that Hulk Hogan zone and make him realize - he'd been beat up pretty bad with his neck and a bunch of stuff - I just wanted him to realize the way you go to the ring, the way you feel, was the same way you're going to feel after working with me on the way back. It's going to be nice and easy, but we're going to tear the house down."
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Last year, current AEW and former WWE play-by-play commentator Jim Ross claimed that Austin wasn't interested in the dream match because he "didn’t feel the chemistry" with Hogan. And Austin has stated that he doesn't regret not facing Hogan.
Hogan and Austin only shared the ring for one match, which took place on the March 11, 2002 episode of Raw. The nWo defeated Austin and The Rock in a 3-on-2 handicap match, which was a part of the buildup for the two aforementioned WrestleMania matches. Austin and The Rock would win their respective matches at the Show of Shows.
What Could Have Been...
Wrestling fans have been treated to countless dream matches throughout the decades. For many, it's understandably disappointing that we never got to see Austin vs. Hogan. But at the end of the day, the former didn't think the match would live up to the sky-high expectations.