When it comes to dream matches that never took place, Hulk Hogan vs. 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin immediately stands out.
Hogan was the face of professional wrestling during the WWE's booming phase in the '80s. Without Hogan, it's impossible to imagine where Vince McMahon's empire would be today.
As for Austin, he emerged as the new face of WWE during the Attitude Era, when Hogan was competing in the rival WCW promotion during the Monday Night Wars. Austin's feud with Mr. McMahon changed everything about the industry, and it's often regarded as the greatest rivalry in the history of professional wrestling.
With Hogan fronting WCW, and with Austin leading the charge in WWE, it always felt as though we would never get to witness this dream match. But following WCW's collapse, Hogan and several other big-named stars came to WWE in 2002, and fans started to get excited about the possibility of a showdown with Austin.
So why didn't it happen?
On his Grilling JR podcast (h/t WrestlingNews.co), Jim Ross explained that Austin didn't think a match with Hogan would work, given their different styles of wrestling:
"Austin had it in his mind that Hogan’s style and Austin’s style 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 who he could work the best with. 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."
RELATED: Steve Austin Names The WWE Hall Of Famer That He Didn't Like "At All"
Austin wound up facing Hogan's New World Order mate, Scott Hall, at WrestleMania XX. Hogan instead faced The Rock in one of the most unforgettable WrestleMania matches, with the People's Champion emerging victorious.
An Austin-Hogan match would have been a sight to behold, given that they were both "the guy" in WWE at one point. But Austin didn't want to do a match just for the sake of it, and it's created one of the greatest "what ifs" in WWE history.
Easy To Understand Austin's Point Of View
There have been several "dream matches" that didn't live up to the hype in WWE, and if Austin didn't think he'd have a good match with Hogan, then there's little reason to think that it would have met our expectations. Austin vs. Hogan would have looked good on paper, but what if the match turned out to be a massive disappointment? You simply can't blame Austin for turning down a match that he wasn't confident in.