One MIND-BLOWING Secret From EVERY WWE WrestleMania

17. WrestleMania 25 | One Last Shot

2009 was the last year in which Hulk Hogan Vs. Steve Austin was a viable match. 

Hogan sensed that he wasn’t a Vince McMahon priority anymore. As deluded as he was, he was also smart at the same time. He took an extravagant sum of money from TNA later in the year upon this realisation, knowing that he could always do one-shots with WWE after he did not in fact win the Nu Monday Night Wars. As most desperate men do, Hogan made a huge, sweeping gesture that was doomed to fail. 

He called into pal Bubba the Love Sponge’s radio show, on which Jim Ross was guesting, and made a public offer of sorts. He said that Hogan Vs. Austin would break every pay-per-view record. He also said, out loud, that the match would require a clean finish, and that he would lie down to get it done. Austin, evidently, was unmoved by the pitch. wh

He was financially set for life. Unlike Hulk Hogan, Austin had no interest in becoming a routine man to diminished returns; if was ever going to make a comeback, he wanted it to be good. He didn’t personally like Hogan, either; both Austin and Bret Hart ignored Hogan’s attempts to socialise with them at the 2006 Hall of Fame ceremony. 

Austin loves being the guy who outdid Hogan, albeit for a shorter span of time, particularly since Hogan was hugely detrimental to his WCW run. Austin wasn’t just broken-down by 2003; he understood his brand and his character, and knew that it just wouldn’t be the same if he hovered around the upper midcard. 

He wanted to be Stone Cold forever - difficult to do, if Hogan plays his tricks in a battle premised on who the biggest WWE star ever was.