10 Biggest Pro Wrestling Debates

3. Biggest Star Of All-Time: Austin Or Hogan?

This debate came up again recently, but in a weird way, with WWE promoting John Cena, on television, as possibly the greatest WWE Champion of all-time. The talk was all about who was the biggest star in wrestling history. It was merely storyline hyperbole to build Cena up, of course, but it got people looking at Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan, who actually can stake claim to being the greatest WWE Champion of all-time, as well as the biggest star in wrestling history. First and foremost, you have to realize that the wrestling business was something completely different during Austin's run at the top than it was during Hogan's initial WWF run. Television was different, the pay-per-view model was certainly different, and even the house show circuit was different. Austin was given every chance and opportunity to break every monetary record that Hogan set during his time in the WWF, and boy, did he. Austin was "the man" during the most financially successful era in company history, putting Vince McMahon's worth at over a billion dollars at one point. That isn't to take anything away from what Hogan was able to do for the WWF, and in turn, for the wrestling business, as a whole. He opened so many doors, allowing for the WWF to grow exponentially at a time when the business was so regimented and basically stuck in its ways. There would be no chance for Austin to be the success he was without what Hogan did. If you focus solely on the money, then Austin has to be the one who wins this debate, even when factoring things like inflation and number of shows into the mix. If you're looking at how important they were to their eras, you might have to go with Hogan, as the WWF might very well have failed without him, but when Austin was out, the company still had The Rock, Triple H, and others to help pick up the slack and continue making big-time money.