Every wrestling fan in the late 90s had to at one point or another envision how a match between WWFs biggest star of the 80s and its biggest star of the 90s would unfold. Hulk Hogan not only helped launch WWF into becoming a true national promotion and wrestling juggernaut, but he also helped WCW revitalize itself and compete directly with WWF in the late 90s. Hogan had reinvented himself as the ultimate bad guy, Hollywood Hulk Hogan, as the leader of the nWo. He was the most hated (in a good way) man in WCW. Steve Austin, by comparison, was jettisoned by WCW in 1995 as Hogans buddies started populating the company. Austin found his way to the WWF, found his niche as Stone Cold and rocketed to the top of the promotion. He captured fans attention like no one since Hogan at the apex of his WWF career. Every move Austin made was followed, every gesture and insult was cheered, every Stunner was celebrated. So its no surprise that this still is one of the biggest what if? matches. What if Hogan and Austin had locked up? We almost got our answer in 2002 when the nWo entered the WWF, but Austin ended up fighting Scott Hall, while Hogan has one last iconic match, against The Rock. Hogan would turn face after WrestleMania X8, and Austin would soon leave the company for several months, returning for a quick run before retiring unofficially at WrestleMania XIX. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBzNVs_swJU To this day, this is a dream match from the Monday Night Wars that fans still talk about. This is in part because Rock-Hogan already happened, but also because as big as Rocky is, Austin was the defining WWF character in the late 90s. And while both men are on good terms with WWE and we keep hearing the standard never say never rhetoric, it remains highly unlikely that the 61-year-old Hogan will step into the ring with Austin -- beyond the mind-blowing kickoff to WrestleMania XXX.
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fortunately became a fan in time for WrestleMania III and came back as a fan after a long high school hiatus before WM XIV. Monday nights in the Carlson household are reserved for viewing Raw -- for better or worse.
