10 Wrestlers Who Hulk Hogan Refused To Lose Against
2. Steve Austin
Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Immortal Hulk Hogan are simply the two biggest names in professional wrestling history. Like them or not, theres no getting around that fact. Still, as with the Flair and Hogan point, with great success comes great ego and great self-worth, which is often well-earned but also can prove a bit of a sticking point when it comes to doing business. Despite many suggestions otherwise, Austin and Hogan do not have any real-life heat and, by all accounts, never really have its just both men are very proud of what theyve done in the wrestling business and both see themselves as the guy. Whilst some of Austins ECW promos poked fun at Hogan, the former Stunning Steves main object of his anger was Eric Bischoff and some of the WCW hierarchy. During his WCW run, Austin had gotten to the point where he had the US Championship and was being lined up for a feud over Ric Flairs World Title. Flair himself wanted to do an angle with Austin and even wanted to drop the belt to the future Stone Cold if some stories are to be believed. That plan was completely nixed once Hulk Hogan joined the company, with Hogan going straight to the front of the line for Flairs gold. Austin would end up sticking around the US Title level before getting injured and released. Whilst Hogan was the centre-piece of the nWo, Austin was tearing it up as the Texas Rattlesnake during the Attitude Era. The chances of the two ever meeting in the ring seemed near-impossible until WCW went out of business and was purchased by Vince McMahon. And then came Wrestlemania 18 and the chance to pit the two against each other. Hogan wanted Austin at Mania 18, but Austin didnt want to do the match. Austin has admitted in interviews, including on Jim Ross Ross Report podcast, that he turned down the Hogan match at Wrestlemania 18. Whilst he was unsure on whether Hogan could actually perform to Austins high in-ring level, Stone Colds main gripe is that Hogan had made it clear to Vince that he was going to be the one to go over in the match, which is something that irked the Bionic Redneck. And so Wrestlemania 18 would instead see Hogan have a legendary encounter with The Rock, with Austin defeating Scott Hall in a decent-not-spectacular match. As well as the Mania 18 situation, some stories claim that Hogan also pushed the idea of an Austin match in late 2005/early 2006 but that the Rattlesnake shot this down after seeing the whole debacle around Hogans angle and match with Shawn Michaels that culminated at Summerslam 2005. Austins belief was that Hogan would manipulate the angle to ultimately put himself over at his expense. Hogan still to this day keeps clamouring for a match with Steve Austin, and Austin regularly debunks the notion despite Hogan recently calling him out as a coward in several interviews. Hogan is Hogan, though, and so will keep calling for another big payday so long as theres even the slightest chance that Steve Austin can wrestle once more. As ever with two huge stars, Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin seem like a classic case of two icons of their profession who just refuse to back down, in this case to put the other one over, in fear of losing face or tarnishing their legacy.
