7 Reasons Why Steve Austin Was A Bigger Star Than Hulk Hogan

2. Austin Was Much Better In The Ring

If you're going to compare the careers of Austin and Hogan it needs to be pointed out that Austin was clearly the better in-ring performer of the two. It's really not close either. There were two different chapters of Austin's in-ring career. From his WCW days in the early 1990s until SummerSlam 1997, he was a great technical wrestler that had awesome matches with everybody. After he was on the receiving end of a botched piledriver at SummerSlam 1997 by Owen Hart, he changed his style. For the next two years he was more of a punch/kick style stand up brawler. Then he had his neck surgery, came back strong in late 2000 and had an amazing run of great matches in 2001 with just about everybody on the roster. As far as Hogan goes, he definitely had some memorable matches on the biggest stages although they were not great because of his technical mastery. It was his charisma that really carried things for him. He did what worked for him and as a near 300 pounder it was harder to have great matches. With that said, he was definitely below average in the ring. Austin isn't the biggest star because he's the best in-ring performer ever. He's not at the level of guys like Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair and Kurt Angle, but at his best he was close to them. He was also way ahead of Hogan when it comes to having great matches.