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

1. WWE Killed WCW With Austin On Top

The best way to compare two guys of similar stature is to compare their careers as they were going on at the same time. Austin is 11 years younger than Hogan, so obviously his career was shorter. When Austin was just breaking into the business, Hogan was main eventing WrestleMania like he usually did. Austin and Hogan were in WCW together for about a year until Austin was released in 1995. By 1996 he was in WWE (after a great Hogan impression in ECW) and he quickly rose up the ranks thanks to a number of awesome matches as well as a personality that was unlike any other. While that was going on, Hogan had re-invented himself as a heel leader of the New World Order and it likely added some years to his career. By the end of 1997, WCW was still running well although at the same time WWE was building up a lot of great talents led by Steve Austin. Even though Austin was booked as a heel originally that year, the fans turned him face and he was taking off as this anti-authority badass that was unlike anybody we had ever seen before. Once Austin officially became the man by winning the WWE Title in 1998 it was also the same time when WWE had passed WCW in the ratings. There were a lot of other factors involved, but it was Austin that was clearly the biggest draw. His t-shirts were everywhere, the ratings went up every time he was on and all of a sudden WWE was pulling away. What more can be said other than one guy went on to headline arguably the best wrestling PPV ever at WrestleMania 17 (Austin vs. Rock) while the other was a main guy in a company that just got bought out weeks before that show. In the battle of WWE vs. WCW it was WWE that emerged victorious and it was Austin that led the way for WWE more than anybody else. It can be argued that Hogan is the bigger star because of his longevity, but that shouldn't always be a deciding factor. When you think about all the points I've laid out here, a convincing case can be made that Austin is the bigger star. Ultimately, it's up to the fans to decide who they think is "the man" in this battle of two of the greatest of all time.