One of the biggest “what if” dream matches in wrestling history is the fantasy showdown between “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan. On his Grilling JR podcast, Jim Ross, who was Head of Talent Relations at the time, confirmed exactly why the match never happened: Austin flat-out refused to do it.
The match was heavily rumored for WrestleMania X8 in 2002. Ross, who was extremely close with Austin, confirmed that the reports of Austin turning down the match were true and that he discussed it with him personally.
A Matter of Chemistry
According to Ross, Austin’s decision had nothing to do with finishes or backstage politics. As a “perfectionist,” Austin simply did not believe that his and Hogan’s in-ring styles would produce a great match, and he was unwilling to let the fans down with a main event that didn’t live up to the hype.
“Oh, I know it’s true. I talked to Steve about it… he confided in me a lot, because he could trust me… He didn’t think they had chemistry. Conrad, sorry, he didn’t think they had chemistry. He thought the match would suck, and he wasn’t going to stand for having a suck, suck main event, especially at a WrestleMania. So that’s the story there. It wasn’t anything. It had nothing to do with the finish… It had to do with Steve wanted. He was a perfectionist. He wanted to have a great match, not a good match, but a great match. And he simply thought he could not get that done. Stone Cold versus Hogan… Again, Steve just had no confidence that the match would be good. It would let the fans down in Steve’s opinion, so he thought that they couldn’t live up to the hype… I can’t see that match being a success… Rock was more of an entertainer, and at that stage of Hogan’s career, he was an entertainer.”
At WrestleMania X8, Hulk Hogan went on to have his legendary “Icon vs. Icon” match against The Rock, while Steve Austin faced Scott Hall. Austin would famously walk out of WWE just a few months later due to creative frustrations.
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