Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin were two of WWE’s top stars in 2002 and 2003. In a recent podcast episode, Jim Ross explained why the wrestling icons did not face each other one-on-one during that time.
On the March 11, 2002, episode of RAW, Hogan teamed up with Kevin Nash and Scott Hall to defeat Austin and The Rock. Six days later, The Rock beat The Hulkster in an era-defining WrestleMania 18 match. Austin, meanwhile, defeated Hall in a bout that was widely viewed as underwhelming.
Ross, a WWE commentator at the time, has been close friends with Austin since the 1990s. On his Grilling JR podcast, the announcer said The Texas Rattlesnake did not want to face Hogan because he thought their styles would clash.
“He didn’t think they had chemistry,” Ross stated. “He thought the match would s*ck and he wasn’t gonna stand for having a s*ck main event, especially at a WrestleMania. That’s the story there. It had nothing to do about the finish or what could the finish be or what would the finish be whatsoever. But it had to do with Steve, 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.” [49:45 – 50:22]
Hogan appeared on The Steve Austin Show in 2019. During the episode, Austin admitted he regretted the fact he never had a singles match against the former WCW and WWE star.
Jim Ross says Steve Austin didn’t want to let fans down
In the late 1990s, Steve Austin’s anti-authority Stone Cold character became the hottest act in the wrestling business. The six-time WWE Champion had several legendary rivals during that time, including Bret Hart, The Rock, and Vince McMahon.
According to Jim Ross, Steve Austin had concerns that fans would be left disappointed if he headlined WrestleMania with Hogan:
“Steve just had no confidence that the match would be good. It would let the fans down, in Steve’s opinion. He thought that they couldn’t live up to the hype, and because of Hogan’s back and the pace of his game and so forth, and Steve had a lot of pride in his own performance, no matter who he was working with. That’s what made him great.” [51:35 – 52:02]
Ross also explained why he did not enjoy working with “paranoid” Hulk Hogan following The Hulkster’s WWE return in 2002.
Please credit Grilling JR and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.
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