There are many dream professional wrestling matches we've never been lucky enough to see. However, somewhere at the top of the list has to be Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Hulk Hogan, a bout that didn't ever happen in a WCW or WWE ring.
For years, fans have wondered what might have been. After all, The Rock's first match with the late WWE Hall of Famer still ranks among the greatest WrestleMania main events of all-time for many wrestling fans.
During the latest edition of his podcast, Jim Ross, a legendary commentator and longtime friend to the Texas Rattlesnake, said the match not happening was a result of Austin's concerns about Hogan's in-ring abilities at that stage in his career.
"Austin didn’t want to work with [Hogan]," Ross stated. "It was the wrong place at the wrong time. Steve just didn’t have a good gut feeling that they would have passable chemistry, and just to be passable wasn’t good enough for Austin."
"[Steve] was kind of a middle linebacker in a squared circle, and he liked to hit people, and he liked to be aggressive," he continued. "We were obviously—no one thought that Hogan could maintain that on that given calendar year. Hogan should not have even been in a ring because he couldn’t get it done anymore."
While that may sound like a harsh assessment, Ross pointed to Hogan's rematch with The Rock at No Way Out in February 2003. The often forgotten rematch from their WrestleMania encounter was, as the WWE Hall of Famer put it, "very disappointing."
He added, "They didn’t come close to taking care of that business. And that’s very, very rare for Rock. You can only do so much for the guy that’s all crippled up, right? And that match right there kind of showed us that our investment we were making in Hogan was going to be on a part-time basis."
At WrestleMania X8, Hogan had his now-legendary "Icon vs. Icon" match with The Rock, while Austin faced Scott Hall in what proved to be a disappointing clash. It wasn't long after that that Austin walked out of WWE, due to frustrations over the company's handling of his booking. While he returned in other roles over the years, that was it for his full-time wrestling career.
You can hear more from Ross on the match that never was and more in the player below.