In part two of his interview on Jim Ross’ new podcast The Ross Report, Austin was in a reflective mood as he discussed a proposed showdown that would undoubtedly have been one of the biggest WrestleMania matches in the history of the business:
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Hulk Hogan.
The match that never was in question would have been staged in 2002 at WrestleMania X8. Hogan had just returned to the WWE as part of the villainous nWo faction alongside Scott Hall and Kevin Nash.
And apparently, it wasn't that the WWE brass weren't keen on staging the contest. As reported by WrestlingInc.com, it was the Rattlesnake himself who was opposed to the idea:
Austin said that at the time he was running real hard and was 'hard headed as hell,' and that he wasn't about to do a job for Hogan because the word then was that Hogan wasn't willing to do the favors for anyone. Austin said that while Hogan was open to having a match, he wasn't because he felt that their styles would clash and that the match wouldn't live up to his standards. At that time, Austin could go and he felt that Hogan would have been a step or two behind him, which wasn't acceptable to him. He won't do a high profile match just for a payoff.