Dwayne Johnson’s Iconic Rival Feared Ruining His Star Power After Refusing Hulk Hogan: ‘People Had Difficulties Working With Him’

WWE’s purchase of WCW was the biggest thing to happen in the wrestling industry. But this decision came with a lot of changes to the company. The biggest change was the question of who is the top dog of the company.

Before the merging, the biggest superstar in wrestling was Steve Austin, but in WCW, it was Sting, Goldberg, and Hulk Hogan. While many of them left WWE as soon as the merger, Hogan breathed some fresh air into his career.

With Hogan coming back, Austin showed his insecurities about his fame. According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, Austin was worried about his own fame and his top position.

This fear was the reason that we never got a dream match between generation leaders, Hogan and Austin. But what could have been the reason for Austin’s inherent fear of Hogan’s popularity?

WWE legend had insecurity with Hulk Hogan coming back to WWE in 2002

The full quote that Meltzer reported goes like this, ”A lot of people were more openly talking negative about him, about the difficulties people had working with him because he wouldn’t give a lot in matches and his paranoia over the idea he was losing the crowd support that made him. He was against bringing Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Hulk Hogan in, and refused to work with Hogan at WrestleMania when it was suggested to him.”

READ MORE: Stone Cold Steve Austin’s Special Friend Reveals How Hulk Hogan Feud Could Have Threatened Dizzying Attitude Era Success

While Austin didn’t take on the opportunity to headline with Hogan, his wrestling nemesis, The Rock, did and made an iconic WrestleMania moment in hindsight.

A match between the two is impossible for a host of different reasons, prime among it being their wrestling ability. The only thing that saved Austin’s recent match at WrestleMania 38 was that Kevin Owens was his opponent. Not only did KO save it but made it special as well.

In a different universe, Austin and Hogan might have been the match of the century, but we’ll never get to see it now.

But one thing is for certain that neither man is done with wrestling. Austin, as many suspect, could make another return at WrestleMania 39. Whereas, Hogan could make more money taking the idea from Ric Flair and put on a last match PPV.

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Tell us what you think about this match-up happening in the future in the comments below.