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Why did Hogan job to The Rock, but not Austin?

41K views 172 replies 89 participants last post by  Clique 
#1 ·
It should've been the biggest finale to the biggest era. My understanding is that neither would do the job. But Hogan accepts doing it against The Rock, a smaller star. When I watched that PPV, it felt wrong from the minute Austin faced Hall earlier on the card. The only thing that would've compared would've been Austin/Goldberg.
 
#101 ·
I like it. There is a donnybrook going on in here so I gotta jump in. I'll just offer my 2 cents worth on several points raised in this thread instead of trying to copy and paste a million quotes to reply to.

1) On who was to job - Hogan has consistently stated in interviews that he had no problem with doing the job to Austin. Hogan saw a big paycheck for everyone involved no matter what the ending, and was motivated by dollars alone.

Austin, at this time, was developing a job refusal attitude that as has been pointed out included Brock Lesnar (whom Hogan did the free TV clean job to), so I could easily believe that Austin would refuse to job to Hogan, though I don't have any proof that this did happen. Actually, I don't think deciding who was going to do the job had anything to do with this match not taking place.

* For those that believe using "job" here is not appropriate, the IWC has forced the definition of "job" to be equal to getting pinned or submitting in a scripted match. I am 100% guilty of this sin, so it is what it is.

2) Vince's decision - From what I have read in the past it was Vince's decision to go with Hogan vs Rock, and that this was his first choice as the Rock was the future of business. This match would finally be a legit passing of the torch from Hogan to the next big thing whereas the previous attempt with the Ultimate Warrior didn't pan out.

And you certainly cannot fault Vince here as the match was one of those rare atmospheres for wrestling. In my opinion, and like The Body I call it like I see it, Rock vs Hogan was a top 5 Hogan match in his legendary career. It had an atmosphere only matched by Hogan vs Iron Sheik (the world changed that day), Hogan vs Andre (ratings spikes never matched before or since), and Hogan vs Ultimate Warrior (biggest face vs face match up to that point, and maybe ever).

3) Crowd favoring Hogan - I do believe that Austin feared this. Rock handled it well, and even played to it a bit during the match, but I don't think Austin wanted to deal with that kind of thing. To have the crowd boo you despite being the face would be a shocker to anyone in that position.

4) Bigger star - Rock was bigger than Austin at this time. Austin was having a souring relation with management, and his morale was lower. You could tell just by looking at him. Rock was peaking. Hogan was also having his last great run IMO. I consider him retired after this run in WWF/E ended.

5) Styles clash - I do agree that Hogan vs Austin did not make for a great styles match up. Austin was a fast paced brawler supplemented with some power moves. Hogan was a methodical brawler and power moves wrestler. Rock was similar, but with more emphasis on power moves and the occasional shaprshooter.

6) Payment for jobbing to The Rock - Yes, the Undisputed title run was part of the payment for Hogan to job to Rock clean, but also keep in mind that Hogan got paid in advance with a clean pin on Rock in a tag match prior to the WM match. Hogan also returned the favor to Triple H after he lost the title to the Undertaker.

The tag match mentioned above was also the closest we ever got to Hogan vs Austin. Hogan, Hall & Nash vs The Rock and Steve Austin doesn't get the recognition it deserves IMO as one of the most important tag matches of all time. The original nWo that was so legendary vs the two guys who broke some of Hogan's records. This is the only match in history that involved all three guys recognized as being on professional wrestling's Mount Rushmore (the fourth place being an eternal IWC debate).

 
#108 ·
I like it. There is a donnybrook going on in here so I gotta jump in. I'll just offer my 2 cents worth on several points raised in this thread instead of trying to copy and paste a million quotes to reply to.

6) Payment for jobbing to The Rock - Yes, the Undisputed title run was part of the payment for Hogan to job to Rock clean, but also keep in mind that Hogan got paid in advance with a clean pin on Rock in a tag match prior to the WM match. Hogan also returned the favor to Triple H after he lost the title to the Undertaker.
I dispute that Hogan agreed to job to Rock in part to get the Undisputed title. The title was suppose to be HHH's ever since he went on the shelf. He was going to be turned babyface for SummerSlam 2001 and go against heel Austin as the original plan to the end of the 2 Man Power Trip angle. The biggest reason for the title change was that Jericho/HHH was seen as a flop and that Hogan got a better reaction to HHH. The nWo heat had dissipated as well and to get money's worth out of the nWo deal capitalizing on Hogan's newfound popularity was to get the belt on Hogan as soon as possible although I think it also burned him out too quick.

There was a reason why the title became a hot potato until it was settled on Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam. HHH flopped as a babyface and he was turned back babyface with his feud with HBK because of it. The Undisputed title was never going to be unified for long. Notice once HHH was re-established in his best role as heel he kept a world title with dominance although part of it was to also give the belt credibility.
 
#144 ·
To chime into this Hogan-Rock-Stone Cold thing at Wrestlemania X8:

I don't believe the rumor that the original plan was Stone Cold vs Hulk Hogan. I've read Stone Cold's biography released in 2004, and he mentions nothing about that. He talks in depth about his marriages, his stimulant-overdosing, his refusal to lose to Lesnar, and his children, etc.

Why would he not mention anything about refusing to wrestle Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania X8? Because it never happened. There was never a plan for him to fight Hogan at 'Mania X8. It is a myth.

The Rock fighting Hogan made more sense. Rock was younger,at 29 years old, so that provided a "pass-the-torch" moment. Their styles mixed together - Hollywood Hulk Hogan versus Hollywood Rock. Rock's character also allowed Hogan to turn face at the end, with the two shaking hands. With Stone Cold, that moment would have been awkward because of Austin's "Don't Trust Anyone" persona.

Rock was the 1st choice and rightfully so.
 
#148 ·
Another BS rumor that was created by Austin marks, and appearently they started to beileve it themselves.




"Going into WM 18, I really thought I was starting lose a little bit of my momentum, and...I didn't like the creative direction where going. NWO had come in, and all the sudden heading to mania, and it's "Rock vs Hogan"...well that's the big match, that's the main event. SCSA was gonna work with Scott Hall, and with all due respect and props to him, but you know...Hogan was the guy that I needed to work with, not scott hall"

-Stone Cold Steve Austin



You can check his DVD...
 
#145 ·
Austin said himself he was never approached to face Hogan at WM x8. So i dont think it has anything to do with them not agreeing on the finish and egos and all that. Austin was never asked by Vince. He said so himself. Simple as that. Rock in 2002 was more over than Austin and by then was the MAN so i guess business wise it just made more sense. We know Vince is all about the business and gives a fuck about dream matches. He is about th match thats the biggest draw and i guess to him Rock v Hogan > Austin v Hogan since Rock was by that time bigger than Austin.
 
#23 ·
It is threads like this that starts rumors for nothing when it comes to bad talking Hogan.
Hogan got all the blame blah blah blah

I've seen an interview with Hogan, where he publicly asked who was going to do the job between them if the match ever took place. Hogan clearly stated he had no problem and doing the job. As far as being jealous, of Steve having problem doing the job. Just look at his 2002 run, he basically put over the whole main roster.
I think this interview was from 2003. Hogan also clearly stated he had strong interest in working with Steve. and as Jim Ross and many confirm about Hogan, it that he is firstand foremost a fan of the business, so I cant see how he does not want this match to happen if it is done correctly, (like the Rock Hogan match etc).

But Steve on the other hand is a stubborn (As he often claims himslef) and insecure (as many have confimred like Russo etc) somehow was still pissed beacuse Hogan didnt want to do an angle with him in WCW and felt Hogan might pull something.


Back in 2002-2005 I was strongly hoping for a Austin-Hogan match to happen and followed internet very closely. Despite Hogans background, Steve has his too, and for this match not to happen I totaly blame Asutin.
 
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#41 ·
I don't think Hacksaw was booked to squash Austin. Hacksaw was supposed to beat him and win the title. According to Hacksaw, like a minute into the match Austin told Hacksaw that he was injured and they had to go home and end the match immediately, so Hacksaw pinned him.....and that's why it was a "squash".

Not sure Hacksaw would have any reason to make that up, so it sounds believable.
 
#36 ·
Yes Dwayne "The Cock" Johnson is and was bigger
 
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#39 · (Edited)
From the interviews i've heard and seen Austin pretty much despised Hogan for the way Hulk and his clique treated him in WcW (like absolute shit) so he never wanted to give Hollywood any kind of meaningful rub, didn't want to participate in any bigger angles between him and Hogan and sure as hell didn't want to give Hogan the kind of exposure that kind of match would give. Not to mention Hogan was super jealous at Austin and didn't want to job to him.

So they put Dwayne instead.
 
#40 ·
I fucking hate Terry Hogan so i am with Austin on this one.
 
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#42 ·
Because Rock > Austin. Deal with it. :Rock
 
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#68 · (Edited)
It should've been the biggest finale to the biggest era. My understanding is that neither would do the job. But Hogan accepts doing it against The Rock, a smaller star. When I watched that PPV, it felt wrong from the minute Austin faced Hall earlier on the card. The only thing that would've compared would've been Austin/Goldberg.
Um, As SCSA would most likely say himself, What?
Yup, the most over wrestler in wrestling at the time who got paid a record hollywood debut acting check for a spinoff featuring a character that was featured in a blockbuster the year before was surely a "smaller" star. This "smaller star" had record saturday night live ratings in early 2000 and a top 40 hit with a huge hip hop star in the same year. This "smaller star" was about to star in a huge movie that would go on to break the APril 2002 monthly opening weekend record, and this star was already receiving the biggest mainstream treatment outside of wrestling since the legend he was facing.

Can you Austin fans just stop it? Why can't ya'll just except that the Rock was as big as Austin in his own way, even when there's overwhelming amounts of evidence provided EVERY SINGLE TIME SOMEONE BRING IT UP. Quit the myths.

97-Summer 99 - All Austin, Summer-99 - Fall 99 till Austin left Rock was garnering bigger reactions (don't believe me I'll post the links there's more than enough evidence of this it's just ignored by Austin fans. Here's one: Search "night after no mercy 99 on youtube. See who gets more support, even Lawler has to mention it) 99-2000; All Rock obviously until Austin comes back and is missed by Fans therefore garnering "slightly" bigger pops in late 2000. 2000-2001 before invasion Era - Both. 2001-2003 - It's clear that the WWE is prepping Rock to take over as the face of the company. Austin walks out cause he doesn't job to people. Vince is lucky he has another "number one guy" in the rock. Cena walks out on the company, the wwe right now is ****ED, ,PERIOD. Austin and Rock are 1a and 1b for their overall respective times in their ERA.

In regard to the question:
I've read that Austin and Hogan didn't respect each other, and I read that it was already gonna be Rock vs Hogan. I don't think we'll ever truly know.

What I do know is that while yea i guess people try to "overplay" the rock's stardom, but IMO more people downplay. It's baffling to me and it doesn't make any sense.

Does anyone care to explain why this happens?
I'm serious btw, i would like for someone to answer this question in a non-bias manner too. Cause as a longtime pro wrestling fan it really doesn't make any sense at all.
 
#78 ·
Lot of misinformation here.

Hogan vs Austin was the originally slated match. Hogan and Austin couldn't agree how the match would flow (the match itself, not the outcome; Hogan had agreed to lose clean to either of them) so it got nixed and Rock stepped in and faced Hogan. Now, whether or not Austin's issues with Hogan stemmed back to WCW (Austin and Hogan were not even in WCW for a year together, never read anything credible that they had a beef there) or the ideas of the actual match itself (Hogan getting to Hulk up, showboat, hit the legdrop, etc). It was a good thing, because it led to a better match than Austin and Hogan would of been, because The Rock is far superior to selling moves than Austin and did a great job working a proper pace for the almost 50 year old (at that point) Hogan, and it worked out great. Austin was easily capable of being just a big of an asshole when it came to "not wanting to lose or look bad" as Hogan was, and in the early 2000's, Hogan was more willing to job at that point than Austin. Steve was ripshit he had to lose the belt to Jericho at No Way Out that year.

Hogan/Rock was far better than Hogan/Austin had any chance of being.
 
#82 ·
Lot of misinformation here.

Hogan vs Austin was the originally slated match. Hogan and Austin couldn't agree how the match would flow (the match itself, not the outcome; Hogan had agreed to lose clean to either of them) so it got nixed and Rock stepped in and faced Hogan.

Do any of you people even care about facts? Steve was never the first choice to face Hulk, that is a indisputable fact. Steve was arranged to lose the undisputed title to Hunter at Wrestlemania x8 but turned it down then was slated to lose to Hall until he got the finish changed the day of Mania. Steve has said in many candid interviews he was only offered Hulk once he retired for a couple of years then turned it down.

People blow this whole "beef" they had way out of proportion. Hulk debuted in WCW July 94 while Steve left early 95, that means they spent less than 1 year together in WCW so how could Hulk bury him? Hulk did turn down an idea for Steve to be his step brother and thats probably why Steve made fun of Hulk in ECW but Steve has said many times he wanted to work with Hulk.
 
#135 ·
The Rock was on Austin's level in 2002 however Austin still was the bigger icon/legend at that point. Austin had spent more time on top and had the bigger legacy. The Rock had less than 2 yrs at the main event level (a few months in '98, ditto in '99, all of 2000 and parts of '01) while Austin had about 3 yrs as top dog ('98, '99, and '01).

I watched religiously back then and there was no way in hell that The Rock was a bigger icon than Austin then. Vast majority of the fans wanted Austin vs. Hogan. Nobody really talked about Rock vs. Hogan as their dream match. He may be equals now but not 11yrs ago.
 
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#136 ·
I agree with what you said.. that even though they were unquestionably the two pillars the WWE was built on and was on the same level.. Austin was just a bit ahead of the great one

to this day, in the ring, Stone Cold Steve Austin is BIGGER, yes as big a mark of The Brahma Bull I may be and he is my favorite all-time, admittedly.. in the WWEverse.. The Rattlesnake is bigger than The Rock

here's the main difference imnho..

Stone Cold Steve Austin is the greatest wrestler of our generation.. the biggest ICON imnho..

The Rock? I don't even see a wrestler anymore.. he has truly transcended the business and when anyone sees him? They do not think "oh wrestler!" .. they see a movie star

that's the difference

Austin is still in a wrestling light..

a different light shines on Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson
 
#150 ·
all the ppl posting above..
go check ur facts..especially the so claimed know it all rock s the best in the world ppl
it was actually austin vs hogan
but austin refused to job to hogan in the future and was unhappy with the booking of his character and hogan..as usual..dint wanna job to austin
 
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#15 · (Edited)
Not really. Basically after 2000 when Rock got big he and Austin were on the same level.

I'm not buying the whole "Hogan was jealous of Austin" thing. If he was so jealous of Austin, why did he decide to work a match with The Rock, who was the biggest star along with Austin in the Attitude Era? Like I said, it could be that Austin and Hogan had no interest in working with one another. It all worked out for the best since we got to see Rock vs Hogan.
There's a lot of stories out there. Although there are 2 stories that stick out the most:

1. Austin and Hogan didn't want to job to each other. They didn't like each other, couldn't decide on an ending, and they decided to go with Hogan vs. Rock.

2. Hogan vs. Rock was planned all along. The only reason Hogan decided to job to Rock was because he would get a face turn and an undisputed championship run later.

I'm inclined to believe the 2nd one. Since I'm pretty sure I've read/heard somewhere that Austin said he never got an offer to have match with Hogan until after he retired.
 
#5 ·
Probably a similar reason to why Austin refused to job to Brock Lesnar. Or maybe Hogan just didn't respect Austin enough to do the job.
 
#7 ·
It was probably about the Hulkster and Austin not being a fan of one another. I doubt Hogan would have been in any position to tell Vince whether he wants to do the job or not. The Rock wanted to wrestle Hogan whether he lost or won the match because he idolized Hogan as a kid growing up. I guess Austin just didn't really care to wrestle against Hogan as much as The Rock did.

It would have been great to see Stone Cold vs Hulk Hogan but at least we got to see The Rock vs Hogan which will go down as one of the most biggest WrestleMania matches of all time when you take crowd atmosphere and the build-up into account.
 
#9 ·
Everything I have read suggests Hogan was willing to job to Austin. But Steve hadn't forgotten how he was treated in WCW once Hulk and his clique arrived.

Terry Bollea put himself over despite losing. How? By going in as cool heel in the post-attitude era meant he could get more support than the babyface. Furthermore, he turned face at the end of the match.

Steve probably didn't want a part in his politics.
 
#11 ·
this.

I would assume that Hogan said that he would only do the match if he went over, and Austin refused because Hogan told Vince that he refused to lose to Austin. (wow I hope that made sense)

I'm not sure if the Rock agreed or not, but I guess since Austin was 100% out of the question, it was either Rock or nothing.
 
#12 ·
I was just talking to a friend about this the other day, he said Austin was never asked to face Hogan at Wrestlemania X8 and that it was always suppose to be Rock against Hulk. He said that its just a rumor spread by Austin fans, he even gave me like five links to interviews Austin did were he said he was only offered matches with Hulk once he retired then turned them all down.

I guess at the time Rocky had Scorpion King coming out just one moth after Mania and Vince used Rocky to do a lot of cross promotion for Mania and that movie. By 2002 Rock was a massive mainstream powerhouse and had already been top man of WWF for over 2 years at that point. Hulk has said many times he wanted a match with Austin and that he didnt care who won but Austin always turned it down, dont you guys remember in 2005 when Hulk even called him out on Raw?
 
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