During a recent episode of his podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin was asked who he would choose to face in a match if he could travel back in time.
Steve Austin on Hulk Hogan:
"Right off jump street, if I went back to recent history, I've got to say Hulk Hogan because [he was] one of the biggest draws in the history of the [professional wrestling] business and everybody thought that match between 'Stone Cold' and Hulk Hogan should've happened a couple of years back. It never did just for whatever reason and I didn't feel like stepping back in the ring and I think Hogan was ready to go. I wasn't and so I never got a chance to wrestle the guy and it would have been fun to be in the ring with him. So I'd say Hulk Hogan right off jump street and I would say because Bruno Sammartino was so highly respected back in the day, if I could go back in time to throw another guy on the list, it'd be a guy like Bruno Sammartino.
Austin on "Superstar" Billy Graham:
"And then, a guy I would say was probably 20 years before his time was 'Superstar' Billy Graham. Now there was a guy that was kind of... he was really the first 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, but they didn't see that in him back in the day and so Bob Backlund became the champion and 'Superstar' went on his way."
Austin on Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat
"I would say Ric Flair. Ric Flair is my favorite pro wrestler in the history of the business. I think he's the greatest world champion of all time, but I actually wrestled Ric Flair. Now, he wasn't at his prime and I wasn't at my best, so the program could have been outstanding had we focused on each other and run it in a long storyline, but I got a chance to wrestle Ric Flair, so I can't put him on the list, but he's probably the best that has ever done it. And I've got to throw (Ricky 'The Dragon') Steamboat in there because I had so many great matches with Steamboat. But just to get in there with a Steamboat or the likes of a Bret 'The Hitman' Hart one more time, that would be good. But, obviously, that will never happen. Those guys went down their way and I've gone down my road."
Austin-Hogan was a possibility when Hogan returned to WWE as a member of the New World Order in 2002. However, the company booked the Hulkster in a match with The Rock instead and Austin with fellow nWo member Scott Hall.
But many believe it's a match that should have happened instead as Austin was arguably the person most responsible for carrying WWE through the Monday Night Wars and was the company's biggest star since Hogan's departure.
During the 2006 WWE Hall of Fame, Austin teased a potential match with Hogan while inducting former rival Bret "Hitman" Hart.
"I was going through my bag in the back and I couldn't find something, I lost something. I went in the back looking through my bag and I found a can of whoop ass and it had Hulk Hogan's name on it," Austin said in response to the crowd chanting "Austin-Hogan."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnYYhnfyp6I
Unfortunately, it's more of a fantasy match at this point given both legends' history with injuries.
