Long before “Stone Cold” Steve Austin became the biggest star in the wrestling business, he had a wild idea for getting himself into Hulk Hogan’s orbit in WCW.
During a conversation with Inside the Ropes, Eric Bischoff revealed that Austin approached him backstage at Center Stage in Atlanta shortly after Hogan arrived in WCW. Austin wanted to become Hogan’s storyline little brother, team with him and eventually turn against him.
Bischoff explained that this happened before Monday Nitro existed, when WCW Saturday Night was still the company’s flagship television show. He also wasn’t running creative at the time, so all he could do was pass the pitch along.
“I remember Steve coming up to me one night, and this was before I was the head of creative, or the booker as it’s referred to sometimes. We were still taping shows at the Center Stage Theater in downtown Atlanta for our WCW Saturday Night show, which at that time—this was before Nitro—was kind of our flagship show.”
“Steve Austin came up to me, and this was right after Hulk Hogan got there, and said, ‘Eric, I’ve got this great idea. I’m going to be Hulk Hogan’s little brother. We can be a tag team, and then I’ll turn on him,’ or something like that.”
“I went, ‘Wow.’ But I wasn’t the head of creative at the time. I said, ‘Well, let me pass that on and we’ll see where that goes.’”
Bischoff knew right away that Austin’s idea faced one massive problem. Hogan preferred working with wrestlers he already trusted, which was a major reason Ric Flair played such an important role in bringing him to WCW.
Hogan knew Flair would take care of him inside the ring and make him look like a star. Austin did not have that relationship with Hogan, and Bischoff didn’t believe Hogan would get into a major program with him anytime soon.
“I knew in my mind, because one of the things when Hulk Hogan came in—you mentioned Ric Flair, and as I talked about—Hulk was very big on working with people that he trusted.”
“One of the reasons Ric Flair was so instrumental in allowing us to bring Hulk Hogan in is that Hulk Hogan really trusted Ric Flair inside the ring. He really knew that once that bell rang, Ric Flair would do everything in his ability—which was a lot—to make Hulk Hogan look great.”
“Hulk didn’t know Steve Austin. There was no way Hulk was going to get into the ring with Steve Austin anytime in the immediate future.”
Bischoff passed the idea along but couldn’t remember whether Dusty Rhodes or Ric Flair was handling the booking. Instead of getting the Hogan storyline he wanted, Austin was booked to lose the United States Championship to Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Bischoff believes that decision may have been the final straw for Austin during his WCW run.
“Steve Austin pitches the idea to me. I took it to whoever I took it to. I think it might have been Dusty, or whoever it was.”
“Dusty or Ric decided, ‘Oh, we’re going to have Steve Austin lose to Hacksaw Jim Duggan.’ That was probably the tipping point for Steve Austin.”
Austin never became Hogan’s little brother, and WCW never gave him the major Hogan program he was chasing. He eventually left the company, reinvented himself and became a bigger star than anyone in WCW could have imagined at the time.
Would the Hulk Hogan little-brother storyline have launched Steve Austin into superstardom sooner, or was the idea doomed from the start? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comment section below.
