5 times WrestleMania plans went awry

#3 WrestleMania X-8

Planned match affected: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Hollywood Hulk Hogan

Stone Cold & Hulk Hogan: Never met inside a WWE ring

When WWE's business went down in 2001, WWE Chairman, Vince McMahon panicked and brought in the forty-somethings from the NWO, Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash to boost ratings and pay-per-view buys.

McMahon had hoped to promote the first-ever Hogan/Stone Cold Steve Austin match at WrestleMania X-8 as the marquee headline bout.

However, he did not reckon on the real-life enmity Austin felt towards Hogan, stemming from the Hulkster and his buddies stalling Austin's burgeoning push in WCW between 1994 and 1995.

Austin, point blank, refused to work with Hogan under any circumstances. He predicted (rightly, as it turned out) that Hogan would attempt to put himself over at his expense.

McMahon was forced to employ plan B, which was The Rock versus Hogan, at the big show instead. Hogan played face, turned the crowd against Rock and set off a domino effect which forced Rock to turn heel to salvage his wrestling career.

Austin, due to his refusal to fight Hogan, found himself mired in a mid-card bout with Scott Hall. This was the first time Stone Cold had not competed in a featured WrestleMania bout since his debut at the event in 1996, where he defeated Savio Vega.

He cost himself a massive payday by refusing the Hogan match. It was a match he turned down plenty more times over the years as well, most notably between 2005-06, after Hogan challenged him on Raw, which Austin had no forewarning of.

Rock-Hogan, as it turned out was a rewarding effort. Would Austin-Hogan have been better? That's a matter of opinion I think.