Hulk Hogan Eyes Retirement Match at WWE WrestleMania 40, Wants Stone Cold as Opponent

Hulk Hogan hasn't wrestled since 2012, but the WWE Hall of Famer is apparently not ruling out one final match in the squared circle.

"I've always wanted to have a retirement match, but right now, I'm not moving around the way I should be," Hogan told the MMA Hour. "So I'm going to keep working and keep training and keeping doing rehab and see where I'm at about six months from now. All I've found out in the wrestling business, brother, is you never say never."

Hogan turns 70 in August and has dealt with a number of health complications in recent years, most notably several back surgeries. Concern poured out in the wrestling community when Kurt Angle said Hogan lost all feeling in his lower body and was walking with a cane at the Monday Night Raw 30th anniversary show in January. Hogan's reps later issued a correction, saying Hogan was joking in his conversation with Angle and was doing well physically.

However, doing well for a nearly 70-year-old man is different than being healthy enough to step inside a wrestling ring—even if it's just for one match.

If Hogan does wind up feeling physically capable of hearing the bell sound one more time, he knows the exactly what he wants: a match with Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania 40.

"If I had one guy to get in there with, it'd be him," Hogan said. "... I just don't know, with all this time passing and both of us getting older and wiser, if it would even make sense. You have to be crazy to get back in there at my age, anyway. I just haven't talked to him about anything like that ever. So if he would get in the ring, he would be the guy."

Austin, 58, made a one-off return at WrestleMania 38 against Kevin Owens. It seems highly unlikely Austin, who has long been protective over his in-ring legacy, would have any interest in going toe-to-toe with a 70-year-old Hogan—no matter the box-office numbers it would do.

Moreover, it's hard to see WWE doctors clearing Hogan for any type of in-ring competition. If Hogan wants a match, he would likely have to go the Ric Flair route and promote it himself independently.

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