FOR months Hulk Hogan has been telling anyone who'll listen that he wants one last wrestling match with the only superstar in history as popular as him.

Now, in an exclusive interview with SunSport Online, Stone Cold has dropped his biggest hint yet that the all-time dream bout WILL take place.

Austin quit the ring in 2003, due to a series of devastating injuries, and now enjoys a non-wrestling role in the WWE.

But the 40-year-old revealed he still has "two or three" matches left in him - and one of those could well be the bout every wrestling fan wants to see.

Austin told us: "I'd be happy to get it on with Hulk Hogan.

"I've heard what he's been saying - and that match is something that could definitely happen.

"If they can build it right, the money is right, the event is right and if the story can be told correctly then, yeah, I will fight him.

"I've never wrestled the guy before and I think it would be an important match.

"Because it would be the two biggest draws in the history of the wrestling business one-on-one for the first time ever."

Although both seem keen to work together, Austin and Hogan can hardly be considered friends outside of the wrestling ring.

They fell out in WCW, where Steve couldn't break through to a main event level dominated by Hogan and wrestling's old guard.

And, after being fired by WCW, Stone Cold took out his frustrations by impersonating the Hulkster on ECW TV and then refused a WWE match with him at WrestleMania 19.

But Steve told us any issues between the legends are in the past and won't stand in the way of what will be one of the biggest bouts of all time.

"Hogan's had great longevity and I've got a lot of respect for his career," Steve admits.

"Sometime he's run his mouth and I don't think too much of a lot of what he's had to say.

"But he's a smart man and he can see that this could be a great opportunity.

"And I know I could trust him to do it right - because if not I could drop that guy in a second!"

One match Stone Cold regrets he never had was a potential blockbuster against Bill Goldberg.

Steve was the biggest star of the WWE v WCW Monday Night Wars, revolutionising American wrestling and taking it through its hottest ever period.

Over in WCW Bill was almost as impressive, becoming one of the Atlanta company's only home-grown stars and going on an amazing 173 match winning streak.

With a similar look, style and intensity, fans would constantly debate who was better Austin or Goldberg.

A contest to settle the dispute seemed a possibility when the WWE bought a bankrupt WCW in 2001, but by the time Bill eventually turned up two years later Steve had retired.

"When Vince bought WCW out in 2001, Bill was still making guaranteed money (from his AOL/Time Warner contract) by sitting in the house," Austin told us.

"So OK, I respect the fact that he's a businessman and he made his money.

"But had he jumped to the WWE when I was running strong and going crazy - and everything was just unbelievable business wise - it could have been the biggest feud of all time.

"He could have made more working with me than sitting on his butt taking WCW's money.

"I'm not knocking what he did but no one can say WWE missed the boat and no can say I missed the boat - Bill Goldberg missed the boat."

Goldberg did spend 12 months in the WWE, from 2003-04, where he and Austin became close friends.

But Bill wasn't as successful as many people had hoped he would be - and Stone Cold firmly lays the blame for that failure firmly at his pal's door.

He said: "Bill was very one-dimensional in WCW, he had that huge winning streak and that's all fine and dandy.

"But in the WWE you can't do that.

"You have to go out there and put in the time in the ring, you've got to work at it.

"Look at John Cena right now. He's a guy who's pretty green but he's going to go out there and give you that time. His eyes and ears are open, he's listening to everything and he's trying extremely hard.

"And if you look at the way I came in here, I came in as The Ringmaster.

"I was The Ringmaster for six to eight months, knew it sucked and I needed to come up with something, so I reinvented myself.

"Bill could have reinvented himself too.

"You've got to do your homework. You don't just go out there, wrestle and beat people up - it's much more than that.

"You've got to want to learn and entertain the fans.

"And I don't think Bill Goldberg had that attitude.

"He was looking to come in for a one-year shot, make some money and then get out."

When it comes to discussing the wrestling business, Steve is one of the most insightful and unguarded stars around.

So that's why we decided to get The Rattlesnake's views on the industry's hottest topic - what will happen to the ECW brand after the success of One Night Stand.

"I loved that PPV," he raved.

"It was exactly what ECW was about - violence, calamity, bloodshed, brutality and some very interesting characters.

"I was a part of ECW for a short time and basically started honing my character there, before I came into the WWE.

"But I don't think One Night Stand will have a tremendous affect on the business, as far as like, 'oh, we'll have one every month now'.

"I think this thing happened for a reason, because it needed to happen, and I'd love to see one or two a year.

"But you don't want to prostitute it out by doing anything more than that.

"When you look at the business in the long haul, that was a great shot of adrenalin, a little burst, but you really have to tell stories through gradual transgressions.

"You can't go out there every week and hit them with everything you've got."

The passion of both the wrestlers and the fans at One Night Stand was amazing.

But were the WWE stars who'd never been through ECW - like John Bradshaw Layfield and Kurt Angle - shocked by how over guys like Sandman, who don't look like typical WWE wrestlers, were?

"There were definitely some different opinions that came out of the PPV, and people weren't so humble to describe it like you just did," he told us.

"Everybody was certainly affected by what they saw and felt.

"Because if you went to that event - and I don't care if you've wrestled for 20 years, one year or zero years - and didn't notice how into that show the crowd was then you probably don't have a pulse.

"When Paul Heyman came out and cut his shoot promo - and JBL was one of the guys in that promo - it blew the lid off the place."

He added: "A shoot promo is not when you go out there and talk about what a guy does in his personal life, it's a deal where you're basically telling it like it is but within limits.

"You're working, but you're shooting.

"There no such thing as a true shoot.

"True shoots don't draw money - they make fights in the dressing room.

"I remember a long time ago there was a deal where Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart had real heat backstage.

"A lot of people were saying: 'It's going to be a great match because these guys really don't like each other.'

"But that's wrong - because you have to co-operate to a degree in the ring.

"If it was a UFC shoot fight, or something like that, then it would have been a great match - but not in a wrestling ring."

But what of Steve's own future?

He may have just signed a three-year contract with the WWE - including making three movies for the company - but Austin has memorably walked away from the WWE on more than one occasion after arguments with Vince McMahon.

"Me and Vince are buddies right now," Austin confirms.

"In most business instances we've always seen eye-to-eye.

"But sometimes, where I thought maybe Vince was being influenced by someone else, that was when that contact broke down.

"For example, when I found out about that one deal when they wanted to beat me on Raw with Brock Lesnar in an unadvertised match.

"I said: 'I'm the guy who picked this company up from nothing and carried it for many years on my back and all of a sudden you want me to go out and do a job to this guy who's trying to get over? No, it doesn't work like that.'

"It was a bad business decision and I wasn't going to have any part of it.

"My answer was to say: 'F*** you, I'm walking out.'

"There were other things going on like that and maybe I could have handled it differently but I didn't.

"I do the things I do and maybe some people don't understand that - but they've never walked in my shoes.

"Me and Vince are very much alike - we're both headstrong individuals and very stubborn.

"But we both realise that the company is a better place - and we can make more money - when we're together than when we're apart.

"And that's the bottom line."