Stipe was an irrelevant old man by the time he fought Jon. Even in his prime nobody ever really bought that Stipe was actually the HW GOAT, and he was never a big star. Late 2024 Jon/Tom had become literally the most anticipated possible fight in the sport.
Also this "Tom only has hype because of Jon" stuff, while true to a degree (i'd say he also has hype because hes been destroying everyone in the first round) is kind of unfair because thats how most stars get made, including Jon himself, who got to fight multiple older more established names to build up his own name.