What If Goldberg...

[RicoLen]

You left out one very important part of my post when quoting me, the most important part from my point of view.

He was sitting at home letting Steve Austin do the work in hyping his match because he already fulfilled his contractually obligated dates except one, the last one being mania. He could have made some appearances before mania. Obviously hyping his match at the biggest show of the year (the 20th anniversary mind you) at Madison Square Garden didn’t mean much to him.

You're right. I mis-read that. I honestly couldn't tell you. At that point in time my wife just gave birth to my daughter and I was on my way back out from watching wrestling again until Bret Hart made his return. I thought he had an injured ankle? /shrug But like I said I wasn't really paying attention as much anymore by this time.

This is why I think Goldberg has no passion for the business. He made up his mind that he was done with WWE when his one year contract was up.

Is that the truth or is that your assumption? Because unless that's the truth everything else you say on the topic isn't necessarily valid.

That's fine. I have no problem with that. I would think anyone who took any pride or had any kind of passion for his work would have worked a few extra days leading up to the biggest show of the year to further hype his big match. Goldberg fulfilled his dates. He was within his rights to sit at home until mania. Congratulations for doing as little work as possible to collect your check. That's not the type of guy I want to see in WWE. Not being in that position it's easy for me to say, but I'd like to think if it were me I would say even though I fulfilled my dates I will add on a few more to help hype the biggest show of the year because it's what's best for the business and best for the fans. Goldberg only cared about what was best for Goldberg.

However I will say if you're right, and that is the truth, then you may have just won me over some. Because I agree that's kind of a sucky thing to do. My assumption however was that Lesnar was fed up with all. Basic logic would dictate that it'd be somewhere in between. Between Lesnar quitting, Goldberg quitting, the fans knowing, and subsequently not caring, that match was doomed to fail.

 

[The Brain]

Is that the truth or is that your assumption? Because unless that's the truth everything else you say on the topic isn't necessarily valid.

To be honest it's what I remember reading on this site seven years ago. You can take that for what it's worth. I know wrestling web sites aren't always the most reliable source of information. It just all fit together. I remember Goldberg was nowhere to be found between No Way Out and Mania. He then showed up for Mania and we haven't seen him in WWE since. The report made sense. If it wasn't true then I'd like to know why Goldberg wasn't on Raw in the weeks leading up to mania considering he had one of the biggest matches on the card.

I admit part of my reason for not liking Goldberg is because I was always a WWF guy and I thought Bischoff was pushing Goldberg because he looked like Austin. Bischoff had a history of that kind of thing. He got Hogan and Savage in 1994 along with several other former WWF guys. It looked like he was trying to recreate the WWF boom of the 80s. He couldn't get the Ultimate Warrior so he created a clone in the Renegade. Andre the Giant had passed away so he made Paul Wight the Giant and called him Andre's son. I thought this was just another pathetic attempt to copy a WWF success and I disliked Goldberg from the start because of it. I admit that may be unfair but I stand by that Goldberg hasn't had enough experience to justify the reputation he's been given in the wrestling world.

 

[RicoLen]

Here's the thing though, Wrath had Goldberg's gimmick first. He started out looking like a beast did amazing, but he couldn't do what Goldberg did with it. Goldberg had the presence, something a lot of people like Jericho for example just never had. Goldberg was a natural. I wish he had the drive of someone like Flair, of course then everyone would hate him because they'd say he was Hogan and holding people down and not letting them have a chance at the top, etc. You just can't win'em all.

Goldberg deserved his spot in history as one of the most over faces of the biggest company in the world at that time. No one could have done as much with so little a gimmick in so little time. That's my opinion.

I get it though, I do. I couldn't stand Austin for the longest time, I still don't care for Stone Cold that much, but after I cooled down some, hell it was forced upon me because WCW turned to crap around the middle of '99 (BTW I laughed my ass off at the finger poke of doom), I gave Austin an honest chance to do what he does best. He still didn't do much for me, but listening to interviews, shoots, and other things about the business and stories during his hay-day and opinions about other things, I found he is probably one of the wisest guys in the business, probably top 3 if not higher (as a disclaimer I might say that I'd put Kevin Nash not too far behind).

Goldberg however, he is a great guy, and his view is truly unique, because he is an outsider. He gives good insight from that perspective too that IMO is very valuable towards understanding the business. He's still kind of naive, but he believes what he's saying is true, and he's not really being malicious, he's just coming at it from a different perspective. EDIT For example, I totally agree with his opinion that pro-wrestling is a good old boys club, and that you don't get respect in any way shape or form from most everyone in the business unless you have a recognized family name or are a dedicated lifer. You can't be a casual wrestler, and that alienates a lot of possible draws, and it's like shooting themselves in the foot because of it.

It's also worth mentioning that IRL Bill & Steve are good friends and have a pretty good line of communication with each other because of their mutual respect in the business.

Point being, he (Goldberg) is naive, but he's not an arrogant ******** either, and his perspective is always worth listening to, whether you ultimately agree with him or not.