Did Goldberg really have it that bad in WWE?

[President Evil]

We all know the history of how Goldberg skyrocketed in WCW, and his 1 year tenure in WWE. He'll always have a place in his heart for the WCW brand because that is the company that put him on the map.

Then went to WWE for 1 year. If you follow closely his career in the WWE from start to finish, exactly how bad did he have it there? His first match was with one of the biggest names the WWE had, The Rock at Backlash 2003. Even though the Rock was leaving, he made sure that was a good enjoyable match.

Then he feuded almost immediately with Triple H and Evolution, I mean what MORE COULD YOU WANT. Its not like he was wrestling that ****** Eugene.

Then he comes World Champion for a few months.

I mean how exactly did the E drop the ball with this guy? I dont see it.

His last match was with Brock Lesnar, another huge name at the time. So he had the best career anyone could have for just being there 1 year. I think Goldberg just came back to the business for the money and oh yeah "the fans" To me he was used to collecting money at home and joined the E as soon as his checks ran out. He didnt have his heart into it from the very beginning in my view.

Every single interview Ive read or seen of him he's bashing the E and Vince.

Did he really have it that bad in WWE?

 

[wrestler36]

It must be a personal issue. Plus he wasn't surrounded by the same people as we was in WCW. I agree, for such a short WWE career, it's about as good as it gets. I just assume that his WCW experience was way different than his WWE experience backstage with the bookers, writers, etc.

 

[Rcole83]

They made a huge mistake by trying to give him personality. The man simply has none. They wanted him to have actual matches, rather than 3 minute squashes.

I suppose he just wanted to win every match quickly, never lose, and not have to share a spotlight. I wasn't happy with Goldberg's WWE run because aside from the initial win-streak in WCW, I was never really into him that much.

The time he went on Jay Leno and tried to challenge Steve Austin to a fight probably didn't help my opinion of him any.

Or maybe because he got punked out by Jericho backstage...

 

[jaceynightheat]

I thought he had it pretty well. Beat The Rock, Triple H, Brock Lesnar. I don't think he lost cleanly many times, maybe once to Kane.

 

[WWE Ice Cream Bar]

The major difference is that in WCW, they kissed his ass to the moon. In WWE, they treated him like just any other star.

In fact, it is us who should be pissed off at Goldberg. I mean I still remember that Wrestlemania match with Lesner. The only thing good about that match was the privilege of seeing Stone cold steve austin stunning Goldberg's ass out of WWE.

 

[andres torti]

I think he just wasnt in to it.I have never seen Goldberg really wrestle a long time in the ring.And when he did he wasntt really great at it.I allways watch him on WCW because in the fiew minutes he was in the ring he was explosive.With the Spear and Jackhammer,what I liked about him was his character.I loved the intensity on his face when he was fighting someone.

I do understand do that he maybe is angry about Vince because every wrestler that came from WCW was made fun of.Even on television.Like what the Rock did with the NWO..So maybe its that..

 

[Foshinzo]

People always accuse WWE of dropping the ball with Goldberg because he wasn't the top dog like he was in WCW, but the fact is that Goldberg just wasn't very good. He wasn't a good wrestler by any means, but he did okay because he was fairly athletic. Goldberg, to this day I maintain, was huge in the 90s for three main reasons: 1) WCW fans were starved for anything unaffiliated with the nWo; 2) he had an awesome ring entrance, what with the smoke and his bad-ass music; 3) he was booked properly, i.e. he didn't speak and he spent as little time in the ring as mandatory. I would dare say that DDP was better than Goldberg, and neither were even in the league of the Radicalz, as they were later called in WWE. But, Goldberg had a pretty cool look, what with the MMA gloves and the all black ring attire, and he just looked the part. So, fans fell in love with the guy; he was the anti-Hogan.

However, when Goldberg got the WWE, their fans had seen a lot of great stars come through, recently: Rock, Austin, Triple H, Kane, Angle, Jericho, Lesnar, etc., not to mention already established stars like Undertaker had become mega-stars. Now, with the influx of other stars like the Radicalz, the WCW stars that came in, and the ECW stars all vying for a place in the company, Goldberg just wasn't needed, or really even wanted, to be honest. Fans just didn't care about Goldberg that much anymore, though he still had some left to offer as far as, "dream matches," were concerned. Also, WWE already had a Goldberg; his name was Brock Lesnar. Not to mention that Brock was way better than Goldberg, IMO, Goldberg just didn't have room. He got huge in WCW because there was a giant space for someone to fill and he fit the bill just about as well as anyone could have.

The WWE tried pretty hard to use Goldberg, but all the air had been let out of his tires years before, and the fans just didn't care very much to see him, especially the WWE loyalists. If you ask me, Goldberg spent about as much time in the business as he should have, and this return is just going to be a waste of time. He has nothing new to bring to the table, that I can think of, and he's solely going to try and draw on name value alone. That's why he's not doing the E, again: his name isn't worth a lot, today. I liked Goldberg well enough, back when I rarely watched WCW, but the shine wore off on him over ten years ago, but it's not like the WWE didn't try to pawn him off, anyway.

 

[FlairFan2003]

WWE made the mistake of not pushing him like an unbeatable monster, which was his appeal in WCW. Now I thought he did well in his feud with Evolution, and his matches vs HHH & Flair were fairly good. I' not sure WWE knew what to do with him afterwards however, and Goldberg apparently did not need the money or like the travel schedule.

Still, is one year run was fairly good and he was entertaining through most of it. Goldberg essentially is "keep to himself" kinda guy and marches to a different drum.

 

[FlairFan2003]

People always accuse WWE of dropping the ball with Goldberg because he wasn't the top dog like he was in WCW, but the fact is that Goldberg just wasn't very good. He wasn't a good wrestler by any means, but he did okay because he was fairly athletic. Goldberg, to this day I maintain, was huge in the 90s for three main reasons: 1) WCW fans were starved for anything unaffiliated with the nWo; 2) he had an awesome ring entrance, what with the smoke and his bad-ass music; 3) he was booked properly, i.e. he didn't speak and he spent as little time in the ring as mandatory. I would dare say that DDP was better than Goldberg, and neither were even in the league of the Radicalz, as they were later called in WWE. But, Goldberg had a pretty cool look, what with the MMA gloves and the all black ring attire, and he just looked the part. So, fans fell in love with the guy; he was the anti-Hogan.

However, when Goldberg got the WWE, their fans had seen a lot of great stars come through, recently: Rock, Austin, Triple H, Kane, Angle, Jericho, Lesnar, etc., not to mention already established stars like Undertaker had become mega-stars. Now, with the influx of other stars like the Radicalz, the WCW stars that came in, and the ECW stars all vying for a place in the company, Goldberg just wasn't needed, or really even wanted, to be honest. Fans just didn't care about Goldberg that much anymore, though he still had some left to offer as far as, "dream matches," were concerned. Also, WWE already had a Goldberg; his name was Brock Lesnar. Not to mention that Brock was way better than Goldberg, IMO, Goldberg just didn't have room. He got huge in WCW because there was a giant space for someone to fill and he fit the bill just about as well as anyone could have.

The WWE tried pretty hard to use Goldberg, but all the air had been let out of his tires years before, and the fans just didn't care very much to see him, especially the WWE loyalists. If you ask me, Goldberg spent about as much time in the business as he should have, and this return is just going to be a waste of time. He has nothing new to bring to the table, that I can think of, and he's solely going to try and draw on name value alone. That's why he's not doing the E, again: his name isn't worth a lot, today. I liked Goldberg well enough, back when I rarely watched WCW, but the shine wore off on him over ten years ago, but it's not like the WWE didn't try to pawn him off, anyway.

Goldberg did more than OK in the 90's - he was wrestling's biggest star not named Austin from 98-00, bigger than Rock, HHH, Undertaker, Hart, Hogan, Flair, NWO, he was HUGE.

If anything WCW made the biggest mistake when they pushed him to the back burner in 99, wasting his re-match with the one guy who ended his streak (Kevin Nash) as a mid card match on a mid year PPV then never utilizing the money from a re-match with Hogan, who he beat cleanly to win the belt in the first place. Instead WCW threw DDP down our throats as champ then after all the hype of re-forming the "Real" NWO they turned Nash & Hogan face and destroyed the group. How to destroy your audience when it's huge in just a few simple steps, WCW March-Dec 1999.

As for his name, if he wanted to come back I doubt other than Austin or Rock anyone would be a bigger return. Of course Hogan & Flair have more name value but can't really wrestle anymore. In fact, Goldberg's return would be bigger than Austin today for the same reason, Stone Cold can't wrestle, your interviews, etc only have so much value when there is no in ring payoff.

If Goldberg came back and was matched vs Undertaker or Cena only an in ring return by Rock would be bigger.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

I have to agree with every other poster in here. What did Goldberg wanted anyway? Squash everybody? Including Triple H and every other hard working superstar on RAW? You can't do that when you are in the WWE. He was made to look like a monster, who doesn't loose, but he didn't like that either. He wanted the spotlight only for himshelf. Goldberg may has a problem because the WWE took his WCW character and tried to change it. He was also pissed off because he had to cut promos. His match with Brock, thank God Austin was there and gave the fans what they wanted to see for a long long time.

 

[DeathClutch]

Compared to his WCW run that sure... I guess.
After all in WCW his only losses came to Bret, Nash and Luger and that took maybe 4 years, in WWE he jobbed to HHH.... HHH.... and erm HHH, got his ass handed to him by Jericho in a backstage fight and pretty much did very little in his World HW Championship run, apart from face HHH, Batista and Henry (the latter two were still lower-mid card guys.)

In truth I liked Goldberg but he bitches to much about his time in WWE, he should sit back and think WHY did WWE job him to HHH?
Why build the guy up beating THEIR guys to LEAVE a year later and not have given ANYTHING BACK?

Goldberg comes off looking pretty ******ed for thinking WWE would have allowed him to be undefeated or at least jobbed the once, personally I've always thought WWE should of had Brock go over at MANIA 20 than Goldberg, it was obvious Goldberg wouldn't return to WWE, and Brock was 26 young had other dreams the chances of a return were high once he'd calmed down and chilled, even if it was/is for a dvd collection.

 

[Corpse_Machine]

I honestly do not care about Goldberg wrestling anymore, yeah there will never be another Goldberg and thats not necesarily a bad thing, he was incredibly hard hitting, powerful and very very careless.

He clearly wasnt treated that bad, they gave him a hell of a lot and he was huge in his WWE prime so where he gets that from i do not know, definitely a personal issue with staff or VKM.

What is he really gonna prove by returning to tv? Yeah good on him making a return and all, it will be good to see for a few weeks, but seriously he is nothing anymore and he was something before.

 

[Foshinzo]

Goldberg did more than OK in the 90's - he was wrestling's biggest star not named Austin from 98-00, bigger than Rock, HHH, Undertaker, Hart, Hogan, Flair, NWO, he was HUGE.

If anything WCW made the biggest mistake when they pushed him to the back burner in 99, wasting his re-match with the one guy who ended his streak (Kevin Nash) as a mid card match on a mid year PPV then never utilizing the money from a re-match with Hogan, who he beat cleanly to win the belt in the first place. Instead WCW threw DDP down our throats as champ then after all the hype of re-forming the "Real" NWO they turned Nash & Hogan face and destroyed the group. How to destroy your audience when it's huge in just a few simple steps, WCW March-Dec 1999.

As for his name, if he wanted to come back I doubt other than Austin or Rock anyone would be a bigger return. Of course Hogan & Flair have more name value but can't really wrestle anymore. In fact, Goldberg's return would be bigger than Austin today for the same reason, Stone Cold can't wrestle, your interviews, etc only have so much value when there is no in ring payoff.

If Goldberg came back and was matched vs Undertaker or Cena only an in ring return by Rock would be bigger.

I think someone is drinking the nostalgia Kool-Aid. Look: there's no question that Goldberg was popular; I understated it, but it's a fact and you're right about it. Also, you're right that you can't understate how much WCW dropped the ball on Goldberg, but they dropped the ball on everything they did.

But, are you seriously saying that his return would garner that much interest in 2011? The fact that you say Hogan still has name value in 2011 shows me that you're giving these people way too much credit. The idea of Hogan and Flair still trying to get in the ring makes me want to just sit and cry for these men, because at some point they're going to take a bad bump and get seriously hurt for our entertainment. You're right that at one point, they could put tens of thousands of people in the building. But, do you think kids today give a single shit about Goldberg, or even Hogan, for that matter?

I'm a grown man with a teenager who loves wrestling as much as I do, and he barely even knows who Goldberg is, only because of the WCW DVDs I've bought. He's been away for too long, he became lame within a year or two of becoming relevant, and he's a one trick pony. Are you seriously going to tell me that you'd pay $45 for a PPV just because Goldberg is on it? I think just as many people would avoid the PPV if Goldberg was on it than would tune in. If Goldberg showed up on Raw Monday, I'd say, "Great, now he's back to steal attention away from a young guy just so he can put on a couple more shitty matches." Seriously, I know I'm getting kind of worked up about this, but Goldberg sucked, man. I'm telling myself that you're just a TNA who's being defensive, but to say Goldberg would outshine Austin? That is some seriously bad logic. Austin outshines Cena, for Christ's sake, let alone some washed up douche from the late 90s who hasn't been relevant in almost ten years. There's a reason older fans are dying for Austin to work a dream match with Punk, still. I defy you to tell me one dream match that Goldberg has left. Undertaker? That's just ridiculous. Goldberg isn't/wasn't/will never be in Taker's league. Goldberg v Cena...that's a terrible, terrible idea. I've come around a lot to Cena, recently, and I say that Goldberg will never be in Cena's league, even. If you want to sit and watch Cena carry a crappy performer, just let him feud with Mason Ryan when he comes back. At least Ryan would get a rub, from it. Goldberg drew a lot of money, sure, but WCW fans were notoriously gullible and stupid; they stuck by WCW, for God's sake. That alone should tell you how dumb WCW fans could be.

Goldberg has nostalgic value and nothing else. He wasn't good then, he'll be even worse now, and it's just another waste of time and money to bring him back. I mean, if you base your opinion solely on the fact that he made money, then you might as well start saying that Avatar is the greatest movie ever made, because it drew way more than Citizen Kane ever did.

I'm really sorry to be so accusatory and mean about this, because I know I'm going to get negative rep and probably some hateful PMs about this, but Goldberg sucked/s and you giving him so much credit just really gets to me.

 

[xxxdaniel_ariesxxx]

Goldberg's Biggest fan is Bill Goldberg. I understand if he didn't like the travel, I'm sure it was brutal, but like many people have said, what more did the guy want? every big name in the company, with the exception of Undertaker (who was never on RAW during that time) and Austin (who was retired by the time he bothered to show up, so that shouldn't really count), put him over clean. he ended Triple H's nearly year long run with the World Heavyweight Championship. and when he finally did lose the title it took his two opponents, plus all three members of Evolution to take it from him.

Goldberg believed his own hype from WCW and from all that I've seen, still does. I think the only thing that would have made Goldberg happy would to have won the world title in his first match, and then never lose it while winning all of his matches in under two minutes, because "that's what the Goldberg character would do"... in his mind he should probably still be world champion to this day, some 8 years later.

 

[brochester8]

I have to agree his career in WWE was great. I mean WWE wasn't gonna make him out to go undefeated like he did in WCW for so long. He had great feuds with Rock, HHH, Lesnar and others before leaving. He even held the world title so I don't think theres anything he should be complaining about.

 

[hbkmark]

Honestly you could say that Goldberg's matches in WWE were BETTER than those in WCW. Call me ridiculous but the possibility that a guy could lose is much more compelling than knowing that at the most he might take three or four punches and then explode for a spear...lift a guy up drop him and have it all be over.

WCW as a company carried Goldberg to his success by having established guys sacrifice themselves (usually those guys are allowed to get some of their moves in before losing) but they simply had to lay down. WWE had wrestlers carry Goldberg by making him actually wrestle and, unbelievably, tell somewhat of a story other than 'GOLDBERG IS GREAT THE REST OF US ARE JUST VICTIMS'

I have nothing against the guy because he saw a great situation and then marketed himself really well from there. I look at it this way. There are people who were Goldberg fans who hate Cena in the ring. Cena is a hybrid of Bret Hart and Scott Hall (in his heyday) compared to Goldberg.

 

[holdingholder]

What?!? Are some of you guys crazy? Goldberg was booked as an unbeatable monster in WWE. He NEVER lost a match cleanly and in fact only lost 3 matches in his whole WWE career. Well I guess you can count that 3 on1 match against Evolution minus Ric Flair as a clean pin (after he took all of their finishers). Thats his problem, how can you have a wrestler who's booked so that no one can compete with him? It's ridiculous.

 

[Eyebrows]

I don't know how Goldberg could complain about his WWE run. He was pretty much given the role as the most over babyface on the Raw brand at the end of 2003, (with the exception of Michaels and an inactive Austin) and feuded, in fact went over, the top heel group in the company.

So I'm guessing that it's simply that he didn't feel like he was catered to or pampered enough backstage

 

[BigLeoDGreat74]

Goldberg is a cool guy in person and he is an awesome specimen but truth be told he just wasn't a credible wrestler. His intensity made him who he was. It was evident at Wrestlemania 20 when even Brock Lesnar(who is by the way talented and intense) had to waterdown his moves just to keep from totally owning Goldberg. I can understand that he has a smashmouth style but the writing and the talent he worked with got him over. Yes he has had memorable matches in WCW but in the WWE he just couldn't do it none stick out to me. I'm a fan of his but not enough to support his constant insults of vince and the WWE. He needs to be glad that Vince kept him relevant and say thank you.

 

[jaceynightheat]

truth be told he just wasn't a credible wrestler. His intensity made him who he was.

I'm not sure what a credible professional wrestler is suppose to be. I thought it was suppose to be someone who brought in money, which Goldberg did. He's memorable, which is important.

People need to stop acting like Pro Wrestling is a legit sport. There are vampires, clowns, people that do 87987 flips. Not sure how someone doing a crazy flip is suppose to be more credible than someone Goldberg's size tackling you.

I still think the WWE used Goldberg really well. The only thing they missed out on was Goldberg versus The Undertaker, especially at a Wrestlemania. That's the only thing they really missed out on in my view.