Is Bill Goldberg vastly overrated

[wushady]

Yes he is probably the most overrated wrestler ever. He was horrible in the ring and on the mic. He was interesting when he first came out because he was exciting and something new. NWO was getting stale about that time so his storyline got attention, but it quickly got old as well.

His winning streak was a joke it would go up by ten or more wins every week. When he did wrestle he squashed low card nobody's. His ego I think was his biggest problem, and most of the fans were sick of him and booed the hell out of him. Because he never earned his success he was handed everything he got.

 

[thepalaceprince]

Goldberg was absolutely overrated the only reason he was pushed was because he looked similar to stone cold. All goldberg did was beat up on jobbers every week to rack some bullshit winning streak. he can beat on his chest and put on horrible matches with lesnar but he wont ever deserve the level of praise and respect hes given

 

[pgerasucks]

Goldberg WAS a stone cold ripoff. Remember, it was Eric Bischoff who told Austin he can't market a wrestler in black tights...lo and behold, one short stint in ECW and a bad ringmaster gimmick later, Vince Mcmahon struck gold with Stone Cold Steve Austin. What does Bischoff do? Finds a guy with minimal training, who wears black trunks, and is bald with a goatee. If that isn't an Austin ripoff, what is? Bischoff can't market a wrestler in black, Austin gets REAL famous, and suddenly Bischoff can market a wrestler in black, and you expect anyone to believe that it wasn't because of Austin? bullshit.

dude thats probably the stupidest thing ive ever heard just because golberg was similar looking to austin does not mean he is a ripoff of him and what are you talking about easy e couldnt push a guy that wore black tights,hogan wore black tights for god sakes if i was to go through all the footage of wcw i would be able to point out hundreds of wrestlers who wore black tights......and as for him being over rated i would say no he may not have had the best wrestling mat skills but he was a good pro wrestler he did exactly what his gimmick was all about and he made it look real he was one of wcws top stars of his time and to call him over rated would be like calling the rock over rated.not saying they were anything alike but they were both top stars of there companys during there time with them, if anybody is overated its cena

 

[Chrome]

Hell no he wasn't over rated.

Whats over rated are WCW haters that never lived the Goldberg Era that SAY he was over rated. The same folks that claim WWE 4 life, but never knew anything about WCW.

Goldberg had good matches, he could wrestler, he was intense, He was an Impact Player. He character was one of the best characters that has ever been built up.

Back then WCW was breaking a lot of new ground with the way they built up Sting (crow), DDP, Goldberg, Wraith, Booker T, Chris Beniot, Dean Malenko, The Giant, hell even Chris Jericho was built up to be the most unstoppable cruiserwieght as he beat everyone in the division at the time. (people still critize WCW for him too)


Goldberg was a unique wrestler, and his Spear was killer! He always showed IMPACT, all other wrestlers just bastardize the spear now.. look at old clips of him and see his spears in comparison to others.

Goldberg was the man!

What ruined him was Russo and Sullivan ending the streak, and stupid story lines.

 

[Supernova]

He's underrated if anything. People lie to bitch about how he "couldn't work" etc and that his streak was "bullshit" but at the end of the day the guy was just behind Austin in terms of being a star in the business and he deserves more respect than he gets.

 

[Reddannihilation]

Goldberg WAS a stone cold ripoff. Remember, it was Eric Bischoff who told Austin he can't market a wrestler in black tights...lo and behold, one short stint in ECW and a bad ringmaster gimmick later, Vince Mcmahon struck gold with Stone Cold Steve Austin. What does Bischoff do? Finds a guy with minimal training, who wears black trunks, and is bald with a goatee. If that isn't an Austin ripoff, what is? Bischoff can't market a wrestler in black, Austin gets REAL famous, and suddenly Bischoff can market a wrestler in black, and you expect anyone to believe that it wasn't because of Austin? bullshit.

So according to you, the only bald person to wear black trunks was Steve Austin? Ok.

Lets run down the similarities between Austin and Goldberg;
both are bald, along with about a thousand other wrestlers.
both wore black, along with about a thousand other wrestlers.

Austin was a redneck, a rule breaker and a brawler, Goldberg was a monster, he dominated and destroyed most of his opponents, neither of them had similar movesets, their characters were nothing alike, so aside from some minor physical similarites that they shared with hundereds of other people in the world, what was similar about the two?

 

[CobraVenom]

Goldberg WAS a stone cold ripoff. Remember, it was Eric Bischoff who told Austin he can't market a wrestler in black tights...lo and behold, one short stint in ECW and a bad ringmaster gimmick later, Vince Mcmahon struck gold with Stone Cold Steve Austin. What does Bischoff do? Finds a guy with minimal training, who wears black trunks, and is bald with a goatee. If that isn't an Austin ripoff, what is? Bischoff can't market a wrestler in black, Austin gets REAL famous, and suddenly Bischoff can market a wrestler in black, and you expect anyone to believe that it wasn't because of Austin? bullshit.

I'm bald with a goatee. Can I be a Stone Cold ripoff? By your theory, I can. Yay! Dude, you couldn't be further from the truth. I used to think like you do, but then I opened my eyes. Goldberg and Steve are as different as night and day. Their personalities couldn't be more of a polar opposite to each other. I'm sorry you don't see it. If you want proof, go ahead and pop in some DVDs and eat the crow, baby! Eat it!

 

[Cookie14]

Goldberg has always been over rated to me. His move set was poor, he was awful on the mic, he was always likely to injure himself or someone else.

His run in WCW was great, no doubt about that. But anyone could have been given that run. The only reason so many people make such a big deal out of his streak is because it took up such a long part of his carreer. He didn't have time to do a lot else, nor did it seem like he wanted to do much more.

He could have been brilliant, he just needed to try harder to improve, both on the mic and in the ring. Unfortunatley, his ego and lack of passion for wrestling prevented this from happening

 

[JoeyDice420]

Goldberg was a decent performer,he wasn't the best,wasn't the worst.His match with Triple H at unforgiven 03' was probly his best match in Wwe.Is he over rated? Yes,i've always thought so,ever since he ended Bret's in ring career,I just couldn't accept him,i kno its wasn't intentionally what he did to bret,plus being in Wcw, i just couldn't take him to serious.But yes,i agree he is over rated.But look at Cena,is he OVER rated? More or less,but cena has a following,just like goldberg did,only thing is cena has passion/love for the buisness.

 

[Nova Secura]

I have to agree with cobra venom, they were entirely different i don't ever remember goldberg going round with kegs of bear and stone cold stunning everyone in site. I also do not remeber Goldberg being anywere near as good as austin was on the mike and in the ring. Austin was a god in the attitude era and anyone who likes wrestling and was around in the attitude era would agree that goldberg was and never will be the star austin is.

 

[Phenomenal]

Goldberg was a legend, bigger than the wrestling business in his time. No wrestler EVER has made the crowd go wild the way he did when wrestling. The crowd used to explode every time he hit the spear. So no, he wasnt over-rated.

Too bad he ruined his legacy by going to WWE.

 

[Davi323]

Other wrestlers have worn black...but prior to Steve Austin, Eric Bischoff claimed he couldn't market a wrestler in black...after Austin, suddenly he could. Hulk Hogan's NWO turn where he wore black? Yeah that was AFTER Steve Austin came to the WWE. I am not talking about their in ring style, I am talking about the fact that without Austin, Goldberg doesn't exist. Goldberg was a direct reaction to Austin. His image mimicked Austin. I never said their wrestling styles were identical...but the timing of Bill Goldberg's rise is what makes it suspect. When you have a guy who debuts after someone becomes a bonefide superstar, wears the same color trunks, wears his hair (or lack thereof) the same way, has the same facial hair as that superstar, you can't tell me that his gimmick wasn't greatly influenced by that superstar. If someone new debuted with a bleached blond handlebar mustache, and black stubble around his jaw line, and decided to wear red and yellow tights and a bandana around his balding head, he would be a Hulk Hogan ripoff, regardless of different ring styles. Before Stone Cold, WCW didn't have anyone that looked like him. After Stone Cold's rise to success in the WWF, WCW debuts a guy that looks like him, but, its just coincidence? What a joke. And the Macho Warrior Ric Hogan in the USWA was an original character too.

 

[Reddannihilation]

Other wrestlers have worn black...but prior to Steve Austin, Eric Bischoff claimed he couldn't market a wrestler in black...after Austin, suddenly he could.

Ummm? How much do you actually know about Austin in WCW? Bischoff considered him unmarketable at his time as Stunning Steve he wasn't exactly great, but beyond that Steve Austin was not the first person to wear plain black trunks and he wasn't the first person in WCW to wear them either so that point is immediately nullified.

Hulk Hogan's NWO turn where he wore black? Yeah that was AFTER Steve Austin came to the WWE.

Because as we all know, no one prior to Steve Austin wore black trunks ever and never mind that Austin was a midcarder and only just began to get noticed about 2 weeks before the nWo formed. Yeah I'm sure the entire nWo black clothing concept was thought up in response to the 3:16 speech.

I am not talking about their in ring style, I am talking about the fact that without Austin, Goldberg doesn't exist.

Yes Bill Goldberg still exits Steve Austin is not his father.

Goldberg was a direct reaction to Austin. His image mimicked Austin.

No it didn't unless every bald person with facial hair is mimicing Austin.

I never said their wrestling styles were identical...but the timing of Bill Goldberg's rise is what makes it suspect. When you have a guy who debuts after someone becomes a bonefide superstar, wears the same color trunks, wears his hair (or lack thereof) the same way, has the same facial hair as that superstar, you can't tell me that his gimmick wasn't greatly influenced by that superstar.

1997? What when Austin was becoming popular? Also you say only their image was similar then you say Goldberg's gimmick, which was a monster face who beat everyone in under 5 minutes, was influenced by Austin? Good job, you can't even follow your own point.

If someone new debuted with a bleached blond handlebar mustache, and black stubble around his jaw line, and decided to wear red and yellow tights and a bandana around his balding head, he would be a Hulk Hogan ripoff, regardless of different ring styles.

Yes a person who looks identical to Hulk Hogan would be considered a Hogan ripoff because what you described is exactly what Hogan looks like, Goldberg and Austin look almost nothing alike.

http://ringpsychology.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/bill-goldberg.jpg

there's goldberg.

http://uhaweb.hartford.edu/KENNEY/stone-cold-steve-austin.jpg
there's austin.

both are a bald and wear black. OH MY THE SIMILARITIES.

Before Stone Cold, WCW didn't have anyone that looked like him. After Stone Cold's rise to success in the WWF, WCW debuts a guy that looks like him, but, its just coincidence? What a joke. And the Macho Warrior Ric Hogan in the USWA was an original character too.

Before Stone Cold there were in fact bald people and as I pointed out above neither man is all that similar. You made a great comparison a guy who's gimmick was that he was a ripoff is not comparable to two guys with mild similarites in terms of clothing colour and baldness.

The argument that Goldberg was a ripoff of Steve Austin is stupid, neither had similar characters, gimmicks or moves. There is nothing beyond a hair cut and choice of clothing colour that links the two together.

 

[drobs85]

ok, for all that's making the stupid comment that Goldberg was a rip off of stone cold steve austin, how are they similar with the exception that they were both ball headed?? Golddbergs moves were way more potent, his music was better and he had a streak. Does austin beat goldberg in any of those categories. Nope! Goldbergs character was designed for dominance, strength, and appeal, he didn't need to talk on the mic because his actions in the ring said it all. So there for he surely wasn't overrated if anything his short stint in the business was underrated.

 

[Hulkamaniac]

People like to throw around words like "overrated" all the time, and it's dumb. If someone is arguing that Bill Goldberg is the greatest professional wrestler of all time, then yes, he's overrated by that individual person. But nobody argues that. Bill Goldberg is generally thought of as a massive attraction with a short career, a guy who was super over and a devastating force in the wrestling world. And, umm, that's exactly what Goldberg was. Nobody remembers him as anything more then that, so I'd say he's one of the few guys who's perfectly rated.

People take "overrated", and assign it a meaning of "got a push that I thought my favorite should have gotten, probably physically smaller wrestler should have gotten". that's not overrated. The entire purpose of pro wrestling is to put asses in the seats. Goldberg did that, maybe better then anyone, for that short period of time. So he got pushed to a world title. The guy who sells the most deserves the title.

 

[a1n1hbk]

I don't think Goldberg is overrated.He did what his character asked him to do.He was designed to be the bad SOB monster regardless of weather he was a stone cold rip off or not.He didn't needed to talk as he was all about actions.He was so over with crowd and could have saved WCW if his dominance had went on(thank you Nash u selfcenterd prick), well that is for another topic but what i m saying is no he wasn't overrated or underrated but correctly rated.

 

[BWEEZY2009]

Really good thread (even though i hate writing a reply when there has already been 30 replies simply because all the points have been made)

But no he was not overrated. Was his in-ring work overrated..yes. Although they realized he wasn't the best wrestler in the world and they booked around it (3 min squash and had that mystique about him)

I thought they should of continued to never have him talk for longer.. kept that mystique bout him.

 

[Big Sexy]

Goldberg is in no way overrated. He was built as an unstoppable, powerful force and that's exactly what he was. No one has ever claimed he was an amazing in ring technician. No one ever claimed he could cut tremendous promos. He came out with a ridiculous amount of intensity, kicked ass, and the crowd loved it.

When it comes to mic work he always kept it short and sweet. He isn't the Rock or Ric Flair when it comes to talking but he got his point across. As far as in the ring I actually think he is underrated. Again, he's no Bret Hart or Chris Jericho but he had a solid move set and for a power guy he did great. More often then not in WCW his matches failed to reach 5 minutes so it's not like he could go out and have classic matches. However, he did have some good matches and in his short time with the WWE he was given more of an opportunity for longer matches and he did well. He wasn't out there botching moves all the time and looking like shit. He was precise and did a much better job then people give him credit for.

Goldberg went out and did what he was supposed to do perfectly and he was over as fuck. If anything, judging by this thread he is underrated.

 

[Tastycles]

Goldberg is in no way overrated. People are coming into this thread crying that he was "crammeded down people's throats" and the like, but the fact of the matter is that he was a big part of why WCW was so dominant in the late 90s. He came in and totally tore up everyone and the crowd ate it up. It would be ridiculous to put Goldberg in a class with the greatest of all time,and nobody does that, but the fact of the matter is that he is proven to be a bigger draw than people like Undertaker, Mick Foley and Triple H, yet people have the audacity to make out he was a nobody. Put it this way, if Goldberg was as bad as you all say, Vince McMahon wouldn't be trying to sign him when he's a Billy Big Boots in his 40s.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

Goldberg is not overrated. He wasn't brought in to be some technical wrestling god. He was brought in to create buzz and kick ass which is exactly what he did. His popularity was second to Stone Cold's during that time period. People seem to relate bad mic skills to not speaking much on the mic. Goldberg didn't need to talk. His actions did the talking for him.

 

[Blue Chipper]

Goldberg isn't overrated, plain and simple. He was at one time, when he was being properly handled, a huge commodity to the wrestling business and was exceedingly entertaining. Like LJL said, just because he's not a technical god or a flashy cruiserweight doesn't mean that he wasn't a good wrestler; he certainly was a good wrestler.

 

[Henry Hill]

Its funny to me how everyone is talking about goldberg not being able to sell as a reason he's overrated. His character didn't need to sell. he wasn't vulnerable, and the character worked because it was just believable that there could be this badass shoot fighter kind of guy who is just tough as nails and could squash anyone in five minutes. He wasn't the guy who had the technical matches that fed the crowd, he was the guy who gave the blow off at the end of the show to cap off the night. His streak should've ended much sooner, and the way the wcw ended it was a huge failure from the nonsensical booking department. But overrated? i don't hear anyone calling this guy a "legend" I hear a lot of people, typically not IWC smarks, but a lot of the 90's boom fans who've left wrestling behind remember him as someone that put "their butt in the seats" The guy drew. period. not overrated.

 

[Game Boy]

When Goldberg first came on the scene he wasn't overrated. He was unique in the fact that he was a man of few words. He was all about his actions. However, what hindered him is his actions were a train wreck! Goldberg, the character was not overrated. Goldberg the wrestler, terribly overrated!

 

[gd]

I wouldn't say overrated at all. He wasn't fooling anyone by going out there and trying to be a high flyer or anything. He was meant to smash people and go crazy, which he did successfully. The crowd absolutely ate him up and was behind him 100%. Not sure how that isn't successful.

Espcially when you're talking about the internet fans, no way he's overrated. Likely gets shit on just as much as any wrestler ever on here. Obviously wasn't the greatest wrestler ever or anything like that, but he sure was damn fine at what he did.

 

[Ice Cold]

Here's a take for you. Goldberg in his time doing what he did serving the purpose he was meant to, was not overrated. Goldberg's legend in the minds of fans after his long absence, possibly a bit overrated.

You can't deny that he was a huge success no matter what the reasons be, he made money and was the biggest home grown wrestler WCW ever made, had millions of fans without having to tell you(ala The Rock), and gave fans exactly what they wanted to see; a big guy who just runs over people and is seemingly impervious to anything. As an in-ring performer I don't think you can call him overrated either because no one ever said he was good, we know he wasn't but that didn't matter when he was the biggest attraction in WCW now did it?

Now when you get to people fond recollections of "the good old days" people often times do make him out to be a bigger deal than he was in terms of how good a wrestler he may have been, how good he was on the mic, etc... He was profitable but he wasn't the best wrestler of the time, the best entertainer of the time, or anything along those lines. He was however very popular and I think that's all you can really say.