As far as Goldberg's poor working, I view that almost as a benefit to him. It's what made him infamously dangerous to wrestle and legitimately concussed and effectively ended the career of another great technical wrestler in Bret Hart.
Maybe I'm being a bit anal, but I don't find that to be very fucking funny and I don't think it's very cool to use something like that as a part of an argument in favor of someone. Bret Hart is a better man than I as he's forgiven Goldberg for what happened, calling it an accident. I'll never forgive that motherfucker. This wasn't some wrestling storyline, and I don't think that him being so careless and such a liability in the ring that he prematurely ended one of the greatest careers in modern history, ruining a guy that had plenty of good years left in him is anything to try and shine a favorable light on. I don't know what would even possess someone to make that argument in his favor. He was a hazard and a liability in the ring who cared so little about the business and the men he worked with in it, that he didn't even bother learning the craft well enough NOT to be a hazard and a liability, which was a big slap in the face to all those guys who laid down for him and made him look good. God bless William Regal for his honorable actions as it pertains to Goldberg.
You can say it'd be easy for him to fall into a simple thinking wrestler pitfall like running shoulder first into the turnbuckle. I'd argue that it's just as easy and likely he'll connect with a Spear or some other lethal strike sooner or later, he had enough of them in his arsenal.
Yeah that's true, he wouldn't give one fuck about the guy in the ring with him, he'd just blindside him with whatever he felt like and who knows, maybe end their career or something because he's such a shitty wrestler with no timing, and no concern for protecting his man.
But coming back to the issue, in the day nobody was booked like Goldberg was, nobody looked like Goldberg and nobody had the unnatural scary strength that he posessed:
Not true by a long shot and I'll get to specifics as you go on about this later on as well.
So what if he just no-sold a chokeslam from a 7 foot man, that's the way he was booked and it's unlike anything that existed 40 years previous. Even guys like Andre who played to their natural proportions weren't booked as dominantly as Goldberg was. In fact, Goldberg was never ever booked as anything less than the absolute man. Even on his way out, the WWE chose to make him look like the grander of two behemoths by defeating a guy similarly as dominant but physically even bigger.
That's the only thing you COULD do with Goldberg, he wasn't good for anything else. He couldn't wrestle a solid match to save his life, and got away with it not only because of the gimmick, but because he was always in the ring with more talented individuals who could make him look like a world beater. BTW, the only reason he went over Lesnar was because of the bad terms on which Lesnar was leaving. Goldberg was leaving as well, but I think his contract was simply expiring and he didn't resign.
I am desperately trying to contextualize things here, but nobody has ever been booked to be the guy Goldberg was. Big Show had countless foils, Andre couldn't best Hogan and many others, even Lesnar had The Undertaker. There's was nobody Goldberg feuded with where it looked anything otherwise than that in a clean fight he would be the favourite. Considering the competition of the generation in which Goldberg existed, Hogan, The Rock, Sting, Big Show, HHH, Lesnar, I'm going to have to extrapolate, go against the bigger milestone i wrestling history and go with the guy with a five year career, but was more dominant than any other.
Remember when I said you were off by a long shot and I'd get back to it? That time is now. What you are forgetting here is The Ultimate Warrior, which is effectively who Goldberg was in his time, Ultimate Warrior Lite. He was booked quite similarly but was never in that league. Lesnar, also beat Undertaker in every match they had and was every bit as dominant as Goldberg, probably more dominant considering the resume he amassed against better competition. I'll refer back to both Warrior and Lesnar for possessing every bit as much or more "scary unnatural strength" as well. You could throw Batista in that mix if you want probably, as well as Lex Luger, Ahmed Johnson who was ridiculously powerful in his day, and of course Bruno Sammartino. Goldberg was SHIT. Sure, he was popular for a VERY SHORT time and he had his little streak which was horribly embellished and mostly fabricated, but for one there is the Bret Hart tragedy which blacklists him in my book from every being considered anything more than a careless bastard, he was absolute shit in the ring, offered nothing on the mic, everyone had to work for HIM, he never sold a damn thing regardless of his character or booking when he should have, he never cared about the business, and he fucking ruined Bret Hart. Nothing will ever make up for that, and nothing he did can ever be more significant in his career or sum up his career like that moment right there.
