What made Goldberg different from the rest?

[agentmichaelscarn]

Throughout the last 20 years or so there have been countless wrestlers that have been like Goldberg as far as their character and style of wrestling, basically just a no nonsense guy that has no mic skills, isn't a great wrestler but just goes out there and wins a bunch of squash matches like Goldberg did. He had no gimmick, no mic time and his average match was like 2 minutes yet he was without a doubt the hottest thing going in the WCW in 98. He was insanely over, yeah he had some canned "Goldberg" chants before his entrances but there's no denying the pops that he drew. When he beat Hogan for the title in July of 98 that may have been one of the biggest pops I have ever heard, that place went ballistic.

So my question is why or how did he get like that? Yeah WCW pushed him big time but he was getting huge pops and was over big time before WCW even started making a big deal about the streak or talking about him alot. There have been many instances where a guy goes on an undefeated streak and looks dominant like Goldberg did but they rarely ever get over and never to the extent of Goldberg. What made him different from those guys? I was a huge fan of his myself and I never usually like guys like that and I don't have an answer why.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

I can sum it up in two moves, The Spear and Jackhammer. I remember the first time I saw Goldberg break a guy in half with his very real looking spear, then his Jackhammer was a great looking overkill move. There was nobody around with his intensity, it started at a knock on his locker room door, he came out looking focussed and determined (might even hit a commercial break before he makes it to the ramp). He breathes in the firework smoke and exhales it and yells, snarls and punches the air as fireworks pop behind him . He was dominating, very powerful (Jackhammer to guys nearly twice his weight, Big Show as well) and looked like nobody could ever defeat him. He was the only wrestler around who had that kind of intensity and add that to his two big moves and that's what made him special.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

I agree with Jeff and will add that his music was phenomenal. It totally set the stage for him to be a dominant superhero along with his pyro.

Unfortunately it grew kind of stale and it appears he was very limited in what else he could do or offer.

 

[ShinChan]

A one word answer: Intensity.

I haven't seen any wrestler as intense as him. Not even close. He was supposed to be a dominant badass and he did full justice with his gimmick.

I don't remember anyone else doing Jackhammer but the spear has been done by bunch of people like Edge, Rhyno, Lashley and Roman Reigns. Still, noone's spear is better. The move is same but the intensity enhances it's credibility.

Does someone remember him backflipping and then spearing his opponent? I don't think that it's normal for a big guy like Goldberg to backflip.

These all things combine to make GOLDBERG!

As of now, Samoa Joe is the another guy whose intenisty is great to watch.

 

[OYDK]

I wish this were a spam thread so I could just say... it, and leave it that.

But that's basically what it comes down to. A presence that could not be matched, intensity and explosiveness that could make your eyes pop out of your head, and also, he just had a no bullshit, real feeling to him. When you saw a Goldberg match, you could almost forget you were watching a wrestling show for 5 minutes and believe somebody was going to legitimately get their ass kicked. He may not have been a great technician or speaker, but he was absolutely overflowing with the other intangibles.

Basically:

the presence of The Undertaker + the intensity of Stone Cold + the explosiveness of Brock Lesnar = Goldberg.

 

[Phenomenal]

There was no one like Goldberg because of his roided presence, something which the current generation doesn't have. It was his whole gimmick that made him special, walking out from his locker room with security, ready to kill intensity pre-fight, no sell, destroy.

The crowd loved it, no one got an in ring bigger pop in wrestling than Goldberg, especially when he hit the spear. Then he came to the WWE in 2003 and he was just another guy, the WWE fans sucked the life out of him, he needed his WCW fans.

 

[Kamala316]

To add on what many of you have said already (the music, intensity, spear, jackhammer, physique, etc.), three things about Goldberg always stood out to me:
#1 - His eyes. When he said something, he would look right into the camera, you took one look at his eyes, and you believed what he was saying.
#2 - His voice. Again, when he delivered a promo, there was always something about his voice that came off as badass and "real".
#3 - His moveset. I always enjoyed how he would throw in a random power move in his matches. The ones that come to mind are the gorilla press into a powerslam, the rolling takedown into a submission leg lock, and the judo throw. He probably could still qualify for "5 moves of doom", but I liked how he mixed things up.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

There are a lot of factors, some of which have been mentioned. One that can't be overstated, in my opinion, is that he just happened to be in the right place at the right time with the right sort of look and just enough ability to make it all work. So yeah, in a lot of ways, a lot of it is due to just good ol' fashioned luck just like it is with any wrestler.

The music & pyro both worked to help create an atmosphere and Goldberg himself had a great look and believable intensity. His intensity wasn't really "over the top" in my eyes, he was just intense in a way that seems pretty common to meathead athletes. Goldberg looked like and came across like the sort of guy you sometimes see in the gym who psychs himself up for a few minutes before doing a set on the bench press and grunts like an ape in heat with each rep. It's limited and can be damned irritating, but it can be sort of entertaining if it's brief enough.

He had the look and he had the intensity, but the simple truth of the matter is that Goldberg was green as can be and would almost certainly never be great inside the ring. He had enough basic knowhow and intensity to give the illusion of someone who was better than he actually was. Put that together with the look, the music, the pyro, a couple of really nice looking but basic power moves and couple it with consistent booking and that was essentially Goldberg. He wasn't charismatic, he wasn't "entertaining", he wasn't personality driven and, truth be told, you saw how limited he was if and when he worked longer matches. But he was different enough, the hype was there, the look was there and the intensity was there.

 

[johnbragg]

I was just getting into pro wrestling at the time--I was a substitute teacher in an elementary school, and when the kids called me Kane after no-selling a second grader trying to fight me while I told them what page in the math book to turn to, I just wanted to make sure that Kane wasn't something embarrassing to be (at least to second grade boys) like a gay comedy character or something.

So this could be totally wrong, but my guess is that Goldberg was the only new guy in sight not regularly squashed by the NWO or left to fart around in midcard purgatory. Much like Batista in 2004--it's not that the big guy was so special, it's that the fans were so hungry for a new hero to face down the same old big bad guy.

 

[Aquaman6686]

Nothing. Goldberg was a generic big guy with two moves who was pushed as unbeatable. Him getting over was a foregone conclusion. As soon as he lost, nobody cared about him anymore. That's a sign of a gimmick being over, not a wrestler. Once he lost, he was never the same again.

 

[BigDaddyKewl]

Goldberg debuted during the peak of WCW Nitro during The Monday Night Wars when the ratings were at a all time high. As others have it was the way he was marketed with the look, the intensity, the entrance etc. He was some one who was always protected and rarely lost and when he did finally lose it had a big impact. It's a testament to how much of an impact when you still have people chanting his name over a decade during Ryback matches and you heard the huge Goldberg chants after Lesnar beat Orton to a pulp at Summerslam.

I think his career is similar to how the Ultimate Warrior's run was a decade before Goldberg. Warrior was marketed right with the look, the entrance etc. He was also somebody who debuted at the right time when the height of The Rock n Wrestling Era. He also made made a name for himself working short matches against jobbers. He was also somebody who had a short career and was always protected. Warrior and Goldberd are two of few who beat Hogan clean during the height of his popularity in both eras.
Goldberg said there's not many real life super heroes left like himself and The Warrior and I think he's right. They've tried building Roman Reigns up as the next baby face power house and it's been a epic fail.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Reality is he was the first guy to truly benefit from Wrestling being THE thing at the time in popular culture and media... Guys like Austin and Foley were known, Rock was clearly starting to make moves but he had been totally new only a year or so before...

The thing that put Goldberg over the top was that he wasn't an unknown quantity... Casual fans had heard of him in the NFL, even briefly for that one season... he was arguably the biggest "crossover" star, Vader always downplayed his part in a Superbowl and other big names like Simmons, Rock, Luger, Pillman had lesser roles at teams... It's that added edge to his game and character, that he was basically a 2 sport guy, coming into wrestling and dominating...

Goldberg succeeded cos he captured casual imaginations rather than wrestling purists and that could only have happened with his background and how the business was at the time.

 

[Radical]

It was definitely a combination of factors for what made Goldberg different then those who came after him.

One of the big factors is that he appeared on the scene at the right time, in the right place. Pro Wrestling was at its peak in popularity and about as mainstream as it has ever been. Internet was around but not nearly as accessible as it is today so TV and PPV was still big. That was beneficial to Goldberg's image.

A huge factor for Goldberg was novelty. He was one of the first to have the exposure, the character protection from not losing and the overall amazing presentation going for him. The music was great, the entrance was great, his intensity was great and he had some key power moves that was all that was needed at the time to be unique and impressive.

No other wrestling star previous had really been able to have all these factors work for them together. Sure, Hulk Hogan was popular in the late 80s and early 90s and rarely lost but not as much exposure as Goldberg because he didn't appear on TV as much. Sure, Undertaker in the early to mid 90s was undefeated for a while and had an interesting presence to him but the intensity wasn't the same and the attention on pro wrestling wasn't the same.

It became perfect timing for a character like Goldberg to emerge and he did.

The problem became that AFTER Goldberg's career was basically over that any attempts by companies to create another Goldberg-like character would suffer from a copy cat label that fans wouldn't widely accept. It just couldn't be done again after it already was done. If another big guy goes on a big win streak wrestling fans go "Oh, look, they are trying to make another Goldberg" and no one gives as much attention or credit to the guy anymore.

The same, to an extent, happens with Stone Cold-like characters. Any guy who comes in as a no-nonsense ass kicker who is anti-establishment can end up getting the Austin label and wrestling fans don't find it as exciting anymore.

 

[sMark]

I believe new Goldberg is already here - Brock Lesnar. Isn't he? Rarely lose, beat up the guys who others can't, doesn't have a big arsenal of moves or great promos, looks like the man in the PG world, have well known sport background, have great body built.

All you really need to do to create goldbergs:
1) the right looks - when everyone was in shorts, Warrior had a very unique look, when everybody was in jeans, Goldberg was in shorts, when everybody got their own wrestling style attires, Lesnar get UFC one.
2) they must come from legit sport - Warrior was bodybuilder, Goldberg was NFL player, Lesnar was UFC fighter
3) promos and long matches not for them. Obviously the less this trio said anything was better, they are the men of action and domination, long matches are for others.
4) great entrance and music, not some sweet theme and pinky hearts for titantrons.
5) these guys must beat clean other top guys and the guys other top guys can't. (Warrior beat Hogan, Goldberg beat Hogan, Brock beat Taker)
6) capture the world title in their first try
7) these guys must lose very rarely and be protected all the way.

 

[MoRtAnDaD]

I believe new Goldberg is already here - Brock Lesnar. Isn't he? Rarely lose, beat up the guys who others can't, doesn't have a big arsenal of moves or great promos, looks like the man in the PG world, have well known sport background, have great body built.

All you really need to do to create goldbergs:
1) the right looks - when everyone was in shorts, Warrior had a very unique look, when everybody was in jeans, Goldberg was in shorts, when everybody got their own wrestling style attires, Lesnar get UFC one.
2) they must come from legit sport - Warrior was bodybuilder, Goldberg was NFL player, Lesnar was UFC fighter
3) promos and long matches not for them. Obviously the less this trio said anything was better, they are the men of action and domination, long matches are for others.
4) great entrance and music, not some sweet theme and pinky hearts for titantrons.
5) these guys must beat clean other top guys and the guys other top guys can't. (Warrior beat Hogan, Goldberg beat Hogan, Brock beat Taker)
6) capture the world title in their first try
7) these guys must lose very rarely and be protected all the way.

With all due respect, are you comparing Lesnar with Warrior?. Are you saying that Brock Lesnar cant have long matches? (his best matches were 20min+). I can give you that he doesnt like to cut promos, but the ones that he has recorded are good for what you would expect from Lesnar.

Lesnar like it or not, its one of a kind, theres no way to compare him with Warrior. You can compare warrior with lex luger, hogan, hell...even Cena. NOT Lesnar.

 

[OYDK]

To answer this question, all you have to do is watch Raw. Even a 50 year Goldberg who has spent 12 years out of the spotlight is more captivating than almost anybody else on the entire roster.

 

[ShinChan]

To answer this question, all you have to do is watch Raw. Even a 50 year Goldberg who has spent 12 years out of the spotlight is more captivating than almost anybody else on the entire roster.

Exactly.

A guy who isn't even a part-time wrestler. Plus, he is more over than bunch of guys on the main roster who are regular wrestlers.

What I want to add more is that Goldberg's booking also has a part in it. Of course it's Goldberg himself for the major part but still booking plays a part. WWE tried to make a new Goldberg out of Ryback and failed. Now, They're trying to make Braun Strowman a big thing. I didn't think that I would give him chance but I am liking him now. He has been protected well. Even Cass has been protected rightly.

 

[sMark]

With all due respect, are you comparing Lesnar with Warrior?. Are you saying that Brock Lesnar cant have long matches? (his best matches were 20min+). I can give you that he doesnt like to cut promos, but the ones that he has recorded are good for what you would expect from Lesnar.

Lesnar like it or not, its one of a kind, theres no way to compare him with Warrior. You can compare warrior with lex luger, hogan, hell...even Cena. NOT Lesnar.

Lesnar had long great matches, sure, but it is the way things work today - PPVs must have long matches, otherwise nobody is interested to buy them. Like i said, bussiness has evolved from 80's, what was acceptable back then is not acceptable today. I don't think Brock will work long matches in 80s.
Cena's PPV matches usually are 3,5+ stars, so why he is in? Hogan could wrestle when he wanted to - he had good matches, his japanese stuff when he was younger (all the way to 93/94) is interesting to watch, because this is where he really wrestled.
Yes Lesnar is 1 of a kind - 1 of a few men in a pond full of teenagers if you will, this is what makes him standout the most. Goldberg is the same, he was the man of WCW and the man of RAW...i remember thinking how weak HBK looked when he wrestled in a couple of matches against Goldberg.