Goldberg’s complicated wrestling legacy ends on WWE’s Saturday Night’s Main Event
Few wrestlers have created the kind of disconnection between occasional fans and hardcore as a Goldberg. At one point, his professional celebrity was only competed by “ Stone Cold ” Steve Austin, but time and circumstances pushed it so far in the list of great professional wrestlers that no one would put it near a Mount Rushmore in sport. Liked by some, insulting by others, everything you think of Goldberg ends on Saturday evening when he fights against his last match against Gunther in “Saturday Night’s Main Event XL”.
In a company so often defined by individual creativity and talent, the aura behind Goldberg during his 1997 ascent came because his career was artificial. He was not a man who loved the professional struggle, he had no desire to be a professional wrestler, but more or less fell into it because he was approached by Sting and Lex Lugar at the gymnasium who told him that he should be a wrestler, and Goldberg’s response was more or less “why not?” After a few months in ridiculous training, Goldberg jumped the queue in the training center of the WCW power plant with a rocket attached to the back for fame.
The manufactured star
Everything on the climb of Golberg came out of his look. Goldberg was bald, he had a barbiche and was analog enough for “Stone Cold” Steve Austin that WCW typed him like someone with whom they could counter program the WWE. It was not long after the emblematic “Austin 3:16” of Austin to King of the Ring ’96And Ted Turner’s company was desperate to find someone, whoever could counter the Austin movement.
The problem was: Goldberg could not speak. Not literally, but functionally. If there is a constant in the career of Goldberg, it is because the wrestlers generally loved him behind the scenes, but the man could not act of a paper bag. Thus, a gadget was born where Goldberg would be accompanied on the ring flanked by police officers, never saying a word, exhaling pyro smoke like a dragon, and giving the impression that he could break at any second, murdering everyone nearby.
Goldberg was also reserved like this. The matches often lasted less than 30 seconds, which helped accentuate his aura, while masking the fact that the wrestler knew four different movements. Heck, if you could even see the four, it was special, with the majority of the matches during his undefeated sequence made up only of a lance and a picker hammer before calling it a day.
It was not long before his brute force and athletics made his head, and WCW managed to create a superstar. The problem for the company, just like everything at that time, was that they created a monster and had no way to control it. The WCW was so determined to get rid of his undefeated sequence and to ensure that the central part of his character that there is no end game, no plans to transmit Goldberg into a legitimate wrestler or a means for him to follow a program.
Yes, there have been massive problems behind the scenes of Goldberg with the creative control of Hulk Hogan on the company, but that did not change the fundamental question with the wrestler: he was artificial and lazy fraud to start. He was the best paid man in WCW who never wanted to improve in the ring or on the microphone, because he never really liked the fight. The company was simply a means of mercenary to earn money, and he did not have the appreciation of the company, or the profession which had to correspond to the phenomenal celebrity which had been given to him.
The inexperienced wrestler
It is horribly suitable that the inexperience and the lack of care of Goldberg have ended the career of one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. HAS Starrcade 1999 The world heavyweight championship match between Goldberg and Bret Hart was a total mess. On the one hand of the ring, a legend of the company, coming from the most prolific family of Wrestling, which developed a reputation as one of the greatest technicians in the ring that sport has ever seen. On the other, an ex-football player who had no idea what he was doing.
Hart has retired that he had undergone three concussion in this match because of the carefree Goldberg in the ring, the most damaging being a brutal kick at the head that Goldberg did not know how to launch safely. This caused injury to the head and neck of the career in Hart, forcing him to retire at 42, when he was still a lot in the reservoir.
It is unfair to put everything on Goldberg. After all, he was just a man in the right place at the right time. However, it is fair to criticize why he never had more veneration for the company, for the safety of others. Goldberg, like WCW at the time, only cared about the monetary printer which continued to go “BRRR” and everything else was secondary. Just as Goldberg never wanted to improve, WCW therefore asked nothing more.
The end of an aura
The pursuit of the Goldberg Championship was really the start of the end for his career. It was one thing to beat the competition in 15 seconds with two movements, but as soon as a match required more shades or narration, it flicker.
Goldberg continued, but the aura was lost. The gadget had become expired and watching his matches was boring. It was clear that he could not fight, and he was not interesting enough to invest. As a last effort, Goldberg received another “sequence” to continue, but he came during the Nadir of WCW.
At the end of his race, it was clear that everything had taken his course. No one cared about Goldberg as an artist, and the “Monday evening wars” were over. WWE had won.
Transition to the flagship of Vince McMahon
Goldberg did not make WWE jump after purchase and merger in 2001. At the time, his contract was so exaggerated that McMahon and Co. chose not to face Goldberg, who was injured at the time of the sale.
It was not until 2003 that Goldberg would finally arrive at the world leader, and the same problems followed him. WWE tried to start the rivalries with rock, triple h and Brock Lesnar – and at each stage of the way he was Clear Goldberg was still inexperienced, could not speak, and this time, his conditioning fought even more.
Goldberg left WWE after a year, and the little of his reputation was in tatters.
The power of nostalgia
Goldberg was impressive, Goldberg was strong, Goldberg was never very good. It’s just the reality of his career in professional struggle. He was a man who couldn’t tell a story or wear a match, but time has things strange to perception.
When the time came to Goldberg to try to do another race, he ended up in the right place at the right time in 2016. A need to market WWE 2K The video game with nostalgia led Goldberg to be the star of the cover, and with it a return to the ring. This coincided that the desperate WWE for the “dream matches” of a marquee to present in Saudi Arabia as part of their emerging relationship with the nation.
Goldberg returned to WWE in a way that could only be described as “comic”. Brock Lesnar was the unstoppable beast at the time, ruining everything on his way – but entered Bill Goldberg, 50, who was able to beat him in 1 minute 26 seconds, winning the title that escaped the whole company.
Once again, Goldberg had a rocket attached to him and he jumped the line, once again weaken as soon as fans and society realized that he was as mediocre as ever.
The darkest chapter of Goldberg’s return has occurred at Super strength test In 2019, the Saudi PPV in which Goldberg had a dream match with The Undertaker. The two men were old, out of good shape, and gave us one of the most sad matches in the modern era while Goldberg was a convenience early, then dangerously dropped the Undertaker on his head while trying a picker hammer. The match was called shortly after.
The artificial final match
The match against Gunther is the most appropriate way to end the career in the Goldberg Rift. Whoever was created by necessity, brought back from despair and now ending like a gadget.
Goldberg against Gunther is not an organic rivalry that has been built over time or won. It was created only to counter-program the show of the AEW stadium All-in TexasReady to take place the same night. This is WWE’s goal of ensuring that the retirement match withdraws the eyeballs from the competition and placing them on their own product – Goldberg being a means for this purpose.
What is Goldberg’s inheritance? He is not an artist, but rather a marketing machine. A man who was able to make artists of wrestling dreams dream, but who were ignored because they did not have the look or the size. There is no doubt that Goldberg is a legend of industry, but also an example of the fight against unjust professionals.
