Goldberg

Bill Gold

Working as **Bill Gold**, Goldberg made five initial appearances in World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The first was on a dark match at a *Monday Nitro* event on June 23, 1997, where he defeated Buddy Lee Parker. He also faced and defeated Buddy Landel (*Saturday Night* dark match), Hugh Morrus (house show), Chip Minton (*Nitro* dark match) and John Betcha (house show). His final pre-televised appearance was in a dark match on July 24 at a *Saturday Night* taping in a loss to Chad Fortune.

On the September 22, 1997 episode of *Nitro*, Goldberg defeated Hugh Morrus in his debut match. Soon afterward, he began to score quick victories over his fellow WCW wrestlers in the range of 1–2 minutes. Goldberg's succession of wins saw him quickly advance up the card, and he was pushed as a singles wrestler. The newcomer captivated fans with his monstrous yet silent charisma, brute strength, and agility that saw him vault the ropes, perform high kicks and even the occasional backflip. Goldberg made his pay-per-view debut at Starrcade defeating Steve McMichael. In early 1998, Goldberg squashed Brad Armstrong at SuperBrawl VIII and pinned Perry Saturn at Spring Stampede. By mid-March, WCW stopped referring to him by his full name, shortening it to simply **Goldberg**. Around this time, WCW began counting Goldberg's consecutive wins on television as he continued to climb up the ranks. Goldberg's win over Saturn was his 74th consecutive without a loss, and the next night on *Nitro* he challenged Raven for the United States Heavyweight Championship that Raven had won the night before at Spring Stampede. Despite interference from Raven's Flock, Goldberg overpowered them all and defeated Raven to win his first championship. Two days later on the April 22 episode of *Thunder*, he made his first successful title defense against Mike Enos. Goldberg then started a feud with Raven and The Flock. At Slamboree, he ended his feud with The Flock after a successful title defense against Saturn. Goldberg continued to make successful title defenses against Konnan at The Great American Bash and Curt Hennig. By this time, he had adopted the catchphrase "Who's next?" in reference to his rapidly expanding winning streak.

As Goldberg was getting over as a main eventer, he continued to defend the United States Heavyweight Championship and was slowly becoming a contender for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship that was held by New World Order (nWo) leader Hollywood Hogan. Hogan eventually promised Goldberg a title match. The match was scheduled for the July 6, 1998 episode of *Nitro* held at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta with over 40,000 in attendance, but Hogan insisted that Goldberg first had to defeat his nWo stablemate Scott Hall. Goldberg won and later in the evening was also able to defeat Hogan to become the WCW World Heavyweight Champion, in turn vacating his United States Heavyweight Championship. At Road Wild, Goldberg won a battle royal, consisting of nWo members. After Diamond Dallas Page became the number one contender for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, Goldberg and Page began a feud with each other. At Halloween Havoc, the feud was settled after Goldberg defeated Page to retain the title. At Starrcade, Goldberg's undefeated streak ended at an official count of 173–0, and after 174 days as champion when he lost the title to Kevin Nash after Scott Hall, disguised as a ringside security guard, made a run-in and shocked Goldberg with a taser gun. Goldberg, however, got his revenge at Souled Out, when he defeated Hall in a ladder taser match. Goldberg won when he used the taser, which was hung high above the ring, requiring the ladder to obtain it.

At Spring Stampede, Goldberg gained his revenge against Nash by defeating him. Then at Slamboree the following month, Goldberg was "injured" in an attack by Rick and Scott Steiner and took some time off. He returned two months later and defeated Rick Steiner at Road Wild. Goldberg then restarted his feud with DDP also involving Page's allies, The Jersey Triad, which culminated in a match at Fall Brawl that Goldberg won. After Goldberg settled his rivalry with Page, he began focusing on Sid Vicious and challenged him to a match to end Sid's winning streak. The two feuded with each other, which culminated in a match at Halloween Havoc for Sid's United States Heavyweight title. Goldberg defeated Sid via referee stoppage, and thus won his second United States Heavyweight Championship. Later that night, he answered an open challenge from WCW World Heavyweight Champion Sting and defeated him to win the championship. On the next night's episode of *Nitro*, commissioner J.J. Dillon ruled that the match had not been sanctioned by WCW and that, therefore, Goldberg's victory was void. Sting, however, was not given the title back due to his attack on a referee during the event and Dillon announced a 32-man tournament for the now-vacant title which included Goldberg.

Goldberg wrestled Bret Hart on the same *Nitro* in the first round of the tournament in a match that also served as the first defense of his newly won United States Heavyweight Championship. Sid Vicious managed to interfere in the contest and cost Goldberg the match, thus giving him his second career loss, costing him the title, and eliminating him from the tournament which was eventually won by Hart at Mayhem in November. Goldberg continued his rivalry with Vicious and defeated him in an "I quit" match at Mayhem to close their feud. Shortly thereafter, Goldberg joined forces with Hart, teaming with him to defeat Creative Control for the WCW World Tag Team Championship. One week later, they lost the title to The Outsiders (Scott Hall and Kevin Nash).

At Starrcade, Goldberg challenged Hart for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship; in the course of the match, Goldberg delivered a stiff kick to Hart's head, legitimately giving him a concussion and tearing a muscle in his neck. Hart continued on, suffering what he believed to be at least one other concussion when he hit his head on the floor while executing a ringpost-assisted figure-four leglock. The match ended when Roddy Piper, the special guest referee for the contest, declared Hart the winner despite Goldberg never having submitted to the Sharpshooter. Hart vacated the title the next night on *Nitro*, saying he did not want to win that way, and gave Goldberg a rematch. Goldberg was defeated again due to outside interference from Hall and Nash, who came to the ring brandishing baseball bats which they used to attack Goldberg. In a swerve, Hart took one of the bats from The Outsiders and began beating on Goldberg himself, doing enough damage to score the pin and regain his championship. After the match, Hall, Nash, Hart and Jeff Jarrett reformed the nWo and gave Goldberg a new target for a feud that, however, would not last long.

Shortly after his title match loss, Goldberg injured himself on the December 23, 1999 episode of *Thunder*, during a sequence where he chased the nWo limousine into the parking lot. A spot in the sequence called for Goldberg to pound on the windshield of the limousine with his hands. To ensure his safety, Goldberg had assistance from a piece of metal pipe and his hands were covered in black tape. After this, Goldberg was to break some of the vehicle's windows with the pipe. There were four windows on the side of the limousine and Goldberg used the pipe on two of them. He then got aggressive, dropping the pipe and putting his forearm through the third window. A shard of glass sliced an artery in his arm and he began bleeding profusely. The show concluded with Goldberg pounding on the limousine's hood, with the television audience able to see the massive amount of blood gushing from his arm as it covered the hood. Immediately after the cameras stopped rolling, medical personnel rushed in to assist the injured Goldberg, who was eventually transported to the hospital. After taking time off to recuperate, Goldberg returned to WCW on the May 29, 2000 episode of *Nitro* interfering in a handicap match between Kevin Nash and the team of Tank Abbott and Rick Steiner. At The Great American Bash, Goldberg betrayed Nash during Nash's World Championship match against Jeff Jarrett and turned into a villain for the first time in his career, aligning himself with The New Blood faction. This did not last long, as Goldberg again was lost to injury and had to miss time. As a result of this betrayal, Goldberg feuded with Nash and defeated him at Bash at the Beach, with help from fellow New Blood member Scott Steiner. Goldberg participated in a triangle number one contender's match against Nash and Steiner at New Blood Rising, which Nash won. Goldberg walked out of the match midway through while Nash had him ready for the *Jackknife Powerbomb* and swore at Vince Russo as he left the ring, turning face again. He then began a rivalry with Steiner, culminating in a no disqualification match at Fall Brawl which Goldberg lost due to outside interference.

After his loss to Steiner, Goldberg's rivalry with Russo accelerated and in October, having finally had enough, Russo gave Goldberg an ultimatum. If Goldberg was to lose another match at any point in time, unless he managed to duplicate his undefeated streak from 1997 to 1998, he would be forced to retire. Goldberg defeated KroniK (Brian Adams and Bryan Clark) at Halloween Havoc in a handicap elimination match. He then started a feud with Lex Luger. This culminated in a match at Mayhem, which Goldberg won. They continued their rivalry and battled in a rematch at Starrcade. Goldberg won the match, but afterwards he was attacked by Luger's partner Buff Bagwell. Goldberg feuded with both Luger and Bagwell, who called themselves "Totally Buffed". His streak was broken at Sin when Goldberg, teaming with DeWayne Bruce, lost to Totally Buffed in a tag team no disqualification match after a "fan" maced him, enabling Totally Buffed to pin him. The storyline was intended to enable Goldberg to have shoulder surgery, but WCW was sold to the WWF in March 2001, while Goldberg was still recuperating.

Goldberg signed a one-year contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in March 2003, debuting on the March 31 episode of *Raw* (the night after WrestleMania XIX) and starting a feud with The Rock by performing a spear on him. Their rivalry intensified when The Rock held a segment entitled *The Rock Concert*, where he taunted Goldberg along with Gillberg, but Goldberg defeated him in his debut match at Backlash on April 27, following three spears and a *Jackhammer*. Goldberg went undefeated over the subsequent half-year, defeating 3-Minute Warning in his first match on *Raw*. Goldberg defeated Christian the following week on *Raw* in a steel cage match. Goldberg next began a feud with Chris Jericho, culminating in a match between the two at Bad Blood on June 15, which Goldberg won.

Goldberg entered a rivalry with Triple H, challenging him for the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam on August 24 in the second Elimination Chamber match in WWE. After eliminating Randy Orton, Shawn Michaels and Jericho, he was pinned by Triple H after Ric Flair threw a sledgehammer inside the chamber and Triple H hit Goldberg with it, meaning Triple H retained the title. Goldberg continued his feud with Triple H and defeated him for the World Heavyweight Championship at Unforgiven on September 21, after agreeing to put his career on the line. The next night on *Raw*, Goldberg successfully retained the title against Chris Jericho. The following week on *Raw*, Triple H issued a $100,000 bounty to anybody who could take Goldberg out. Steven Richards, Mark Henry, La Résistance and Tommy Dreamer all attempted to collect the bounty, but they were unsuccessful. On the October 20 episode of *Raw*, Batista collected the bounty after he interfered in Goldberg's title defense against Shawn Michaels and attacked Goldberg, placing a folding chair around Goldberg's ankle and jumping off the middle rope onto the chair, shattering his ankle. Furious, Goldberg demanded a match against Batista, but Triple H got involved in the match by trying to cripple Goldberg, who executed a spear on Triple H and attacked Batista with a sledgehammer. At Survivor Series on November 16, Goldberg retained the title against Triple H despite interference from Evolution. On the November 17 episode of *Raw*, Goldberg faced Triple H, Randy Orton and Batista in a handicap match, but he was pinned following an *RKO*, *Batista Bomb* and *Pedigree*. After the match, Kane unexpectedly came out to seemingly assist Goldberg after Evolution continued their assault on him following the match. After scaring off Evolution, he turned on Goldberg and executed a chokeslam on him. The following week on *Raw*, Kane attacked Goldberg again while he was defending the championship against Triple H in a rematch from Survivor Series and expressed his desire to face Goldberg for the title. Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff scheduled Goldberg to defend the championship against both Kane and Triple H in a triple threat match at Armageddon. Goldberg teamed with Shawn Michaels and Rob Van Dam to face and defeat Kane, Batista and Orton in a six-man tag team match. On the December 8 episode of *Raw*, Goldberg faced Kane in a lumberjack match which ended in a disqualification when Evolution and Mark Henry entered the ring and assaulted Goldberg. At Armageddon on December 14, Goldberg lost the title when Triple H pinned him after interference from Evolution and a chokeslam from Kane, thus ending his reign at 84 days.

Survivor Series also marked the first time Goldberg met the WWE Champion Brock Lesnar by interrupting Lesnar after the latter remarked that he could beat anyone in the world. The feud escalated at the 2004 Royal Rumble on January 25, when Goldberg was in the midst of dominating the Royal Rumble match (he eliminated Charlie Haas, Billy Gunn and Nunzio) as the 30th entrant until Lesnar interfered in the match and executed an *F-5* on Goldberg. Angrily distracted at Lesnar's attack, Goldberg was eliminated by Kurt Angle. Vowing revenge after defeating Mark Henry and Jonathan Coachman in a no disqualification handicap match the following *Raw*, Goldberg declared Lesnar his next victim. On February 2, Goldberg was given a front row ticket to No Way Out by Stone Cold Steve Austin. *SmackDown!* General Manager Paul Heyman appeared on *Raw*, and along with Mr. McMahon attempted to get Goldberg to leave Lesnar, but Goldberg executed a spear on Heyman and accidentally executed a spear on Austin when he was aiming for McMahon. Goldberg attended No Way Out as a fan, confronting Lesnar at the event and, after several insults by Lesnar, entered the ring and countered a *F-5* from Lesnar with a *Jackhammer*, before being detained and escorted out of the arena by security guards. During the main event between Lesnar and Eddie Guerrero on February 15, Goldberg reemerged from the crowd and cost Lesnar the title. Lesnar then demanded a match with Goldberg at WrestleMania XX on March 14, with Austin serving as special guest referee. Fans knew this would be the final WWE match for both Goldberg and Lesnar, and thus gave largely negative reactions throughout the performance. Goldberg won the match, causing Lesnar to show Austin a middle finger, but he instead received a *Stone Cold Stunner* in return, and as Goldberg celebrated his victory with Austin, he also received a *Stone Cold Stunner*.

On May 31, 2016, Goldberg was announced as the pre-order bonus for the upcoming *WWE 2K17* video game. This led to Paul Heyman challenging Goldberg to face Brock Lesnar on the October 10 episode of *Raw*, with Heyman stating that Goldberg was the one blemish on Lesnar's WWE career, as Goldberg had defeated Lesnar at WrestleMania XX in 2004. The following week on *Raw*, Goldberg returned to WWE for the first time in twelve years, accepting Heyman's challenge and signaling that Lesnar would be next and last. On the October 24 episode of *Raw*, Lesnar returned with Heyman, who insulted Goldberg. It was then announced that their match would take place at Survivor Series. On the October 31 episode of *Raw*, Goldberg returned to address Lesnar's comments from the previous week, only to be interrupted by Heyman, who teased that Lesnar was there, but Rusev came out instead. Goldberg executed a *Jackhammer* on Rusev and a spear on Heyman. On the final *Raw* before Survivor Series, Goldberg and Lesnar had a face off, resulting in a brawl with security. At Survivor Series, Goldberg defeated Lesnar in under 2 minutes.

The next night on *Raw*, Goldberg celebrated his victory over Lesnar and declared himself the first participant in the 2017 Royal Rumble match. The following week on *Raw*, Heyman addressed the Survivor Series match, stating that they had underestimated Goldberg and that the match was a humiliation and embarrassment for him and Lesnar, who would also be in the Royal Rumble match as he has something to prove. Goldberg returned on the January 2, 2017 episode of *Raw* where he confronted Chris Jericho and WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens, stating that he would win the Royal Rumble match and challenge for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 33. Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman then came out to confront Goldberg, Owens and Jericho, and after a stare down, Goldberg and Reigns performed a double-spear on Strowman. Goldberg appeared once more on the January 23 episode of *Raw*, where he was confronted by Lesnar and The Undertaker. At the Royal Rumble in the namesake match, Goldberg entered at number 28 and eliminated Lesnar following a brief confrontation and a spear, as well as eliminating Rusev and Luke Harper before being eliminated by The Undertaker.

Lesnar then appeared on the following night's episode of *Raw* and challenged Goldberg to one final match at WrestleMania 33. Goldberg would go on to accept Lesnar's challenge on the February 6 episode of *Raw* whilst interrupting Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho in the process. Goldberg would challenge Owens to a Universal Championship match at Fastlane with Jericho accepting on Owens' behalf and the match was made official later that night. On the February 27 episode of *Raw*, Goldberg and Owens had one final confrontation, with Goldberg claiming that if he would win the Universal Championship, he would defend it against Lesnar at WrestleMania 33. At Fastlane, after a distraction from Jericho (who Owens betrayed and attacked on the February 13 episode of *Raw*), Goldberg defeated Owens to win the Universal Championship. The next night on *Raw*, Goldberg was confronted by Lesnar, who executed an *F-5* on Goldberg. On the final *Raw* before WrestleMania, Goldberg responded with a spear on Lesnar. At WrestleMania 33, Goldberg lost the title to Lesnar in what was also his first clean singles loss in his entire career. Goldberg appeared the following night on *Raw Talk* (which aired on the WWE Network after the *Raw* broadcast) to wish the fans farewell, but ultimately did not rule out a return in the future.

On January 15, 2018, WWE announced that Goldberg would be inducted as the headliner of the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2018. On March 25, WWE announced that Paul Heyman would be inducting Goldberg into the Hall of Fame.

On May 1, 2019, it was announced that Goldberg would return to the ring during the next WWE in Saudi Arabia show. On May 13, WWE announced that his opponent would be The Undertaker at the WWE Super ShowDown event on June 7. Goldberg appeared on the June 4 episode of *SmackDown Live*, where he had a brief confrontation with The Undertaker ahead of their upcoming match. At Super ShowDown, Goldberg lost to The Undertaker. Goldberg suffered a concussion a few minutes into the match, which severely affected his performance.

In the weeks leading up to SummerSlam, Dolph Ziggler would taunt and mock various wrestling legends including Goldberg. Goldberg made a surprise return to *Raw* on the August 5 episode and signed a contract for a match with Ziggler at SummerSlam, replacing The Miz, who Ziggler was originally going to face at the event. At SummerSlam, Goldberg defeated Ziggler.

On the February 7, 2020 episode of *Friday Night SmackDown*, Goldberg made an appearance via satellite where he challenged “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt to a match for the Universal Championship, which Wyatt accepted, setting up a match between the two for Super ShowDown. At Super ShowDown, Goldberg defeated The Fiend to win the championship for the second time, as well as becoming the first ever person to win a main event title after being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Goldberg then appeared on the following *SmackDown* and issued an open challenge that was accepted by Roman Reigns and a match between the two was scheduled for WrestleMania 36 for the Universal Title. However, on April 3, it was announced that Braun Strowman would replace Roman Reigns at the event, after Reigns pulled out due to medical concerns. At the event, Strowman defeated Goldberg to win the title.

On the January 4, 2021 episode of *Raw*, Goldberg once again returned after a nine-month hiatus, confronting and challenging WWE Champion Drew McIntyre to a match at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view; Goldberg lost the match to McIntyre, after McIntyre kicked out of a *Jackhammer*. Goldberg returned once again on the July 19 edition of *Raw*, its first episode in front of a live audience in over a year, to confront WWE Champion Bobby Lashley. On the August 2 episode of *Raw*, Lashley would accept Goldberg's challenge, making their match at SummerSlam for the WWE Championship official. At SummerSlam, Goldberg lost due to not being able to continue. On the August 30 episode of *Raw*, an interview with Goldberg was shown, during which he revealed needing surgery to his knee and vowed to return to get revenge on Lashley for attacking his son. On the September 27 episode of *Raw*, he appeared via satellite to again call out Lashley for having attacked his son, vowing that we he would come after Lashley in retaliation. On the October 4 episode of *Raw*, Goldberg would call out Lashley and in response, Lashley would challenge Goldberg to a No Holds Barred match at Crown Jewel. At the event, Goldberg successfully defeated Lashley to end their feud.

On the February 4, 2022 episode of *SmackDown*, Goldberg would make his return to challenge Universal Champion Roman Reigns to a match at Elimination Chamber, a match two years in the making after their match at WrestleMania 36 was called off due to Reigns taking a hiatus.