8 Wrestlers The Rock Couldn't Get Over
6. Goldberg
The Rock probably would have signed off on a sudden squash, had Vince McMahon asked. You get the distinct impression that he did not, on the evidence of the Backlash 2003 main event.
The Rock's pre-bell work was good, and all the better for its subtlety. Rock was more hyperactive and anxious than usual in his pre-match promo, and he stalled with a definite cowardice prior to getting in the ring. As soon as the bell sounded, though, whether through the preordained layout or the massaged perception that WCW guys were a notch below the WWE stars, Goldberg was normalised as a typical WWE babyface over the course of 13 minutes thoroughly lacking in electric dynamism for which Goldberg was known.
A missed Spear spot, itself too broadly comedic, begat a protracted Sharpshooter sequence, which sapped the enthusiasm from the crowd. Partisan WWE, they weren't falling for this sympathy ploy. Goldberg needed all the help he could get to get over, but not the support of the crowd.
The old WCW dynamic, in which the crowd needed Goldberg to annihilate the old guard more than he needed them to do it, was subverted and, in turn, diluted.