10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About Goldberg
9. He Was A Legitimate Draw At His Height
Another myth which has been encouraged over the years is that Bill Goldberg didn't pull in fans. Analysing WCW's numbers during his peak makes a mockery of that idea, because Goldberg was a rip-roaring success story. For example, nobody in the then-WWF was drawing 40,000 fans to an arena in 1998 for World Title matches, not even Steve Austin. That was exactly what happened when WCW management booked Goldberg to face Hollywood Hogan on an episode of Monday Nitro in July of that year.
In truth, it was a little silly of Eric Bischoff to refrain from booking the match on pay-per-view, but the bout fell during the height of the 'Monday Night Wars'. In other words, both sides were eager to pull out everything they had on free TV in order to pop a bigger rating than their rivals. Goldberg vs. Hogan was huge, and remains one of the biggest matches of the entire WWF vs. WCW battle.
That's something which infuriates Vince McMahon, because he had always prided himself on the idea that WCW were firmly second fiddle. It cannot be forgotten than Bill Goldberg helped pull in that number for the cavernous Georgia Dome.