Bill Goldberg Admits: "I Was A Mark For Myself" - Defends His Mentality (WWE News)
Goldberg knows he was a little too protective during his WCW and WWE days, but...
Bill Goldberg has admitted that he was "a mark for [himself]" throughout the peak and twilight years of his pro wrestling career in both WCW and WWE.
The one-time squash match machine told Ariel Helwani that he was often over-protective of his character when confronted with change in front of the cameras or a different way of doing things by those behind the scenes. That didn't always endear Goldberg to his peers, and it led to some suggestions online years later that he was selfish and had an incredible ego on him.
This was especially problematic during his first run in WWE between 2002-2004. Initially, it looked like Bill would be a rip roaring success for Vince McMahon's league, but then his debut match vs. The Rock proved to be a critical disappointment. WWE never seemed to understand that Goldberg was limited as a worker during his first stint - so, they had the former WCW bruiser work lengthier matches in a bid to bring more out of him.
It was a failed experiment, and an ultimately frustrating one that ended in disaster with a match vs. Brock Lesnar inside Madison Square Garden at WrestleMania XX. Hardcore WWE fans rejected both men, which created a bizarre atmosphere. Chants of, 'You Sold Out' plagued the debacle.
Goldberg wasn't able to set things right until surprisingly returning for another whirl in 2016. That second run proved to be way better, but it still included hiccups vs. Bray Wyatt, Kevin Owens, The Undertaker and a few select others.
Goldberg Says He Had To Be The Way He Was
During his chat with Helwani, Bill said something else of interest: He had to be the way he was or he wouldn't have survived in a sea of sharks like WCW. Similarly, by the time he reached WWE in 2002, Goldberg was keenly aware of the circus surrounding him and knew he'd have to re-double his efforts if he was going to convince people he was worth a shot.
"I was a mark for myself because nobody else had my back. Nobody. I came in as a professional football player and I tried to take dude's jobs that have been in the sport and business since childhood because that’s the only thing they ever wanted to do, and it meant so much to them. I took that for granted a little bit. I always came in with a different mentality. At the end of the day, if I didn’t have that different mentality, I wouldn’t have been what I was; and what I was, was something different. I think I was fairly successful at it".
That's an understatement. WCW pushed Bill to the moon shortly after he debuted on-screen in September 1997. He became WCW World Champion in the summer of 1998, and was consistently booked as a top star until the promotion folded in March 2001.
Regarding his smash mouth, no nonsense style, Goldberg added the following: "I still haven’t seen people do some of the stuff I was able to do".