10 Major Career-Making Wrestling Matches

This wasn't a star-making match.

Goldberg entered it as a star, having won over fans with his incandescent rapid-fire squash game. Not since the days of Sid and the Road Warriors had an act pulverised hapless jobbers with such rewarding ferocity. Those comparisons were perhaps less flattering than they first seemed: was Goldberg a short-term attraction incompatible with an inflated TV schedule?

On this evidence, no. Not at all.

Conveying the atmosphere of a fight, Raven charged at Goldberg with a desperate surge. He knew he was outgunned. He could only mirror his opponent's approach and get the job done quickly. It didn't work; Goldberg reversed an Irish whip on the outside and sent Raven hurtling into the guardrail. Raven sold as if the fence was electrified, putting Goldberg over as a force of unparalleled power. Raven resumed control with a chair, channeling his ECW days, but it was of little use. Of little use also were Raven's entire Flock, who Goldberg systemically destroyed like the full-on action hero he was in a proper blockbuster set-piece. Raven prior to that laid punches into Goldberg's face. He snapped back, his intensity proving irrepressible. That was the overarching theme writ large in an awesomely booked and performed segment of wrestling telly.

It was the match that proved definitively that Goldberg wasn't a mere gimmick.

He was built to destroy and last.