10 Superstars Who Burned WWE Bridges… But Still Returned

7. Goldberg

Bill Goldberg
WWE.com

After his initial WWE run came to an end in 2004, Bill Goldberg never held back on criticising WWE and its working environment. And even in recent years, Da Man has slammed the company despite being back in WWE’s good graces.

Goldberg is a hugely opinionated fella who has taken digs at WWE as a whole, at Triple H, and at several other WWE stars who he didn’t feel were exactly on his level. The thing with Bill, however, is that he’s usually held back on slamming the most important man of all: Vince McMahon.

Even though Vince and Goldberg seemingly always had a good working relationship based purely on McMahon paying well and Goldberg being viewed as an attraction act, things looked a little ropey for the WCW favourite when Triple H and Shawn Michaels lambasted Bill in several interviews over the years.

The DX duo went as far as to run down Goldberg’s in-ring ability, his career achievements, and both were adamant that Bill Goldberg wasn’t Hall of Fame worthy.

Here we are in 2019, with Goldberg having been inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, having walked into WrestleMania 33 as the defending WWE Universal Champion against Brock Lesnar, and having had several big-money Saudi Arabia PPV appearances.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.