10 Surprising Wrestling Inspirations

2. Goldberg (A Waitress)

Kenny Omega Vince McMahon
WWE.com

Goldberg's pro wrestling career relied as much on luck as Big Bill's intensity and natural aptitude for how to play a total f*cking bad*ss.

Lots of footballers don't make the jump after life in the NFL. Even more don't make it to the top level. Most of them weren't blessed with Goldberg's intangibles, but one of those has been having fairly kind fortunes.

Speaking on the Steve Austin Show just months before a 2016 WWE return that added a surprisingly great new chapter to a career that had lay dormant for a decade, Goldberg explained how the legendary "Who's Next?" catchphrase also came to be. He said;

“I’m in San Bernadino and we were doing TV tapings and this is before anything, right? I think it was dark. So I’m sitting down [at a restaurant] with one of the producers of the Love Boat and my brother, Steve. And we’re about to order and the producer looks at me and he says, ‘you know, you have to have a gimmick; you have to have a saying; you have to have a slogan; you’ve got to get people behind you’ and I said, ‘you know what? You’re right.’ You know where I’m going, don’t you? So the waitress comes up, and she looks, and she goes, ‘who’s next?’ and that was it. I swear to God, I looked at them, and I went, ‘that’s it! Who’s next?’ because after I beat the first guy, it’s open f*cking season! So it’s perfect! It’s plain, it’s simple, it’s straight to the point.”

Plain, simple, straight to the point - like a money-spinning Goldberg squash itself.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett