10 Times WWE Wrestlers Went Into Business For Themselves

6. The Whole Regal And Goldberg Situation

Goldberg Regal
WWE Network

That look on Bill Goldberg's face right there, that's a look of clear confusion.

After steamrolling through opponent after opponent, Goldberg had a clusterf**k of a match against Steve Regal on the 9 February 1998 episode of WCW Nitro.

There are two differing sides as to why this bout went so wrong. The most common belief is that Regal didn't particularly want to be just another victim who Da Man ran through in 30 seconds, and so the Englishman had some fun by attempting to tie his opponent up in knots.

Given the countless recollections of this being exactly want went down, it's hard to argue against this being what happened on that '98 Nitro. But on the other side of the equation, Regal himself claims a vastly different reason as to why the match went to the dogs.

As he wrote in his Walking a Golden Mile autobiography, the Blackpool native says both he and Goldberg were informed by WCW management that they would have a six-minute competitive match. Upon putting the contest together, it was decided that Regal would look to land strikes and holds on Bill for the sole purpose of the future WCW World Champion then being able to counter them, adding something a little more to this act other than just grunt, punch, kick, Spear, Jackhammer.

While one would love to side with William 'Steve' Regal here, the fact of the matter is he was fired from WCW shortly after this match due to the company being unhappy with how things played out against Goldberg.

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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.