10 Wrestlers So Good They Changed Vince McMahon's Mind
4. Goldberg
Goldberg's first run defined WWE's fundamental unwillingness to position a performer who got over elsewhere as that performer.
A senseless business practice, Goldberg was an egregious case. He snapped dudes in half in WCW; in WWE, he spent half his time selling because the in-ring norm demanded it. "Goldberg" and "norm" do not belong together; he was a special attraction totally unique to himself, but WWE is, again, fundamentally unwilling to position performers who get over elsewhere as that performer.
The run was really not good, Goldberg hated it, WWE weren't fussed, and the fans were underwhelmed. WWE perhaps should have fit around the last true like-new megastar, but Goldberg wasn't a fit for WWE, and that's just the way 'round it goes.
Until 2016, when WWE - chronically low on star power and deep into the era of part-time star injection - re-signed Goldberg on a short-term basis. Vince, high on Goldberg's ability to get over as the perfect squash match worker, imagine that, deserves credit for not simply recycling the best, original version of the character. He delegated responsibility to Paul Heyman, who had the very astute idea to promote Goldberg as Lesnar's antithesis: a humble, real man more interested in creating a memory for his son than money for himself. Vince, delighted at the reception to the programme, abandoned pencilled-in plans for WrestleMania 33, and put the Universal Title on him.
WCW = bad, but being old and from a more popular era than now = good.